Three NSUI members were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly 'blackening' a signboard on a flyover named after Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar at Yelahanka in Karnataka's Bengaluru, according to police. The incident occurred on Savarkar's birth anniversary. The police reported that activists from the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party, protested, demanding the flyover be renamed.
They allegedly blackened Savarkar's name on the signboard, replaced it with a banner reading 'Bhagat Singh flyover,' and chanted 'Inquilab Zindabad' while displaying Bhagat Singh's pictures, news agency PTI reported.
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"They had put black paint on the board. We have registered a case under the Prevention of Destruction and Loss of Public Property Act and have arrested three people. They were wearing scarfs of NSUI," a senior police officer stated, as per PTI. The signboard was later restored, he added.
Congress Has Long Abandoned Values Of Mahatma Gandhi, Ambedkar: Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
R Ashoka, Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, criticised the ruling Congress for the incident. Posting on social media handle X, he wrote, "While Veer Savarkar's photo adorned @RahulGandhi 's Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka, @INCKarnataka and its affiliates continue to denigrate Veer Savarkar by defacing the signboard of Veer Savarkar flyover in Bengaluru."
"Congress has long abandoned the values of Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar who had admired Veer Savarkar, but what about Indira Gandhi, one of their own, who too hailed Veer Savarkar as a great revolutionary? "Has CM @siddaramaiah and DCM @DKShivakumar given up on Indira Gandhi too just because it doesn’t suit their narrow and bigoted vote bank politics?" Ashoka further wrote.
The flyover was named after Savarkar during the BJP's tenure amid opposition from groups including the Congress party.