Death penalty belongs to medieval ages: Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Opposition's Vice Presidential candidate and Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Tuesday expressed his stand against death penalty and capital punishments calling them as medieval practices. Gandhi said, "Death penalty is wrong and this is my principle." Notably, Shiv Sena criticised him for a letter he wrote to the President in 2015, seeking clemency for a 1993 Mumbai blasts accused.
Days before the vice presidential election, the Opposition's candidate, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, once again came out against the death penalty and capital punishment, saying that they belong in the medieval ages.Addressing reporters after filing nomination papers for the post of the vice president of India, Gandhi said, "I feel that the death penalty and capital punishment belong to the medieval ages. Death penalty is wrong and this is my principle.""I do not think I need to defend myself on this issue. The death penalty is a death penalty," Gandhi added, referring to the controversy generated by the Shiv Sena attacking him over his 2015 letter to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking clemency for 1993 Mumbai serial blasts financier Yakub Memon.Gandhi noted that he has written a similar petition for Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is currently on the death row in Pakistan.SHIV SENA TRYING TO MALIGN GANDHI?Shiv Sena brandished their attack on Gandhi yet again on Monday, when Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut opposed his candidature over his anti-capital punishment principles. Raut asked,"Gandhi had used all his powers to save Yakub Memon. He even had written to the President. I want to ask (Opposition) what kind of mindset is this."Notably, Gandhi has always maintained that he is against the death penalty. In his comments today, Gandhi said that his opposition to the death penalty is inspired from two persons - Mahatma Gandhi, his grandfather, and Babasaheb Ambedkar.Before this, in 2015, while delivering a lecture, Gandhi had said, "I would like to take this opportunity to say right at the start...that India must move determinedly forward to the abolition of the capital punishment".Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and C Rajagopalachari, will contest against the NDA candidate M Venkaiah Naidu in the vice presidential election scheduled to be held on August 5. Death penalty and capital punishment belongs to the medieval ages : #VicePresidential candidate #GopalKrishnaGandhipic.twitter.com/r1zcoG2MGy