Union Minister & BJP Leader Suresh Gopi Calls Indira Gandhi ‘Mother Of India’

Thrissur: In a comment which could trigger a political furore, Union Minister and BJP leader Suresh Gopi described former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as the “mother of India”.

Actor-politician Gopi, BJP’s first Lok Sabha MP from Kerala, also called late Congress Chief Minister K Karunakaran a “courageous administrator”, reported PTI.

Gopi, who was speaking to newspersons after visiting the memorial of Karunakaran, said Karunakaran and Marxist veteran E K Nayanar are his “political gurus”.

Urging mediapersons not to add any political connotation to his visit to Karunakaran memorial, the BJP leader said he came here to pay his respects to his “guru”.

Gopi recently won from Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, dashing the hopes of Karunakaran’s son and Congress leader K Muraleedharan who finished third in a triangular contest.

The 65-year-old Gopi urged mediapersons not to add any political connotation to his comments and visit to Karunakaran memorial as he had gone to pay his respects to his “guru”.

Congress stalwarts Indira Gandhi and Karunakaran, as well as CPI(M)’s Nayanar are all political rivals of the BJP, so it remains to be seen whether Gopi’s remarks are taken in the right spirit.