Gandhians object to prankster's letter

Ahmedabad, June 26 : A prankster here left many people annoyed by sending a letter to Mahatma Gandhi at his residential address Sabarmati Ashram asking the Father of the Nation to appear for a pre-examination test for the post of a bank clerk!

The invitation was printed on the letter head of State Bank of India was received at Sabarmati Ashram.

As per the letter, the SBI's Central Recruitment and Promotion Department in Mumbai called Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to appear for a special training programme meant for the Schedule caste and Schedule tribe candidates for clerical cadres recruitment examination to be held in July.

Occupants at the Sabarmati Ashram received the regular mail in Gandhi's name at his official address registered in the Municipal Corporation as 123, Sabarmati Ashram, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad.

The letter appeared similar to those sent by SBI's recruitment and training wing.

Ardent Mahatma Gandhi followers, however, have not found the letter in good taste.

Amrutbhai Modi, Secretary of the Sabarmati Ashram while calling the whole incident as a prank played at the behest of computer technology, said: "I don't see any fault of bank as everything is computer generated. And bank receives lakhs of such applications. We will make it a point to discuss this issue with the bank authorities. But it is a shameful act."

"We received the letter addressed to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and carrying the complete address. It was a letter from the SBI calling Gandhiji for the special training programme organised for schedule caste and schedule tribe candidates for Clerical Cadres Recruitment examination. Now Gandhi may have worked a lot for the SC/ST, but by birth he wasn't a schedule caste. So certainly this is a prank," Modi added.

Another Gandhian, Dhimant Vadhiya, said: "It is very shameful that somebody played prank with Gandhi's name. He is one of the cult figures of the country. We are demanding a serious action against the person as well as the bank authorities who generated this letter."

"Gandhiji has a worldwide status. This recruitment letter that has come has been posted online via the Internet. This is just a prank, nothing else," said Durgesh Trivedi, another Gandhian.

One earlier occasion, the Ashram authorities had come across an equally interesting incident when a prankster booked an e-ticket on June 20 in the name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on the Bhuj-Mumbai train! By Ami Sharma

ANI