Owaisi Says BJP May Award Bharat Ratna to Godse, Targets RSS Over Savarkar Remarks

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday launched a sharp attack on the BJP-led central government and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over remarks by its chief Mohan Bhagwat supporting the demand to confer the Bharat Ratna on Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar.

Addressing a public rally in Mahabubnagar while campaigning for municipal elections in Telangana, Owaisi said that if the BJP continues on this path, a day may come when Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse, is also awarded the country’s highest civilian honour.

Owaisi recalled the role of Maulvi Alauddin, the then imam of Hyderabad’s Makkah Masjid, who he said took part in the attack on the British Residency during the First War of Independence in 1857. He stated that Alauddin was arrested by the British, sent to the notorious ‘Kala Pani’ prison in the Andaman Islands, and later died there.

Without directly naming Savarkar, the Hyderabad MP accused the RSS of seeking the Bharat Ratna for a person who had written multiple mercy petitions to the British colonial rulers.

Questioning the Sangh’s narrative, Owaisi asked who the first prisoner of the Cellular Jail in the Andamans was — a Sangh member or a Muslim freedom fighter. He claimed that Maulvi Alauddin was the first inmate of the jail.

Referring to the findings of the Justice J L Kapur Commission, which investigated Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, Owaisi asked whether the commission had not described Savarkar as a conspirator in the killing.

“You are demanding the Bharat Ratna for someone accused of conspiring in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. Congratulations. One day, the BJP will even give the Bharat Ratna to Godse,” Owaisi said.

His remarks came a day after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said that the prestige of the Bharat Ratna would increase if it were awarded to Savarkar, reviving a long-standing demand by Sangh-affiliated groups.