Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday announced that the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar will be celebrated on May 28 as the 'Swatantrya Veer Gaurav Din'. Various programs will be organized for the propagation of the ideas of Swatantra Veer Savarkar on this day. CM Eknath Shinde's office took to Twitter to say that Savarkar's contribution towards the Independence of India as well as to its development was huge.
The CMO Maharashtra's tweet read, "The Chief Minister announced that the birth anniversary of Swatantrya Veer Savarkar on May 28 will be celebrated as 'Swatantrya Veer Gaurav Din' by the state government. On the day, various programs will be organized for the propagation of the ideas of Swatantra Veer Savarkar."
In the same thread, CMO also said, "Swatantra Veer Savarkar has made a great contribution for the country's independence and national development. Industries Minister Uday Samant had demanded to celebrate 'Swatantryaveer Gaurav Din' to salute his patriotism, courage and progressive thoughts."
This move comes days after Rahul Gandhi's controversial statement, in which he said: "I am a Gandhi and not Savarkar and Gandhis do not apologise," in an apparent reference to Savarkar's mercy petitions to the British during his harsh incarceration. Rahul Gandhi was replying to BJP, which was demanding an apology from him, claiming that the Congress leader had defamed India abroad during his Cambridge lecture.
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Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray strongly criticised Gandhi's statement and warned of "fissures in the Maharashtra Opposition alliance" if the Congress leader didn't stop insulting their 'idol'.
"I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that you walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, Sanjay Raut walked with you; we are with you. But I want to tell him that this fight is for saving democracy and that Savarkar is our God, we won't tolerate his insult. We will not tolerate this at all," NDTV quoted Thackeray as saying. He further said, "Savarkar suffered unimaginable torture in the Andaman cellular jail for 14 years. We can only read the sufferings. It was a form of sacrifice."