International general secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Pravin Togadia, on Monday warned that the Congress' stand on Veer Savarakar would sink the party in Maharashtra just as its views on Godhra did it in in Gujarat.

On February 26, 2003, a portrait of Hindu Mahasabha leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was unveiled in the Central Hall of Parliament by President A P J Abdul Kalam. The ceremony was boycotted by almost the entire opposition.

Togadia said Savarkar was an icon of the freedom struggle and the installation of his portrait in Parliament was linked to the emotions of hundreds of thousands of his admirers.

Togadia said Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's letter requesting President Kalam not to attend the unveiling ceremony would harm the party's electoral fortune in Maharashtra where Savarkar is revered as a hero.

"If they opposed the unveiling ceremony because they believe that Savarkar was involved in the conspiracy to kill Mahatma Gandhi, let me tell them one thing -- Savarkar was acquitted by a court of law. But does the Congress believe in the Indian judiciary?

"The Congress may not believe in the nationalist Hindutva theory, but that does not mean that they
should be intolerant," Togadia said.