Mahama Gandhi was a British agent: Katju

Stating several 'reasons', he said Gandhi did great harm to India.

"I submit that Gandhi was objectively a British agent who did great harm to India," Katju said in his Facebook post.

"This post is bound to draw a lot of flak at me, but that does not matter as I am not a popularity seeker I have often said things knowing that initially that will make me very unpopular, and I will be vilified and denounced by many. Nevertheless I say such things.as I believe they must be said in my country's interest," he said.

He said : "By constantly injecting religion into politics continuously for several decades, Gandhi furthered the British policy of divide and rule."

Katju said Gandhi's economic ideas were thoroughly reactionary.

"He advocated self sufficient village communities, though everybody knows that these communities were totally casteist and in the grip of landlords and money lenders..Gandhi was against industrialization, and preached handspinning by charkha and other such reactionary nonsense," he said.

"Similarly, his ' trusteeship ' theory was all nonsense, and an act of deceiving the people. Some people praise Gandhi's bravery in going to Noakhali, etc to douse the communal violence at the time of Partition. But the question is why did he help setting the house on fire in the first place by preaching religious ideas in public political meetings for several decades, which were bound to divide the Indian people on religious lines? First you set the house on fire, and then you do the drama of trying to douse the flames," he said.