Savarkar helped British, sought mercy out of fear: Rahul Gandhi

TIL Desk/National/Mumbai/ Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday continued to target late Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, saying that he helped the British rulers and wrote a mercy petition to them out of fear. Gandhi also dared the Maharashtra government to stop the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, which is currently passing through the state.

Addressing a press conference at Wadegaon in Akola district, Gandhi showed documents dating back to 1920 from the government records to media persons, claiming that they contained a letter written by Savarkar to the British. “I will read the last line, which says ‘I beg to remain your most obedient servant’ and is signed V D Savarkar, which shows he helped the British,” Gandhi said at the media interaction during his Bharat Jodo Yatra foot march which is in the last leg in Maharashtra.

He said he was of the view that Savarkar signed the letter out of fear and in doing so, he betrayed Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders of the freedom struggle. “If the government wants to stop the yatra, try and stop,” he dared.