LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit Sunday said if one could become great just by dressing scantily, then Bollywood actor "Rakhi Sawant would have become greater than Mahatma Gandhi", drawing flak from social media users.
He made the remarks at the 'prabuddh varg sammelan' (meeting of intellectuals) organised by the BJP in Bangarmau assembly constituency of Unnao district.
"In our opinion, no one has become an intellectual by writing a book on any topic.
If that was the case for so many years, I have read at least 6,000 books," Dixit said.
He continued, "Gandhiji used to dress scantily. He used to wrap just a dhoti. The country called him Bapu. If somebody could become great just by taking their clothes off, then Rakhi Sawant would have become greater than Mahatma Gandhi."
A video clipping of his speech went viral on social media, following which he put out a series of clarificatory tweets in Hindi.
"Some friends in social media are showing the clip of a video of my speech with an otherwise meaning. This was the part of my speech at the 'prabuddh sammelan' in Unnao, in which the moderator of the 'sammelan' introduced me saying that 'I am an enlightened writer'."
"I took this point forward saying that no one becomes an intellectual by writing some books. Mahatma Gandhi used to dress scantily. The country called him 'Bapu'. But, that does not mean Rakhi Sawant will become a Gandhi-ji," Dixit said.
"Friends, take my speech in the right context," he said.