Savarkar poster row: Karnataka BJP petitions for freedom fighter's statue at I-Day riot spot

The BJP has petitioned Udupi City Corporation in Karnataka for permission to install a statue of Veer Savarkar at the Brahmagiri Circle.

BJP leader and National General Secretary of the party’s OBC wing Yashpal Suvarna has written to the Udupi City Corporation in Karnataka for permission to install a statue of Veer Savarkar at the Brahmagiri Circle.On Wednesday, the BJP staged a protest against the Congress for opposing a flex that was put up near the location.

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The BJP and the Congress in Karnataka are locked in a bitter battle with each blaming the other for the violence over posters of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Tipu Sultan at Ameer Ahmed circle of Shivamogga on Independence Day.

The row started when a poster depicting ‘Hindu Rashtra’ with Veer Savarkar and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose being described as revolutionaries, was displayed in Karnataka's Tumakuru as part of Independence Day celebrations. The poster was torn up by a group of people on Tuesday, sparking the violence.

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A Hindu man was stabbed in the Gandhi Bazar area after two groups clashed over the installation of a flex of Savarkar on Monday. A Muslim youth was later beaten up in Gandhi Bazaar’s Upparakeri area the same day.

While the BJP claimed that the removal of Savarkar’s poster indicated the antinational mindset of the Opposition, the Congress alleged that the poster was put up only to incite communal tension.