Dirt in their mind: Shiv Sena on Cong booklet targeting Veer Savarkar

Mumbai, Jan 03: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Friday targeted Congress over a Seva Dal booklet questioning Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's credentials as a patriot and his reputation for valour.

The Hindi booklet, distributed at a camp of Congress- affiliated Seva Dal in Madhya Pradesh, had also claimed that Savarkar and Mahatma Gandhi's killer Nathuram Godse were in a physical relationship.

"Veer Savarkar was a great man and will remain a great man. A section keeps talking against him. This shows the dirt in their mind," Raut said, responding to the insinuations in the booklet, titled "Veer Savarkar, Kitne 'Veer'?" The book alleged that Savarkar received money from the British after he was released from Andaman's Cellular Jail.

Last month, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's jibe that his name was not "Rahul Savarkar" and hence he would not seek apology (about his remark on rape) had riled the Shiv Sena, his party's new-found ally in Maharashtra.