Recently, the Maharashtra unit of the BJP proposed that Veer Savarkar be given the Bharat Ratna posthumously. Soon after this, a debate has arisen whether the freedom fighter is deserving of the country's highest civilian honour.

Expectedly, some Congress leaders have waded into the issue. Former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijaya Singh said, "There are two aspects of Savarkar's life - his participation in the independence struggle and when he came back after seeking an apology. His name was also registered in the conspiracy behind Mahatma Gandhi's murder."

On the other hand, Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah today said in Varanasi that, had it not been for Savarkar, the rebellion of 1857 would not have become history. "We would have seen it from the point of view of Britishers. Veer Savarkar was the one who named the 1857 rebellion as the first independence struggle," he added.