Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 16: While the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis questioned the UBT Shiv Sena faction leader Uddhav Thackeray for his silence over Karnataka Congress government’s decision to remove chapters on Savarkar and Hegdewar from school textbooks, the chief minister Eknath Shinde claimed that a mere advertisement in the newspaper would not create a gulf between his party and its ruling alliance the BJP.
Taking on the former ally, Fadnavis accused Uddhav Thackeray of compromising on his ideology just for the sake of “being in power.” “I would just like to say that you can erase someone’s name from a book, but it can’t be erased from the heart. You cannot erase the names of those who have contributed to the freedom of the country. But I ask Uddhav Thackeray ji. Those who are sitting shoulder to shoulder with Congress in Maha Vikas Aghadi, what is your reaction now? Do you accept the way appeasement of minority communities is going on only for power, will you accept this insult of Veer Savarkar ji? Or just settle for the chair?” he said.
The BJP’s swipe at Thackeray on his ideology and alliance with the grand old party comes two months after the Shiv Sena leader cautioned the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi saying Savarkar was akin to God for them and their role model, and any insult to him would not be acceptable to his party. Demeaning Savarkar would create “cracks” in the opposition alliance, Thackeray had warned.
“My question is to Uddhav Thackeray. Now tell me exactly what your reaction is. If those on whose lap you are sitting are going to erase the name of freedom fighter Savarkar, are going to fully support conversion…you should also say what is your exact opinion on this now? Was this compromise made for power?” Fadnavis asked.
Acting on its poll manifesto promise to undo the changes made to school textbooks when the BJP was in power, the Congress government in Karnataka led by Siddaramaiah in a cabinet resolution on Thursday approved the revision of Kannada and Social Science textbooks of classes 6 to 10 in the state for this academic year by removing the chapters on RSS founder KB Hegdewar and Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar among others.
It has also consented to add chapters on social reformer and educator Savitribai Phule, Jawaharlal Nehru’s letters to Indira Gandhi and poetry on BR Ambedkar, and do away with the changes that were brought in by the previous BJP government. Responding to the question of what has been added and removed during the revision, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kumar Bangarappa had said, “We have only restored what was there before the previous BJP government made changes; we have removed the changes they had made.”
Meanwhile, Shinde sought to repair the damage an advertisement had started creating between the two alliance partners. “An advertisement will not be able to weaken the BJP – Shiv Sena alliance, Shinde said on Friday and asserted that the bitterness someone was trying to create over the last one year had been removed. A war of words erupted between the Shiv Sena and the BJP over a newspaper advertisement that projected Shinde as being more popular in the state than his deputy Devendra Fadnavis.
The full-page advertisement, which also had a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appeared in major newspapers in the state on Tuesday, citing a “survey” that showed Shinde was ahead of Fadnavis in popularity. The advertisement, which did not have pictures of either Fadnavis or Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, fuelled talks about a possible rift among the two allies whose government will complete one year in office on June 30.
Speaking to reporters, Shinde said, “This alliance will not get weakened just because of an advertisement put out by an over-enthusiastic party worker.” The alliance was formed from a deep ideological stand when stalwarts like Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were around, he added.
“In the past one year, someone tried to add salt (bitterness, acrimony) in the (Sena-BJP) alliance but that (issue) has been taken out like a stone. There will be no enmity just because of an advertisement,” he reiterated. Shinde said his friendship with his deputy and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was very strong and could not be damaged so easily.