(MENAFN- Asia Times) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has attracted further criticism for his historical bloopers.
On Tuesday, in Bihar state's Champaran district, the PM attended the centenary celebrations of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's non-violent Satyagraha [insistence for the truth] movement, launched in that same district against the British empire on the same day in 1917. In a speech at the event, he referred to the Great Mahatma as "Mohanlal" Karamchand Gandhi.
Curiously, this appears to be a mistake Modi has made repeatedly: he said the same faux pas at a campaign rally in Rajasthan in 2013
On Thursday, Modi reached Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, to inaugurate a military exhibition. The trip was hardly a career highlight, as scores of protesters jeered him with chants of '
While speaking at the event,
Speaking to Asia Times, historian Sriram Venkatakrishnan clarified that though "Kancheepuram is popularly known more as a Pallava stronghold and not so much as the Cholas', Modi wasn't technically wrong, as the Cholas initially ruled the region."
Old tales
Modi's habit of making errors in his speeches precedes his election as prime minister in 2014. Some of his most memorable gaffes are from a
Modi began the campaign speech by highlighting Bihar's relevance in India's history and mythology. "When we remember the era of higher learning, Nalanda and Taxila come to mind," he said. While Nalanda was established in present-day Bihar, Taxila was a thousand miles away in modern-day Pakistan.
Later in the speech
Then, two weeks later, Modi
Mukherjee died in India, in Kashmir in 1953. Modi appears to have mixed him up with Gujarati freedom fighter
Playing with history
Modi and
In 2013, Modi told a Gujarat daily that Nehru did not attend Patel's funeral in 1950. Within hours of the report's release, Congress released a video showing otherwise. Soon after, Modi announced he was misquoted and the daily withdrew the quote and issued an apology.
Despite the Congress video, and the daily's clarification, senior BJP minister Ravi Shankar Prasad made the same claim two days later. He said "reliable sources" confirmed to him that Nehru was not at the funeral.
In February this year, during a speech at India's Parliament, Modi blamed Nehru for the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, saying, "all of Kashmir would have been India's if Patel had been allowed to become the first prime minister."
Historian Srinath Raghavan told Asia Times, "to suggest the Congress party, which ultimately had to accept Partition reluctantly, is to be blamed for it, is an extraordinary statement. It absolves the Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha of all responsibility. It is like saying the course of history was changed by the size of Cleopatra's nose," he said.
During Independence, Muslim League chief Muhammad Ali Jinnah was adamant about the creation of Pakistan. The Hindu Mahasabha supported him. Patel, meanwhile, was ready to give Kashmir to Pakistan as long as Hyderabad remained a part of independent India.
As for Nehru's appointment as prime minister, several BJP leaders, like Modi, believe it happened
But, according to Raghavan, "it is exceedingly misleading to suggest that the election of the Congress President in 1946 was the election of the future prime minister of India."
Meanwhile,
Interestingly, Patel was
He lifted the ban only in 1949, after making RSS
According to historian Ramachandra Guha, the BJP's fascination with Patel, despite this history, has a simple explanation: "since the Nehru-Gandhis would not praise Patel, the BJP chose to do so instead."
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