'Savarkar Ate Non-Veg, Wasn't Against Cow Slaughter': Karnataka Minister D Gundu Rao's Remarks Draw BJP, Grandson's Fire

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Congress leader and Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has sparked a huge controversy after claiming that Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was himself a non-vegetarian and was not against cow slaughter, PTI reported on Thursday.

“Savarkar was a non-veg eater and he was not against cow slaughter. As a Brahmin, he consumed meat and openly promoted eating meat,” PTI quoted the Karnataka minister as speaking at a book launch of the Kannada version of "Gandhi's Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea of India" by journalist Dhirendra K. Jha in Bengaluru.

"Savarkar was modernist in that way but his fundamental thinking was different. Some people said he used to eat beef and he was openly propagating eating beef, so that thinking is different. But Gandhiji had a lot of belief in Hinduism and was conservative in that but his actions were different because he was democratic in that way,” the minister added .

BJP hits back

Reacting to the controversial remarks by the Congress minister, senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that people in Congress don't know anything about Savarkar and only insult him.

“These people do not know anything about Savarkar. The insult him again and again. Savarkar has expressed his opinion on cows very well. He had said that since the birth to death of a farmer, cows have helped him. So, cows have been given the status of God. Rahul Gandhi started the series of making such false statements on Savarkar, and I think they are trying to take it forward,” ANI quoted Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister as saying.

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