PM Narendra Modi pays tributes to Veer Savarkar on his birth anniversary

New Delhi, May 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar on his birth anniversary, saying he motivated several people to join the freedom struggle on Thursday.

 

PM Modi hailed Savarkar for motivating several people to join the freedom struggle. "On his Jayanti, I bow to the courageous Veer Savarkar. We remember him for his bravery, motivating several others to join the freedom struggle and emphasis on social reform," he said.

 

 

PM Modi also shared a clip of his May 2018 "Mann ki Baat" radio program in which he had referred to Savarkar. "It is indeed sad that we kept on calling the events of 1857 only as a rebellion or a soldiers' mutiny for a very long time. It was Veer Savarkar who boldly expostulated by writing that whatever happened in 1857 was not a revolt but was indeed the First War of Independence, he had said.

 

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu described Savarkar as a multi-dimensional personality - a freedom fighter, social reformer, writer, and a political thinker. "Savarkar envisioned a casteless India and started one of the most powerful social reform movements against untouchability," the vice president said in a series of tweets.

 

 

During his imprisonment in the Cellular Jail, Savarkar was subjected to harsh treatment and solitary confinement, Naidu recalled.