Home CITY UPDATES Former CMs fume against naming Yelahanka flyover after Savarkar

Former CMs fume against naming Yelahanka flyover after Savarkar

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Siddaramaiah, HDK term it ‘insult’ to state’s own freedom fighters

BENGALURU: 

The name ‘Veer Savarkar’ is like a red rag to the opposition ‘bulls’ in Karnataka. Soon after it became known that the state government has decided to name a new flyover in Bengaluru’s Yelahanka area after Savarkar, former Chief Ministers Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy went ballistic in their opposition to the plan.

The thrust of their opposition is that naming the flyover after Savarkar is an ‘insult’ to freedom fighters from the state.
The Chief Minister is scheduled to inaugurate the flyover on Thursday, May 28, which is Savarkar’s birth anniversary. BBMP has already approved the late RSS leader’s name for the flyover.

Siddaramaiah

Siddaramaiah tweeted: “The decision to name the flyover after Savarkar shows that the spirit of this government is not to act as an elected government. Are you seeking the cooperation of the opposition parties for such anti-people decisions?

“The decision… is an insult to freedom fighters from the soil. Therefore, the state government should immediately abandon the decision and name the flyover after a freedom fighter from the state.”

H D Kumaraswamy tweeted: “The state government’s decision to nominate Savarkar’s name for the Yelahanka flyover is a disgrace to those who have fought for the prosperity of the state.

HD Kumarswamy

“There are many great people who worked for the development and prosperity of the state before and after Independence. Their name could have been nominated for the flyover. Are any other states naming their flyovers after other state freedom fighters? On behalf of the people of the state, I urge the state government to take back this decision.”

Countering the opposition’s arguments, a BJP spokesperson told a national news channel that the Congress could not look beyond the Nehru-Indira legacy. He pointed to the fact that 198 subsidised canteens across Bengaluru had been named after Indira Gandhi by the previous government.

Nothing wrong says Vishwanath

Chief Minister’s Political Secretary SR Vishwanath

Defending the move, Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath, who is also the political secretary to Chief Minister said, there was nothing wrong in naming the flyover after a freedom fighter who was jailed and suffered punishment at Kala Pani (erstwhile Andaman jail) punishment for the sake of the country.

He said legally as per rules BBMP council has approved it and all formalities have been completed and only after that the naming has been planned.

Vishwanath termed the attempt to create controversy over naming the flyover after Savarkar as insult to freedom fighters, adding that several projects and bridges in his constituency have been named after eminent personalities of the state and the county and this was one such move.

BBMP drops ‘Savarkar’ name?

Meanwhile, BBMP in its advertisement released to media, has dropped the name of ‘Savarkar’. It says the inauguration of flyover and hence savarkar’s name is not printed. But BBMP’s council resolution decided to name savarkar’s name on February 29, earlier this year and unless another resolution is passed the flyovers name remains as veer savarkar despite governmnet and BBMP not including it in its advertisement.

BBMP’s resolution copy
Copy of advertisement released to media
Go and Vote: Issued in Public Interestbengaluru

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