Raipur: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday described as ridiculous, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s claim that nationalist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar tendered a mercy petition to the British after being advised to do so by Mahatma Gandhi.
“It is beyond comprehension how the two could have been in contact as Savarkar was locked up at the Cellular Jail (in Port Blair) and the Mahatma was in Wardha. Savarkar apologised not once but half-a-dozen times while behind bars. Subsequently, he sided with the English for years and worked on their agenda of divide and rule. The two-nation theory was first propounded by Savarkar in 1925 and he proposed Partition, which was later raised by the Muslim League in 1937. Thus, two organisations favouring communalism laid the foundation of Partition well before independence,” he told the press here.
