MUMBAI: Ranjeet
Savarkar
, great grand nephew of hindutva idealogue and revolutionary Veer Savarkar, said he was in the process of drafting a complaint to register an FIR against Rahul Gandhi if the latter fails to tender an apology soon. He cited the inaction by then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray after a state congress unit's mouthpiece published derogatory articles against one of the country's towering freedom fighters.
"He has been consistently defaming Swatantryaveer whose portraits in the parliament and assemblies inspire millions. His contribution to national independence has been lauded by towering Congress leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and later by Indira Gandhi. I will file a defamation case against
Rahul
Gandhi if he does not apologise for his statement on Savarkar," he said while talking to TOI from Delhi.
Rahul Gandhi has once again kicked off a political debate by saying that he would not apologise for his statement on Modi, for which he has been disqualified as MP, as he was 'Gandhi' and not 'Savarkar'. In the past too, Rahul in his tweet in 2016 had compared Bhagat Singh and V D Savarkar saying Bhagat Singh had waged war for freedom against British Raj while Savarkar begged for mercy to be a slave in British Raj sparking a political turmoil ahead of elections.
Meanwhile, Ranjit Savarkar produced the letter he had written to then chief minister and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray in February 2020 demanding action over defamatory statements made against V D Savarkar in 'Janmanasachi Shidori', an official publication of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress. He pointed out to him how the two articles in the Congress-sponsored monthly pull-out were not based on facts and were malicious, derogatory and intentional. "We cited to him the tremendous love people across Bharat and the Thackerays themselves have been showering on the leader and demanded a total ban on the publication and arrest of those who wrote the articles besides the publishers. However, no action was taken," he pointed out. It may be mentioned here that the Thackeray government was backed by Congress and NCP.
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