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Ramachandra Guha claims his 'dynast' statement on Rahul Gandhi was distorted

Last Updated 18 January 2020, 15:27 IST

A day after historian Ramachandra Guha's remarks at the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi being a "fifth-generation dynast" who is "not liked by the youngsters" received widespread attention, he said his statement was distorted.

In a series of tweets, Guha said: "I did say in my KLF talk that Rahul Gandhi was a fifth-generation dynast, but I said much, much, more..."

Guha, a staunch liberal and secular voice, said his talk was based on a text (authored by him) in the Outlook magazine, on patriotism versus jingoism. "My talk was a defence of Constitutional patriotism against Hindutva jingoism. I am sorry that a reporter has cherry-picked two sentences out of a one-hour talk to distort its meaning."

Nonetheless, Guha added that the dynastic politics of the Congress was problematic. "I do believe that the countrywide movement against Hindutva is handicapped by the fact that the party of the freedom movement is so closely controlled by a single family," he said. "I ended my KLF talk by saying that even if the Congress may not be up to the task, ordinary citizens will carry on the struggle in defence of Constitutional values, as they have done so admirably in the protests against the CAA," he added.

Guha had kicked up a controversy when he said on the second day of the ongoing Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) during his talk: "I have nothing against Rahul Gandhi personally... But young India does not want a fifth-generation dynast. If you Malayalis make the mistake of re-electing Rahul Gandhi in 2024 too, you are merely handing over an advantage to Narendra Modi."

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(Published 18 January 2020, 15:10 IST)

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