Sushilkumar Shinde Praises Savarkar, Says He Respects His Work Towards Abolishing Untouchability

Former Maharashtra chief minister and ex-union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde was seen praising Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in a video posted on social media by Press Trust of India earlier this week. The undated video, posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Monday (September 9) features Shinde praising the Hindutva icon.

"I have always respected Savarkar ji for work he did for abolishing untouchability. He had a person from backward community lay the foundation of Patit Pavan Mandir (in Ratnagiri district)," said Shinde in Hindi.

Shinde, a dalit himself, expressed his displeasure saying that such work done by Savarkar is not discussed widely. Though he did not explicitly mention anyone, but said that 'they' do not want to talk about Savarkar.

Savarkar often faces flak especially from Congress leaders and Congress supporters for his alleged role in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyyar has in past, courted controversy for facilitating removal of words from a poetry by Savarkar inscribed on the Cellular Jail in Andaman where Savarkar endured an especially painful incarceration at the hands of the colonial British who then ruled India.

Shinde on backfoot

Shinde has been facing flak for saying that he was scared to go to Lal Chowk in Srinagar when he was union home minister. Shinde was seen saying this at the launch of his memoir in New Delhi. Lal Chowk in Srinagar has for decades been an emblem of terrorists' grip on Jammu and Kashmir and it was often considered to be dangerous to display symbols of the Indian state there.

Though in his speech, Shinde underlined that he said this as a joke, leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have trained their guns at the former home minister, the then chief of national security apparatus, saying such a comment was unbecoming of the former union minister.