Why just Savarkar, give Bharat Ratna to Godse too: Owaisi to BJP

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Baarrister Asaduddin Owaisi has slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its demand to confer the Bharat Ratna on Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar and asked why not seek the country's highest civilian award for Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse too.

If Bharat Ratna is given to Savarkar, then it should be given to Godse as well, said Asaduddin Owaisi in an interview to India Today TV.

"Mahatma Gandhi was the father of the nation. Nathuram Godse and others were found guilty in his assassination. How can someone even think of giving him the highest honour? If you are giving Sawarkar, then give Bharat Ratna to Nathuram Godse as well," Asaduddin Owaisi said.

Following the BJP's Maharashtra unit proposal of Bharat Ratna award for Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar, Asadduddin Owaisi had slammed the party.

Tagging a media report on Maharashtra BJP's demand of Bharat Ratna for Savarkar, Owaisi had said, "Some gyaan about this Anmol Ratan: 1. Implicated by Jeevan Lal Commission of Inquiry on Gandhi's assassination. 2. Advocated the use of rape as a political tool. 3. Criticised Shivaji for not using rape as a political tool. 4. Called himself the British's 'most obedient servant'."