New Delhi: Lashing out at historian Ramachandra Guha for his offensive post against Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that it is a group of elites who want to divide Indians.
Saying that “India’s cultural foundations are strong, our economic aspirations are high”, Rupani said, “Indians won’t fall for such tricks”. Gujarat is great, Bengal is great…India is united, the CM said.
Reacting on the massive controversy generated by his tweet Guha said he shares quote found during his research which he finds arresting. “Statutory warning; when I post quotes by others found in the course of my research, I do so because I find them arresting in some way. I may (or may not) endorse, in part or in whole, what I am quoting. Reserve your praise or your anger for the ghost of the person being quoted,” he tweeted. Guha had quoted Philip Spratt, a British writer and intellectual, who in 1939 wrote: “Gujarat, though economically advanced, is culturally a backward province…. Bengal, in contrast, is economically backward but culturally advanced.”
Actor-turned-politician Paresh Rawal also blasted Guha for his tweet and accused him of distorting History books. Quoting Spratt, Guha, in another tweet Guha wrote: “In a free India, democratic Gandhism would be put to its most difficult test. It might be that the non-violent way towards a civilised society would prove itself. It is perhaps more likely that an effective dictatorship of the right would be set up…”
‘Gujarat is great, Bengal is great…India is united’ Spratt, a British communist, was sent to India by Moscow-based Communist International, to spread Communism in India. After coming here, he became a close friend of MN Roy, founder of the Communist parties in Mexico and India.
Guha, who is known for his book ‘India After Gandhi’, is a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government.
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