A poster of V.D. Savarkar being garlanded. Representative image.
PTI
Ahmedabad: Five Congress leaders including national president of Seva Dal have been booked for stopping a group of staffs and students of a government school from wearing t-shirts with photos of controversial Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar and Subhash Chandra Bose during 'Tiranga Yatra' as part of Independence Day celebration.
The police have registered an FIR with Chotila police station in Surendranagar district against Congress' Seva Dal president Lalji Desai, ex MLA and one of the working presidents Rutvik Makwana, Raghav Metaliya, Gopal Toliya and Haresh Jhapadiya. The Congress leaders were on their 'Nyay Yatra' march when they met the 'Tiranga Yatra' of the school on Sayla Highway near Chotila town.
The FIR states that following information from the government office to hold 'Tiranga Yatra' from August 8 to August 14, Umesh Shah, a trustee of Indumati Vasantlal Shah Charitable Trust, Mumbai donated saffron colour t-shirts to schools with pictures of "freedom fighter Veer Savarkar and Subhash Chandra Bose".
The children, the FIR stated, wore the t-shirts over their school uniform and were taking out the march with school staff when the accused Congress leaders stopped them and had an altercation. The FIR alleges that the Congress leaders disrupted the march and deterred the principal, teachers and other staff of the school from discharging their duties.
The FIR was filed based on a written complaint submitted by Kalpesh Chauhan, 45, the principal of primary school in Sangani village. Chauhan has quoted the accused Congress leader Desai in the complaint as saying, "it is not proper to cover the school dress with t-shirts having picture of Savarkar of RSS. Are you not ashamed for making children put on t-shirts of Veer Sarvarkar who was involved in the conspiracy of Gandhi's assasination? If I give you t-shirts of "I am Nathuram Godse or Ranga Billa" or 'Dawood's' will you make children wear them? Don't insult freedom by making children wear Savarkar's t-shirts."
The principal has said the complaint that Desai knew well his words could insult various sections of the society and freedom fighters. Based on his complaint, the five leaders have been booked under section 197 (1)(c) (promoting enmity between two communities), 197 (1) (d) (make or publish false or misleading information, jeopardising the sovereignty, unity and integrity or security of India, 126 (2) (wrongful restrain), among other charges.
A day after the registration of FIR, Gujarat Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil criticised the BJP government and said that even "Britishers used to file such baseless cases against freedom fighters during their rule." He alleged that FIR was a result of BJP's efforts of "distorting and rewriting history."