AGARTALA: Tripura's Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath, found himself in the midst of a controversy when he equated Swami Vivekananda with former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.
Nath who has earlier courted controversy with remarks over organ harvesting, while stating that great leaders like Subhas Bose, poet laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi were born in the country, also termed it "lucky" that Deb was born in Tripura.
"Those who were at the helm of the state affairs had failed us to dare dream. The only person who taught us to dream is Biplab (Kumar) Deb and many of (his) dreams he has fulfilled", he said at a function in Kamalpur Town Hall in Dhalai district on Friday.
"Sometimes some great leaders were born in our country and in the world like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Kabriguru Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda and Einstein. In every place every (great) individual isn't born", he said, adding that "we are lucky enough that a person like Biplab Deb was born in our state."
"The way Swamiji taught us to dream and fulfill dreams, Biplab Deb also did it by taking several steps and implemented them," the minister claimed.
"People who have little knowledge about the country's culture, tradition and etiquette are running the state of affairs. The way he (Nath) equated the former CM Biplab Deb with some of the country's great sons, amounts to showing disrespect," Trinamool Congress state president Subal Bhowmik told PTI.
On being asked about the party's stand on the Education Minister's statement, BJP chief spokesperson, Subrata Chakaborty on Saturday replied, "I have not seen the video footage. More so, it was his personal observation to which the party has nothing to say".