Vivekananda comment lands Gadkari in soup
7 Nov 2012 5:28 AM IST
The principal opposition BJP has yet again plunged into a crisis thanks to its beleaguered national president Nitin Gadkari. The BJP leader has got into the habit of remaining in the limelight for all the wrong reasons it seems. His knack for courting controversies landed him in trouble when at a function in Bhopal on Sunday he compared the intellectual quotient of Swami Vivekananda with that of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
‘If we were to compare the IQ level of Swami Vivekananda and that of Dawood Ibrahim, then it could be found to be almost similar. But their lives took different directions. While Vivekananda used his IQ for nation building, brotherhood and spiritualism, Dawood used it for destructive purpose, to excel in the crime world,’ said Gadkari.
The BJP president, however, later denied comparing the two. ‘I did not make any comparison between Swami Vivekananda and Dawood Ibrahim. What I said was that if one used one’s intelligence properly then one could become a Saint like Swami Vivekananda. I have been grossly misquoted,’ said Gadkari in a statement.
The BJP president’s comments, however, led to widespread resentment within and outside the party and immediate damage was witnessed with the party’s national executive member Mahesh Jethmalani tendering his resignation on Monday. Though he stopped short of calling Gadkari intellectually bankrupt, in his resignation letter Jethmalani said: ‘I deem it morally and intellectually inappropriate to continue to serve on the party’s National Executive Committee as long as you are the president of the BJP.’
Jethmalani, who had contested in the 2009 elections from the Mumbai North Central on a BJP ticket, was severely critical of Gadkari’s comment on Vivekananda and also the alleged financial wrongdoings by the party president. Following the line of his father, veteran jurist Ram Jethmalani, the Mumbai-based lawyer was of the opinion that the allegations on Gadkari are denting the image of the party. Recently, Jethmalani had said that Gadkari should resign from his position and should not seek a second term in the office as there is suspicion about his integrity.
The BJP, however, was not too pleased with Jethmalani making the letter public. ‘If every member takes such a letter to the media, it would cause much damage to the party. This is not in the interest of the party,’ said BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy. He added it would have been better if Jethmalani had delivered the letter to Gadkari.
‘If we were to compare the IQ level of Swami Vivekananda and that of Dawood Ibrahim, then it could be found to be almost similar. But their lives took different directions. While Vivekananda used his IQ for nation building, brotherhood and spiritualism, Dawood used it for destructive purpose, to excel in the crime world,’ said Gadkari.
The BJP president, however, later denied comparing the two. ‘I did not make any comparison between Swami Vivekananda and Dawood Ibrahim. What I said was that if one used one’s intelligence properly then one could become a Saint like Swami Vivekananda. I have been grossly misquoted,’ said Gadkari in a statement.
The BJP president’s comments, however, led to widespread resentment within and outside the party and immediate damage was witnessed with the party’s national executive member Mahesh Jethmalani tendering his resignation on Monday. Though he stopped short of calling Gadkari intellectually bankrupt, in his resignation letter Jethmalani said: ‘I deem it morally and intellectually inappropriate to continue to serve on the party’s National Executive Committee as long as you are the president of the BJP.’
Jethmalani, who had contested in the 2009 elections from the Mumbai North Central on a BJP ticket, was severely critical of Gadkari’s comment on Vivekananda and also the alleged financial wrongdoings by the party president. Following the line of his father, veteran jurist Ram Jethmalani, the Mumbai-based lawyer was of the opinion that the allegations on Gadkari are denting the image of the party. Recently, Jethmalani had said that Gadkari should resign from his position and should not seek a second term in the office as there is suspicion about his integrity.
The BJP, however, was not too pleased with Jethmalani making the letter public. ‘If every member takes such a letter to the media, it would cause much damage to the party. This is not in the interest of the party,’ said BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy. He added it would have been better if Jethmalani had delivered the letter to Gadkari.
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