Paris:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Marseille in southern France and paid homage to the memory of freedom fighter V D Savarkar, who attempted a “courageous escape” at the port city.

“Landed in Marseille. In India’s quest for freedom, this city holds special significance. It was here that the great Veer Savarkar attempted a courageous escape,” Modi said in a post on X after arriving there Tuesday night (local time).

He added, “I also want to thank the people of Marseille and the French activists of that time who demanded that he not be handed over to British custody. The bravery of Veer Savarkar continues to inspire generations!” During British colonial rule, freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar had attempted an escape from captivity on July 8, 1910, while he was being transported on board the British ship Morea to India to stand trial.

He is known to have slipped out of the ship’s porthole and managed to swim ashore before being captured by the French authorities and then handed back into the custody of the British ship authorities. It triggered a major diplomatic row as Savarkar went on to be sentenced to life imprisonment at Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Prime Minister Modi is in Marseille to inaugurate a new Consulate General of India with French President Emmanuel Macron. The leaders have a series of engagements planned for Wednesday, including an expected visit to the Mazargues War Cemetery to honour the sacrifice of Indian soldiers who died fighting in the World Wars.

A tour of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, an international nuclear fusion collaboration, is also on their agenda.

Earlier on Tuesday, they addressed the AI Action Summit and the 14th India-France CEOs Forum. PTI AK TIR TIR

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bengaluru:

A Bajrang Dal leader and activist filed a complaint on Friday against Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao for his controversial remarks on Veer Savarkar.

Tejas Gowda, the complainant, stated that the health minister should be more cautious with his language in public.

“He holds a responsible position as the health minister, and whenever he addresses the media or speaks in public, he should be careful. His recent statement about Veer Savarkar was inappropriate. He claimed that Savarkar, despite being a Brahmin, consumed beef. I would like to ask Dinesh Gundu Rao: Do you have any proof that Savarkar consumed beef? Or, I ask directly, did Veer Savarkar appear in your dreams and admit it?” he said.

Mr Gowda further challenged the minister to an open discussion on Savarkar. “I challenge Gundu Rao to set a date, place, and time for a public discussion on this matter. We are ready to discuss this openly instead of allowing such false allegations and rumours about Savarkar to spread. I urge you to focus on your portfolio and the health of the people,” he added.

On October 2, during the launch of the Kannada version of Gandhi’s Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea of India, Dinesh Gundu Rao said, “Savarkar was not opposed to cow slaughter. He was a Chitpavan Brahmin but a non-vegetarian. In that sense, he was a modernist. While his thinking was fundamentalist in some ways, he was also modern. Some even say he ate beef, but certainly, as a Brahmin, he consumed meat and openly advocated for it.”

He continued, “Gandhi was a vegetarian and deeply believed in Hinduism, but his actions were different. He was a democratic person… Jinnah was a devout Islamist who drank wine and, according to some, ate pork. Yet, he became a Muslim icon. He wasn’t a fundamentalist, but Savarkar was. Jinnah compromised his philosophy for political power, while Savarkar remained a fundamentalist.”

The minister also spoke about Nathuram Godse. Speaking to ANI, he said, “Someone like Godse, who assassinated Gandhi, was a fundamentalist because he believed he was doing the right thing. This is the danger of fundamentalism–even when committing heinous crimes, you believe you are justified. That is the issue.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

BJP icon VD Savarkar, a Chitpavan brahmin, not only was a non-vegetarian, “many say he even ate beef”, said Karnataka Health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao today, triggering off the next massive political controversy ahead of the assembly election in Maharashtra. He also said that Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was not a fundamentalist but Savarkar was. The BJP has started vociferous protests, and Savarkar’s grandson has threatened to file a defamation suit against the Karnataka leader.  

“Savarkar, a ‘Chitpavan Brahmin’, used to eat meat. He was a non-veg eater and he was not against cow slaughter… Some say that he used to eat beef as well. As a Brahmin, he used to eat meat and was openly propagating eating meat,” Mr Rao said days after Maharashtra declared the indigenous cow as the “Rajmata-Gomata”. 

BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi lashed out at the Congress, demanding that the party name any of its top leaders who was handed down double life imprisonment and lodged at the cellular jail in Andaman-Nicobar Islands by the British.

“Insulting Veer Savarkar, who was an inspiration to revolutionaries in the country, is akin to spitting on the moon,” said BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh.

“Kanhaiya Kumar, who raises ‘bharat tere tukde honge’ slogan, is embraced. Red carpet is rolled out for those who consider Afzal Guru (Parliament attack convict) a hero…What kind of ‘mohabbat ki dukan’ Rahul Gandhi has opened where the martyrs and freedom fighters are insulted?” he said.

The Shiv Sena of Eknath Shinde warned that if the Congress kept on insulting Savarkar, they will get theri comeuppence in the election. “The comment made by the Health Minister of Karnataka on Veer Savarkar is completely condemnable; it is an insult to him,” said party leader Sanjay Nirupam. 

Ranjit Savarkar, the grandson of Veer Savarkar, said the claims of Veer Savarkar “consuming beef” were false and he would also file a defamation suit against Rao for his statement, he said. 

It is the Congress strategy to defame Savarkar, especially ahead of elections, he said. “Earlier, Rahul Gandhi was doing it and now his leaders are making statements… The Congress wants to divide Hindu society between castes and win elections. This is like the Britisher’s policy of divide and rule,” he was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India.

“The statement about Savarkar eating beef and supporting cow slaughter is false. His original article in Marathi meant that cows were very useful and that’s why they are considered deities. He was also the president of a Gau Raksha Sammelan… I am going to file a defamation suit against him,” he added.

He further claimed that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had always followed the policies of Veer Savarkar and never followed a single policy of Jawaharlal Nehru or Mahatma Gandhi.

Pune:

The Pune Police on Monday submitted its enquiry report in a court stating there is prima facie truth in the complaint filed against Rahul Gandhi by VD Savarkar’s grand nephew who had accused the Congress leader of defaming the Hindutva ideologue in a speech made in London in 2023.

The report was submitted in the court of judicial magistrate (first class) Akshi Jain, said advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, who represents Satyaki Ashok Savarkar, the complainant.

Sangram Kolhatkar said the court may issue a notice to Rahul Gandhi seeking his appearance.

Satyaki Savarkar had said his lawyers moved the city court with a complaint under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code last April.

The court had asked the Vishrambaug police to verify the proof submitted by Satyaki and submit a report by May 27.

“Vishrambaug police stated that Satyaki Savarkar had filed a complaint in the court last April accusing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of making false claims about the late revolutionary (VD Savarkar) in a speech made in London in March 2023,” said Kolhatkar.

As per the complaint, Rahul Gandhi claimed in his speech that VD Savarkar had written in a book that he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and he (Savarkar) felt happy.

Satyaki Savarkar had said that no such incident had ever taken place, and VD Savarkar never wrote any such thing anywhere, the complaint stated, terming Rahul Gandhi’s allegation as fictitious, false and malicious.

“The Vishrambaug police submitted a report today before the court and told the court that in their probe, it has been revealed that V D Savarkar had not written about such incident in any of his books but despite that Gandhi made that kind of remarks during his speech in London in March 2023 and defamed Savarkar,” said Kolhatkar.

Police stated that prima facie there is a truth in the complaint filed by Satyaki Savarkar that Rahul Gandhi had defamed VD Savarkar in his speech.

When contacted Tukaram Nimbalkar, assistant police inspector, confirmed that the report had been submitted in the court.

Notably, a metropolitan court in Surat last March convicted Rahul Gandhi of criminal defamation for his 2019 remark, “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?”, and sentenced him to two years in jail. Subsequently, the sessions court granted him bail on April 3.

The Supreme Court in August stayed his conviction in the defamation case. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)