Prime Minister replaces Gandhi on Khadi diary, sparks row

The Prime Minister’s Office while dismissing the controversy as ‘unnecessary’, said, “There is no rule in KVIC that the diary and calendar should have only Gandhi’s photo.” KVIC chairman VK 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 Gandhi’s stature is such that he can never be replaced by anyone, Saxena said, “This whole controversy is unnecessary and out of the context.” “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. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “The great symbol of charka and Mahatma Gandhi now gets replaced by Modi. In the calendar and diary of Khadi (KVIC) 2017, Modi replaced Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi is the Father of the Nation. Modi what?”