Afraid that after Savarkar, next in line for Bharat Ratna could be Godse: Congress' Raashid Alvi

Congress leader Raashid Alvi on Wednesday lashed out at BJP for propping up the name of Veer Savarkar for Bharat Ratna in the party's manifesto for the upcoming Maharashtra elections and said that Nathuram Godse's name could be next in line.

"Everyone knows the history of Savarkar. Savarkar was accused of murdering Gandhi, he was released due to lack of evidence. Today, this government is saying that they will give Bharat Ratna to Savarkar, I am afraid the next in line could be Godse in this chain," Alvi told ANI here.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Working President JP Nadda and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had on Tuesday released the party's manifesto for the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

The manifesto, among other things, had a page on Bharat Ratna awards in which the party has proposed the names of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule and Veer Savarkar for the country's highest civilian award.

Alvi also implored the Centre to openly announce that they will abide by the judgment of the Supreme Court on the Ayodhya Ram Mandir issue and expressed the hope that the country will welcome the decision, no matter what it is.

"Whatever decision the Supreme Court takes the country will respect that. In Ayodhya, Section 144 has been imposed and this is the responsibility of the government to maintain peace there. I believe that the country will maintain peace. It is the responsibility of the government to announce that they will obey the decision of the court and implement it," Alvi said.

Earlier today, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi had said that today will be the last day of hearings in the Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid land dispute case and it will end by 5 pm.

Further attacking the BJP government in poll-bound Maharashtra, Alvi said that the government was acting inefficiently and had failed to stop the farmer suicides in the region.

"This government is against the poor and anti-people, they do not care about the common people. People are committing suicide in Maharashtra and they simply do not care," Alvi said.