Mumbai: ‘Rahul Gandhi can never be Savarkar’

Ashish Shelar, MLA, BJP Mumbai president with Sada Sarvankar, MLA, Shiv Sena in the Savarkar Gaurav Yatra at Shivaji Park on Sunday. Pic/Ashish Raje

A rally called ‘Savarkar Gaurav Yatra' in support of Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and slamming Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his remarks against the Hindu ideologue was held at Shivaji Park, late Sunday morning. The participants walked in a circuitous route, starting from one of the by lanes near the landmark maidan and ending at Savarkar Smarak opposite it.

The procession was led by young women infusing the march with an energetic lezim dance. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena flags flew, and most participants wore saffron caps with the Marathi slogan 'Mee Savarkar' (I am Savarkar) emblazoned on them. The Savarkar row has moved from slow simmer to full boil after Gandhi's remarks, "I am not Savarkar". Political strongman Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray have done some damage control. Yet, Gandhi has not apologized and said he will not do so.

The faith

Bhushan Limaye and Pravin Churi, Savarkar caps atop their heads, were waiting on the side lines as the procession readied. Said Limaye, "We must see Savarkar above politics, as a nationalist. He wanted a Hindu country. By Hindu country, he did not mean that those practising other faiths cannot and should not be in India." Churi stated, "Go to Andaman and see where Savarkar was jailed. That small cell, imagining the hardship, it will give you goose bumps and move you to tears."

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Praveen Sawant, another participant said, "We are Savarkar bhakts. We respect him, we are aligned with the philosophy," he said. Kashinath J Dhanu and Jayesh Kini from Mahim Koliwada echoed the, "Savarkar bhakts" claim. "We are here as a mark of respect. He has given us freedom. What does the Congress know?"

World vision

A group of supporters said, as chants of "Vande Mataram" rang out in the background and the rally gathered tempo, "Even Uddhav Thackeray is not doing anything much about these insults."

They added, "When you talk about secularism, all should be equal." When asked what favouritism meant, they said, "Like the Haj subsidy was given to Muslims earlier, why not a subsidy for Christians to Vatican and Hindus for Kashi yatra?" When asked for their names, all of them pointed to their caps and said, "Mee Savarkar".

Sign off

As the rally moved towards the end, a Savarkar lookalike on a vehicle in the forefront, posed for numerous pictures with BJP-Shiv Sena party workers. Krishna M, a supporter stated, "Rahul Gandhi will not apologise but this is expected of him. These yatras will go on." Shouts of "Rahul Gandhi maafi maango" (apologize) could be heard as leaders ended, "Rahul Gandhi says he is not Savarkar, that is right, Pappu cannot be Savarkar. In fact, rallies like these against Rahul Gandhi's remarks are going to raise awareness about the ideologue."