Veer Savarkar photo row: Ministers, MLAs should focus on their work, says Karnataka Speaker Khader

Belagavi, (Karnataka): Karnataka Assembly Speaker U.T. Khader on Friday maintained that ministers and MLAs should focus on their work in response to the row over a photo of BJP icon Veer Savarkar from the hall of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi.

Addressing a joint press conference with Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti, Khader contended that the work of the ministers and MLAs is to attend the session on time, participate in good debates and answer questions.

"Let them do this aptly. Let everyone do their respective jobs. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had stated that after Independence, the chariot of the country had to be taken forward. Let it be in the same place if it is not possible but it should not be taken backwards. Let’s not discuss what had happened in the past. We have to work as per the Constitution in future," he said.

"It is my responsibility to unite the society. That is my first priority. Let the ministers and MLAs do their job," Khader stated in response to statement by state Minister Priyank Kharge that if it is possible he would remove the photo of Veer Savarkar himself.

Horatti said that when people, in anger, talk of cutting taking heads, do they actually do it.

Amid rumours that the Congress government may remove the photo of Savarkar from the Assembly hall, Khader clarified on Thursday that no such proposal is currently before him.

As per the rumours, the Siddaramaiah government is considering replacing Savarkar's photo with that of the late former Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru.

Kharge had posed four questions on Veer Savarkar to the BJP and challenged them to answer with a simple yes or no.

He demanded that first the BJP answer who gave the title 'Veer' to Veer Savarkar, stating, "No one knows about it; let them explain."

Kharge further asked if Savarkar had demanded a pension in writing to the British, claiming he had written to the British four or five times on this matter. Additionally, he questioned whether Savarkar's family members had written to the British about his pension. He also brought up Savarkar's call for Indians to join the British army when Subhash Chandra Bose was building the Indian National Army (INA).