Prime Minister Modi trying to identify himself with various icons, wanting to milk various political constituencies, needing to grab the headlines one way or another, dying to appropriate credit for anything anyone has done anytime (whether Mr Modi was born at that point of time or not) is not news anymore. In the recent past he has tried to pretend to be in the same boat as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Swami Vivekanand and many others. Much as Mr Modi and his Bhakts would like to believe that all these icons owe their existence to him the absurdity and obscenity of his attempts simply expose him more and more.
A serious controversy has arisen out of Khadi and Village Industries Commission displaying ‘Modiji with Charkha’ as playing a role of Mahatma. This latest attempt at abusing the charkha touches the height of intellectual bankruptcy and depth of unscrupulousness, both at the same time!

And, how did it come to this point in the present case? Who placed Modi in place of Gandhi? It was none other than the Chairman of Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC). What are antecedents of the current KVIC Chairman? He is “original product” from House of Adanis!

Can the outcome be any different, then?

There have been a number of incumbents in this position who had come and gone, including  during the earlier NDA rule under Mr. Vajpayee’s Prime Ministership. From Surendra Mohanji, socialist thinker to Mahesh Sharmaji associated with BJP, none dared exhibit such serfdom! But the present Chairman is bound to be different. Mr. V.K. Saxena maybe the first Chairman who has no background of home, village or small scale industry but has come from the big corporate regime. He was with Adanis since years working with different offices. He, no doubt, functioned as an NGO with hardly any activities of rural industrialisation, that too at the smallest units with a vision of decentralisation, self-reliance or Swaraj.

Mr. Saxena is the one who worked on Dholera Project of Adanis & JK industries, which almost failed for years facing number of protests by local farmers for land grab. This is also a project relying on Narmada waters at the cost of drought prone areas of Gujarat. Saxena took to many actions (on behalf of whom, no one knows) to defame Narmada Bachao Andolan, but lost. He still continued with this main mission as announced in the advertised interviews and also was a part of the incident of physical attack on Medha Patkar at Sabarmati Ashram, during a peace meeting, after Gujarat riots in 2002. A criminal case against him and other politicians from Ahmedabad continues to be heard at snail’s pace, even today. He also faces defamation cases filed by Medha Patkar of NBA. He had done this to Mallika Sarabhai and Ashis Nandy too but lost those cases too before the apex court.

The BJP government no doubt has promoted him and facilitated all these actions for which he has to pay back, exhibiting loyalty and obliging his masters!

That is why the new calendar!

But the need is also to question Saxena’s appointment itself choosing and picking him, not for contribution to Khadi and Village Industries but loyalty to Adanis and Modi. His master’s voice on this matter is yet to be heard!

Courtesy: India Resists

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Dear Modi-ji

Hearty congratulations on your pathbreaking move to replace the image of Mahatma Gandhi from the calendars and diaries of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) for 2017.

Here are some humble suggestions from our side.

Now that you have successfully eradicated all the black money in India, we believe you should go further.

We want your photo on all the new currency notes – de-gandhi-isation of currency should be next!

Your leadership of the ATM march brought millions of Indians out to the streets. This was much bigger than Gandhi’s Dandi March!

As you have replaced Gandhi, please consider replacing Nehru with Amit Shah in all images of the freedom struggle

With love,

Newsclick

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

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AAP leader Dilip Pandey targeted Prime Minister Modi over the issue saying the move only bolsters his “megalomaniac image”.

“It won’t be surprising if Gandhi’s image is replaced with that of Modi’s on currency notes. The whole thing actually demeans and brings down the stature of a prime minister. It does not behove his post. He has reduced himself to a megalomaniac,” Pandey told reporters.

Employees and officials of KVIC have opposed the move to exclude the image of Mahatma Gandhi from the cover of its 2017 wall calendar and diary that show Modi weaving khadi on a large charkha, in the same classic pose as Gandhiji’s.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had yesterday attacked the Prime Minister over the issue.

“It takes sacrifices of several lifetimes to become a Gandhi. You don’t become Gandhi by acting to spin the wheel, you may become a subject of ridicule,” he had tweeted in Hindi.

Taking a jibe at the Prime Minister, Singhvi said “Modiji first likened himself to Sardar Patel, now he considers himself to be Gandhiji. Because he (Modi) has criticized this one person, Modiji has not likened himself to him. That is Nehru ji”.

The Congress spokesman also hit out at Modi for removing HRD Ministry from the ambit of an Information Commissioner for passing an order under RTI for making public records of Delhi University from a particular year in which Modi had obtained a degree.

“An obsession bordering on narcissism has unfortunately become the hallmark of the Prime Minister. Our Prime Minister can’t accept any form of criticism. Constructive or otherwise”, he said.

He was of the view that what is happening in the country today is symptomatic of several islls.

“These ills are the politics of vendetta, of fear psychosis, punishment to those who disagree with you and self obsession. And if this is not curbed, then this can be fatal to our democracy,” Singhvi added.

Tyagi said, “Whatever has happened is condemnable. We will ask the Prime Minister to remove Saxena for this shameful decision and ensure that all calendars and diaries are withdrawn.”

BJP spokesaman Sambit Patra said an “unnecessary controversy” has been created over a “non-issue”

Addressing a press conference, he rejected as “false” the charge that Modi’s picture replaced that of Mahatma Gandhi in KVIC calendar, insisting that the Father of the Nation’s photo had not been used many a time in the past.
He said Gandhi’s photographs were not used in the KVIC calendars and diaries in 1996, 2002, 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

There is no rule in KVIC that says only Gandhi’s photograph should be used, he said.

Targeting Congress and Gandhi ruling family, he said their love for the Father of the Nation’s picture was confined to the currency notes carrying his photo and that they “misused” his name for political purpose for all these years.

“The Prime Minister promoted Gandhi’s philosophies and these are reaching every household… There is one party which ruled for years in Gandhi’s name. They keep calling themselves Gandhis though they had no link with Mahatma Gandhi,” he said.

The sale of khadi through KVIC, a government body tasked with its promotion, was merely 2 to 7 per cent all these years but Modi’s efforts took it over 35 per cent, he said.

Modi has been promoting the values Gandhi stood for whether it is ‘swachhta’ or khadi, Patra said.
 

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According to news agency IANS, the cover photo of this year’s calendar and diary shows Modi weaving khadi on a large ‘charkha’, in the same classic pose as Gandhiji.

Modi’s image of wearing kurta-pyjama-waistcoat while weaving khadi on a slightly modern charkha has replaced Gandhi’s trademark photo of weaving khadi on a simple charkha and wearing his trademark loin cloth.

KVIC Chairman, Vinai Kumar Saxena, said that there was nothing unusual about the decision.

He told IANS, “The entire khadi industry (udyog) is based on Gandhiji’s philosophy, ideas and ideals, he is the soul of KVIC, so there is no question of ignoring him.

“In fact, he is khadi’s biggest brand ambassador, and his vision matches KVIC’s, of ‘Make In India’ by making villages self-sufficient, ‘skill development’ by generating employment among the rural masses, infuse modern technology for khadi weaving, innovations and marketing. Plus, the PM is a youth icon.”

As expected, the decision hasn’t gone down well with the employees of KVIC and staff working at its Vile Parle headquarters organised “a silent, soul-cleansing” protest wearing black bands on their mouths on Thursday.

One senior employee, while wishing to remain anonymous, said, “We are pained at this systematic easing out of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas, philosophy and ideals by the government. Last year, the first attempt was made by including the PM’s photos in the calendar.”

KVIC falls under the union ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises.

Courtesy: Janta Ka Reporter
 

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