New Delhi: The right-wing Hindu nationalist political party, Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) has requested the Central government to replace the picture of Mahatma Gandhi from the Indian currency with the picture of social reformer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
Besides this, the ABHM chief Swami Chakrapani has even demanded Bharat Ratna for Savarkar.
The ABHM claimed that Savarkar paid a great role in India’s freedom movement and hence should be paid respect by featuring him on the currency.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar coined the term “Hindutva” and wrote his famous ideological treatise, “Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?”.
According to a report in the Economics Times, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, back in 2014, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha had said, “A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) panel has decided against the inclusion of any other national leader’s image on banknotes saying that no other personality could better represent the ethos of the country than Mahatma Gandhi.”
With ANI inputs