BJP should choose between Gandhi and Savarkar: Sibal

With the BJP's Maharashtra unit proposing a Bharat Ratna for late Hindutva idealogue V D Savarkar in the 150th birth anniversary year of Mahatama Gandhi, the Congress on Saturday attacked the saffron party, saying the BJP must choose between Gandhi and Savarkar.

"We respect everyone... whoever has contributed towards the country's protection, be it Savarkar or someone else," said senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, gingerly praising the Hindutva idealogue.

"But you have to decide whether you are a devotee of Mahatma Gandhi or Savarkar or both. This question will rise and you will have to respond," he told a news conference at the AIICC headquarters.

"You do not even know about Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution -- how a ruler should look after its people? You see every thing through the eyes of Savarkar," said Sibal, without elaborating.

The Article 14 of the Constitution pertains to the Fundamental Right of equality, while articles 15 and 16 pertains to the provisions for reservations in educational institutions and the government jobs respectively for the socially and educationally backward sections of the society.

Sibal said the history was created by both Gandhi and Godse.

"We embrace the history of Gandhi but we don't know about you (Godse)," he said.

The BJP's Maharashtra unit on Tuesday proposed Bharat Ratna for Savrkar as part of the party's election manifesto, evoking criticism from the opposition with the Congress asserting that if such a demand is accepted, the "God save this country".

The CPI also attacked the ruling party, saying the day may not be far for the BJP to demand Bharat Ratna for Gandhiji's assassin Nathuram Godse as well.

The manifesto for the October 21 Maharashtra assembly elections said the party will ask the NDA government at the Centre to confer India's highest civilian award on Savarkar and social reformers Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule.

Opposition parties launched a scathing attack over the demand for Bharat Ratna to Savarkar with the Congress saying that Savarkar, though acquitted later, had faced criminal trial in the murder of Mahatma Gandhi.

"In a country where Mahatma Gandhi is being made to commit suicide in examinations, anything is possible," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari had said at a press conference, referring to a row over a question in the assessment examination of some schools in Gujarat recently.

Tiwari also cited a media report that claimed the Kapur Commission, formed in 1966 to look into the conspiracy to murder Gandhi, also concluded that facts pointed towards a "conspiracy to murder (Gandhi) by Savarkar and his group".

"If on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, this government considers any such thing (giving Bharat Ratna to Savarkar), than all I want to say is that God save this country," the Congress spokesperson had said.