UPA government insulting Savakar : LK Advani

New Delhi, May 28 : Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani today expressed anguish over lack of celebrations on the 123rd birth anniversary of valiant freedom fighter, social reformer and fiery orator Vinayak Damodar Savakar, and said he would raise the issue with the Prime Minister and the Lok Sabha Speaker.

Paying floral tributes at the portrait of Savarkar in the Central Hall of Parliament, Mr Advani said had there been someone from the ''First Family'' of the Congress, the case would have been different.

''There was no one from the government to pay tribute to the great leader. Patriotic tapes were not played. Even Savarkar's life sketch was not distributed on the occasion,'' he said.

Pointing out that similar disrespect had been shown to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Mr Advani said he would take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

''This is insulting for the leaders who rendered great service to the nation,'' he said, adding: ''I am going to write to the Prime Minister and the Speaker over the issue.'' Besides Mr Advani and Mr Chatterjee, Deputy Speaker C S Atwal, Members of Parliament V K Malhotra, Pyarelal Khandelwal and Devdas Apte, Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Achary and former MP Ashwani Kumar were among those who paid floral tributes at the portrait.

President A P J Abdul Kalam had unveiled the portrait of Veer Savarkar in the Central Hall of Parliament on February 26, 2003 in recognition of his illustrious services to the nation.

UNI