Shiv Sena slams PM’s charkha photo on Khadi calendar

Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture on Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) calendar and diary has received flak from none other than Bharatiya Janata Party’s alliance partner, Shiv Sena. The Sena has not only slammed the move but sarcastically said Mahatma Gandhi’s photo on the currency could also be replaced in the same way.

A day after reports appeared on Modi picture instead of Mahatma Gandhi, the social media was full of comments slamming the move. The Sena did not let the opportunity go to waste.

“This happens if a person is in love with his own image. Everyone knows that Gandhiji is behind the popularity of Khadi. I was shocked when I read the stories. It was not expected from a person like the Prime Minister. It was very disappointing. Tomorrow, Gandhiji’s photo on notes would also be replaced,” Sena MP Arvind Sawant said.

The KVIC featuring Mr Modi instead of Gandhi, a renowned champion of the hand-woven cloth, on its 2017 diary sparked off protests by some of its employees in Vile Parle on Thursday. The employees accused the commission of replacing the father of the nation’s image with Mr Modi’s, but the KVIC chairman, Vinai Kumar Saxena, has claimed that Gandhi’s image has not been on its diary for the last four years.

Veiled threat
Hinting that it is prepared to go solo in the BMC polls, the Sena, in a veiled threat to senior ally BJP, said whosoever tries to oust it from the Mumbai and Thane civic bodies would “dig its own grave”. Dubbing the use of state machinery and money power in the run-up to the polls as "unfortunate for democracy", it asserted that no one has been able to root out the Sena's influence on the masses. The election to the BMC, which has been ruled by the Shiv Sena for 20 years, is likely to be the highlight of next month's civic polls. The Sena and BJP together rule the Mumbai, Thane and Akola civic bodies, which are going to polls on February 21.