Making PM Modi Father Of New India An Insult To Him: Sanjay Raut's Fresh Barb At Prime Minister

Sanjay Raut claimed that this is an "insult" to PM Modi as in the new India, ghosts of hunger, poverty, unemployment and terrorism are raising their heads. 

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party over Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's wife Amruta Fadnavis’ statement who called Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the father of New India.

As per a report by news agency PTI, Raut claimed in his weekly column Rokhthok in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana' that this is an "insult" to Modi as in the new India, ghosts of hunger, poverty, unemployment and terrorism are raising their heads. 

"No one in the BJP talks about (freedom fighter) Veer Savarkar being the father of the nation. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was always opposed to Savarkar who underwent rigorous imprisonment. These people have partitioned India into old and new," the Rajya Sabha member further claimed.

In a mock court interview recently, Amruta, who is a banker and a singer, said, “We have two ‘rashtra pita’. Narendra Modi is the father of New India and Mahatma Gandhi is the father of the nation of earlier times.” It had evoked strong reactions from the opposition Congress as well as Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.

Raut on Sunday said the BJP does not acknowledge the independence gained from the martyrdom of freedom fighters.

"Today in the new India, ghosts of hunger, poverty, unemployment, terrorism are raising their heads. Making Modi the father of new India is an insult to him," Raut wrote in the Marathi publication.

He claimed the Father Of the Nation title was given to Mahatma Gandhi by the people of India.

Many political opponents including Shiv Sena founder late Balasaheb Thackeray had objections to it, Raut said.

He questioned BJP leaders’ contribution in the freedom struggle saying that the  issue here is not who is the Father Of The Nation or Sardar, the matter is about what is the contribution of RSS in the freedom struggle. 

''The BJP and the RSS had no role to play in the freedom movement and hence, they have to steal icons linked to the Congress like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose," Raut alleged.