Never 'disrespected' Gandhi while praising Netaji: Tamil Nadu Governor

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Saturday said suggestions that he was “disrespectful” to Mahatma Gandhi was “farther from the truth” and that he merely placed facts based on primary documents, amid outrage over his statement that India wouldn’t have secured independence from the British in 1947 if not for Netaji Subash Chandra Bose.

With Congress and several political parties taking objection to his statement that Quit India Movement led by Gandhi had “fizzled out” after 1942, Ravi said some media reports have sought to create an erroneous impression that I have been disrespectful to Mahatma Gandhi.

“Nothing could be farther from the truth. I hold Mahatma Gandhi in the highest regard and his teachings have been the ideals of my life,” Ravi said in a statement, adding that some media did “cherry-picking” from my speech and gave it a “twist.”

Ravi said he sought to elaborate the point that Netaji’s significant contributions to India’s Independence has not been adequately appreciated.

“I tried to make a point that what accelerated the pace and process of Independence in 1947 were the Revolts of the Royal Indian Navy and Air Force in February 1946 – both inspired by Netaji. Due to these revolts the British panicked because they could no longer trust the Indians in uniform for their own safety and security in India,” Ravi said.

“What I have said are facts based on primary documents. I did not mean any disrespect to Mahatma Gandhi whose teachings have been the guiding light of my life,” the Governor added.

In his speech on January 23, Ravi had said India wouldn’t have secured independence from the British in 1947 if not for the rebellion by Indians within the Navy and Air Force who were “inspired” by Netaji Subash Chandra Bose’s call for an armed struggle as the non-cooperation movement spearheaded by the Indian National Congress “fizzled out” after 1942.

From 1942 to 1946, Ravi said, there was no “worthwhile resistance” to the British rule in India and it was only the fear of “resistance by the Indian men” in the then Navy and Air Force that prompted Britishers to announce that they will leave the country by 1947.