Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited the Cellular Jail where Hindutva icon Veer Savarkar was lodged during pre-independent India. PM Modi laid a wreath at the Martyr’s Column inside the jail premises. Savarkar was imprisoned by the Britishers and moved to the Cellular Jail in 1911.

The Prime Minister visited the cell where Savarkar spent his days. Upon entering the cell, PM Modi sat down in front of Veer Savarkar’s photograph placed inside the cell.

In a tweet put out later, the Prime Minister said: “Among those imprisoned at Cellular Jail was the great Veer Savarkar. I visited the cell where the indomitable Veer Savarkar was lodged. Rigorous imprisonment did not dampen Veer Savarkar’s spirits and he continued to speak and write about a free India from jail too.”

“Cellular Jail…this is where colonial rulers sent several nationalists and freedom fighters who fiercely resisted imperialism. Today, I had the privilege of visiting the Cellular Jail and paying homage to those greats who toiled for us and our freedom,” he further said.

The Prime Minister later visited the gallows where there were arrangements to hang three prisoners at one go. The Cellular Jail, which was constructed between 1896 and 1906, also known as Kala Pani. Some of the freedom fighters who were imprisoned here by the Britishers were Yogendra Shukla, Batukeshwar Dutt, Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi and Sachindra Nath Sanyal.

All the prisoners here were put in solitary confinement.