STATE BJP PLEDGES RATNA FOR SAVARKAR
Highest civilian honour also sought for Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule; 5 crore jobs promised, housing for all by 2022, water taxis proposed
The BJP has pledged in its manifesto that it will pitch for nation's highest civilian honour - Bharat Ratna - for Maharashtra's social reformers Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule and freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, also known as Veer Savarkar.
Many BJP leaders look up to Savarkar for inspiration, although he was a member of the Hindu Mahasabha and not the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP. The manifesto, which was released on Tuesday, speaks of "pursuing the matter with the Central government," said the BJP's working president J P Nadda.
“The contributions of Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule and Veer Savarkar towards nationbuilding are incomparable. We will urge the Centre to confer the Bharat Ratna upon them,” said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Fadnavis released the 'Sankalp Patra' along with Nadda, the state party president Chandrakant Patil, and the BJP Mumbai chief, Mangal Prabhat Lodha.
Fadnavis also announced that several monuments, statues and projects will be named after eminent personalities of Maharashtra -like the mid-sea Chhatrapati Shivaji Memorial and the Ambedkar Memorial at Indu Mill.
In the 40-page manifesto, the BJP has also promised five crore jobs in the next five years and houses for all by 2022.
Nivedita Bijlani (39), the Versova doctor, was staying with her father in the Model Town area; she consumed a heavy dose of sleeping pills on Monday night, the official said.
"The cause of the suicide is yet to be ascertained. She had an account in PMC Bank but we don't think it (death) was related to the crisis in the bank," he said. Bijlani was suffering from depression for the past few years and had reportedly tried to commit suicide in March last year in the United States, he said.
She was practising medicine in the USA and had a 17-year-old daughter from an earlier marriage and an 18-month old-son from her second marriage to an American national, the official informed.
An accidental death case was registered at Versova police station, he added.
On Monday, a 51-year-old Sanjay Gulati died of heart attack, hours after attending a protest outside Mumbai court. Gulati who had reportedly lost his job with Jet Airways had deposits of Rs 90 lakh with PMC Bank.