Savarkar Pitched 2-Nation Theory Before Jinnah: Congress's Bhupesh Baghel

The 2019 national elections may be over but the country's political discourse is still in a time warp. The political slugfest involving former Prime Ministers, the father of the nation and his assassin had barely died down when Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday dragged in BJP icon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar into the fight, saying that it was he who had pitched the idea of carving out Pakistan from India before Independence.

"Vinayak Damodar Savarkar had first thought of the two-nation theory. His theory was taken forward by Muhammad Ali Jinnah," Mr Baghel was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. He was addressing Congress workers on former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's death anniversary in Raipur.

"Savarkar had put forward the proposal of dividing the country into two parts on religious grounds and Jinnah had implemented it. This is a historical fact and no one can deny it," the Congress leader said.

"He had fought for the independence of the country and was put in Andaman and Nicobar jail. Not just once but he apologised repeatedly to Britishers and after coming out of jail he stayed away from the fight for the country's independence. He had thought of two countries, this is also historically true," he added.

Mr Baghel's remarks come a day ahead of the birth anniversary of Savarkar, known for formulating the foundation of the Hindutva philosophy that form the philosophical foundation for the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Last year during the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had remembered Savarkar and said it was he who had first termed the events of 1857 not a revolt but the First War of Independence.