"Mahatma Gandhi Asked Savarkar To File Mercy Petitions": Rajnath Singh
NDTV
Talking about Veer Savarkar as a freedom fighter, Rajnath Singh said his commitment for freedom was so strong that the British sentenced him to life imprisonment twice.
Hailing Veer Savarkar as a staunch nationalist and India's first military strategist in the 20th century, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said it was on Mahatma Gandhi's request that he wrote mercy petitions to the British and people from the Marxist and Leninist ideology wrongly accuse him as a fascist. #WATCH | Lies were spread about Savarkar. Time & again, it was said that he filed mercy petitions before British Govt seeking his release from jail... It was Mahatma Gandhi who asked him to file mercy petitions: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at launch of a book on Savarkar y'day pic.twitter.com/Pov4mI0Ieg
He described Savarkar as a "national icon" at an event to release a book on him and said he gave the country a "robust defence and diplomatic doctrine".
"He was an icon of the Indian history and will remain so. There can be a difference of opinion about him, but to look down on him as inferior is not appropriate and justifiable. He was a freedom fighter and a staunch nationalist, but people who follow the Marxist and Leninist ideology are the ones who accuse Savarkar of being a fascist...," Mr Singh said, adding that the hatred towards Savarkar is illogical and unplaced.
Talking about Savarkar as a freedom fighter, he said his commitment for freedom was so strong that the British sentenced him to life imprisonment twice.
Election Results 2024: Introduced in 2013 following a Supreme Court directive, NOTA offers voters an option to reject all candidates while maintaining ballot secrecy.
PM Modi also offered the Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha congratulations for their win in the election in that state.
However, Salman who got married on Friday night will miss his own wedding reception, scheduled for November 26 in Meerut, due to the district ban imposed just a day before the 'nikah' (wedding).
Maharashtra Election Results 2024: The rebel faction of Eknath Shinde, which has pitched the electoral battle as an acid test of "who is the real Shiv Sena" has lost no time to announce it as an ideological victory.
Meanwhile, as the dust settles after the counting of votes, the identity of the victor of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election is settled, and the focus now will be on the next Chief Minister.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in January and released on bail in June.
Jharkhand Elections Results 2024: JMM chief Hemant Soren and his wife Kalpana are parents to two boys. Sharing a picture of his two sons, he wrote, "My strength."
Overall, the BJP has not only retained the three seats it won in 2022 but also flipped two others - Kundarki and Katehari - while also picking up a sixth from allies NISHAD Party.
Fahad Ahmed, a candidate of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction, is currently trailing Sana Malik, nominee of Ajit Pawar's NCP, by over 3,000 votes and the counting is nearing completion.
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which includes the Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP, is en route to a thumping win in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election, thanks to its two smaller allies.
The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader said the results are not acceptable to his party and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition.