Cong receives legal notice over tweets calling Savarkar a 'traitor'

The grand-nephew of the late RSS ideologue VD Savarkar has sent a legal notice to the Congress for a series of tweets the party posted on its official handle in March that referred to Savarkar as a traitor.

The notice said: "...a brave, courageous, honest and great nationalist leader is being openly defamed in a shameless manner by INC and your leaders".

One of the tweets from the official Congress handle, posted on 23 March, the death anniversary of Bhagat Singh, read: "Bhagat Singh waged war for Freedom from British Raj, VD Savarkar begged for mercy, to be a slave in British Raj."

The notice asked for an "unconditional apology" from the same Twitter handle "within 48 hours from the date of receipt of this notice", according to The Economic Times. The notice was sent on 16 June.

This is possibly the first time that a political party in India has received a legal notice over a tweet.