The BJP has proposed that Hindu ideologue V.D. Savarkar should be awarded the Bharat Raina.
In its manifesto for the October 21 Assembly polls, the BJP’s Maharashtra united has demanded that the country’s highest civilian award be given to the Hindutva icon, Savarkar.
The leader of the opposition in the Assam Assembly and Senior Congress leader Debabrata Saikia has issued a statement responding to the demand by saying that the nomination of Savarkar’s name for the Bharat Raina Award is an insult to the memory of the Mahatma Gandhi. His statement asserts that giving the award to a man like Savarkar would be an insult to the conscience of the nation because he was one of the key conspirators in the murder of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Even though, he was accused to be one of the key conspirators in Mahatma Gandhi murder case, he was acquitted due to the lack of evidence.
Leaders like Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel were convinced that Savarkar was guilty. In a letter that Patel wrote to Nehru in 1948, he said “It was a fanatical wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under Savarkar that hatched the conspiracy and saw it through.”
Other leaders like former PM Manmohan Singh also criticised the Maharashtra government’s move to propose the name of VD Savarkar for the country’s highest civilian honour.
