UP Speaker irks linking Rakhi Sawant & Mahatma Gandhi, Congress fumes at 'insult'

Ahead of UP polls, Uttar Pradesh Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit on Sunday made a controversial remark on Mahatma Gandhi at the 'Prabuddh Varg sammelan' at Bangarmau, Ujjain. Speaking at the event, Dixit said, "if one could become great just by dressing scantily, then Rakhi Sawant would have become greater than Mahatma Gandhi", drawing the ire of the Opposition. The 403-seat UP assembly where Yogi rules with an iron-clad majority of 314 seats, is up for grabs in February 2022.

UP Speaker: 'If one is dressed scantily...'

While being introduced as an 'intellectual', Dixit rebutted, "In our opinion, no one has become an intellectual by writing a book on any topic. If that was the case for so many years, I have read at least 6,000 books". He added,  "Gandhiji used to dress scantily. He used to wrap just a dhoti. The country called him Bapu. If somebody could become great just by taking their clothes off, then Rakhi Sawant would have become greater than Mahatma Gandhi."

He later took to Twitter to clarify, "Some friends in social media are showing the clip of a video of my speech with an otherwise meaning. This was the part of my speech at the 'prabuddh sammelan' in Unnao, in which the moderator of the 'sammelan' introduced me saying that 'I am an enlightened writer'. I added to this saying Mahatma Gandhi used to dress scantily. The country called him 'Bapu'. But, that does not mean Rakhi Sawant will become a Gandhi-ji. Please take my speech in the right context".

Fuming at his remark, Congress spokesperson said, "Making defamatory comments against the father of the nation has become BJP and RSS' habit. No repentance for the statement shows how much they hate Gandhiji. Lauding Gandhij's assassins shows how much poison BJP-RSS has against Gandhiji's ideals of peace and non-violence".

UP Polls 2022

With BJP fighting under the leadership of incumbent CM Yogi Adityanath, several fronts have cropped up to challenge the ruling BJP. While Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj has allied with AIMIM, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party; parties like AAP, Shiv Sena, Azad Samaj Party and JDU have announced that they will be contesting for the UP polls. SP chief Akhilesh Singh Yadav has stated that SP will only ally with smaller political parties for the 2022 Assembly polls, holding talks with Mahan Dal, NCP. Mayawati has already announced that her party will fight polls alone in UP and Uttarakhand, while allying only with Akali Dal in Punjab.  Congress has aggressively campaigned under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi in the state, eyeing its solo return.