'Veer Savarkar went to jail for the country', says Congress' Singhvi

While the Congress has been continuously attacking the BJP and opposing its 'Bharat Ratna for Savarkar' pitch, senior Congress leader Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi has hailed the freedom fighter by recognising his contribution in India's freedom struggle. Singhvi is among the first Congress leaders to have praised Veer Savarkar in such a manner. However, he added that he personally does not subscribe to Savarkar's ideology. Singhvi took to Twitter to share his views on Monday, October 21. Here is Abhishek Singhvi's tweet in which he credits Savarkar for various things:

Manish Tewari criticised the NDA

Last week, Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) and Indian National Congress leader Manish Tewari had criticised the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for bringing up the name of Veer Savarkar for Bharat Ratna in the party’s manifesto for the ongoing Maharashtra elections and further hit out by sarcastically adding that the NDA should straightaway confer Nathuram Godse with the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour. 

'NDA government should straightaway confer the Bharat Ratna to Godse' 

Tewari addressing reporters in Nagpur, Maharashtra stated, "Savarkar was only accused of conspiring to assassinate Gandhi, whereas Nathuram Godse carried out the assassination of Gandhi. This year we are celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, on this occasion, the NDA government should straightaway confer the Bharat Ratna to Godse instead of Savarkar.”

A major poll promise 

When BJP Working President JP Nadda and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis released the party's manifesto for the assembly elections in the state, they made a major poll promise in the manifesto, wherein they made a pitch for honouring Swatantraveer Savarakar with the Bharat Ratna - the highest civilian honour awarded to Indians.

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The formulator of 'Hindutva philosophy'

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who is also known as Veer Savarkar was an Indian Independence fighter, politician, lawyer and the formulator of 'Hindutva' philosophy. He founded the Abhinav Bharat Society, which wrote extensively on the Indian Independence movement. He was later arrested and sentenced for revolutionary activities to two life terms of imprisonment totalling fifty years and was moved to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He was later released in 1921.

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