RAIPUR: Lashing out at religious leader Kalicharan Maharaj, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday cautioned people to be alert about the forces spreading hatred in society.
Referring to the arrested religious leader's comments against Mahatma Gandhi, Baghel said great people like Rabindranath Tagore and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose were admirers of Gandhi.
While Tagore had called Gandhi a Mahatma, Bose, despite ideological differences, referred to Gandhi as Father of Nation during a radio broadcast from Rangoon in 1944, Baghel pointed out.
The Congress leader was speaking at a function here, titled `Gandhi Hamare Abhiman' (Gandhi, Our Pride).
"And these `tutpunjiye' (petty) people refuse to consider Gandhi the Father of Nation. Who are you? Are you bigger than Subhas Babu? Do these people not believe in Tagore?" Baghel asked.
He also referred to Kalichaan as "Gaali-charan".
`Gaali' in Hindi means a term of abuse.
"Some people want to spread hatred in society and cultivate a crop of hate. There is a need to be careful about them," Baghel said, accusing such elements of trying to created a religious divide even during a pandemeic.
He also claimed that it was Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who "laid the foundation for the partition of the country" while Mohammad Ali Jinnah "fuelled it".
Raipur Police on Thursday arrested Kalicharan Maharaj from neighbouring Madhya Pradesh over his alleged derogatory remarks about Mahatma Gandhi.