With the Maharashtra Assembly elections drawing near, the BJP made a spirited attempt in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday to resurrect the Vinayak Damodar Savarkar issue.
No one from the ?secular? camp ? Congress, Left, SP or RJD ? made any attempt to engage BJP members as they stood up during Zero Hour demanding a clear government response to the proposal for setting up a Savarkar memorial at Marseilles in France.
Minister of state for parliamentary affairs V Narayanasamy first said the government had ?taken note? of the issue and ?would respond when necessary.? Later, when pressed by Leader of the Opposition L K Advani and his deputy Sushma Swaraj for a clearer reply, Narayansamy promised to ?convey the feelings of members? to the concerned minister.
BJP?s Gopinath Munde, who hails from the same state as Savarkar ? Maharashtra ? raised the issue. He said the Mayor of Marseilles had written a letter indicating his willingness to establish the memorial. but the government had not responded. He pointed out that 100 years ago on this day Savarkar, who was being ferried as a prisoner, had jumped off a British ship to escape to the French coast. Savarkar swam across to the shore but was arrested in Marseilles. He was lodged in Cellular Jail in the Andamans.