Mumbai: BJP legislator Niranjan Davkhare has demanded that the upcoming Vadhvan Port in Maharashtra’s Palghar district be named for Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. The demand has come after Shiv Sena (UBT) demanded India’s highest civilian award ‘Bharat Ratna’ for the noted freedom fighter.
Vadhvan Port is a proposed deep-sea port in Palghar district of Maharashtra and its construction is currently underway. The ground-breaking for the start of construction was done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 30 August 2024.
Davkhare said that the proposal was tabled at the Palghar District Planning Committee meeting and it received a ‘positive response.’
The meeting was chaired by Maharashtra forest minister and Palghar guardian minister Ganesh Naik. He will table the proposal before the state government, said Davkhare, who is the member of Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad.
“Savarkar sacrificed his entire life for the nation and it would be a fitting tribute to him to name one of the major projects in the country after him,” said Davkhare.
His demand has come a couple of months after Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray reiterated his demand of Bharat Ratna for Savarkar.
“Regarding Veer Savarkar, I want to ask why he should not be given Bharat Ratna. When Devendra Fadnavis was the CM, he had written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding this demand, but what happened to it? Still, Veer Savarkar is not being given Bharat Ratna. Even today he (Fadnavis) is the CM when his demand is not being considered, the BJP has no right to speak on Veer Savarkar. They should honour Savarkar with Bharat Ratna,” Thackeray had said at Nagpur during the winter session of the Maharashtra Legislature last year.
Shiv Sena UBT has always targeted the BJP over its demand of Bharat Ratna for Savarkar. Davkhare’s move to name the Vadhvan port after the Hindutva icon is seen as an attempt to abate the criticism.
