‘Public sympathy will fall with attacks on Savarkar’

First India Bureau Mumbai: The Shiv Sena - Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Monday reminded said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi not to squander the public sympathy his disqualification as Lok Sabha MP has garnered by continuing to attack freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar.

The truth--for which Gandhi is fighting for today--will not win by making defamatory statements against Savarkar, an editorial in Shiv Sena - UBT mouthpiece Saamana said.

“By making defamatory statements against Savarkar, the sympathy gained by Rahul Gandhi will start ebbing. This will, for sure, put the Maharashtra Congress in a uncomfortable position,” the editorial said.

This comes a day af-

TROUBLE BREWING FOR MVA?

In the latest development in the ongoing controversy, the Shiv Sena - UBT decided not to attend the meeting called of opposition parties at Congress chief’s Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence. “The Uddhav Thackeray faction has decided not to attend the meeting at Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence today because Rahul Gandhi said that I am not Savarkar, I am Gandhi,” party MP Sanjay Raut told the media.

ter Uddhav Thackeray asked Gandhi to refrain from “insulting” his “idol” Savarkar.

Thackeray said the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of three parties - Sena (UBT), Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) - was formed to protect democracy and it was necessary to work unitedly for it.

Gandhi’s remarks that he is not Savarkar to apologize will not af-

Skill India

fect the faith of the people in the Hindutva ideologue, the Saamana editorial added.

Without naming Prime Minister Modi, the editorial said a dictator is always scared and that he first starts controlling the judiciary and parliament and destroys the opposition.

This is called slavery, the editorial said, adding that Gandhi should take an oath to fight such slavery, just as Savarkar did at the age of 12.