Bengaluru: After the Karnataka Government announced that they would be naming a the Yelahanka flyover after Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar, they received pushback from the Congress and JD(S) leaders.
The Opposition parties termed the state government’s move as an insult to the freedom fighters of the state.
It can be recalled that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa is set to inaugurate the new 400-metre long flyover, built on Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan Road in Yelahanka, on Thursday, which also happens to be Veer Savarkar’s birthday.
Terming the move an “insult” to the freedom fighters of the state, CLP leader and former chief minister of the state Siddaramaiah tweeted, “The hasty decision to name Yelahanka flyover after Savarkar is an evidence to say that the administration is not run by an elected government, but by those behind the screen.Chief Minister are you seeking opposition cooperation for such anti-people decisions?(sic)”
JD(S) leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy also opposed the move also took to Twitter to voice his disagreement. “There are several eminent personalities who fought for the development and welfare of the state both before and after independence, the flyover could have been named after them. Have other states named things after freedom fighters from the state? On behalf of the people, I urge the state government to step back from the decision,” he wrote.
Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath, defending the state government’s decision to name the flyover after Savarkar, said that there was nothing wrong with naming a flyover after a freedom fighter who was jailed and suffered punishment at Kala Pani for the country’s sake.
