CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: New Delhi: The dispute between Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the family of Veer Savarkar over Gandhi’s 2023 speech in London is back in focus. During the hearing of a defamation case in a Pune court, Savarkar’s great-grandson Satyaki Savarkar rejected Rahul Gandhi’s allegations, saying his remarks had wrongly portrayed Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s image.
Satyaki Savarkar told the court that Savarkar did not hate Muslims and that Rahul Gandhi had presented him as a person who held extreme hatred towards the Muslim community. He also objected to the claims made in Rahul Gandhi’s London speech, in which a purported incident linked to Savarkar was mentioned.
Addressing people of Indian origin in London in March 2023, Rahul Gandhi had claimed that Savarkar had written in one of his books that he and some of his associates had beaten up a Muslim man and that he was happy about the incident. Satyaki Savarkar termed the claim false and said Savarkar had not written about any such incident. A defamation complaint was filed against Gandhi over this statement.
The case has been underway in a Pune court for some time. During the hearing, issues related to Savarkar’s historical and political views, as well as the mercy petitions submitted during British rule, have also been discussed on behalf of the Savarkar family. Satyaki told the court that the language of Savarkar’s petitions was administrative in nature and that it was not appropriate to describe him as having surrendered to British rule merely because he had filed petitions.
The dispute over Savarkar and Rahul Gandhi has long remained a sensitive issue in Indian politics. Differences between the Congress and the BJP over Savarkar’s political legacy have also surfaced repeatedly. In this context, the ongoing hearing in the Pune court has once again brought the old political controversy into the headlines.
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