Sena (UBT) leader threatens to blacken Rahul Gandhi's face over Savarkar remark

Nashik: A local office-bearer of the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Wednesday said he would blacken Rahul Gandhi's face for his `derogatory' comments about freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, drawing a strong reaction from Congress leaders in Maharashtra.

The remark by Bala Darade, a deputy city unit chief of the Uddhav Thackeray-led party in Nashik, could put the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) under strain.

"We are proud that we live in the birthplace of Swatantrya-veer Savarkar. Rahul Gandhi's statement about Savarkar, calling him 'Mafi-veer', was insulting. We condemn it strongly. We will blacken Rahul Gandhi's face if he comes to Nashik. If we can not do that, we will pelt stones at his convoy," Darade told a Marathi news channel on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the Hindutva ideologue.

The Sena (UBT) is an ally of the Congress in the MVA, and the two parties are also part of the INDIA grouping of the Opposition.

Nashik-resident Devendra Bhutada has filed a defamation case against Gandhi, claiming that some remarks made by the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha against Savarkar hurt his feelings.

Darade further said he did not care about the consequences of his threat for the MVA. "We will not tolerate anyone using abusive language against Savarkar....Whatever be the future of Maha Vikas Aghadi, we will not tolerate insult to Savarkar," he said.

Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sushma Andhare told reporters that Darade's views were his own and and not the official stand of the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.

Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal termed Darade's threat as "cowardly." ''Rahul Gandhi's father late Rajiv Gandhi and grandmother late Indira Gandhi sacrificed their lives for India's unity. Congress and its leadership are not afraid of such threats," he told reporters.

Rahul Gandhi did not make derogatory remarks against Savarkar, he said, adding, ''His comments contain historical references. Even (journalist and writer) Arun Shourie, a minister in the Vajpayee government, has written a book on Savarkar, and most references in that book are what Rahul Gandhi has said. Our workers are capable of tackling such threats,'' Sapkal said.

Yashomati Thakur, another Congress leader and former state minister, said her party believes in non-violence but is capable of responding to threats. "Rahul Gandhi only repeated what has been written in history,'' she said.