New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS): The Congress on Thursday slammed the BJP for demanding a Bharat Ratna for its ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in its manifesto for the Maharashtra Assembly polls.

"Why does NDA/BJP government want to confer Bharat Ratna on Savarkar, why not Godse? The former was only chargesheeted and later acquitted for assassination of Gandhi, while the latter was convicted and hanged. On his 150th anniversary, if you want to defile his memory, then go the whole nine yards?" Congress leader Manish Tiwari wrote on Twitter.

Another Congress leader Digvijay Singh said Savarkar had two aspects to his life -- one his participation in the freedom struggle and other when he came out of the Cellular Jail in Andaman after seeking an apology and writing a mercy plea. He was also named in the conspiracy of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.

The Congress launched the attack after BJP chief Amit Shah, while addressing a seminar at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varansi on Thursday hailed Savarkar. "The Mutiny of 1857 would have remained a revolt as the British had called it. It was Veer Savarkar who gave it the name of the first war of independence," said Shah.

He also emphasised that history should be re-written so that due credit is given to those who have been ignored.