Savarkar row: BJP, Congress lock horns, students detained during protest

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday termed the blackening of V D Savarkar's bust in the Delhi University (DU) a ‘cowardly act’. Congress reacting to this, said it would not allow saffronisation of educational institutions. The Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) had on Thursday said it blackened the bust of Savarkar while garlanding those of Bhagat Singh and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, installed by the ABVP-led Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) at the Delhi University.

Some students taking part in a protest against the installation of a bust of V D Savarkar in the Delhi University were detained on Friday to avoid a clash with another group present at the spot, police said.

The students, however, claimed that a “peaceful signature campaign” had been organised by different students’ bodies.

”It was a cowardly act,” Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said in a statement.

“Veer Savarkar was unique among revolutionaries around the world. He was a great revolutionary, historian, social reformer, thinker and litterateur.  His books were similar to the Gita for revolutionaries,” he said.

By insulting Savarkar, the Congress has once again proved how it is against strong nationalism, he added.

Working president of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee Rajesh Lilothia, who held a meeting with NSUI representatives to chalk out a plan for the September 12 DUSU elections, said his party would not allow saffronisation of educational institutions.

He said the student community is agitated that the bust of Savarkar, who had sided with the British during the independence movement, has been placed alongside those of great freedom fighters like Singh and Bose.

The DUSU had installed these busts outside the Arts Faculty building on Tuesday. The NSUI and the Left-backed All India Students’ Association had criticised the move, saying Savarkar cannot be kept on the same pedestal as that of Bose and Singh.

Earlier, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray those who do not respect Veer Savarkar should be thrashed publicly in chowks.

“Those who do not respect Savarkar should be once thrashed publicly, in chowks (square). Till then they will not realise who had toiled to what extent to attain freedom for the country,” Thackeray told reporters here. “These people, who insulted Savarkar—whom Rahul Gandhi too had insulted—will not understand value of freedom till then,” he added.