BJP MP Ananthkumar Hegde (file photo)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi must come to Parliament and clarify his position on BJP leader Anantkumar Hegde’s “objectionable” remarks on Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress said on Monday.

“They are disparaging the national movement. If PM and the BJP government are sincere about 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi, we demand that PM comes to Parliament and clarifies his position,” Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said.

Hegde, a former Union minister, claimed at an event in Bengaluru that the entire freedom movement was staged with the consent and support of the British, and the independence movement led by Gandhi was a “drama”.

“They are desperate for elections and only to get some votes, they are inflicting deep wounds on the soul of India,” Sharma said, adding that the BJP is practising the politics of violence and polarisation.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, Maharashtra Congress president Balasaheb Thorat said, BJP leader Anantkumar Hegde’s remarks on the Mahatma Gandhi-led Independence movement reflected “intellectual bankruptcy” of the BJP leadership.

“BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde’s statement is highly condemnable. This shows the intellectual bankruptcy of the BJP leadership. Their parent organisation, the RSS, had collaborated with the British and opposed the freedom struggle,” tweeted Thorat, who also holds Revenue ministry in the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government.

He said Hegde’s remarks exposed the “true face” of the BJP “which hails (Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin) Nathuram (Godse) as its idol”.

with PTI inputs