‘Bharat Ratna’s popularity will grow’: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat backs award to VD Savarkar, Congress hits back | India News

New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat The prestige of Hindu thinker Vinayak Damodar Savarkar will be enhanced if the Bharat Ratna Award, India’s highest civilian award, is awarded to him, he said on Sunday.The remarks prompted an immediate and strong response from Congress, which questioned the merits of the requirement and the intent behind it.

Bhagwat, while addressing a function to mark the RSS centenary in Mumbai, said the long-pending demand to commemorate Savarkar deserves serious consideration.“Bharat Ratna’s popularity will increase if this award is given to Savarkar,” he said, reiterating a stance echoed by sections of the Sangh Parivar and the BJP over the years.Bhagwat made the comments while responding to a question on a range of issues, including the Uniform Civil Code, nationalism and the role of the RSS in public life. The show was attended by several well-known figures from the world of film and culture.

‘On what grounds should he be awarded Bharat Ratna?: Congress launches stinging attack

Congress reacted strongly to Bhagwat’s statement. Party MP Imran Masood questioned the basis on which Savarkar was awarded the Bharat Ratna and accused him of contributing to the idea of ​​partition of India.Masood told reporters in Varanasi: “On what grounds should he be awarded the Bharat Ratna? For what merit? Because he caused the division of India and Pakistan?” “Sawarkar first promoted the two-nation concept in the country and laid the ideological foundation for the division between India and Pakistan,” he added.The latest exchange comes against the backdrop of a long-running and politically charged debate over Savarkar’s legacy. While the BJP and its ideological affiliates view him as a freedom fighter and a leading ideologue of Hindutva who was imprisoned under British rule, the Congress party has always opposed any move to award him with the Bharat Ratna, citing his controversial views and alleged links to the conspiracy to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi.The issue first gained significant political attention in 2019, when the Maharashtra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party promised to win a Bharat Ratna for Savarkar in its election manifesto. The Congress party later lashed out, with senior leader Manish Tewari saying it was highly inappropriate to award the award to Savarkar, especially around the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. At the time, the BJP defended the demand, arguing that Savarkar was a freedom fighter who had spent years of grueling imprisonment in the Andaman Cell Jail, while many national leaders, including BR Ambedkar and Sardar Patel, had received the Bharat Ratna long after independence.The demand resurfaced in 2024 too, when Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray questioned why the BJP-led Center had not yet paid tribute to Savarkar despite repeated assurances and letters from the BJP leader himself. Thackeray said the ruling party had no right to lecture others on the Savarkar issue if it failed to fulfill its promises.