Malegaon: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray warned Rahul Gandhi not to insult Veer Savarkar and red-flagged that discrediting Savarkar would lead to “cracks” in the Opposition alliance, Asian News International reported.
Addressing a rally in Malegaon, Thackeray asked Rahul Gandhi to keep from insulting the Hindutva ideologue.
Thackeray said that Savarkar endured unimaginable torture in the Andaman cellular jail for 14 years. One can only read the sufferings, which were a form of sacrifice, Thackeray said, adding that his party cannot tolerate insult on Savarkar.
Thackeray continued by saying that Savarkar is their god and that not disrespect towards the ideologue would be tolerated. They are prepared to fight but insulting their gods is not something they would tolerate, he said.
According to him, the alliance of the Uddhav faction, Congress and NCP was made to protect democracy, and for that, the parties must work unitedly. Rahul Gandhi was being provoked deliberately, and if time is wasted, democracy will not exist, he said.
In a press conference on Saturday, Rahul Gandhi said that he is no Savarkar but a Gandhi and, therefore, not going to tender an apology. After Gandhi was convicted by a Gujarat court in a defamation case, he was disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP too.
The criminal defamation case in Surat court was over Rahul’s ‘Modi surname’ remark in a rally in Karnataka’s Kollar in 2019.
Though Uddhav Thackeray warned Rahul to restrain from demeaning Savarkar, he criticised the BJP government for their argument over the Congress leader’s comment on PM Narendra Modi. He said that Narendra Modi is not India.