Gandhi defends mercy plea for Yakub Memon

Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Tuesday rejected the Shiv Sena’s criticism for his move to save 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon from death row.

“Shiv Sena had to say what it has said... It is following its principle with devotion,” the joint Opposition candidate for the vice presidential election said.

Gandhi said he opposed the capital punishment awarded to Memon because he firmly believed that death penalty belonged to the medieval ages.

“I am merely following my principles as I am opposed to death penalty,” Gandhi said noting that two former Presidents – K R Narayanan and A P J Abdul Kalam, too, were opposed to capital punishment.

Gandhi said he had, in a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee, requested to do what his predecessors had done.

He said he had also written a similar petition for Indian citizen Kulbhushan Jadhav, facing death sentence in Pakistan.

“As a common, independent citizen, it is my duty to fulfill my principles. I believe in that. I have drawn inspiration on death penalty from two persons – Mahatma Gandhi, who was opposed to it and Babasaheb Ambedkar, who said it was only proper to abolish it,” he said.