Despite his own party leading the Maharashtra government, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar on Friday questioned in the state legislative assembly about the “delay” in passing a resolution seeking the Bharat Ratna for Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar.
Earlier, in March, Mungantiwar had moved a resolution in the assembly seeking the posthumous conferment of the country’s highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna, on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
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Mungantiwar raised the matter on the last day of the monsoon session and said that Speaker Rahul Narwekar had assured the House on March 5 that the resolution would be taken up “at the earliest,” but it did not figure in the List of Business during the previous budget session or the ongoing monsoon session.
The leader also stated that coming to power should not mean changing one’s ideological stand.
“Veer Savarkar suffered torture at the hands of the British. At least we should not, even unknowingly, make him suffer through our own delay. We only have to pass a resolution. Does even a file have to suffer for so long? It has been two sessions, from March 5 to July 10,” he emphasised.
“If your ideology has changed after coming to power, then I will never raise this issue again. But your actions do not match the ideology you claim to follow,” he added.
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“When a party comes to power, it should not change its ideology. If the government’s stand on this issue has changed, it should say so openly,” Mungantiwar said.
He also urged Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandrakant Patil to clarify the government’s position.
The BJP leader continued, “It pains me that as a worker who has devoted his life to Savarkar’s ideology, our own government appears to be sitting on the file. I regret this deeply. Henceforth, I will never raise this issue again.”
‘Did not come up before BAC’: Assembly speaker
Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar clarified that the resolution was not placed before the House because it had not been discussed in the Business Advisory Committee (BAC), news agency PTI reported.
“Unfortunately, this issue did not come up before the BAC. I did not think it appropriate to bring such a resolution before the House without prior discussion with all floor leaders,” Narwekar said.
The Speaker said the government had informed the Chair that it continued to pursue the matter and assured members that the issue would be taken up in the BAC during the next session.
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Additionally, the Speaker also assured that it was an important matter for the House and recalled that it had been discussed earlier. He further added that any resolution has to be placed before the BAC after prior notice is given to all floor leaders.
