"PM Thinks He's Bigger Than The Mahatma," Says Maharashtra Ashram Trustee

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taunted Mahatma Gandhi by skipping Sevagram Ashram from his itinerary in Maharashtra's Wardha, a trustee of the ashram, the Mahatma's home for a decade, said on Monday.

PM Modi, who visited this district headquarters town in Vidarbha today, limited his engagements to addressing an election rally in scorching heat.

"Maybe, in the last five years, he (PM Modi) has started thinking that he has become bigger than Gandhi and there is no need for Gandhi," said Avinash Kakde, trustee of Sevagram Ashram Pratishthan.

Mahatma Gandhi and PM Modi are poles apart in their thoughts and actions, Mr Kakde said. "Tum se bada mein ho gaya hoon, tum satya ki baat karte they, mein jhoot ki baat karta hoon, dekho desh mein kaun bada hai (I am bigger than you. You (Mahatma Gandhi) used to talk of truth, I speak of falsehood. See who is bigger in the country)," Mr Kakde said.

"In their thoughts and practices, they (Mahatma Gandhi and PM Modi) are North and South Poles," Mr Kakde said. While Gandhiji believed in equality for all humans, PM Modi thinks only about big industrialists, he alleged.

PM Modi not visiting the ashram is good in a way, Mr Kakde said. He recalled that in 2014, PM Modi had visited the ashram as a prime ministerial candidate, seeking to benefit from the "aura and blessings" of Mahatma Gandhi.

The last five years have made it clear that he is not the same person, Mr Kakde said.

In 1936, Mahatma Gandhi established his residence in a village called Segaon on the outskirts of Wardha, which he renamed as Sevagram or "village of service".