Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray made a controversial statement on Tuesday and said that if Veer Savarkar would have been India's first Prime Minister, then Pakistan would not have been born. He further said that NDA government is a Hindutva Government and demanded the highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna for Veer Savarkar.

The Shiv Sena chief was in Mumbai for the launch of a biography,' Savarkar: Echoes From A Forgotten Past'. The book launch was attended by Deputy Chairperson of Maharashtra Legislative Council Neel Gorhe, Dr. Bharatkumar Raut, Chairman of Smarak Shri Ranjit Savarkar, and Shiv Sena MLA Sada Sarvankar. 

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Thackeray on Savarkar 

Speaking at the launch, Thackeray said that he would not discredit the work done by Mahatma Gandhi and India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the development of country's politics but there is more to politics than just two families. 

"I'd have called Nehru as Veer (brave) if he had survived jail for 14 minutes against Savarkar who stayed in prison for 14 long years," he added.

Recently, Thackeray also said that “People who don't believe in Veer Savarkar must be beaten in public because they won't realize the struggle and importance of Veer Savarkar in India's independence. Even Rahul Gandhi has insulted Veer Savarkar in the past.”

During the book launch, he also took a jibe at former Congress President Rahl Gandhi who in the past has targetted Savarkar several times and said that the Gandhi scion should read the new book on Sarvarkar and know more about him and his work. Rahul Gandhi during a rally in the run-up to 2019 Lok Sabha poll said that  Veer Savarkar had apologized to the Britishers in order to seek freedom from jail. Veer Savarkar is believed to have popularized the term "Hindutva."

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Veer Savarkar: A Revolutionary

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who is also known as Veer Savarkar was an Indian Independence hero, politician, lawyer, and the formulator of 'Hindutva' philosophy. He threw light on various subjects of social importance in his book called “Essentials of Hindutva”. He looked at the societal structure from a more practical perspective and said it was required against the foreign forces. He founded the Abhinav Bharat Society during India's Independence movement. He was later arrested and sentenced for revolutionary activities to two life terms of imprisonment totalling fifty years and was moved to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He was then released in 1921.  

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(With Inputs from ANI)