Mumbai: BJP icon VD Savarkar, a Chitpavan brahmin, not only was a non-vegetarian, "many say he even ate beef", said Karnataka Health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao today, triggering off the next massive political controversy ahead of the assembly election in Maharashtra. He also said that Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was not a fundamentalist but Savarkar was. The BJP has started vociferous protests, and Savarkar's grandson has threatened to file a defamation suit against the Karnataka leader.
"Savarkar, a 'Chitpavan Brahmin', used to eat meat. He was a non-veg eater and he was not against cow slaughter... Some say that he used to eat beef as well. As a Brahmin, he used to eat meat and was openly propagating eating meat," Mr Rao said days after Maharashtra declared the indigenous cow as the "Rajmata-Gomata".
BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi lashed out at the Congress, demanding that the party name any of its top leaders who was handed down double life imprisonment and lodged at the cellular jail in Andaman-Nicobar Islands by the British.
"Insulting Veer Savarkar, who was an inspiration to revolutionaries in the country, is akin to spitting on the moon," said BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh.
"Kanhaiya Kumar, who raises 'bharat tere tukde honge' slogan, is embraced. Red carpet is rolled out for those who consider Afzal Guru (Parliament attack convict) a hero...What kind of 'mohabbat ki dukan' Rahul Gandhi has opened where the martyrs and freedom fighters are insulted?" he said.
The Shiv Sena of Eknath Shinde warned that if the Congress kept on insulting Savarkar, they will get theri comeuppence in the election. "The comment made by the Health Minister of Karnataka on Veer Savarkar is completely condemnable; it is an insult to him," said party leader Sanjay Nirupam.
Ranjit Savarkar, the grandson of Veer Savarkar, said the claims of Veer Savarkar "consuming beef" were false and he would also file a defamation suit against Rao for his statement, he said.
It is the Congress strategy to defame Savarkar, especially ahead of elections, he said. "Earlier, Rahul Gandhi was doing it and now his leaders are making statements... The Congress wants to divide Hindu society between castes and win elections. This is like the Britisher's policy of divide and rule," he was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India.
"The statement about Savarkar eating beef and supporting cow slaughter is false. His original article in Marathi meant that cows were very useful and that's why they are considered deities. He was also the president of a Gau Raksha Sammelan... I am going to file a defamation suit against him," he added.
He further claimed that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had always followed the policies of Veer Savarkar and never followed a single policy of Jawaharlal Nehru or Mahatma Gandhi.