‘Name it after Manmohan Singh’: Congress vs BJP on Savarkar college inauguration
Delhi University’s decision to name one of its upcoming colleges after Hindutva icon Veer Savarkar.
Whose foundation stone would be laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, has sparked a war of words between the BJP and Congress. While the Congress’s student wing has demanded that the college be named after former PM Manmohan Singh, who died last week, the BJP has accused the party of “habitually disparaging iconic figures”.
The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), in a letter to PM Modi, highlighted Manmohan Singh’s contributions to education and requested that his legacy be honoured by naming the college after him and not Savarkar.
“Singh established numerous institutions like IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and introduced the Central Universities Act. Naming institutions after him will inspire generations and honour his transformative vision,” the NSUI said. It also sought the establishment of a central university named after Singh, whose groundbreaking reforms liberalised the economy in 1991.
The Veer Savarkar College will be constructed in Najafgarh at an estimated cost of Rs 140 crore. The decision was approved in 2021 by the Delhi University’s executive council.
Congress MPs Naseer Hussain and Sukhjinder Randhawa also took potshots at the BJP for glorifying “mercy petition writers” to the British. “The PM should think again. Savarkar had apologised to the British. How can a college be named after him?” Randhawa said.
Hussain, a Rajya Sabha MP, accused the BJP of disregarding the contribution of the freedom fighters. “The BJP is giving legitimacy to those people who have written mercy petitions to the British and taken pensions from them,” he said.
BJP DEFENDS NAMING OF COLLEGE, ATTACKS CONGRESS
The BJP, on the other hand, has defended the decision and hit back at the Congress.
“Only the Congress knows which leaders it respects. Veer Savarkar was a freedom fighter. If Delhi University is naming its college in his honour, then we welcome it,” Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said.
BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla questioned whether leaders like Indira Gandhi or Uddhav Thackeray, who had praised Savarkar, were also wrong about him.