Prime Minister Narendra Modi insulted countless martyrs of the freedom struggle by paying tribute to V.D. Savarkar, along with other great leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, and B.R. Ambedkar, in his Red Fort address, Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat has said.
Speaking at a public function here in connection with the Freedom Street programme of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on Monday, Ms. Karat said it was a shame that the Prime Minister had lauded Savarkar along with Gandhi and others. Savarkar was one of the accused in the Gandhi assassination case, she said.
The Prime Minister glorified a man who had bowed before the British. It was a tragedy that the Prime Minister, while unfurling the National Flag on the 75th anniversary of Independence, mentioned the name of a man who was an accused in the Gandhi assassination case, she added.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is manufacturing history and heroes as they cannot cite the name of even a single person who stood against the British and refused to compromise with them. The freedom struggle was successful because it was fought on the basis of the values of secularism, democracy, and social justice. Those values needed to be defended as they were being assaulted by those ruling the nation, she said.
Ms. Karat said the Prime Minister did not even mention the Constitution of India in his address. The values of the Constitution, secularism, democracy, federalism, and the fight against imperialism, reflected in the Tricolour, are under challenge. The democratic values were under siege in the country, she said.
“The government is using money, Enforcement Directorate, CBI, and every institution to destroy democracy and subvert the popular mandate. The people of India will resist and fight the authoritarian ways of the government,” she said.
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