NCP slams Congress for booklet on Vinayak Savarkar, demands withdrawal

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New Delhi: The NCP, a key Congress ally, on Saturday (January 04), called for a withdrawal of a controversial Seva Dal booklet which claims that Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Savarkar and Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse had 'physical relationship'.  NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said that since Savarkar wasn't alive, it is wrong to make such claims. 

The booklet claimed that Savarkar encouraged his followers to rape women from minorities and pelt stones at mosques when he was 12 years old. 

The Hindi booklet titled 'Veer Savarkar. Kitne Veer?' was distributed at a camp of Seva Dal, a frontal organisation of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh recently. It questioned Savarkar's credentials as a patriot and his reputation for valour. The booklet also claimed that Savarkar received money from British after he was released from Andaman's Cellular Jail.

Savarkar's grandson Ranjit Savarkar demanded that Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray should file cases against the Congress, its former President Rahul Gandhi, and other leaders involved in publishing the objectionable references, while the Madhya Pradesh government should ban the offensive book.

Ranjit Savarkar, who is the Chairman of Swatantryaveer Savarkar National Memorial, in Mumbai, said, "The Congress has been targeting Veer Savarkar and his legacy repeatedly for political mileage, but we never thought it would stoop so low."

He demanded that all the Congress leaders responsible should be booked for defamation, criminal conspiracy and other sections of the Indian Penal Code, and the booklet must be banned. Ranjit Savarkar pointed out that the references made in the book, "Freedom At Midnight", were withdrawn by the publishers long ago.

(With ANI inputs)