Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday asked BJP if it agreed with the statement of Amruta Fadnavis, wife of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who called Prime Minister Narendra Modi the father of new India. Raut called it an 'insult' to the Prime Minister and further said, "This is an 'insult' to Modi as in the new India, ghosts of hunger, poverty, unemployment and terrorism are raising their head." Raut claimed this in his weekly column Rokhthok in the party's mouthpiece 'Saamana.'
"No one in the BJP talks about (freedom fighter) Veer Savarkar being father of the nation. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was always opposed to Savarkar who underwent rigorous imprisonment. These people have partitioned India into old and new," the Rajya Sabha member further claimed.
Amruta, a banker and singer, in a mock court interview recently said, “We have two ‘rashtra pita’. Narendra Modi is the father of New India and Mahatma Gandhi is the father of the nation of earlier times.” This statement evoked strong reactions from the opposition Congress as well as Tushar Gandhi who is the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.
Launching a scathing attack Raut questioned the BJP if it acknowledges the independence gained from the martyrdom of freedom fighters. "Today in the new India, ghosts of hunger, poverty, unemployment, and terrorism are raising their head. Making Modi the father of new India is an insult to him," Raut wrote in the Marathi publication. He further claimed the 'father of the nation' title was given to Mahatma Gandhi by the people of India.
The issue here is not who is the father of the nation or Sardar. The matter is about what is the BJP's contribution to the freedom struggle, Raut said.''The BJP and the RSS had no role to play in the freedom movement and hence, they have to steal icons linked to the Congress like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose," Raut further alleged.
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