Day after NSUI workers garlanded Savarkar’s bust with shoes and smeared it with black paint, the ABVP-led Delhi University Students’ Union removed the bust of their Hindutva icon along with that of Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose from the campus.
The busts of the trio had suddenly surfaced in the campus on 20 August reportedly by outgoing DUSU President Shakti Singh. The university administration had claimed that no permission was sought before installing the busts.
The surfacing of Savarkar’s bust had evoked angry reactions as NSUI supporters staged angry protests and garlanded the statue of famous the Hindutva icon with shoes before applying black ink on it.
Later, NSUI took to Twitter to write, “VD Savarkar had pleaded for mercy to the British and thus worked against freedom struggle. Putting his bust in DU by ABVP is an attempt to distort history. #Savarkar cannot match Subhash Chandra Bose & Bhagat Singh by being put on the same pedestal by the ABVP.”
VD Savarkar had pleaded for mercy to the British and thus worked against freedom struggle. Putting his bust in DU by ABVP is an attempt to distort history. #Savarkar cannot match Subhash Chandra Bose & Bhagat Singh by being put on the same pedestal by the ABVP. pic.twitter.com/Zrjg9RGjYR
— NSUI (@nsui) August 21, 2019
The ABVP, an RSS-affiliated body, said in a statement, “ABVP-led DUSU has removed the busts of Veer Savarkar, Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose till permission is obtained from the DU Administration. The busts have been kept (at a) safe (place) by the varsity.”
According to news agency PTI, the ABVP also demanded ‘stringent legal action’ against members of the Congress-affiliated NSUI for allegedly blackening the bust of Savarkar.
Savarkar is deemed as a controversial figure with historians slamming him for his dubious role during the freedom struggle. According to many historians, he wrote a mercy petition to the then British ruler to secure his release from jail.