Union Home Minister Amit Shah, at the third edition of the News18 Rising India Conclave on Wednesday, said that “Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should not use such words for freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar ‘Veer’ Savarkar”.
Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday, a day after he was convicted by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case, in line with the 2013 Supreme Court judgment in the Lily Thomas case.
The court in Surat sentenced on Thursday Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail in a defamation case, filed on a complaint by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi for his alleged remark, “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
At a press conference on Saturday, when asked if he was sorry, Gandhi said: “I am a Gandhi and not Savarkar and Gandhis do not apologise.”
"Rahul Gandhi should read his grandmother's speech on Veer Savarkar": Union Home Minister @AmitShah tells News18 Network Group Editor-in-chief @18RahulJoshi at #News18RisingIndia #India #AmitShah #HomeMinister #RahulGandhi #RahulGandhiDisqualification pic.twitter.com/rJmoOxkKtk— News18 (@CNNnews18) March 29, 2023
“If he doesn’t want to apologise, he should not, but he should not use such words for Savarkar. He is one of the few people who has suffered so much for India’s Independence. He is perhaps the only one in the freedom struggle who got two life sentences. Such words should not be used for a Veer Hutatma.”
“If he doesn’t believe us, he should pay attention to what his grandmother Indira Gandhi had said about Savarkar. If he reads her speech, he will know. His friends Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena are saying the same,” said Shah.
Indira Gandhi’s remarks were in response to a letter by Pandit Bakhle, secretary of the Swatantrya Veer Savarkar Rashtriya Smarak, making plans for celebrating the birth centenary of Savarkar, in her letter dated May 20, 1980.
"Why should he be given any special favours?": Union Home Minister @AmitShah on Rahul Gandhi served notice to vacate his govt bungalow following disqualification as an MP@18RahulJoshi | #India #AmitShah #HomeMinister #RahulGandhi #RahulGandhiDisqualification pic.twitter.com/yyqzF6HPNV— News18 (@CNNnews18) March 29, 2023
Indira Gandhi wrote back to Bakhle saying, “I have received your letter of 8th May 1980. Veer Savarkar’s daring defiance of the British Government has its own importance in the annals of our freedom movement. I wish success to the plans to celebrate the birth centenary of the remarkable son of India.”
Indira Gandhi also got a stamp issued in his honour after his death in 1966. She even got a documentary film on Savarkar made through the government’s Information and Broadcasting ministry. Indira Gandhi had given a personal grant of Rs 11,000 to the Savarkar memorial in Mumbai.
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