New Delhi: Congress on Monday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for accidentally calling Mahatma Gandhi "Mohanlal Karamchand Gandhi", saying that one cannot be expected to follow the ideals of the Father of the Nation if the person mispronounces his name.
"It wld (sic) be foolish to expect one to follow Gandhiji's ideals when that person forgets or mispronounces the Father of Nation's name in public!" Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said in a tweet.
Further charging that there are many who only pay lip service to Gandhi, another Congress spokesperson, Raj Babbar, told reporters at the AICC headquarters, "Those who talk about Gandhi, those who keep Gandhi in their heart, who love Gandhi from their heart, who follow Gandhi's teachings, for them Gandhi is Mohandas."
AICC General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed, too, hit out at Modi on 'twitter.com', saying, "People who represent the ideology of the assassin of Mahatma are trying to claim his legacy in USA, as if all Indian Americans are ignorant".
In another tweet, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha said, "Now that the world knows that PM goofed up (again) on pronouncing the name of Mahatma Gandhi, can the DD anchor get the job back, please?".
Jha's reference was to the sacking of an anchor by state broadcaster Doordarshan for misreading the Chinese President Xi Jinping's name as "11 Jinping".
During his address to Indo-Americans at the Madison Square Garden in New York, Modi said, "You are pravasi bharatiyas. Like you, there was one MK Gandhi. He was also an NRI."
Going on to elaborate the initials 'MK', the Prime Minister said "Mohanlal" in a slip that was immediately noted on social media.
Modi had in November 2013 made the same gaffe while addressing a rally in Dudu when he had had called Mahatma Gandhi "Mohanlal Karamchand Gandhi" instead of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
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