Nathuram Godse too was a patriot: BJP leader Trivendra Rawat

Former Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Wednesday termed Mahatma Gandhis assassin Nathuram Godse a patriot while mocking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for merely sharing the surname.

“Gandhi ji was killed, that is a different issue. But as far as I have understood and read Godse, he too was a patriot. We do not agree with the killing of Gandhi ji,” the BJP leader told reporters.

Targeting the former Congress president, Rawat said merely having the Gandhi surname did not make his ideology Gandhian.

He said making a show of wearing the janeu, or the sacred thread, does not change Rahul Gandhis identity. He just talks, Rawat claimed, accusing Rahul Gandhi of cashing in on the Mahatmas name.

Rawat referred to the controversial remarks made by the Congress leader in the US, and said his efforts will not help the party which is soon going to be a thing of the past.

“Rahul Gandhi is speaking out of frustration, seeing the deteriorating condition of his party. He is speaking in mental stress. The public will not accept a person going through mental stress,” he said.

On the Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadavs meeting Wednesday with Aam Aadmi Party chief, Rawat said, There is no bigger theatrical leader in this country than Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Akhilesh Yadav wants to learn theatrics from Kejriwal.” He accused Yadav of throwing Uttar Pradesh into goonda raj during his term as chief minister. The SP recruited gangsters and made the mafia respectable, the Uttarakhand leader alleged.

He said people will again reject the SP.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)