I won’t even go so far as to say that some critics would argue that this fuzzy thinking is akin to suggesting that those who come from the same ideological family as Nathuram Godse actually had the same goals and philosophy as the Mahatma. It’s a ridiculous and foolish argument besides being an insult to Gandhiji, that too on the day that marks the anniversary of the day he was shot by Godse.
As for Modi and Gandhi being on the same path, I guess if we are generous to Gadkari we can say he implied that they are both Gujratis. Beyond that there cannot be two more different personalities. One invented non-violent protest, and was heartbroken by the massacres of the Partition that he never accepted. The other heartlessly presided over the worst massacre in independent India and subsequently made any number of speeches to exploit the communal divide and win elections. In 1959, years after Gandhiji’s assassination on 30 January 1948, the great American civil rights activist Martin Luther King travelled to India to understand the Mahatma’s technique of non-violent protest. Even today, President Obama quotes Gandhi, and while Mr Modi may be a big fish in the pond of Gujarat, the Americans are not likely to consider giving him even an visa anytime soon.