Sir Ben Kingsley plays Mahatma Gandhi in multi-Oscar-winning biopic Photo: Allstar Picture Library Limited./Alamy Stock Photo
Mahatma Gandhi was widely unknown until Sir Richard Attenborough made a film about his life in 1982, the Indian Prime Minister said.
In an interview with local media, Narendra Modi blamed the Congress — which led governments of 20- century for failing to promote a national hero.
“Nobody knew [about Gandhi],” he said. “When the film about Gandhi was first made [1982], the world became curious about who he might have been.
“If the world had known Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi would have been no less than they,» he added, saying «we haven't done the necessary [promotion].»
Nine things you probably didn't know about Gandhi. Read more
Among many other sources, Mr. Modi This claim is belied by the presence around the world of statues of the man who led India's campaign against British colonial rule, which existed long before the film was released.
In 1969, Harold Wilson, then prime minister, unveiled a statue of Gandhi in London's Tavistock Square. A year later, another one was installed in the Marie Josée park in Brussels.
Hundreds of books, films and documentaries were made about Gandhi long before Attenborough's Oscar-winning drama, including Mahatma Gandhi: A 20th Century Prophet. in 1953.
He was known in popular culture as the «father» of India, and his campaign of nonviolent resistance to British rule inspired protest movements around the world.
Between 1937 and 1948, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times (but, strangely, never received the award), while Martin Luther King praised his influence on the fight against racism in the United States and South America. Africa.
Mr. Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is predicted to win the ongoing elections in India, which enters its seventh and final phase on June 1.
The Indian leader has long distorted history for his own political purposes, claiming that after he was first elected in 2014, he declared that centuries-old Hindu sacred texts proved that Indians practiced cosmetic surgery and reproductive genetics before anyone else in the world.< /p>
Mr Modi's ten years in power have seen a steady erosion of the founding principles of India's secularism. at the state level.
In 1946, Gandhi said: “I swear by my religion, I will die for it. But this is my personal business. The state has nothing to do with it. The state will take care of your secular welfare, health care, international relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion.”
When Mr. Modi was a teenager, he joined the RSS, a militant Hindu organization. . Its members included the man who assassinated Gandhi in 1948.
The opposition Congress Party, which Gandhi led from 1920 to 1934, condemned Mr Modi's remarks.
Sir Richard Attenborough and Sir Ben Kingsley with some of the 13 Oscars won by Gandhi in 1983. Photo: Bettmann
“I don’t know what kind of world the outgoing prime minister lives in, where Mahatma Gandhi was unknown throughout the world until 1982,” said party leader Jairam Ramesh.
“If anyone What destroyed the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi was the outgoing Prime Minister himself. It was his government that destroyed the Gandhian institutions in Varanasi, Delhi and Ahmedabad.»
Mr. Ramesh said that the current elections were a real battle between the followers of the Mahatma and the followers of his killer Nathuram Godse.< /p>
“This is the hallmark of RSS. They don't understand Mahatma Gandhi's nationalism. The atmosphere their ideology created led to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse,” Mr. Ramesh wrote.
Indian social media users also ridiculed Mr. Modi by sharing the front page of the January 5, 1931 issue . Time magazine, naming Gandhi Man of the Year.
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