"Descendants of accidental Hindu not able to digest honor given to Gita Press": Uttar Pradesh CM

Balrampur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 20 : Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday hit out at the Congress party over its criticism of Centre's decision to select Gita Press for the Gandhi Peace Prize award for 2021, saying the descendants of "accidental Hindu are not able to digest the honour" given to the Gorakhpur-based publisher.

Without naming anyone during his speech in Balrampur, CM said, "The descendants of accidental Hindu are not able to digest the honour given to Gita Press. Gita Press has been serving Sanatan Hindu Dharma for a century. Sanatan Hindu Dharma paves the way for the welfare of humanity. It is a matter of pride that the main center of its publication has received the Gandhi Peace Prize."

He further said that it is a matter of "shamelessness" for the Congress to have such a "dirty attitude towards its heritage".

"Gita Press has been publishing religious literature for the last 100 years. It has been the main center of publication of all types of religious literature, including Gita, Vedas, Ramayana, Ramcharitmanas, without any government cooperation, at a cheap price," he added.

The Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 will be conferred on Gita Press of Gorakhpur, in recognition of its "outstanding contribution towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods, the Ministry of Culture said on Sunday.

Gandhi Peace Prize 2021, recognizes the important and unparalleled contribution of Gita Press, in contributing to the collective upliftment of humanity, which personifies Gandhian living in the true sense.

Established in 1923, Gita Press is one of the world's largest publishers, having published 41.7 crore books in 14 languages, including 16.21 crore Shrimad Bhagvad Gita.

The statement issued by the Ministry of Culture said that the jury headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi unanimously decided to select Gita Press, Gorakhpur for the Gandhi Peace Prize.

However, the Congress hit out at the Centre over its decision taken by the jury headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh termed the decision a "travesty" and is like "awarding Savarkar and Godse".

"The Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 has been conferred on the Gita Press at Gorakhpur which is celebrating its centenary this year. There is a very fine biography from 2015 of this organisation by Akshaya Mukul in which he unearths the stormy relations it had with the Mahatma and the running battles it carried on with him on his political, religious & social agenda. The decision is really a travesty and is like awarding Savarkar and Godse," he said in a tweet.

The remarks drew ire from the Bharatiya Janata Party with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma criticising the Congress by saying that the grand old party has unleashed a war against India's civilisational values and rich legacy.

"With the win in Karnataka, Congress has now openly unleashed a war against India's civilisational values and rich legacy, be it in the form of repeal of anti-conversion law or criticism against Geeta Press. people of India will resist this aggression and reassert our civilisation values with equal aggression," Sarma tweeted.