I don't endorse his ideology, but Savarkar was accomplished man: Singhvi

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Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi on Monday praised V D Savarkar, saying he was an "accomplished man" who played a part in the freedom struggle, fought for Dalit rights and went to jail for the country, days after the BJP's Maharashtra unit proposed a Bharat Ratna for the Hindutva idealogue.

Singhvi, however, said he does not subscribe to Savarkar's ideology.

"I personally don't subscribe to Savarkar's ideology but that doesn't take away the fact that he was an accomplished man" who played part in the freedom struggle, fought for Dalit rights and went to jail for the country," the Rajya Sabha MP tweeted with the hashtag 'never forget'.

The Maharashtra BJP's manifesto for the October 21 assembly elections had 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.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, at a press conference in Mumbai last week, had said, "We are not against Savarkar ji, but we are not in favour of the Hindutva ideology that Savarkar ji patronised and stood for either."

Singh had noted that Indira Gandhi as prime minister issued a postal stamp in Savarkar''s memory.

Earlier, Opposition parties had 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.