Bengaluru: After former chief minister Siddaramaiah, on Friday, October 18, called Veer Savarkar the ‘mastermind’ behind Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and demanding that the “Bharat Ratna” not be bestowed on him, BJP leaders across the nation have lambasted him.
Today, on Saturday, October 19, countering state tourism minister C T Ravi, who had stated that he “became mentally unstable after losing the post of chief minister”, Siddaramaiah mocked him saying, “If the ‘Bharat Ratna’ can be conferred on an accused in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, then atleast a Rajyotsav Award should be conferred on a person who killed innocent people in a car accident.”
Meanwhile, addressing the media in Hubballi, Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi countered Siddaramaiah’s criticism against Sarvarkar stating, “The Congress had conferred the ‘Bharat Ratna’ on former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who in his tenure had achieved nothing. But when it comes to conferring one on freedom fighter and nationalist Veer Savarkar, the Congress is completely upset. Siddaramaiah’s ill comments and allegations against Savarkar is highly condemnable.”
“The conferring of ‘Bharat Ratna’ on Sarvarkar was in the upcoming Assembly election manifesto of the Maharashtra BJP. Highlighting that in Karnataka and creating chaos in the state is unethical,” he added.
It can be recalled that on Friday, October 19, while addressing the Congress party gathering at the St. Sebastian Church Hall, Mangaluru, Siddaramaiah had called Sarvarkar and Naturam Godse ‘murderers’ of Bapu.
