Rahul Gandhi Must Be 'Punished': Eknath Shinde After Congress Leader 'Insults' Veer Savarkar

New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday (March 25, 2023) attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for "deliberately insulting" Veer Savarkar and said that people will not let him move on the streets. Addressing a press conference after the conclusion of the Maharashtra Assembly's Budget session, Shinde said that Rahul has insulted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community with his "Modi surname" remark. He said the people will not tolerate the insult of a patriot like Savarkar and of PM Modi.

"I publicly condemn Rahul Gandhi for deliberately insulting Savarkar and PM Modi. People will not let Rahul Gandhi move on the streets," the Shiv Sena leader said.

"When Rahul Gandhi said 'chowkidar chor hai' in the last elections, people defeated him. He insulted the country by targeting PM Modi and Indian democracy in the country and abroad. During his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', he was speaking of 'Bharat todo' (break the country)," Shinde added.

विधानभवन परिसरात आयोजित पत्रकार परिषदेतून लाईव्ह https://t.co/AfUHS6cS1E

— Eknath Shinde - एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) March 25, 2023

Earlier on Saturday, Shinde told the Legislative Assembly that the law under which Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified as an MP was enacted by the Congress-led UPA government and the Modi government has implemented it.

"Rahul Gandhi has been convicted and stands automatically disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha. But he continues to insult V D Savarkar by saying that he is not Savarkar to apologise. Who does he think he is? He must be punished," he said.

विधानसभा | अर्थसंकल्पीय अधिवेशन | २५/३/२०२३ https://t.co/s3cUcC98SW — Eknath Shinde - एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) March 25, 2023

Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP after a Surat court on Thursday sentenced him to two years in jail for criminal defamation over his 2019 "Modi surname" remark. 

The sentence is suspended for 30 days to allow Rahul to appeal in a higher court.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi on Saturday after his disqualification, Rahul said that "My name is not Savarkar, my name is Gandhi and Gandhi does not offer an apology to anyone".