Savarkar is not election issue, Modi tried to polarise voters: Pawar

MUMBAI: NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was not an election issue, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to polarize people by talking about him during his campaign rally here.

Modi, in his speech here on Friday, dared Pawar to make Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to promise that he would not criticise the late freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue ever again.

"Savarkar is not an election issue, and Rahul has not spoken about him (lately). But Modi's speech was divisive and meant to instigate, polarise. I have never seen such a prime minister," Pawar said at a joint press conference with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on the last day of campaigning for the final phase of the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.

Rahul Gandhi has often targeted Savarkar, claiming that he helped the British rulers and wrote mercy petitions when he was incarcerated on the Andaman islands.