"Nitin Gadkari wants to please RSS because...": Congress leader Gourav Vallabh's sting at Union Minister

New Delhi [India], June 18 : Congress national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh on Sunday took potshots at Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari saying that he wants to please the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are not fond of him.

This is why, Gadkari is opposed to the Congress' move to remove chapters on Dr Hedgewar and Swatantra Veer Savarkar from the Karnataka school syllabus, Gourav Vallabh claimed.

"Nitin Gadkari is saying so because he is trying to please RSS as PM Modi and Amit Shah don't like him," he said.

Explaining the Karnataka government's reasoning behind removing the right-wing ideologues from the state school syllabus, the Congress spokesperson said, "There are two different ideologies in this country. We believe students of India and Karnataka should study (BR) Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi's ideologies rather than studying KB Hedgewar and Veer Savarkar's ideologies. We do not believe in the ideology which claims Godse, the man who gunned down Mahatma Gandhi to be a freedom fighter."

On Saturday, Gadkari criticised the Karnataka government's proposal to revise school textbooks in the State and said that it is "unfortunate" that the chapters on Dr Hedgewar and Swatantra Veer Savarkar have been removed. He was addressing a gathering at the book launch ceremony on VD Savarkar.

"It is unfortunate that the chapters on Dr Hedgewar and Swatantra Veer Savarkar have been removed from the school syllabus. There is nothing more painful than this," said Gadkari on Saturday.

His remarks come after the Karnataka cabinet on Thursday approved the revision of Social Science and Kannada textbooks for classes 6 to 10 in state schools, dropping chapters on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder KB Hedgewar and Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar among others.