Kaithal: The controversy over whether Veer Savarkar should be accorded with Bharat Ratna has found resonance in forthcoming Haryana poll campaign. While the issue has been an emotive one in Maharashtra, owing to Savarkar's connection with the state, in Haryana too, the BJP has tried to corner the opposition over the issue.
After Maharashtra, Savarkar's name is also generating political heat in Haryana, which is also going to polls on October 21. The BJP has gone full throttle in its attack to corner Congress and its senior leaders for their objections over party's promise to award Bharat Ratna to VD Savarkar and Sangh's participation in the independence struggle.
Agriculture minister OP Dhankar in Manohar Lal Khattar-led government in Haryana, while responding to Congress' objections on giving Bharat Ratna to Savarkar said, "Not even a single Congressman has gone to 'kalapani'. I want to ask Manmohan Singh did he know any Congressman given kalapani punishment."
"Whereas Savarkar is a man who spent his life in kalapani, saw his brother and colleagues killed by hanging and yet Congress couldn't bear his plate to be put up in that prison. Congress can't tolerate anyone getting bigger than Gandhis and Nehru," said Dhankar on the sidelines of a public meeting.
The BJP has put former prime minister Manmohan Singh and his party in the dock over their objections of considering Savarkar a martyr and a freedom fighter worthy of Bharat Ratna. Singh had said that his party was not against the Hindu Mahasabha leader but only opposed his Hindutva ideology.
Read: Not against Savarkar, only his Hindutva ideology: Manmohan
