Noted historian Ramachandra Guha explained his statement where he called former Congress party President Rahul Gandhi a “five-time dynast”, in a series of tweets on Sunday.
On Friday, the historian had addressed a gathering at the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode. The theme of Guha’s talk was “patriotism versus jingoism”. A report on the talk, published by news agency PTI, has caused a furore over the past two days. At the Kerala Literature Festival, Guha said that the state had done a “disastrous thing” by electing Gandhi to the Parliament, PTI reported.
“Narendra Modi’s great advantage is that he is not Rahul Gandhi,” Guha said. “He is self-made. He has run a state for 15 years, he has administrative experience, he is incredibly hard-working and he never takes holidays in Europe. Believe me, I am saying all this in all seriousness.” Guha, of course, has been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the policies of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
In his tweets, Guha also explained his views on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hindutva, and India. According to the historian, the reporter had picked “two sentences out of a one-hour talk”.
“I did say in my KLF talk that Rahul Gandhi was a fifth-generation dynast, but I said much, much, more,” he tweeted. “My talk was a defence of constitutional patriotism against Hindutva jingoism. I am sorry that a reporter has cherry-picked two sentences out of a one hour talk to distort its meaning.”
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