Savarkar finds a place in 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' poster, Cong says 'printing mistake' [Watch]

Kochi, Sep 21: In a major embarrassment to Congress, VD Savarkar found a place in a campaign poster of Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kerala's Ernakulum district.

For uninitiated, the Congress has long shunned him for his alleged link to Mahatma Gandhi's assassin. He was acquitted of the charge but his hardline Hindutva views made him a pariah for the secular establishment.

Hence, the poster of Bharat Jodo Yatra having VD Savarkar's photo along with other freedom fighters came as a big embarrassment to the grand old party.

The blunder was first noticed by Kerala's Independent MLA PV Anwar, who shared a video showcasing Savarkar's photo in the banner. The clip showed the Congress workers covering Savarkar's picture with Mahatma Gandhi's photo.

"When pointed out that VD Savarkar's photo was on the Bharat Jodo Yatra's poster in Aluva, the Muslim League's narrative was that the poster is from Karnataka, where the BJP had installed the poster during the Independence Day celebrations. But the poster is from Kerala, not from Karnataka. The Congress has rectified its mistake by covering Savarkar's image with that of Mahatma Gandhi's," India Today quoted the MLA as saying on his Facebook page.

However, the BJP was quick to take a swipe at the Congress, saying "good realisation. "Veer Savarkar's pictures adorn Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra in Ernakulum (near the airport). Although belated, good realisation for Rahul Gandhi, whose great grandfather Nehru, signed a mercy petition, pleaded the British to allow him to flee from Punjab's Nabha jail in just 2 weeks," Amit Malviya, the BJP's I-T Cell chief, said on Twitter.

However, the Congress said that it was a printing mistake as the posters were printed based on the readily available freedom fighters photo online.