NEW DELHI -- Taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC) controversy, Mahatma Gandhi's great grandson Tushar Gandhi today said that the government's decision to replace the picture of Father of the Nation was a well-planned strategy to gain credibility.
"This government is very prone in making mistakes, but this doesn't seem to be a mistake. This seems to be like very thought out and well-planned strategy to gain credibility," Tushar told ANI.
He further appealed to Prime Minister Modi to disband the KVIC while terming it as an inefficient and incapable organisation.
"I appeal to the Prime Minister as he has become the mascot of most inefficient, incapable and insincere organisation to disband the KVIC," he added.
Emphasising on the significance of charkha and Mahatma Gandhi's picture, he said: "The charkha that Bapu used to spin was the instrument for the production, empowerment of weak and poor and a weapon in the fight for our freedom. Bapu's khadi was the yarn of peace."
Meanwhile, sources said that the calendar never featured the picture of Father of the Nation, adding that there is no question of replacing Mahatma Gandhi's picture with that of Prime Minister Modi.
In what came as a shock for many, Mahatma Gandhi's picture weaving khadi on a simple charkha, wearing his trademark cloth has been replaced by Prime Minister Modi's picture in the same classic pose as that of the former.
Iconic Photos Of Mahatma Gandhi
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Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi at a spinning wheel during a 'Charlea' demonstration in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, on 9 June 1925. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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Mahatma Gandhi eating for the first time after his release from prison in India in 1930. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)
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Mahatma Gandhi reading his correspondence whilst living in seclusion after being released from prison, on 20 May 1924. (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
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Mahatma Gandhi leading his followers on the famous salt march to break the English Salt Laws, on 27 March 1930. (NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
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Mahatma Gandhi on the steps of 10 Downing Street, 26 September 1931. Gandhi travelled to Britain in 1931 in order to attend the Second Round Table conference in London. Whilst in London, he visited the British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, at his residence in 10 Downing Street. (Daily Herald Archive/SSPL/Getty Images)
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Mahatma Gandhi is greeted by a crowd of female textile workers during a visit to Darwen, Lancashire, UK in 1931. (Keystone/Getty Images)
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Mahatma Gandhi seen in the United Kingdom, in December 1932. (Planet News Archive/SSPL/Getty Images)
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Mahatma Gandhi at the station at Marseille in France, in 1934. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)
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Mahatma Gandhi receives a donation in a train compartment in 1940. (Dinodia Photos/Getty Images)
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Jawaharlal Nehru (later India's first Prime Minister) and Mahatma Gandhi in conversation at a session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in Bombay, 8 August 1942. It was at this session that the Quit India Resolution was passed, calling for India's independence from British rule. (Archive Photos/Getty Images)
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