Neither Savarkar nor Nehru should be targeted: Sanjay Raut

Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said V D Savarkar Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru or any other freedom fighter should not be maligned as they are not alive to defend themselvesThere is no need to counter derogatory comments against Savarkar by targeting Nehru or any other historical personality he addedRaut was speaking to reporters here a day after making the stand of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena clear that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi need not have made his controversial comments about SavarkarIt could affect the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA alliance of the Congress NCP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra he had saidAttempts to besmirch the reputations of both Pandit Nehru and Savarkar must stop Freedom fighters who made sacrifices for the countrys independence do not belong to any ideology or political party the Rajya Sabha member said on SaturdayAlso Read Mumbai Family of 36yearold road accident victim donates his organs in KalyanSavarkar and all other freedom fighters are respectable to us he said adding these leaders are not alive and therefore can not defend themselves nowJust because someone badmouths Savarkar it doesnt mean you speak negatively about Nehru the Sena leader addedHe also said that as the first prime minister of the country Nehru took India on the path of development by embracing Savarkars scientific temperOtherwise India would have become another PakistanIndia will be forever indebted to Nehru for that he saidNotably despite Raut on Friday making his partys displeasure clear Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Saturday said those criticising Rahul Gandhi should first explain why the Hindutva ideologue was getting Rs 60 pension from the BritishGandhi kicked up a row earlier this week during the Maharashtra leg of his Bharat Jodo Yatra by claiming that Savarkar had helped the British and wrote a mercy petition to them out of fearThe BJP former ally of Uddhav Thackerays party sought to corner the Sena faction led by Thackeray over Rahuls remarksThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever