Congress has been abusing Veer Savarkar, other revolutionaries for long, says Savarkar's grandson

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 8 : Responding to Congress leader Priyank Kharge's statement in the Belagavi assembly, Ranjit Savarkar, grandson of freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, on Friday said that the Congress has been abusing Veer Savarkar and other revolutionaries for long.
"They are abusing Veer Savarkar. Not only Veer Savarkar, but other revolutionaries also. This is not new; this has not happened since 1947; this has been happening since 1919. So it has been happening for more than 100 years that Congress has been abusing revolutionaries. So there is nothing new. They are just following their policies," Ranjit Savarkar told ANI.
Priyank Kharge, in his statement, suggested the removal of the portrait of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar from the Karnataka State Assembly building.
"I am of the strong opinion that Savarkar's photo should not be there in the Assembly or the Council. If the BJP has a problem with it, it is their problem. It is my opinion that anybody whose ideology incites hatred and creates division should not be there. Savarkar's portrait should not be there," Priyank Kharge said.
Further, Veer's Savarkar grandson said, "See, first of all, they are asking who has made him the veer? The people have started calling him Swatantra Veer. And that is because he was in prison for 14 years and 13 years in a house arrest. He was the only Indian leader who was kept in prison for 27 years."
He further stated that the people are not foolish and will throw Kharge away.
"He has power. He can remove his photo even if he throws it on the street but then definitely the people, who are not foolish, will throw you away," Ranjit Savarkar said.
"See, from such stupid people, I don't expect an apology because if they had any sense, they wouldn't have made such statements," he added.
"They have nothing to show. For more than 70 years, when Congress was in power, they didn't do any development... Their plan is to abuse Savarkar, disprove him and discredit him, and then they think that the whole BJP government will be discredited. So this is sheer politics and they don't have anything else to do. So I think that's why they are doing it," Ranjit Savarkar added.
Earlier in the day, Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) staged a protest against Congress leader Priyank Kharge's remarks about Veer Savarkar. The protest was held outside the BJP office at Nariman Point in Mumbai on Friday.
In the protest, the young BJP workers waved posters describing Kharge as anti-Hindu.
Meanwhile, BJP MLAs in Maharashtra also held a protest and raised slogans on the stairs of Vidhan Bhavan, Nagpur, on Friday. The Maharashtra Assembly is in the midst of its winter session in Nagpur.
Earlier in the day, Satyaki Savarkar, grandnephew of freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, responded on Friday to Congress leader Priyank Kharge's statement in the Belagavi assembly and said that Karnataka Minister Kharge is "spreading lies."
"I think Kharge ji has not studied Savarkar ji. Kharge is spreading lies that Savarkar was spreading communalism. He was looking with the same perspective at all the people. The public now knows the Congress party's real stand," said Satyaki Savarkar.