The NDA on Saturday countered Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's attack on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar with a letter written by former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, reports said.
Shiv Sena (Shinde) MP Shrikant Shinde quoted the letter from 1980 saying, Indira Gandhi called Savarkar a "remarkable son of India." Was your grandmother also against the Constitution? You have the habit of speaking against him. We are proud to praise Savarkar and will continue to do so," he added, according to TOI.
Shrikant Shinde is the son of the Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde.
Responding to this, Rahul said he once spoke to his grandmother about this and she told him that Savarkarji compromised with the British, wrote a letter, and asked for forgiveness from the British. She said that Gandhiji and Nehruji went to jail, but Savarkar sought forgiveness. Rahul said and added that this was her position on Savarkar.
Earlier in the day, Rahul took a jibe at the BJP saying that by talking of protecting the Constitution, the ruling party is ridiculing, abusing and defaming Savarkar.
Participating in a debate on 75 years of the adoption of the Constitution, the Congress leader said Savarkar, who is seen as an ideologue of the BJP and RSS, had said there is nothing Indian about the Constitution, and that he preferred Hindu religious text 'Manusmriti' to it.