BJP proposes Bharat Ratna for Savarkar

New Delhi: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra has promised to propose the name of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, popularly known as Veer Savarkar, for India's highest civilian award - Bharat Ratna.

Releasing the election manifesto for state assembly elections, BJP leaders have decided to urge the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the centre to confer the prestigious award on the Hindu Mahasabha leader.

"BJP has announced in its manifesto that the state government under chief minister Devendra Fadnavis would propose to the centre that Veer Savarkar should get Bharat Ratna," said a senior BJP leader based in Mumbai.

The Maharashtra BJP unit's proposal is interesting because several party leaders often look up to Veer Savarkar for inspiration although he was a member of the Hindu Mahasabha and not the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP.