Uddhav Thackeray faction boycotts Congress meet over Rahul Gandhi's Savarkar remarks
The Uddhav Thackeray faction decided not to attend the meeting at Mallikarjun Kharge's residence over Rahul Gandhi's “I am not Savarkar, I am Gandhi” comments.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction has decided not to attend a Congress meeting at party president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence on Monday over suspended MP Rahul Gandhi's “I am not Savarkar, I am Gandhi” comments, news agency ANI reported quoting MP Sanjay Raut.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant said no one from the party will attend any meeting convened by the Congress, adding that the grand-old party has to understand Savarkar first.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has already condemned Gandhi's comments, with its chief, Thackeray, on Sunday saying that he considers Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar as his “idol”, and asked the Congress leader to refrain from “insulting” him.
Thackeray said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of three parties - Sena (UBT), Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) - was formed to protect democracy and it was necessary to work unitedly for it.
Addressing a rally in the Muslim-dominated textile town of Malegaon in Nashik district of north Maharashtra, Thackeray said, "Savarkar is our idol and his insult will not be tolerated if we have to fight together to protect our democracy. Savarkar suffered unimaginable torture in the Andaman cellular jail for 14 years. We can only read the sufferings. It is a form of sacrifice."
“I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that we have come together to save our country's democracy and its Constitution. But you are deliberately being provoked. If we allow this time to get wasted, then democracy will cease to exist. 2024 will be the last election,” he added.
On Monday, Raut, a Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, also expressed displeasure over Gandhi's comments, terming it a “wrong statement”. Raut said “Savarkar is our inspiration” and that he will try to speak to Rahul Gandhi on the issue.
"It is a wrong statement. He's definitely a Gandhi but no need to drag Savarkar. Savarkar is our inspiration. The inspiration behind our fight in Maharashtra is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Veer Savarkar," Raut told reporters.
"I will definitely try to speak to him," he said when asked if he will speak face-to-face with Gandhi in New Delhi over this issue.
Gandhi has been frequently attacking the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh by targeting Savarkar and their ideologue. In November last year, Gandhi, during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, said that Savarkar would write mercy petitions to be freed from the Andaman cellular jail and also accepted a pension from the British. He also claimed that Savarkar had helped the British government during the freedom struggle, triggering protests from BJP and Shiv Sena workers.
Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday, a day after a court in Gujarat's Surat convicted him in a 2019 defamation case. Addressing a press conference in Delhi over his disqualification, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said, "My name is not Savarkar, my name is Gandhi and Gandhi does not offer an apology to anyone".
Thackeray said he supported Gandhi for his Bharat Jodo Yatra.
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