Hit Rahul Gandhi photo with slipper: Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule dares Uddhav Thackeray

NAGPUR: Stepping up his attack on Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Tuesday dared him to slap Rahul Gandhi’s posters with slippers for insulting Hindutva icon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
Addressing the media, Bawankule announced that BJP will take out ‘Veer Savarkar Gaurav Yatras’ in all assembly segments in Maharashtra from March 30 to April 6 to propagate the ideology of Savarkar among youths. The yatra would culminate on April 6, the BJP’s foundation day.

Reminding Uddhav how his father and then Sena chief Balasaheb had slapped former Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s posters with footwear for insulting Savarkar, the state BJP chief challenged him to do the same.
“On one hand, the Hindu Hridaysamrat never tolerated freedom fighters’s insults and on the other (Rahul) Gandhi is repeatedly denigrating Savarkar for the last three months. In Malegaon, Thackeray said he will not tolerate such insults. He should specify what exactly he wants to do.
Would he dare to snap all ties with Congress and NCP? I had dared him to leave MVA till 11am today. Had he done so, I would have visited his home to congratulate him, but he expectedly failed to do that,” said Bawankule. Accompanied by city BJP president Pravin Datke, MLAs Krishna Khopde, Tekchand Sawarkar and other senior leaders, Bawankule accused Thackeray of joining hands with the Congress and NCP only for becoming chief minister and making his son (Aditya) a minister.
“Thackeray is in fact doing nautanki over Savarkar and misleading people. When he was CM for two-and-a-half years, what he had done to stop Gandhi? When the Bharat Jodo Yatra passed through Maharashtra, Gandhi had insulted Savarkar. But on the very next day, Aditya had joined him for a foot march.
The Thackerays have compromised with their ideologies and adopted Congress’s thoughts due to sheer lust for power,” he said. The BJP chief also warned Rahul Gandhi that Maharashtra would not tolerate any more insult of its leaders. “Savarkar was sentenced to 50 years in jail.
Of which he endured 11 years of torture in Cellular Jail in Andaman, which was infamously called ‘kala pani’. Gandhi cannot stay even one day behind bars. Even their ‘morning alarm’ Sanjay Raut does not know anything about Savarkar. He is losing his memory after staying in jail for 100 days.
Savarkar opened 500 temples for all castes and religions and worked for eradication of untouchability,” said Bawankule. Explaining the proposed yatra, Bawankule said BJP and Shiv Sena workers under the guidance of CM Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis would reach out to over one crore youths with Savarkar’s thoughts.