Veer Savarkar helped the British, betrayed leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, alleges Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday raked up Veer Savarkar again and alleged that he betrayed leaders like M.K Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel by signing a letter of apology to the British before independence. Addressing the media here during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi said, "Veer Savarkar, in a letter written to the British, said "Sir, I beg to remain your most obedient servant" and signed on it. Savarkar helped the British. He betrayed leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel by signing the letter out of fear."

Hitting out at the BJP, the Congress leader said that the youth are not being given the assurance of getting jobs. "I see two big problems- youths don't have the assurance of getting jobs and farmers don't get support from anywhere. The third is interlinked- people are paying for education and health as govt schools, colleges and hospitals are shutting, so where is the money going?" he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi attended Tribal Convention during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Hingoli on the occasion of Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas. Rahul Gandhi said that Hindutva ideologue, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar used to take a pension from Britisher and worked against Congress.

"In Andaman jail, Savarkar wrote a letter and told the British to forgive him and release him from jail. Veer Savarkar took a pension from the British, he worked against Congress. After coming out of jail he accepted the British proposal and joined their force. The difference between Savarkar and Birsa Munda is, he fought against the British when he was 24 years old," he said. Following this, Ranjit Savarkar, the grandson of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, had said that he would file a complaint at Shivaji Park Police Station in Mumbai against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for "insulting" Veer Savarkar.

Savarkar talking to ANI said, "It is not the first time Rahul Gandhi and Congress have insulted Savarkar. In the past too, they have insulted Savarkar, so I have decided to file a complaint against Rahul Gandhi at Shivaji Park police station." "I will file a complaint for insulting our leader freedom fighter. Rahul Gandhi is a serial offender in this regard. In the past in 2017 also he did the same thing," Ranjit Sarvarkar also added, "Congress is trying to play vote bank politics and uses the same agenda of insulting Veer Savarkar," he concluded.

Earlier today, Rahul Gandhi and others resumed the Maharashtra leg of the Yatra from Patur. The Yatra has already covered parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana before entering Maharashtra. Rahul Gandhi will travel through 15 Assembly and 6 Parliamentary Constituencies in Five districts of Maharashtra and would cover a distance of 382 Kms.

Bharat Jodo Yatra, which began on September 7 from Kanyakumari, will cover a further distance of 2,355 km in its 3,570-km march. It will end in Kashmir next year. It is the longest march on foot by any Indian politician in the history of India, the Congress claimed earlier in a statement. Bharat Jodo Yatra is getting support from various political parties and social organizations across the country and the response is increasing day by day. Notably, all the party MPs, leaders and workers along with Rahul Gandhi are staying in containers. Sleeping beds, toilets and ACs are also installed in some of the containers. The arrangements have been made keeping in view the intense heat and humidity with the change of places. The Congress suffered a debacle in the assembly polls held earlier this year and the Yatra is seen as an attempt to rally the party rank and file for the upcoming electoral battles.