Koppal: Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi has said that the Bharat Ratna will be posthumously awarded to Late Shivakumar Swamiji of the Siddaganga Mutt, following the Karnataka Congress’s demads in the ongoing “Veer Savarkar Bharat Ratna” controversy.
It can be recalled that Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Congress leader Siddaramaiah had, during his visit to Mangaluru, stirred up the controversy by saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “revealed his fake patriotism” by deciding to posthumously award the Bharat Ratna to Hindu philosopher and freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (aka Veer Savarkar).
The remark kicked up a mud-slinging contest with leaders from the Congress and BJP accusing each other of being fake patriots in thinly veiled comments.
Speaking to the media Savadi said, “The Bharat Ratna award will be conferred on Sri Shivakumar Swamiji, as the state government has already received a lot of requests for the same. We will request the Central Government to look into this recommendation. But in the current context, the matter of conferring the award on Veer Savarkar is in the limelight.”
“Savarkar was a freedom fighter, who sacrificed his life for the country by being in jail for a long time. So, insulting Savarkar is equivalent to insulting all the freedom fighters,” he added.