Aspects of Shivaji, Mahatma Gandhi wrongly represented by today's rulers: Narendra Modi

MUMBAI: In a veiled response to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s frontal attack, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi blamed rulers for distorting history. Singh had on Friday said Modi would be “disastrous” as PM, and blamed him for the Gujarat riots of 2002.

Modi, while referring to the iconography of Maratha king Shivaji atop a horse, brandishing a sword, spoke on Sunday of how an efficient administrator is wrongly represented in history as a mere warrior.

“Every statue of Shivaji Maharaj built in the recent history shows him riding a horse and holding a sword. An impression is created that he was aggressive and was all the time at war. The truth is that he was a capable administrator. He was an expert in crop planning and water management. He ran a small government with a lot of efficiency but all that is not allowed to be reflected,” Modi lamented at a public meeting at the Raigad fort in Maharashtra.

“Today’s rulers have done it not just to Chhatrapati Shivaji but also to Mahatma Gandhi. Many aspects of Mahatma Gandhi’s life are not properly reported and reflected in our history. Many things are being twisted and wrongly presented”, Modi said at an event organised by Shiv Pratishthan, a social group.

Modi said Indian rulers are carrying on the British tradition of distorting history and presenting only parts of it before the world. “True history is not allowed to be reported in India, ” he said.