Mumbai: VD Savarkar, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru or any other freedom fighters should not be maligned, as they are not alive to defend themselves, said Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut and a leader of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) group.
Raut said on Saturday that there was no need to counter derogatory comments against Savarkar by targeting Nehru or any other historical personality. He made the statement at press conference a day after making the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena clear that the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi need not have made comments about Savarkar. He further said that it could affect the alliance called Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
On Saturday, Raut said that attempts to maligh the reputations of both Pandit Nehru and Savarkar must stop, the freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the country’s independence do not belong to any ideology.
Nevertheless, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said on Friday that those who are criticising Raut should explain “why the Hindutva ideologue was taking pension of Rs 60 from the British government?”
Rahul Gandhi’s statement during the Yatra in Maharashtra that Savarkar helped the British and wrote a mercy petition to the then government out of fear kicked up a row across the country.
