After Uddhav’s warning, Sanjay Raut to meet Rahul Gandhi and ask him to avoid criticising Savarkar

"Veer Savarkar is our deity. Savarkar is related to our faith. We cannot tolerate insults to him," Sanjay Raut, chief spokesperson of Shiv Sena (UBT) told The Indian Express on Monday.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut to meet Rahul Gandhi over Savarkar controversy

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi

A day after Uddhav Thackeray warned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi against insulting Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said he will meet Rahul and try to convince him to avoid mentioning Savarkar in his speeches and press conferences as it was a matter of faith for the Uddhav-led Sena.

“Veer Savarkar is our deity. Savarkar is related to our faith. We cannot tolerate insults to him,” Sanjay Raut, chief spokesperson of Shiv Sena (UBT) told The Indian Express on Monday.

Raut, who also addressed reporters in Mumbai on Monday on the same subject, said he will soon meet Rahul in New Delhi. “I will hold discussions with Rahul Gandhi on the issue of Veer Savarkar. I will explain to him the sacrifices made by Savarkar… He spent 14 years in Andaman and Nicobar jail. He was given the worst punishment of ‘kaala pani’,” he said.

Story continues below this ad

“Those who have gone to jail, like me, know how difficult it is to live there even for a day. And just imagine, Savarkar spent 14 years in jail where he had to undergo absolute torture. Rahul Gandhi needs to understand the sufferings and sacrifices that Savarkar underwent. I am sure the Congress leader will give me a patient hearing and will try to understand the life and times of Savarkar without insulting him,” he said.

Raut added, “We object to the use of words like ‘mafiveer’ for Savarkar. By belittling the sacrifice of Savarkar in this manner, Rahul Gandhi is doing harm to himself and his image. Rahul Gandhi undertook Bharat Jodo Yatra and drew wide praise from across the country. And by insulting Savarkar, he is creating hatred among those who respect the Hindutva ideologue for what he did for the country.”

The Sena (UBT) leader said Rahul has repeatedly said that Savarkar had apologised. “But how many times will he repeat the same thing? We did not expect that Rahul Gandhi will carry his animosity for a human being who is dead this far… The Congress leader needs to have closure with regard to his strong sentiments against Savarkar who is not alive to defend himself. He should stop mentioning Savarkar in his speeches and press conferences. There are several important national issues on which he is raising his voice without any fear… He should keep doing that. The country needs a leader like him,” he said.

Raut said Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has already made it clear that his party will not tolerate any insult to Savarkar. “Rahul Gandhi needs to understand our sentiments as well. Savarkar is a matter of faith for us and therefore we will not tolerate anything said to dishonour or disrespect him,” he said.

Story continues below this ad

In its editorial on Monday, the Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ said, “Rahul Gandhi repeatedly says ‘My name is not Savarkar’. By making such statements, Rahul Gandhi is not going to make the Congress courageous. Neither is he going to reduce the love and admiration that people have for Savarkar. Savarkar means courage, Savarkar means fight against injustice and ‘gulamgiri. Veer Savarkar created warriors in the country and outside to fight against the British. Like Savarkar, Rahul Gandhi will have to create warriors in his own party so that they can take on the present rulers.”

The editorial said Rahul has been sentenced to two years’ jail in the 2019 defamation case. “This is an injustice to him. But if he is trying to fight for the truth by insulting Savarkar, he will never get that victory.”

The editorial said the Congress leader belongs to a family of martyrs. “Motilal Nehru and Pandit Nehru went all out during the freedom struggle. Their life was dedicated to the country. Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi made the highest sacrifices for the nation. The country acknowledges their matrydom. Similarly, Veer Savarkar’s brother Babarao Savarkar and their entire family also made the highest sacrifices for the country. No one should try to belittle those great sacrifices,” it added.

After the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the two-year jail sentence, there is sympathy in favour of Rahul Gandhi, it said. “But if he continues to insult Savarkar, he will be doing harm to himself..”

Story continues below this ad

The editorial said Rahul’s comments on Savarkar will affect the Congress the most in Maharashtra. “In every village of Maharashtra, you will find Savarkar in many forms. This will certainly put the Congress rank and file in a difficult situation in the state.”

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

Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories