PM Modi’s Photo on KVIC calendar & diary sparks row

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ The photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the calendar and the diary of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) today kicked up a row, with opposition parties slamming the development even as the government and BJP dismissed the controversy as “unnecessary”.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), while dismissing the controversy as “unnecessary”, said “there is no rule in KVIC that its diary and calendar should have only Gandhiji’s photo.” KVIC chairman V K Saxena also defended the move, saying there is “no rule or tradition” that only Mahatma Gandhi’s picture can be published on these items.

Maintaining that Gandhiji’s stature is such that he can never be replaced by anyone, Saxena said, “This whole controversy is unnecessary and out of the context.” KVIC is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament. Saxena was appointed as Chairman of KVIC in October 2015 by the Centre.

“The Mangalayaan effect,” Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, implying that Modi was trying to take credit for promotion of KVIC like he had allegedly done after India’s spacecraft Mangalayaan landed on the Mars.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “Khadi & Gandhiji are symbols of our history, self-reliance & struggle. Removing Gandhiji’s photo is a sacrilegious sin.” At the AICC briefing, party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said “Gandhiji is too great to be replaced by any one”.