HT Correspondent
Mumbai: In a bid to cash in on the bickering between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress over the Savarkar issue, the BJP on Tuesday announced that a ‘Savarkar Gaurav Yatra’ jointly organised with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena would be held between March 30 and April 6. The yatra will travel across all 288 assembly constituencies and “take Savarkar’s work to the people”. The BJP also dared Uddhav Thackeray to snap ties with the Congress for insulting Savarkar.
After its announcement, the BJP did not spend more than a day to ready its plan. State president Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced the schedule on Tuesday, claiming that at least 10 million people would participate in the Yatra, which will be held in at least two key towns of every constituency.
“We will take Savarkar’s contributions and history to the people, especially the youth of the country,” said Bawankule as he announced the details of the Yatra. “Savarkar wrote the history of the 1857 munity, was sentenced to ‘Kala Paani’ imprisonment twice and was instrumental in getting over 500 temples thrown open to the scheduled castes. Some people are trying to wipe out this history but we will not allow it to happen.”
The BJP state unit chief termed Uddhav Thackeray’s stand on Savarkar as one that smacked of double standards and said that Thackeray needed to adhere to the legacy of his father Bal Thackeray. “Balasaheb had hit Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar’s poster with chappals years ago,” he said. “Does Uddhav have the guts to do that to Rahul Gandhi’s effigy? He announced that he would not tolerate the insult to Savarkar, but his actions speak otherwise. He has been tolerating these insults for three years to save his chief ministership and his son Aaditya’s ministry.”
{{/usCountry}}The BJP state unit chief termed Uddhav Thackeray’s stand on Savarkar as one that smacked of double standards and said that Thackeray needed to adhere to the legacy of his father Bal Thackeray. “Balasaheb had hit Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar’s poster with chappals years ago,” he said. “Does Uddhav have the guts to do that to Rahul Gandhi’s effigy? He announced that he would not tolerate the insult to Savarkar, but his actions speak otherwise. He has been tolerating these insults for three years to save his chief ministership and his son Aaditya’s ministry.”
{{/usCountry}}Industries minister and Shinde-led Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant reiterated that the alliance would spread awareness about Savarkar’s thoughts through the Yatra. He also claimed that the Thackeray faction boycotted the meeting called by the Congress only after the state government announced the Yatra.
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