In Maharashtra, Congress and Uddhav Sena at odds over Savarkar

Days after Rahul Gandhi ridiculed V D Savarkar, Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut demanded that he be honoured with the Bharat Ratna

Addressing Savarkar as “Savarkarji”, Rahul said, “BJP idolises Savarkarji who sought mercy from the British and took pension. On the other hand, Congress idolises Birsa Munda who faced death without his pride.”(Express Photo)

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress, two constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), are once again at loggerheads over Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. After Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday ridiculed Savarkar, the Shiv Sena (UBT) demanded that Savarkar should be honoured with the Bharat Ratna.

“Hindu Hriday Samrat Veer Savarkar should be honoured with Bharat Ratna. Like Savarkar, Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray should also be honoured with Bharat Ratna,” said Sanjay Raut, chief spokesperson of the Shiv Sena (UBT), at his customary press conference in Mumbai on Thursday.

Opinion | Coomi Kapoor writes: Savarkar no RSS fan

Raut said they have been demanding Bharat Ratna for Veer Savarkar for years now but the central government has not taken any decision on it. “Why is the government silent about honouring Veer Savarkar with Bharat Ratna?” he asked. “If Bharat Ratna is awarded to Veer Savarkar and Balasaheb Thackeray, it will elevate the status of the award,” he said.

Raut, however, evaded a question related to Rahul Gandhi ridiculing Savarkar during his Bharat Jodo Yatra. When The Indian Express sought the Sena’s stand on Rahul’s comment, Raut said, “I would not like to comment on it.”

However, a Shiv Sena leader said Rahul Gandhi was unnecessarily giving a handle to BJP by repeatedly slamming Savarkar. “Rahul Gandhi is repeatedly saying the same thing that Savarkar wrote mercy petitions and took pension from the British. This is now a well-known fact. Why is he saying it repeatedly? Why is he trying to run down Savarkar repeatedly? What will he gain by doing so? It is only proving a big advantage for the BJP as they are taking to social media and print and television media to attack Rahul Gandhi. This is damaging Maha Vikas Aghadi and spurring BJP into action,” the leader said.

During his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Washim on Tuesday, the Congress MP compared the martyrdom of tribal leader Birsa Munda with the life of Savarkar. Addressing Savarkar as “Savarkarji”, Rahul said, “BJP idolises Savarkarji who sought mercy from the British and took pension. On the other hand, Congress idolises Birsa Munda who faced death without his pride.”

He added, “Despite the British offering him land, he refused to bow down and chose death. We, as the Congress party, consider him our idol. For BJP and RSS, Savarkarji, who wrote mercy petitions to the British and accepted pension, is an idol. That is the difference between us and the BJP.”

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When asked about the Shiv Sena (UBT) demand for bestowing Bharat Ratna on Savarkar, state Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe said, “We have our differences with the Shiv Sena over the issue and those differences will remain. We have come together on the basis of a common minimum programme to save democracy and protect our Constitution.”

As to why Rahul Gandhi was repeating the same lines against Savarkar, Londhe said, “It is not about giving a handle to BJP, it is a fight against a particular ideology. It is not only about Savarkar seeking mercy, he was against the freedom struggle of this country. If we are going to glorify this ideology, it will be the glorification of ‘Manusmriti’…We cannot compromise the unity and integrity of the nation and the ideology of Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar for three-four MPs of BJP.”

Meanwhile, Deepak Kesakar, spokesperson for the Eknath Shinde-led Sena said, “We have been demanding Bharat Ratna for Savarkar for 15 years…But who will bathe Aditya Thackeray who hugged Rahul Gandhi? Rahul Gandhi insulted Savarkar but Aditya Thackeray is hugging him…”

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, speaking at a function in Mumbai, said, “We will not keep quiet till we bury the ideology which is insulting Savarkar. Rahul Gandhi says Savarkar was jailed for 3-4 years. But is there a Congressman who has suffered pain like Savarkar did for 11 years? Before Independence, Savarkar endured pain from the British and after Independence, Congress is targeting him.”

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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