Mangaluru: After former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recommended the Central Government to present the Bharat Ratna award to Siddaganga Mutt seer Shivakumara Swami instead of giving it to Veer Savarkar, the former CM’s staunch follower MLC Ivan D’Souza also urged the government to do the same, on Sunday, October 20.
Condemning the Centre’s decision to posthumously award Savarkar the Bharat Ratna, Ivan alleged that the BJP’s agenda was to gain a full majority in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly Elections by giving Savarkar the coveted award. “BJP is trying to promote traitors as patriots, only during the time of elections. Why else would the BJP government choose Savarkar for the Bharat Ratna award, despite the fact that he had hatched a plan to eliminate Mahatma Gandhi?,” he questioned.
When Ivan was asked about Savarkar’s book on India’s first war of independence and Indira Gandhi’s move to release a stamp in his name, Ivan said that although initially, Savarkar had raised his voice against the British, his attitude changed by a great extent afterwards. “While he was jailed for a brief period, he wrote several letters to the British government, promising to be loyal to them. He played a key role in dividing India as well. BJP supporters had misguided government officials which is what led then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to release a stamp in his name,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ivan informed that the statement of Karnataka Tourism Minister C T Ravi against Siddaramaiah has hurt the sentiments of the Congress party. “C T Ravi had alleged that Siddaramaiah’s son Rakesh had died because he was a drunkard. But, people are also aware that C T Ravi’s vehicle had killed two common people by running over them and Ravi was in a drunken state at that time,” he said.
Congress leaders like Sadashiva Shetty, Nazeer Bajal, Kavitha Sanil, Jayasheela Adyanthaya, Bhaskar Rao, Narayan Kotian and others were present.
