Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has replaced independence hero Mahatma Gandhi as the 2017 face of the government’s traditional handloom and cotton industry, triggering criticism on Friday. The government-run Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC) defended its decision to use a photo of Modi, sitting in an almost identical pose while spinning cotton, on the cover of its 2017 calendar and diary. Saxena said figures other than Gandhi had been used as the faces of the calendar before, and that Modi deserved the honour because he had helped boost cotton sales. “Becoming Gandhi requires years of self-sacrifice,” Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi and a political opponent of Modi, tweeted in Hindi. His minister of micro, small and medium enterprises, Kalraj Mishra, said there was no question of Modi or anyone else replacing Gandhi.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 14, 2017 17:00 UTC