The Shiv Sena (UBT) has demanded the Bharat Ratna for Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, calling for the highest civilian honor to be bestowed upon the late leader on the occasion of his 99th birth anniversary. Party leader Sanjay Raut criticized the BJP-led government for awarding the Bharat Ratna to individuals he deemed undeserving and argued that Thackeray, who he described as the "sower of Hindutva seeds," deserves the honor. Raut also emphasized the significance of Thackeray's upcoming birth centenary, asserting that awarding him the Bharat Ratna before the centenary would also be an honor for Veer Savarkar.
NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had asked Rahul Gandhi to tone down the criticism of Savarkar and reminded the Congress leader that the real fight of the opposition parties was with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.
Several workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) barged into the Congress's Pune city headquarters on Friday and attempted to blacken the photographs of party leader Rahul Gandhi to protest against his remarks on late Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, police said.
Savarkar believed Swarajya is more than the mere geographical independence of a stretch of earth called India. There was no point in fighting and sacrificing one's life for a Swarajya (mere territorial independence) at the cost of our Svatva (self-existence) or Hindutva itself! A revealing excerpt from Uday Mahurkar and Chirayu Pandit's Veer Savarkar: The Man Who Could Have Prevented Partition.
Amid strains in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi alliance over Rahul Gandhi's strident criticism of V D Savarkar, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has stepped in to play the peacemaker by conveying the Shiv Sena's concerns on the issue to the Congress leadership.
'The Opposition thinks since the ruling party is following Savarkar's Hindutva philosophy, they want to regain their lost political mileage (by attacking Savarkar).' 'By doing so, they think they will get their power back.'
The ruling Mahayuti members in both houses of the Maharashtra legislature condemned state Congress head Harshvardhan Sapkal's remarks comparing Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and demanded strict action against him. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said the remarks will be verified and action will be taken accordingly as per the law. The state legislative council witnessed an uproar after the ruling Mahayuti members raised the issue of Sapkal's remarks, and the proceedings were suspended for 10 minutes. BJP group leader Pravin Darekar said comparing the chief minister to Aurangzeb is a highly condemnable act and an insult to Maharashtra. He also demanded that a case be filed against Sapkal and strict action be taken to set an example.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said V D Savarkar, Jawaharlal Nehru or any other freedom fighter should not be maligned as they do not belong to any political party.
Biographies of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda, Arya Samaj founder Swami Dayanand Saraswati, and writer and freedom fighter Pandit Shriram Sharma have been included in the curriculum.
Civic authorities have removed a banner put up by a local Hindu organisation leader at Surathkal, carrying pictures of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse and Hindutva icon V D Savarkar, following a complaint.
Lata Mangeshkar was closely associated with the controversial Hindu nationalist and freedom fighter.
Godse's choice fitted with the Hindutva world view in which the assertion of masculinity, power and virility -- both discursively and institutionally -- occupied the central position. His close association with Savarkar seems only to have sharpened his uncompromising views on women.
Raut said the statement might result in a rift in the MVA, which comprises the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, apart from the Uddhav-Sena.
Rajya Sabha member Raut questioned why Gandhi was raking up issues which touch the people's emotional chord and giving the Bharatiya Janata Party a chance on a platter to divert attention.
A child dressed as one of the freedom fighters to take part in the rally had the name of V D Savarkar written on him.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who heads a faction of the Shiv Sena, on Thursday said his party has immense respect for V D Savarkar and he does not approve of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks on the freedom fighter.
'There must be ideological differences but Savarkar is a freedom fighter, then ask Siddaramaiah, whose poster must be put, of Dawood Ibrahim?'
'He surprised us by telling us he wanted to make a career in acting.' 'We were scared since we knew nothing of this profession but then, he landed a role in Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding.' 'After seeing him holding his own on screen, we decided to let the boy pursue his passion.'
He, however, also said that his party was in an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party for long despite their differences, and it worked smoothly.
"The case was filed based on the complaint lodged by Vandana Dongre, a functionary of the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The complainant alleged that Gandhi hurt the sentiments of citizens through his derogatory statements against Savarkar," the official said.
'I am very grateful to Rajnathji that he confirmed the fact that Savarkar was a habitual mercy-seeker from the British.'
A court in Maharashtra's Nashik district has summoned Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed against him for his alleged objectionable remarks against Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi must apologise and take back all his remarks against late Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar before entering Maharashtra, Bharatiya Janata Party state chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said in Nagpur on Friday.
"He was an icon of the Indian history and will remain so. There can be a difference of opinion about him, but to look down on him as inferior is not appropriate and justifiable. He was a freedom fighter and a staunch nationalist, but people who follow the Marxist and Leninist ideology are the ones who accuse Savarkar of being a fascist...," Singh said, adding that the hatred towards Savarkar is illogical and unplaced.
Following the controversy over a paragraph from class 8 Kannada second language textbook on V D Savarkar, which had gone viral on social media, for apparent "glorification" of the freedom fighter, the wife of the author has released a statement saying that the bulbul imagery in it is "nothing but a metaphor."
The paper on Mahatma Gandhi will now be taught in semester VII, they said, adding this would mean students opting for a three-year graduation course instead of a four-year programme will not study Gandhi.
The birth anniversary of Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, whose political influence has surged with the passage of time, on Monday was marked by bitter trading of charges between the ruling BJP and opposition parties as they fought for his legacy.
'Jaat is not just a community, an agent, or an individual; it's an emotion.'
Raut said Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, a mass contact initiative underway from September 7, is getting a massive response because he is 'focussing on love and compassion'.
'He was provided sustenance by the British.' 'Many times he wrote to the British that he needed an increase in pension.'
The temple authorities reportedly decided to withdraw the umbrella from display after leaders of the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist raised an objection.
Hours after receiving the National Award for Best Actress, Kangana Ranaut flew to Port Blair to pay homage to Vinayak Damodar Savarkar at the cellular jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where the Hindu Mahasabha leader had been imprisoned during the early 20th century.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf offers a ready reckoner on Javed Akhtar's great great grandfather Fazl e Haq Khairabadi who fought the British empire during the 1857 Mutiny and was imprisoned in the Cellular Jail in Port Blair.
He said the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of three parties -- Sena-UBT, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party -- was formed to protect democracy and it was necessary to work unitedly for it.
As part of the 76th Independence Day celebrations, one group had tried to tie Savarkar's flex to the high mast light pole at the circle, to which the other group objected and wanted to install Tipu Sultan's flex there.
The PM said the Congress and its allies should not encourage the "Pakistan agenda" and speak the language of separatists.
'You accept it, Savarkar was a great man, Indira Gandhi honoured him'
The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday approved the revision of Kannada and Social Science textbooks of Classes 6 to 10 in the state for this academic year by removing the chapters on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh founder K B Hedgewar and Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar among others.
The lesson, Kalavannu Geddavaru is a travelogue written by author KT Gatti, narrating his experience about a visit to the Andaman cellular jail, where the Hindutva leader was imprisoned.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday continued to target late Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, saying that he helped the British rulers and wrote a mercy petition to them out of fear.
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