Demands are growing for the sacking of an IAS officer in Mumbai after her tweet appeared to insult Mahatma Gandhi and thank his assassin Nathuram Godse.
Taking to Twitter on 17 May, Nidhi Choudhari had written, “What an exceptional celebration of 150th Birth Anniversary year is going on!” She then went on to demand the removal of Gandhi’s ‘face from our currency, his statues from across the world, rename institutions/roads named after him!’
She concluded her post by saying that ‘That would be a real tribute from all of us!’ Choudhari signed off her social media post by writing ‘Thank U Godse.’
Although Choudhari, who’s currently working as the Assistant Municipal Commissioner in the BMC, opposition parties have demanded her sacking. NCP leader in Maharashtra, Jitendra Awhad, was quoted by news agency ANI, “We demand immediate suspension of IAS officer Nidhi Choudhari for her derogatory tweet against Mahatma Gandhi. She gloried Nathuram Godse, this should not be tolerated.”
Faced with widespread condemnation, the IAS officer said that she had immense respect for Gandhi often drew inspiration from him adding that her tweet was misunderstood. In one tweet she wrote, “Here is my reply to one tweet on 9th April when I was asked “Why so much GandhiJi today?” My reply was- “Gandhi Ji inspires me daily and I keep posting his quotes very regularly… His tweets are needed more today than any other time.” If only those misinterpreting realised it.”
In her last social media post, she said that nothing was capable of shake her beliefs in the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi regardless of situation in life.
The debate of adulation of Gandhi’s killer, a Hindutva terrorist Nathuram Godse, has gained intensity since the newly elected parliamentarian of the BJP, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur the killer of India’s father of the nation a ‘patriot.’ Sadhvi, the first terror accused to enter the parliament, had to later apologise, but many felt that this was a part of the BJP’s new good-cop-bad-cop strategy in a bid to whip up pro-Hindutva sentiments.
The BJP’s recent victory in the Lok Sabha polls was largely credited to the polarisation of votes along the religious lines aside from EVM rigging.
