'Printing mistake': Congress, after Bharat Jodo Yatra poster features Veer Savarkar's image

Congress has never accepted Veer Savarkar as a freedom fighter and has attacked the BJP from time to time for glorifying him.

Savarkar's image was first noticed by Kerala’s Independent MLA PV Anwar, who posted a video on the social media platform Facebook.

The Congress workers then covered it with an image of Mahatma Gandhi.

After the goof-up, Muslim League said the board was from Karnataka where it was installed by the BJP for Independence Day, Anwar said. But it had been sourced from Kerala, and Muslim League's narrative was an attempt to hide the truth, he claimed.

Later, Congress hurriedly rectified its mistake by pasting Mahatma Gandhi's image on Savarkar's picture, he pointed out.

BJP was quick to grab the opportunity to poke fun at Congress.

“Veer Savarkar’s pictures adorn Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Ernakulum (near the airport). Although belated, good realisation for Rahul Gandhi, whose great grandfather Nehru, signed a mercy petition, pleaded the British to allow him to flee from Punjab’s Nabha jail in just 2 weeks,” Amit Malviya, the BJP’s I-T Cell chief, tweeted.

“Rahul ji, no matter how much you try history and the truth comes out Savarkar was Veer! Those who hide are the “kaayars”,” tweeted Shehzad Poonawalla.

Finally, Congress said it was a printing mistake. As the people responsible for printing had been briefed to use the images of freedom fighters, they used the available images without cross-checking, the party said explaining the cause of the error.

Once the mistake was noticed, the local workers tried to cover it with Mahatma Gandhi’s photo, it added.