New Delhi: Reacting to Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut's controversial statement where he said that those opposing Bharat Ratna for VD Savarkar should be made to spend two days in prison, Congress MP PL Punia on Saturday said that the former was free to assert his own views.
"Sanjay Raut is free to voice his own opinions. There is no controversy about it," Punia said.
"The Congress-NCP-Sena government in Maharashtra is working on the basis of the Common Minimum Programme. There will be many such issues. Our ideologies are different, so such contrasting statements might be made," he added.
Earlier in the day, Raut said those opposing Bharat Ratna award for Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar should be made to spend two days in the Andaman Cellular Jail, the erstwhile colonial prison, where the freedom fighter had been lodged during his incarceration.
"Savarkar's opponents should spend two days in the (erstwhile) Andaman Cellular Jail to understand the hardships he was put through by the British," he said.
Raut's statement can potentially put his party, which shares power in Maharashtra with ideologically different Congress and NCP, in a spot.
The Congress is against offering the highest civilian honour to Savarkar, who is hailed in high esteem by the right-wing parties.
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