Asked to choose Gandhi or Godse, HC ex-judge says ‘need time to think’

NANDIGRAM: Former Calcutta HC judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who joined BJP on Thursday, came under fire on Friday after a question from a TV anchor to choose between Mahatma Gandhi and Nathuram Godse prompted him to say he “needed to think about it”.



Gangopadhyay’s name appeared in poll graffiti in Nandigram as BJP’s prospective Lok Sabha candidate for Tamluk.

During an interview with a Bengali news channel, Gangopadhyay was asked to pick between “Gandhi and Godse”. He took a deep breath and said: “I will not reply to this now. I need to think over it.”

In another reply, while referring to his family’s long links with Left, Gangopadhyay said that he had “asked” for a job, but while others got it, he did not. He then dubbed CPM a party of “slogans and dogmas”. The two statements kicked off a social media storm, with senior TMC leaders singling them out for their sharpest attacks.

TMC MP Saket Gokhale said: “A man who was a high court judge until four days ago can’t decide between Gandhi and Godse. Imagine how this man must have delivered his judgments in court and what his mindset has been.”

Unfazed by this, local BJP workers started canvassing support for Gangopadhyay as the party’s Tamluk candidate in Nandigram 2 block’s Haripur anchal. Nandigram is state leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s assembly constituency, and this block has considerable BJP support.

BJP worker Swapan Kumar Mondal, who did some of the graffiti seeking votes for Gangopadhyay, said: “The person who has been the most vocal for jobseekers (in schools) is almost certain to be nominated by BJP to contest in our Tamluk Lok Sabha. So, we have started wall writing without wasting any time. The name will be formally announced in a day or two.” TOI was the first to predict that Gangopadhyay might be the party’s candidate from Tamluk.