Pejawar Mutt Seer, Vishwesha Teertha, has strongly defended freedom fighter Veer Savarkar, saying he should not be disrespected.
Bengaluru: Vishwesha Teertha, pontiff of the Pejawar Mutt in Udupi, has jumped into the Bharat Ratna for Veer Savarkar row, and has extended full support to the tall leader.
He said, “Savarkar never did any act against the nation; such persons should not be falsely blamed.”
The seer did not mince words, deriding the Congress for celebrating Tipu Jayanti while taking an acerbic stance against Veer Savarkar.
He said, “The Congress leaders have no problem in celebrating Tipu Sultan who he believed is controversial, but they have a problem in recognising Savarkar. Savarkar should not be disrespected by calling him controversial.”
Also Read: Congress makes U-turn, acknowledges Savarkar's role in Freedom Struggle
It might be recalled that former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah had taken sever exception to the prospect that Veer Savarkar would be awarded Bharat Ratna. He also went on to accuse that Savarkar had conspired to kill Gandhiji.
The seer shot back, “If he was part of it, then, the court surely would have punished him.”
The war over the Maharashtra BJP unit openly declaring in its manifesto that it would ask the centre to bestow Bharat Ratna to Savarkar refuses to end as several members from the opposition parties have openly expressed dissatisfaction over it.
But the Congress, which held an antagonistic view about the prospect a few days earlier, has softened its stance.
Chiefly, it is former PM Manmohan Singh and another senior leader Abhishek Singhvi who hold a diametrically opposite view. While the former PM says he respects Veer Savarkar but not his Hindutva ideology, Abhishek said he indeed acknowledges that Savarkar was a freedom fighter.
Several allegations and accusations feature against Savarkar. In sum and substance, it is said he apologised to the British for his release from Andaman jail, which his supporters refute.
He is also accused of advocating the two-nation theory, but Savarkar in the early 1940s refuted these claims as well.
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