In the midst of protests over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification, Congress MLA Amitesh Shukla referred to the former Wayanad MP Gandhi as the Mahatma Gandhi of modern India.
Shukla, who won the 2018 assembly elections with the largest margin of victory, claimed several parallels between Mahatma Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
While Conversing to media Shukla said, “Rahul Gandhi is the Mahatma Gandhi of modern India. He has a lot of similarities with Mahatma Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi did Bharat Jodo Yatra whereas Mahatma Gandhi did the Dandi march back then.”
He called Rahul ‘Rashtriya Putra’ (son of the nation). Shukla added “I made this statement very responsibly. I belong to a family of freedom fighters.
“The things I have heard from my father (Shyama Charan Shukla, former chief minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh) as well as uncle (senior Congress leader Vidya Charan Shukla) about Mahatma Gandhi, I feel there are several similarities between Mahatma Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.”
He also stated that Mahatma Gandhi could have become India’s first Prime Minister, but he did not. Similarly, Rahul Gandhi had the opportunity to become Prime Minister in 2004 and 2008, but he did not. For example, Mahatma Gandhi marched several kilometres during the ‘Dandi March,’ and the former national president of the party walked across the country and interacted with people during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.