Indira Gandhi ‘mother of India’: Union Minister Suresh Gopi

Thrissur: Union Minister and BJP leader Suresh Gopi on Saturday described former Prime Minister and Congress leader Indira Gandhi as the “mother of India” and the late Congress Chief Minister K. Karunakaran as a “courageous administrator”.

The BJP leader also termed Karunakaran and Marxist veteran E.K. Nayanar his “political gurus”.

Gopi was speaking to reporters after visiting the memorial of Karunakaran at Punkunnam in Thrissur.

Interestingly, Gopi won the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat by dashing the hopes of Karunakaran’s son and Congress leader K. Muraleedharan, who finished third in a triangular contest in the April 26 polls.

Urging mediapersons not to add any political connotation to his visit to the Karunakaran memorial, Gopi said he came here to pay his respects to his “guru”. Like Nayanar and his wife, Sarada, he had close relations with Karunakaran and his wife, Kalyanikuttyamma, also.

He had visited Nayanar’s home in Kannur and renewed his relationship with his family members on June 12.

Gopi said as he viewed Indira Gandhi as “bharathathinte mathavu” (mother of India), Karunakaran was the “father of the Congress party in the State” for him. He explained that describing Karunakaran as the “father” of the Congress in Kerala was not a disrespect to the founders or co-founders of the grand old party in the southern State.

The actor-turned-politician also hailed the administrative capabilities of the Congress veteran and dubbed him as a “courageous administrator” of his generation.

He further said that though he had expressed his desire to visit the ‘‘Murali Mandiram’’ in 2019, the veteran’s daughter Padmaja Venugopal, who recently defected to the BJP, discouraged him due to political reasons.

Later, Mr. Gopi visited the famous Our Lady of Lourdes MetropolitanCathedral in the city, offered prayers and presented a golden rosary to the church.

PTI with edits