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On the first day of the Mahrashtra Assembly winter session, BJP MLAs wore ‘I am Savarkar’ caps to protest against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on the Hindu Mahasabha leader. The winter session of the state legislature will begin in Nagpur on Monday and conclude on December 21.
In his speech at the ‘Bharat Bachao’ rally in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on Saturday, Gandhi said: “My name is Rahul Gandhi, not Rahul Savarkar. I will never apologise for speaking truth and nor will any Congressman do so.”
The BJP has been demanding an apology from Gandhi for ‘Rape in India’ remark.
Gandhi added, “It is Narendra Modi and his assistant Amit Shah who has to apologise to the country for destroying India’s economy.”
As a mark of protest against his remarks, Nagpur BJP MLAs, including former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, wore caps with ‘I am Savarkar’ ingrained on them.
The former chief minister has also demanded an “unconditional apology” from Gandhi over his remark. “Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should tender an unconditional apology over his remarks on Savarkar. He does not seem to have studied India’s history of the Independence movement,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI on Sunday.
Meanwhile, hitting back at Gandhi for the Savarkar jibe, the ruling party on Saturday said a “more appropriate” name for the Congress leader is “Rahul Jinnah” as his “Muslim appeasement” politics makes him a worthy legatee of Pakistan’s founder.
“The more appropriate name for you Rahul Gandhi is Rahul Jinnah. Your Muslim appeasement politics and mindset makes you a worthy legatee of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, not Savarkar,” said BJP’s G V L Narasimha Rao.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said Rahul Gandhi can never be ‘Rahul Savarkar’ as Savarkar stood for “patriotism, bravery and sacrifice” while the Congress leader is somebody who spoke what Pakistan said on issues like the citizenship bill, Article 370 and surgical strikes among others.
Savarkar is a revered by the BJP as a Hindutva icon but Opposition parties accuse him of writing apology letters to the British to reduce his jail sentence under the colonial rule.