Uddhav Thackeray To Skip Congress Meet Over Rahul Gandhi's Savarkar Remark

The two-year jail sentence to Rahul Gandhi and his subsequent disqualification from parliament appear to have helped the Congress take a step towards healing its breach with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and Telangana's ruling Bharat Raksha Samithi, but a fresh fissure appears imminent elsewhere. Upset with Mr Gandhi's comment about VD Savarkar, ally Uddhav Thackeray has announced that he would skip the Congress's dinner meet in Delhi.

"My name is not Savarkar, won't apologise," was Mr Gandhi's defiant response after he got the jail term over his over his comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surname. But it appears to have deeply offended Mr Thackeray's party.

Earlier today, the former Maharashtra Chief Minister had warned of a rift in the Opposition alliance in Maharashtra if Mr Gandhi did not "stop insulting our God".

"Veer Savarkar is our God, and any disrespect towards him will not be tolerated. We are prepared to fight, but insulting our Gods is not something we will tolerate," the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief said.

"I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that we have come together, that's right, we have come together to save democracy and constitution in this country. But do not make any statements that will create fissures," he added.

This is Mr Thackeray's second warning to Mr Gandhi over his comments on VD Savarkar, one of the BJP's biggest icons.

In November last year, when Mr Gandhi had spoken of VD Savarkar's mercy petition to the British, Mr Thackeray had said he did not "approve of Rahul Gandhi's remarks... Have immense respect and faith for Swatyantra Veer Savarkar. It cannot be erased".

This morning, Trinamool leaders Prasun Banerjee and Jawahar Sircar had attended the Congress's strategy meet in parliament and participated in a "black" protest against Mr Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha. So did Bharat Rashtra Samithi of K Chandrashekar Rao, who has been working for years towards a non-Congress, non-BJP front.  

Besides these two parties, 14 others -- DMK, SP, JDU, CPM, RJD, NCP, CPI, IUML, MDMK, KC, RSP, AAP, J&K NC, and Shiv Sena (UBT) -- had attended the Congress meet.

The Trinamool, however, made it clear that its support was restricted to the protest on Mr Gandhi's disqualification.

"The question of walking together is due symbolism, which we undertook today - a special mark of solidarity against coordinated and undemocratic attacks on everyone," Mr Sircar had said.

The situation underscores the opposition's on-again, off-again journey towards unity in the run-up to next year's general election.

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had told NDTV yesterday that the "silver lining" to Mr Gandhi's two-year jail sentence is the "unprecedented opposition unity" it had brought.  

Calling it the "exhibit number one in the law of unintended consequences of the BJP action," he said, "We have seen regional parties in opposition that in each of their states has regarded the Congress as an opponent, actually come out and stand by our side".