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Thursday, February 27, 2003, Chandigarh, India

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President unveils Savarkar’s portrait
Opposition boycotts function
Tribune News Service

President APJ Abdul Kalam, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Sekhawat, Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee during the unveiling of V.D. Sarvarkar's portrait at the Central Hall of Parliament in New Delhi on Wednesday. — PTI photo

New Delhi, February 26
Dismissing the Opposition parties’ boycott, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam today unveiled the portrait of freedom fighter V.D. Savarkar in the Central Hall of Parliament amid loud slogans.

Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptulla were present at the function.

Members from the Congress, Left parties, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, however, boycotted the function. Leaders of these parties, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi, had earlier written to President Kalam requesting him to reconsider his decision to unveil Savarkar’s portrait since he was allegedly associated with the assassins of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.

They had also charged Savarkar with supporting Jinnah’s “two-nation theory” and for filing a mercy petition with the British authorities during the peak of freedom movement. The ruling BJP had taken serious exception to the Opposition’s boycott move.

Ironically, several top Opposition leaders, including Mr Somnath Chatterjee (CPM), Mr Pranab Mukerjee and Mr Shivaraj Patil (Congress), were among those who supported the proposal to put up the portrait of Savarkar at a Parliamentary Committee meeting held two months ago. Incidentally, the BJP member of the committee did not attend the meeting which had cleared the proposal. Only Mr Pramod Mahajan in his capacity as Minister of Parliamentary Affairs was present at the meeting.

Shiv Sena activists garland Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi's effigy with shoes and chappals in Mumbai on Wednesday, condemning her opposition to unveiling a portrait of Veer Savarkar in Parliament. — PTI photo

The ceremony was attended not only by the family of Savarkar but by a large number of guests who raised slogans throughout the function.

The President also inaugurated an exhibition on Savarkar.

The function was attended by members from the BJP and the Shiv Sena while the NDA allies had a token representation. The members from the Trinamool Congress and Samata Party were in full strength while the Telugu Desam Party was represented by Mr K. Yerran Naidu, Dr M. Jeganathan. Union minister T.R. Baalu, its MPs Mr D. Venugopal, Mr Viduthalai Virumbi and Mr Shanmugasundaram were present from the DMK whereas the AIADMK was conspicuous by its absence in the function.

Former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar was present from Opposition. The portrait drawn by Chandrakala Kumar Kadam was jointly presented to Parliament by Swatantryaveer Savarkar Seva Kendra, Vile Parle, Mumbai, and Swatantryaveer Savarkar Rashtriya Smarak Samiti, Mumbai.

When the House took up special mentions in the afternoon, Yogi Adityanath (BJP) got up and protested the Opposition boycott even before Deputy Speaker P.M. Sayeed, who was in the Chair could stop him from speaking as the scheduled business was going on.

Mr Adityanath’s remarks provoked members from the Left, Samajwadi Party, RJD and Congress, who reacted sharply, with some of them asking Mr Sayeed to stop the BJP member from making provocative comments.

Order was restored in the House after 15 minutes.