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Pamphlet on Savarkar, Godse sparks political row
The Bharatiya Janata Party has slammed the Congress, with party president and home minister Amit Shah leading the charge, and calling it “shameful”.
A major political controversy has broken out over the Congress Seva Dal’s pamphlet, circulated ahead of a national camp on the outskirts of Bhopal, which alleges that Hindutva ideologue, VD Savarkar, and Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse, had a physical relationship.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has slammed the Congress, with party president and home minister Amit Shah leading the charge, and calling it “shameful”.
In Mumbai, the BJP also asked Shiv Sena — which revers Savarkar but is now in partnership with the Congress — to clarify its position on the matter. Savarkar’s grandson, Ranjit Savarkar, too stepped in, demanding a ban on the book and a criminal case against Seva Dal, and visiting Mantralaya, the government secretariat, to demand action by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
On Thursday, the Seva Dal circulated a booklet titled “Veer Savarkar kitney Veer (How brave was Savarkar?)”. The booklet cites a reference from the 1975 book Freedom at Midnight by Larry and Dominique Lapierre, to contend that Godse had a physical relationship with his mentor, Savarkar, whom her had met when he was 18 years old.
The reference has sparked a huge political row.
Shah said: “What can be more shameful than the comments made by the Congress party’s Seva Dal about Veer Savarkar? His whole family served time in prison and he himself was in jail for 12 long years, and was a worthy son.”
In Mumbai, former CM Devendra Fadnavis demanded an explanation from the Sena. “We want answers from Shiv Sena, which has made an unnatural alliance with Congress if it will ban this book in Maharashtra by registering strong protest or repeatedly tolerate such insults of our most respected personalities just for the greed of power?”
The Sena was quick to distance itself from the booklet. Rajya Sabha MP and editor of the party mouthpiece Saamna, Sanjay Raut, said, “Veer Savarkar was a great man and will remain a great man. A section keeps talking against him. This shows the filth in their mind, whoever it may be. He is a revolutionary of the country.”
But he also made it clear that this will not affect ties with the Congress, claiming the “dirt of Bhopal” would not enter Maharashtra. Raut, instead, alleged that such books were written by BJP leaders. The new controversy comes in the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi’s recent comment at a rally in Delhi where he claimed he would never apologise (BJP had demanded an apology from him for a comment) since his name was Rahul Gandhi, not “Rahul Savarkar”. This had drawn criticism from the Sena.
The Seva Dal, for its part, has stuck to its stand. Lalji Singh, the Dal chief, said that the controversy was “baseless”. “This is a manufactured controversy; the booklet has been in circulation for more than a year. The line is referenced from a famous book. I can only say that we have forced the RSS to react,” said Desai.
He said that the booklets were part of an internal communication, and is part of an education module for the unit’s cadre.
Political analyst and professor of political science at Mumbai University Surendra Jondhale said the BJP would attempt to corner the Shiv Sena but there will not be any problem within the state government. “The BJP will not leave any chance to embarrass the Shiv Sena over the Hindutva issue. However, Uddhav Thackeray is shrewd enough and may not fall prey to it. He realises the political compulsions and the Congress is also unlikely to press Sena to change its views on Savarkar,” Jondhale told HT.
