As Rahul remarks fan Savarkar heat, Maharashtra Cong fears will be singed

“Despite the advice, that Rahul chose to rake up the Savarkar issue, that too with documents and, at a press conference, shows that he was prepared to attack,” said an AICC leader, while pointing out that there has never been any ambiguity regarding Rahul’s stand on Savarkar, even when the Maha Vikas Aghadi was formed with the Shiv Sena and NCP.

Rahul’s decision to take on the BJP criticism head-on has also left the state Congress leadership to face complex issues – especially when it comes to coalitions — it would have rather avoided. Its frontline state leaders steer clear of certain topics sensitive to Maharashtra, like Savarkar, who – more than his contributions to Hindu nationalism – is much revered for his contribution to Marathi culture in terms of poems and his attempt to “purify” the Marathi language.

There is also consternation in the Congress ranks due to the fact that the Bharat Jodo Yatra had entered Maharashtra on a successful note of unity projected by the MVA, with Supriya Sule of the NCP and Aaditya Thackeray of the Uddhav Sena walking with Rahul. Following the Savarkar row, and the BJP protests, while Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut has warned of rift, Uddhav stayed away from a Rahul public meeting he was supposed to attend.

Among allies who have joined the Yatra since it entered Maharashtra have been Sule, NCP state president Jayant Patil, NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad and Aaditya.

The Congress has tried to retrieve the situation, with its communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh saying at a press conference in Buldhana that there was no pre-planned strategy to attack Savarkar in the state of his birth. “Rahul was speaking on the occasion of the birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda. He mentioned Savarkar in the context of how Munda did not compromise with the British, while Savarkar signed a mercy petition, which is a fact.”

He added that Nathuram Godse being influenced by Savarkar and his ideology to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi, is also a fact. Ramesh also stressed that the differences between the Congress and Sena on the issue would have no bearing on the MVA alliance. Ramesh also had a long chat with Raut on the issue.

Raut said that Rahul’s Yatra was getting a good response all over the country, and raising important issues like unemployment and farmers’ problems. “There was no reason to raise the issue of Veer Savarkar.”

Ramesh’s denial notwithstanding, the aggressive stand on Savarkar given that the BJP reaction was not surprising is also being seen as part of a Congress strategy to assert itself in the alliance where it is largely seen as the third wheel.

While Rahul congratulated the state committee for “successfully organising” the Yatra and said the Congress is in the DNA of Maharashtra, especially of Vidarbha, he is believed to have told the state leadership that it faces the hard work of “continuing the ideological battle he had kicked off”. In the battle of ideologies, the Congress stands firmly opposed to Savarkar, he reportedly said.

A former minister of the Congress said they expect the issue to stay hot for some time now, leaving the party to shed its caution on it. “Going on the defensive would mean letting Rahul down,” he said.

Generally, given the sensitivities involved, the Maharashtra Congress is chary about taking on the right-wing on cultural issues. For example, it doesn’t raise the issue of Savarkar’s mercy petitions in the state. Even when the Devendra Fadnavis government had honoured the late Babasaheb Purandare with the Maharashtra Bhushan, it was the NCP that had objected, not the Congress. Purandare’s version of the history of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is widely contested by many Bahujan groups.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar has often used cultural symbolism to push an anti-Hindutva line, especially wearing a Mahatma Phule-type turban in Pune instead of a Peshwa-type one. Several NCP leaders had criticised the vandalism of Pune’s Bhandarkar Institute over writings on Shivaji by author James Lane, and again when a bust of Dadoji Kondadev, reputed to have been Shivaji’s guru, was removed from Lal Mahal in Pune. The protesters in both cases were hardline Maratha groups.

Amidst the wariness in Congress ranks, there are some who are happy. “The Congress has been reduced to being a third, minion partner in the MVA, with no aggressive voice, dragged behind the other two. It will be a test of the state leadership to maintain the momentum with similar aggression, while defending Rahul, in the coming days,” a state Congress leader said.