Shiv Sena Hints at Cracks in MVA over Rahul Gandhi’s Comments on Savarkar, Jairam Ramesh Says “No”
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 18: Even as Rahul Gandhi’s insistence on declaring Veer Savarkar a “coward and British agent” caused a sharp escalation of disagreement between the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, the Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed that it would not impact the unity of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.
“It has nothing to do with the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance. I spoke to Sanjay Raut on the issue and asked him whether this will weaken the alliance that the Congress had entered into with the Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the Nationalist Congress Party in 2019 and Sanjay Raut said, ‘no’,” Jairam Ramesh said on Friday.
His statement came after a comment from the Sena MP and senior leader Sanjay Raut hinted of cracks in the MVA pointing out that the Sena would not accept insulting Veer Savarkar for whom the organisation had deep respect and love. He had referred to Uddhav Thackeray’s statement on Thursday showing his total disagreement with Rahul Gandhi’s views on Savarkar which put him and his party in a tight spot particularly after his son Aaditya Thackeray joined Gandhi’s Maharashtra leg of the “Bharat Jodo Yatra” and walked along with Rahul Gandhi.
The row comes as Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is in Maharashtra – the birthplace of Savarkar. Uddhav Thackeray was invited to the yatra but he did not join.
Another Sena MP and Uddhav Thackeray loyalist Arvind Sawant also said the MVA alliance was in danger after Rahul Gandhi’s repeated adverse remarks against Savarkar. “Uddhav [Thackeray] ji may make a statement. In the morning, Sanjay Raut made a statement saying we may not continue in the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition). That’s a serious reaction from the party,” Sawant said. The only saving grace for the ideologically alliance between the Sena and the Congress was the BJP’s joining hands with the PDP to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir, another equally unholy alliance to which Uddhav Thackeray had referred to while criticising the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
The Shiv Sena had forged the MVA alliance with the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress party (NCP) after the Maharashtra elections in 2019. The move followed a break-up with long-time partner BJP over sharing the Chief Minister’s seat. The party has since battled accusations of forming the unusual coalition to grab top billing in India’s richest state – home to the country’s financial and entertainment capital Mumbai – and keep the BJP out.
The deal was at the heart of a mutiny within the Shiv Sena earlier this year, when party strongman Eknath Shinde walked over with the majority of MLAs to side with the BJP and become Chief Minister in the process. The differences in virtues of the right-wing Shiv Sena and its centre-left ally came to the fore once again last week with comments by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, criticising Vinayak Damodar Savarkar for seeking mercy from the British while in jail.
Savarkar was a coward, Mr Gandhi suggested, contrasting him with the Congress’s icons Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel. Fending off allegations of “ditching his father Bal Thackeray’s Hindutva legacy”, Uddhav Thackeray countered the comment, saying, his Shiv Sena faction has “immense respect” for Savarkar. The Congressman’s remarks are doubly embarrassing for Mr. Thackeray given the ties that existed between Savarkar and Uddhav’s grandfather – social reformer, writer and influential thinker Keshav Sitaram ‘Prabhodankar’ Thackeray – although Savarkar and Prabhodankar Thackeray’s views on ‘Hindutva’ differed sharply.
Speaking in Mumbai on Friday, Mr. Raut categorically stated that the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray would not tolerate any defamatory remarks against V. D. Savarkar. “At a time when Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra has been getting enthusiastic response across the country, especially in Maharashtra, there was no reason for him to rake up the issue of Savarkar. It has come as a jolt not just to us but the Congress leaders in Maharashtra have received a setback. His [Rahul’s] remarks have proved embarrassing for them as well,” said the Rajya Sabha MP.
Maharashtra, along with a large section of the populace in India had great respect for Veer Savarkar, Mr. Raut asserted, while advising Mr. Gandhi to stop “chewing on the past” and focus on creating a new history for the future instead. Despite his criticism of Mr. Gandhi’s remarks against Savarkar, Mr. Raut targeted the BJP remarking that Veer Savarkar could never be an ideal for “fake Hindutvawadis” like the BJP and its parent body – the RSS.
The MP’s comments followed the line taken by Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, who, on Thursday, disagreed with Mr. Gandhi’s remarks against Savarkar but questioned the BJP and the RSS’ claim of the Hindutva ideologue by remarking that the RSS had made “no contribution towards the Indian freedom struggle.”
Justifying his decision to stay allied to the Congress, Mr. Thackeray said his party, the Congress and others had come together to preserve the hard-won freedom that had been secured by Veer Savarkar’s sacrifices and to oppose the prevailing ‘dictatorship’ of the BJP.
Addressing a rally in Washim district earlier this week, Mr. Gandhi, while calling Savarkar a symbol of the BJP and the RSS, had said he had written mercy petitions from Andaman’s Cellular Jail and later a book on himself using a different name to show how brave he was. Gandhi further alleged that Savarkar used to take pension from the British, work for them and work against the Congress.
Ahead of the crucial civic polls in the State, Mr. Gandhi’s criticism of the controversial Vinayak Savarkar – a particularly sensitive topic in Maharashtra – has come as fresh ammunition for the ruling BJP and its ally, the Eknath Shinde-led Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena who are using it to bombard Mr. Thackeray’s faction which is struggling for its political survival after Mr. Shinde’s intra-party revolt which split the Sena.
However, senior Congressman Balasaheb Thorat today said while there may be differences within the alliance partners, they would be ironed-out through amicable discussion. Congress leader Manikrao Thakre said there was no question of the MVA breaking up because of Mr. Gandhi’s anti-Savarkar comments.
Similarly, Jairam Ramesh said he had a long discussion with Sanjay Raut over the Savarkar issue. “I had a long discussion with Sanjay Raut. I told him that Rahul Gandhi had spoken his mind and the same was the case with your leadership. It has nothing to do with the MVA coalition,” Jairam Ramesh said. Talking about the strained relationship that the Congress and the Sena had before they came together in Maharashtra, Jairam Ramesh said, “It is a matter of different perspectives, outlook and the approach, which is also a fact. MVA was formed only three years ago and both Shiv Sena and Congress were political opponents till then. We came together over a common minimum program and formed the government.”
Meanwhile, in the wake of Mr. Gandhi’s remarks, Congress and BJP workers faced-off in Pune while a defamation case was filed against the Congress MP at Thane by workers of Mr. Shinde’s faction. In Pune, flex boards dubbing Savarkar ‘Maafiveer’ (one who signs cringing mercy petitions) was put up by Congress activists. In retaliation, BJP cadre put up counter stickers against Pandit Nehru outside the city’s Congress Bhavan.
