PM pays tributes to Savarkar on birth anniversary

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was born in 1883.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid tributes to freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar on his birth anniversary, saying he motivated several people to join the freedom struggle.

PM Modi paid tribute on Savarkar’s 137th birth anniversary. (Sonu Mehta/ Hindustan Times)

“On his Jayanti, I bow to the courageous Veer Savarkar. We remember him for his bravery, motivating several others to join the freedom struggle and emphasis on social reform,” the prime minister wrote on Twitter.

He also shared a clip of his May, 2018 “Mann ki Baat” radio programme in which he referred to Savarkar.

“It is indeed sad that we kept on calling the events of 1857 only as a rebellion or a soldiers’ mutiny for a very long time … It was Veer Savarkar who boldly expostulated by writing that whatever happened in 1857 was not a revolt but was indeed the First War of Independence,” he had said.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was born in 1883.