Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has clarified his statement over freedom fighters saying that it was a confusion of punctuation in his quote. A video has gone viral online in which the minister says that Subhash Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru were hanged. It has left many wondering about his knowledge of history.
Paying homage to freedom fighters, Javadekar had said, "Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Pandit Nehru, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru sabhi phaansi par chade (Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Pandit Nehru, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru â€" all of them were hanged)."
The comment created controversy as Bose, Patel and Nehru were not hanged and media attacked the minister saying that he needed to read up on Indian history. Bose's death is still debated while Nehru had died of illness and Patel died of a heart attack.
"I am amused with the news. I paid my respect to all the freedom fighters since 1857. I mentioned leaders like Gandhi, Nehru and Subhash Bose. It was a full stop. In the next sentence I recounted those who were hanged, jailed and suffered at the hands of the British. There was no confusion in the minds of those who listened. I hope this removes all confusion," he tweeted.
Javadekar was recently made the HRD Minister after Smriti Irani was shifted to the Textile Ministry.
