Savarkar issue: BJP MPs court arrest

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>Savarkar issue: BJP MPs court arrest

>The Hindu

>September 21, 2004

>

>Port Blair, Sept 21.(PTI): Led by Sushma Swaraj, 150 BJP MPs and MLAs today

>marched carrying a plaque containing Veer Savarkar's quotation demanding

>its

>restoration in the Cellular Jail here, but courted arrest when the local

>administration prevented them from doing so.

>

>BJP Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Swaraj, who was on a flower-decorated

>truck,

>led the batch of 107 MPs, including several former Union Ministers, and 43

>MLAs

>on an uphill journey from the Tiranga Park towards the Cellular Jail about

>a

>kilometre away amidst tight security arrangements.

>

>Raising slogans such as "the nation will not tolerate insult to freedom

>fighters", they made their way peacefully through police barricades until

>they

>reached the road outside the historic monument, where prohibitory orders

>had

>been promulgated.

>

>They were then rounded up by police and taken in buses to the nearby Netaji

>Stadium, designated as a jail.

>

>Before they were arrested, Swaraj and other senior BJP leaders including

>former

>Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi garlanded statues

>of

>Savarkar and other freedom fighters in a park named after Savarkar, across

>the

>road from the national monument.

>

>Plaque handed for 'safekeeping'

>

>They then handed over the brass plaque containing Savarkar's quotation to

>Deputy

>Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti for "safekeeping".

>

>"We ask the administration to take good care of the plaque till a

>government

>that respects patriots comes back to power and issues instructions to

>restore

>it inside the Cellular Jail", Swaraj said.

>

>The original plaque containing revolutionary quotations of Savarkar and

>Mughal

>ruler Bahadur Shah Zafar had been removed on orders of Union Petroleum

>Minister

>Mani Shankar Aiyer last month.

>

>Fiery speeches

>

>Before commencing their half-hour long 'Andaman Satyagraha' march, the BJP

>MPs

>made fiery speeches at the Tiranga Park denouncing the Congress and its

>"foreigner" President Sonia Gandhi for "insulting" the memory of freedom

>fighters.

>

>"The fact that over 100 MPs and nearly 50 MLAs have assembled here to

>protest

>the removal of Savarkar's plaque demonstrates our anger and anguish,"

>Swaraj

>said.

>

>"What is so objectionable about Savarkar's quote? It reads: 'Vande Mataram!

>We

>have not taken the oath of patriotism with our eyes closed. We have

>examined

>this choice in history's burning flames. We have consciously and after due

>thought resolved to burn ourselves in this sacred fire. We have taken a

>pledge

>of self-sacrifice'.

>

>"What is it about this revolutionary quotation that has evoked so much

>hatred

>towards the plaque? The fact is, the Gandhi-Nehru family wants to take all

>the

>credit for India's freedom struggle. Should all the buildings, roads,

>hospitals

>be named after members of the family which has ruled India for two-thirds

>of

>its Independent years," she asked.

>

>Sushma slams Sonia

>

>Directing most of her ire at Sonia Gandhi, Swaraj said "a firangi

>(foreigner)

>cannot know what freedom fighters have sacrificed for this country. Only

>Aiyer

>is not responsible for this action."

>

>She said she had made a last-minute appeal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

>to

>allow restoration of the plaque so that the controversy ended once and for

>all,

>but that did not happen.

>

>Joshi said the Savarkar issue was not an isolated one. "The Congress and

>the

>Left parties in a calculated manner are trying to denigrate, belittle and

>remove the contribution of freedom fighers, even from textbooks.

>

>"Why is the government hesitating in restoration of the plaque even though

>the

>Prime Minister himself said Savarkar was a great patriot," he asked.

>

>Describing Aiyer as the "leftover of Left parties being dished out to the

>Congress", former Union Minsiter Yashwant Sinha alleged that the Petroleum

>Minister raised money for the Chinese when they invaded India in 1962.

>

>Were promises made?

>

>BJP Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha V K Malhotra claimed Union Urban Development

>Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had earlier promised him that the plaque would be

>restored, but wilted under orders from Gandhi.

>

>Though Swaraj repeatedly claimed that the timing of the 'Andaman

>Satyagraha' had

>nothing to do with Maharashtra elections, Malhotra made an indirect

>reference

>to it when he blasted Congress and NCP for giving money to the family of

>alleged ISI agent Ishrat Banu who was shot dead by police.

>

>Other prominent BJP lawmakers who participated in the march were former

>Union

>Ministers B C Khanduri, Satyanarayan Jatiya, Sahib Singh Verma and Ravi

>Shanker

>Prasad, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi and former Deputy

>Chairperson of Rajya Sabha Najma Heptullah.

>

>Ater spending about two hours in the Netaji Stadium 'jail', the lawmakers

>were

>released on signing a bond pledging to uphold peace.

>

>Local Congress MP Manoranjan Bhakta, who led about 300 people in a rally

>here on

>Monday to protest BJP's programme, had said the saffron party was only

>interested in disturbing law and order instead of concentrating on the

>development of the island group.

>

>Police and paramilitary forces were on "maximum mobilisation" here today to

>ensure that nothing untoward took place.

>

>"We are more interested in protecting the honourable MPs and MLAs from

>trouble

>makers. We do not anticipate any problem from them," Deputy Superintendent

>of

>Police Bipin Chowdhury said.

>

>

>

>

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>

 

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