Congress agrees to not raise Savarkar to keep MVA going

Veteran Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan has said that his party has agreed not to raise the issue of V D Savarkar since the three Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners hold different views on the late Hindutva ideologue.

He made the statement in an interview to PTI days after former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray gave a warning to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a public meeting last month, saying that the "insult" of Savarkar will not be tolerated. In his speech, Thackeray said he considered Savarkar as his "idol" and hence Gandhi should refrain from insulting him.

Gandhi has often accused Savarkar of "apologising" to the British to get out of jail, and has routinely shot back at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demands for an apology by claiming he was a Gandhi and not Savarkar to seek mercy.

Replying to a query on the issue, Chavan said the Congress has agreed not to raise the issue of Savarkar as there were divergent views on him among the MVA allies. The MVA comprises the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.

"Let the people decide about the truth of the freedom struggle. There is nothing to be apologetic about. We agreed to disagree and agreed not to raise the issue since our partners hold different views on Savarkar," the former chief minister said.

Asked if the Savarkar issue had been put to rest by the Congress after it was given on platter to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chavan said his party did not provide any issue on platter to the saffron party.

The BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which are currently in power in Maharashtra, on Sunday started taking out Savarkar Gaurav Yatras in each district of the state to honour Savarkar's contribution to the country and to counter Rahul Gandhi's criticism against him.