India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit out at the Congress on Monday after the main opposition party compared Hindu icon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar with Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
"Once again Congress insults Veer Savarkar; equalises him with Jinnah in a book! Does Uddhav Thackeray ji agree with this insult? Are Indira Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Narsimha Rao wrong on Savarkar ji & Rahul, Kamal Nath are right?? Cong insults all freedom fighters outside Parivar," Poonawala tweeted in the morning.
The BJP's strong remarks against India's grand old party came after a book titled "Congress Aur Rashtranirman ki Gaatha (Saga of Congress and Nation Building)", raised questions about the role of Savarkar in the country's freedom struggle against the British.
The book is authored by the media advisor of former Madhya Pradesh State Chief and senior Congress politician Kamal Nath.
"Jinnah demanded the formation of Pakistan on the basis of religion (Islam), and Savarkar too had demanded to make India a Hindu rashtra (nation). Therefore, both Jinnah and Savarkar had a similar hardliner ideology," excerpts from the book said.
This is the second time in the past couple of months the Congress has been involved in a raging row over Savarkar after Rahul Gandhi made controversial remarks about him during his ongoing foot march 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in Maharashtra state last year.
Savarkar was a key figure in India's freedom struggle against the British due to his promotion of Hindu nationalism in the country. He is widely revered by the BJP, the Shiv Sena and other pro-Hindu parties.