Union Minister for Petroleum Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Friday that he would not tender any apology for his remarks against freedom fighter Veer Savarkar. He added that he stood by what he had said earlier — equating the Hindu ideologue with Mohammed Ali Jinnah.Aiyar has been in Raipur for the past two days, to attend the third roundtable conference of the Panchayati Raj ministers and has faced strong protests by the activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.‘‘I have with me several authentic documents and one, which I dug out from the archives, clearly established the fact that Savarkar described the Quit India movement as the ‘Split India movement’,” Aiyar said. “I have never shown disrespect for him. I just mentioned the facts.”Aiyar launched a blistering attack against the BJP and other Hindu groups for targeting him. Certain sections of society always differed with Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology, he said, adding that they were now targeting him.
