E-Paper
On Savarkar row, Nitin Gadkari says, ‘We should thank Rahul Gandhi as…’
Union minister Nitin Gadkari said Rahul Gandhi should be thanked for giving BJP the opportunity to spread Savarkar's message to every household.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said Rahul Gandhi has given the opportunity to reach Savarkar's message to every home. "We should thank Rahul Gandhi for giving us the opportunity to take the truth and Savarkar to every household. Rahul Gandhi should continue doing this," Gadkari said addressing a gathering in Nagpur as part of Veer Savarkar Gaurav Yatra which was organised after Rahul Gandhi's comments. Read | Savarkar not national issue, Rahul Gandhi's UK speech not important: Pawar
Rahul Gandhi is at the centre of a fresh row over his recent Savarkar comment as after his disqualification from the Lok Sabha following his conviction in the Modi-surname defamation case of 2019, Rahul Gandhi said he won't apologise as he is not Savarkar.
Calling for an apology from Rahul Gandhi, Nitin Gadkari said he had not read what his grandmother Indira Gandhi, grandfather Feroze Gandhi said about Savarkar. "It was Savarkar who showed that Hindutva is a way of life. He broke caste barriers," Gadkari said. Rahul Gandhi insulting Savarkar does not make him small.
BJP leaders, especially from Maharashtra, have stepped up the attack on Rahul Gandhi on the Savarkar issue. Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray -- an ally of the Congress in the Maha Vikas Aghadi -- also expressed his disapproval of Rahul Gandhi's Savarkar comment. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar stepped in and following this the Congress agreed to tone down its attack on Savarkar.
'Will install an AC for you, Rahul Gandhi': Fadnavis
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also spoke at the Nagpur gathering on Tuesday and said Rahul Gandhi can be neither Savarkar nor Gandhi. "Rahul Gandhi says he won't apologise; he is not Savarkar. You can neither be Savarkar nor Gandhi. One needs to make an immense sacrifice to become Savarkar; he stayed in a small room as big as our toilets in Andaman Jail. There was complete darkness and he used to answer nature's call there itself. We will install an AC for you but you won't be able to stay there, Rahul Gandhi," Fadnavis said.
