“He (Veer Savarkar) was kept in a room as big as our toilets in the Andaman Jail. There was complete darkness. He used to answer nature’s call there itself. Rahul Gandhi try to stay in that room for one night. We will install AC for you, but you won’t be able to,” this was the challenge given by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in one of his press conferences. This was not aligned with ‘Savarkar Gaurav Yatra’, which concluded in Maharashtra on April 6, but it had a strong connection with it.
Having put up for long with the defaming of Veer Savarkar (or Swatantraveer Savarkar, as he is known in Maharashtra), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena (officially Shiv Sena now belongs to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his supporters while the faction led by Uddhav Thackeray is called Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Sena) decided to launch the Savarkar Gaurav Yatra.
Recalling the Patriot
Commenting on Congress leader’s outrageous comment, Shri Fadnavis said, “Rahul Gandhi says he won’t apologise, (because) he is not Savarkar. You can neither be Savarkar nor Gandhi. One needs to make sacrifices to become Savarkar.” Then he reminded Rahul of the hardships the great revolutionary and social reformer, held in high esteem by people cutting across party lines, faced.
It was during the train journey of this yatra that DCM Fadnavis attacked Rahul Gandhi. The latter has built an expertise on making baseless but shrewd remarks on Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Even after being disqualified from the Lok Sabha membership, Rahul Gandhi said, “My name is not Savarkar, my name is Gandhi and Gandhi does not offer an apology to anyone”. Although he has tendered apologies a number of times just in the passage of past eight years, he has not apologised for his latest outburst.
The politics heated up following Rahul Gandhi’s jibe at VD Savarkar. Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, speaking in a programme organised by a media house in Maharashtra, hit out at Rahul Gandhi for insulting Savarkar and gave proof that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had once apologised to get released from jail. Veer Savarkar’s grandson Ranjit Savarkar also threatened to file an FIR against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi if he refused to apologise for his statement about Savarkar. Against this background, Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena organised ‘Savarkar Gaurav Yatra’ across the State from March 30 to April 6 to commemorate the contribution of freedom fighter Savarkar in the freedom movement of the country. The yatra travelled through 288 Assembly constituencies in the State and concluded on April 6, the Foundation Day of the BJP. The importance given by these two parties to this yatra can be gauged from the fact that CM Eknath Shinde, DCM Devendra Fadnavis, BJP state president Chandrakant Bawankule and many Union Ministers took part in it.
The yatra is also a reminder to Uddhav Thackeray who with his alliance with the Congress, tolerated repeated insults heaped upon by the Congress leaders. Uddhav Thackeray passively watched as the Congress leaders indulged in mud-slinging against the patriot, who spent 11 years in prison in Andaman, just to save his Maha Vikas Aghadi Government. Uddhav Thackeray abandoned the idea of Hindutva, which his father always championed, to usurp power. For example, when Mani Shankar Iyer insulted Savarkar, it was Balasaheb Thackeray who ordered his workers to give Iyer a befitting reply which culminated in hitting his images with footwear. The rage and zeal shown by Shiv Sena workers was such at the time that Iyer did not come to Mumbai for years even being a Union Minister. With Uddhav leading his army to inactivity and lethargy, the Congress leadership got emboldened and even went on to allege all kinds of negative things against Savarkar.
‘We are thankful to Rahul Gandhi as he has provided us an opportunity to take the truth and Savarkar to every home. Rahul Gandhi should continue doing this. Insulting Veer Savarkar does not demean him in any way but has given us a chance to take him to the masses’ —Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways
When things went too far, it was the time to act. Perhaps this was the thought that propelled the BJP and Shiv Sena to come in support of Veer Savarkar without any inhibition and launch a retaliation. The yatra, which started from Veer Savarkar’s birthplace in Bhagur (district Nashik), provides a platform to apprise the masses of the immense contribution by the revolutionary in the fields of literature, arts, drama, language, social reforms and many more fields besides the freedom struggle. Addressing a rally during this yatra in Nagpur, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said, “We are thankful to Rahul Gandhi as he has provided us an opportunity to take the truth and Savarkar to every home. Rahul Gandhi should continue doing this. Insulting Veer Savarkar does not demean him in any way but has given us a chance to take him to the masses.”
Rahul Backtracks
The yatra was the next step of an earlier campaign, launched by DCM Fadnavis, wherein he put up his profile picture with Mi Savarkar (I am Savarkar). This is a gesture of solidarity with the freedom fighter, who was called Prince of Revolutionaries when Rahul Gandhi targeted Savarkar after the Surat Court decided to convict him. The campaign attracted a huge response on social media, with lakhs of users changing their DPs to this sticker. The yatra was taken out to take it further and bring it into the realm of the real world. And it had its effect. Not only BJP workers but many nation-loving people joined the processions and chanted the slogans Swatantryaveer Savarkar ki Jai. It had political repercussions, too, with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar distancing himself from Congress’ stand. Not only this, even Uddhav Thackeray had to warn Rahul Gandhi that “he would not tolerate any more insults of Savarkar”. The statement drew flak and cynicism among public and political circles, but Rahul Gandhi did remove all the tweets pertaining to Savarkar after the rally.
The real effect of this endeavour can be gauged from the fact that Ashish Deshmukh, a prominent Congress leader and former MLA, had the audacity of telling on camera, in ditto Rahul Gandhi fashion, “I am not Rahul Gandhi to apologise”. That his statement is related to intra-party bickering is another matter. But it makes one thing clear. The message has been delivered – the real Mafiveer (Apologist) is Rahul Gandhi, not Savarkar.
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