'BJP may even give Bharat Ratna to Godse': Owaisi slams RSS chief's Savarkar remarks

NEW DELHI: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday criticized the BJP-led government and the RSS over comments by the Sangh chief advocating the Bharat Ratna for Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, saying the party “would not hesitate to award the country’s highest civilian honour even to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse.”Owaisi's remarks came after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat recently stated that conferring the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar would enhance the prestige of the award. Owaisi also referred to the J L Kapur Commission report on Gandhi’s assassination, pointing out that Justice Kapur had identified Savarkar as a conspirator. “A person involved in Gandhi’s assassination—you are seeking the Bharat Ratna for him. Congratulations. A time will come when the BJP may even award it to Godse,” he said, news agency PTI reported.Speaking at a rally in Mahabubnagar during the Telangana municipal polls campaign, Owaisi highlighted the historical case of Maulvi Alauddin, the then imam of Makkah Masjid in Hyderabad, who was arrested for attacking the British Residency during the 1857 First War of Independence. He was sent to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands, popularly known as the ‘Kala Pani,’ where he later died.Without explicitly naming Savarkar, the Hyderabad MP said the RSS was pushing for the Bharat Ratna for a figure who had submitted six mercy petitions to the British. He questioned the Sangh over who the first prisoner at the Cellular Jail was, asserting it was Maulvi Alauddin, not a member of the RSS.