Godse Mess: Naga Babu In Damage Control Mode, Says He Respects Gandhi

HYDERABAD: Under-fire for his controversial comments on Nathuram Godse and his killing of Mahatma Gandhi, veteran Tollywood actor Naga Babu Konidela quickly responded on Thursday to douse the fire. In one of his tweets in Telugu, he sought to clarify that he has immense respect for Mahatma Gandhi and that he was in no way endorsing the killing of the father of the nation by Godse.

The actor, who is also an active member of his younger brother Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena party, is in the eye of a storm after a police complaint was lodged against him for his controversial tweet on Nathuram Godse. Congress party’s Telangana unit leader Manavatha Roy approached the police seeking action against the actor for trying to ‘justify Mahatma Gandhi’s killing by Godse.’

Naga Babu’s comments also created ripples on the social media with many questioning the need for the actor to wade into an unwarranted controversy. Realising the potential danger from the issue, Naga Babu responded with a couple of tweets to set the controversy at rest.

In one of the tweets, he sought to clarify that his Twitter comments have nothing to do with either the Jana Sena Party or anyone of his family. “Whatever I tweet on anything, it’s my personal responsibility. Janasena party or any of my family has no involvement in my opinion,” read the tweet.

Before this, he also sought to clear the air on his Nathuram Godse comment, urging people to understand him in the right perspective. The translation of his Telugu tweet goes like this: “Please understand my comments in the right perspective. I have in no way endorsed the crime committed by Nathuram in my tweet. I only said that Nathuram’s side of the story should also be known to the people. I have immense respect for Mahatma Gandhi. In fact, my respect for Gandhi is much more than the respect of my critics for him.”

The entire controversy unfolded after Naga Babu took to twitter on Tuesday and shared the controversial post praising Nathuram Godse on the occasion of his birth anniversary. Posting in Telugu, Naga Babu came up with these comments: "Nathuram Godse, a true patriot. Whether his killing of Gandhi is correct or not is debatable. Those days, no media presented his side of the story. The media worked in favor of the ruling government (it is the same even today). He knew that he'd be dishonoured. Yet, he killed Gandhi. We cannot raise doubts over his patriotism. He is a true patriot. On his birthday, I felt like remembering him once."

Now that the actor has come up with his clarification, it remains to be seen if that would help him wriggle out of the mess and the police complaint.

Also Read: Actor Nagababu In Trouble Over His Godse Tweet