Savarkar helped British, claims Rahul Gandhi; BJP hits back, targets Jawaharlal Nehru

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 17

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has invited sharp reactions from the BJP when he quoted an old letter, saying late Hindu Mahasabha president Vinayak Damodar Savarkar “begged to remain an obedient servant of the British”.

Quit India participant joins yatra

Quit India Movement participant Leelabai Chitley on Thursday joined the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', currently passing through Maharashtra, and hailed the journey for its stated aim of "protecting the Constitution". Rahul shared a video of the 93-year-old woman walking beside him. TNS

“Have you seen this letter which Savarkar wrote to the British? This is a very important document for me. I will read the last line, where Savarkar says ‘I beg to remain, Sir; your most obedient servant, VD Savarkar.’ I have not written this. Savarkar wrote this. He helped the British a lot,” he told the media in Maharashtra’s Akola today while showing the letter.

Moments after Gandhi’s attack on Savarkar, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya termed India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as a “coward”.

“Jawaharlal Nehru, the man Congress venerates, was rescued (in September 1923) by his father just because he couldn’t endure hardships in Nabha jail for even two weeks. His father, Motilal Nehru, wrote an apology to the British to secure his release. Nehru was a coward. So look within,” Malviya said.

The Congress leader, meanwhile, dismissed questions on whether or not he would be the Opposition’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2024 General Election.

“This is a good attempt to deflect attention from the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. As I have said, the Congress is concerned only about uniting India, fighting hate spread by the BJP and the RSS in the past eight years. No one can waylay the party from this path,” Rahul Gandhi said responding to media queries.

Asked why he was not campaigning in poll-bound Gujarat, Gandhi said, “If Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asks me to campaign, I will.”

To a question whether or not the yatra would benefit the Congress, the Wayanad MP said, “I am not a soothsayer. Having said that, India is internally fractured. Violence and hatred have been widely spread. In this scenario, I feel that it is my duty to show that there is another way possible, where one may disagree with another person, but ready to listen to his views.”

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