Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 22: Even as despite the differences with the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over Veer Savarkar the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) has promised to keep the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance going in Maharashtra, the BJP has come up with an allegation that the Congress was paying money to some Bollywood actors to join the “Bharat Jodo Yatra” for better publicity.
Shiv Sena (Thackeray faction) leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday virtually set at rest the threat of breaking up of MVA alliance stating that it had to “survive despite differences” for the sake of the country. “An alliance is always a compromise. There is no difference in our ideology. We left the BJP, not our Hindutva ideology. We may not be in agreement with the Congress on every issue. There are some issues on which the Shiv Sena cannot compromise, and our party is clear on it,” Raut said
Rahul Gandhi last week stood firm on his remarks on VD Savarkar that the Hindutva ideologue “wrote mercy petitions to the British and accepted pension’ and that he did so because of fear.” “I am very clear he helped the British,” Gandhi said. “Savarkar signed this letter whereas Mahatma Gandhi, pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were in prison for years… did not write any letter,” the Congress leader had said.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had said his party has immense respect for VD Savarkar and he does not approve of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on the freedom fighter while Raut had threatened that the remarks could lead to split in the MVA in which the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are alliance partners.
Meanwhile, with a number of prominent Bollywood artistes joining the Bharat Jodo Yatra during its current Maharashtra leg, the BJP has tried to find fault with it claiming that the actors joined not because of the aim behind it but because they were paid money for it as advertisement.
Among the Bollywood actors and television artistes who were seen walking shoulder to shoulder with Rahul at different times during the Yatra were Pooja Bhatt, Sushant Singh, Amol Palekar, Riya Sen, Rashmi Desai and some others. Several BJP leaders, including Amit Malviya Rane, on Tuesday, claimed actors are paid to walk with the Congress leader. In support, a WhatsApp forward bearing no name was shared which calls for the participation of actors in Madhya Pradesh.
According to the WhatsApp message, the actors can choose the time slot to walk with Rahul Gandhi for 15 minutes in November in exchange for the ‘best possible cost’.
The Congress replied and said this show how desperately the BJP was trying to discredit the yatra. Those who have joined Bharat Jodo Yatra are standing for the cause & for our nation. “Other than refurbishing Rahul Gandhi’s credential as a leader, all that his Yatra has achieved is enable rise of a self serving coterie around him, which is doing more harm by this kind of paid PR. But who are these people willing to associate with Rahul even for some money?” Amit Malviya tweeted.
Maharashtra Congress leader Sachin Sawant said the cited WhatsApp forward has no name, no number and does not hold water at all. “It is the BJP which masters the art of arm-twisting celebrities to portray artificial support for them, not Congress,” Sawant tweeted.
“Don’t we remember tweets of celebrities on petrol diesel rates during UPA govt & during farmers’ protest? Everyone knows that it takes courage to stand against autocratic & divisive bjp agenda,” he said adding that those who have joined Bharat Joda Yatra are standing for the cause and for our nation.
“BJP’S attempt to belittle their honesty and malign their characters only shows how correct the stand of artists is. Today’s statement of PM against Bharat Joda Yatra & such malicious propaganda from bjp only reaffirms our resolve and proves that the yatra is on the right track,” the Congress leader said.