The BJP has thrown its weight behind the demand to confer India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, on Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) founder Dr K B Hedgewar, with BJP Minority Morcha chief Jamal Siddiqui making the request in a letter to President Droupadi Murmu.

“This demand is not only necessary to acknowledge his matchless contribution (to the freedom struggle), but also to inspire the spirit of nationalism in the youth,” Siddiqui, who BJP sources identify as one of the significant links between the party and its ideological mentor in Nagpur, wrote.

The demand coincides with the RSS’s preparations to launch its centenary year celebrations during the upcoming Vijayadashami Utsav in Nagpur on October 2, marking 100 years since it was founded by Hedgewar in 1925.

Siddiqui

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