THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Khadi Commission Karmachari Union (KCKU) has come up with a statement terming the controversy over carrying the picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Khadi and Village Industries Commission’s (KVIC) diary in place of Mahatma Gandhi as totally uncalled for.
In a statement issued here, Union All India vice-president P V Suresh Kumar and state secretary Venugopal said there had been no picture of Mahatma Gandhi in the KVIC Diary published in 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2016. They also produced the copies of diaries published during those years.
“It is a fact that Mahatma Gandhi’s picture was not there on the cover of the diaries published in the past years. But some vested interests were hiding this fact and misleading people,” they said. They said the Union was apprehensive of the move to malign the Naredra Modi Government which has been formulating an action plan for total change in the Khadi sector for its progress.
“Anyone listening to ‘Man Ki Baat’ by the Prime Minister would really appreciate his honest efforts. In the past two-and-a-half years there has been a giant leap in the production and sale of Khadi products,” they said. They protested the media reports which had led to the controversy as it amounted to defaming the Prime Minister who had been trying to function as an ambassador of Khadi.