Anti-Jewish remarks: Gandhi's grandson resigns

Rediff News Bureau | January 23, 2008 22:40 IST

Last Updated: January 24, 2008 13:22 IST

Arun Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's [ Images ] grandson, has resigned from a prominent institute he founded in the United States after he made some comments about Jews, media reports said.

The M K Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence was set up 17 years ago to spread the message of Gandhiji.

The alleged comments were made, media reports said, during an online discussion on faith and religion on the Washington Post website.

"The board of the M K Gandhi Institute for Non-violence has received Arun Gandhi's offer of resignation as president of our organisation," the reports said, quoting a statement by the institute.

Arun, whose comments ruffled the Jews' feathers, reportedly said, "Jews not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews. The world did feel sorry for the episode, but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on, the regret turns into anger."

Ever since, the website was swarmed with angry messages and the blog's editors, Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham, published an apology on January 18.

The website's moderators said: "We regret the initial posting, and we apologise for the episode", asking readers for "a measure of forbearance and tolerance as the site endeavours to conduct a civil and illuminating conversation."



But that did not pacify the angry Jewish community, which wanted the writer to resign, media reports said.

According to reports, the American-Jewish Committee's executive director, David A Harris, said India was being ungrateful for all that his organisation did for New Delhi.