En højreorienteret hindu-politiker fra det indiske regeringsparti måtte undskylde sine udtalelser i parlamentet og benyttede derpå lejligheden til at angribe oppositionen – mordet på Mahatma Gandhi opleves stadig som traumatisk af mange indere.
Sakshi Maharaj of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used his apology to attack the opposition Congress Party, fuelling further outrage, writes BBC online Friday.
Earlier this month another BJP MP sparked outrage by using offensive language to describe non-Hindus.
Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 by Nathuram Godse, a hard-line extremist Hindu. Godse, who was executed for the murder, resented Gandhi’s calls for Hindus and Muslims to unite.
On Thursday, Sakshi Maharaj had said: “Godse was an aggrieved person. He may have done something by mistake but was not an anti-national. He was a patriot.”
“I respect Gandhi, I respect the House. I withdraw my remarks,” the MP said in the lower house of parliament on Friday.
But he went on to say that the opposition Congress “killed the Mahatma’s ideology in 1984 during anti-Sikh riots”, in which Congress leaders were accused of leading mob attacks.
This drew loud protests from opposition MPs, who refused to accept the apology, BBC notes.
