2 Congress Workers Arrested For Vandalising Savarkar's Pune Statue: Cops

The Maharashtra Police on Friday arrested two persons for allegedly pasting a banner written with "Maafiveer" at the freedom fighter VD Savarkar Smarak in Swargate area of Maharashtra's Pune.

According to Senior Inspector Ashok Indulkar at Swargate Police station, these persons have been identified as Congress workers and are booked under sections 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and 153 (Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) of the Indian Penal Code.

Notably, there is a political storm going on in Maharashtra after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi made remarks against Savarkar on Thursday.

Rahul Gandhi on Thursday, during Bharat Jodo yatra, raked up Veer Savarkar and alleged that he betrayed leaders like M.K Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel by signing a letter of apology to the British before independence.

Reacting to this, Union Minister took a potshot at Rahul Gandhi on Friday saying that the Congress leader is doing Bharat Jodo Yatra with the "tukde tukde gang".

"Rahul Gandhi doing Bharat Jodo Yatra with 'tukde tukde gang'. He spoke about Hindu terror, stood with people who tried to divide India in JNU and now he's raising questions on Veer Savarkar. It's Congress' mentality, they don't see anything beyond one family," said Anurag Thakur.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashish Shelar has condemned Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's remarks on freedom fighter VD Savarkar during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"Rahul Gandhi must not have read his grandmother's letter. He does not seem to have read Nehruji. Since Rahul Gandhi was elected from Kerala, he seems to know only the 'green flag' and seems to have studied tactics to appease only the vote bank of the 'green flag'. And hence his statement seems daft. And we condemn it," BJP's Ashish Shelar said on November 17.

Mr Shelar further mentioned a letter from former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and said, "Former Prime Minister of India late. Indira Gandhi in one of her letters had called Swatantryaveer Savarkar as the 'Son of India' and had also referred to him as 'Veer Savarkar'. She had also mentioned that Savarkar had fought a valiant war against the British and that it will go down in history."

Meanwhile, Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena leader Vandana Dongre has filed a complaint against the Wayanad MP in the Thane Nagar police station stating that the sentiments of the local citizens were hurt by Mr Gandhi's remarks. A case of Non-Cognizable (NCR) Offense has been registered under section 500, 501 of IPC.

"Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra made a statement defaming the freedom fighter Savarkar and due to this the sentiments of the local citizens have been hurt," Ms Dongre said.

"We will not tolerate the defamation of our great men in the soil of Maharashtra," she added.

Balasaheb's Shiv Sena party also took out a protest march on Thursday in Thane to protest against Rahul Gandhi's remarks.

The spokesperson of Balasaheb's Shiv Sena party and Maharashtra state coordinator Naresh Mhaske also demanded during the march yesterday that the police should file a case against Rahul Gandhi for his statement and arrest him.

Earlier yesterday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra attacked Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over his statement on Veer Savarkar, labelling it 'deplorable' and demanding an apology from him.

"Rahul Gandhi has insulted Veer Savarkar. He is the pride of the country. The words that he used for Savarkar are extremely shameful and deplorable," Mr Patra had said.

"Veer Savarkar is a great freedom fighter who is very close to our hearts. Even former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi called him a great freedom fighter who fought against the British. Now, the Gandhi family should answer if Indira Gandhi lied or did Rahul Gandhi?" he added.

Mr Patra further accused the Gandhis of insulting Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel and other heroes of the country's freedom struggle.

"The Gandhi family thinks that theirs were the only freedom fighters to fight for the country's freedom and went to jail. They think that the whole concept of 'Bharat Varsh' is within the Gandhi family. This family has insulted leaders like Subhas Chandra Bose and Vallabhai Patel because of which it is facing an existential crisis across the country today," he said.

On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi attended a tribal convention during the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' at Hingoli in Maharashtra on the occasion of 'Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas'.

Even at this function, Mr Gandhi hit out at Savarkar claiming that the saffron ideologue took a pension from the British government in lieu of working against the Congress.

"While he was lodged in Andaman jail, Savarkar wrote a letter to the British pleading with them that he be pardoned and released. He took a pension from the British and worked against Congress. After coming out of jail, he accepted the British proposal and joined their force. The difference between Savarkar and Birsa Munda is that he died fighting against the British when he was just 24 years old," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)