AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday slammed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s comment that “on Mahatma Gandhi’s request, Savarkar wrote mercy petitions to the British”, and alleged that the BJP will soon declare Vinayak Damodar Savarkar as ‘the father of the nation’, ANI reported.
Talking to the news agency, Owaisi said, “They (BJP) are presenting distorted history. If this continues, they will remove Mahatma Gandhi and make Savarkar, who was accused of the murder of Gandhi and was pronounced complicit in the inquiry of Justice Jeevan Lal Kapur, as the father of the nation.”
While speaking at the launch of the book ‘Veer Savarkar: The Man Who Could Have Prevented Partition’,
Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that it was on Gandhi’s request that Savarkar wrote mercy petitions to the British.
The defence minister said, “Lies were spread about Savarkar. Time and again, it was said that he filed mercy petitions before the British government seeking his release from jail. It was Mahatma Gandhi who asked him to file mercy petitions.”
(Inputs from ANI)
