Shah was addressing a gathering at Port Blair Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands where he will be for the next two days to review the progress of developmental projects and the security.

“Veer Savarkar was not given the title of Veer by any government but by the 130 crore Indians to acknowledge his courage and patriotism. Some people are raising questions on his life today. It is very distressing. You are questioning the patriotism of the person who was sentenced to two life imprisonments. You are questioning the courage of the man who jumped from a steamer and decided to fight for India’s freedom and go to France, the man who endured the tyranny of manually pressing out 30 pounds of oil (a day). Have some shame. Come here and you will not ask these questions anymore,” Shah said.

According to Shah, when he visited the jail last time there was an Amar Jyoti (continuously burning lamp) from where Veer Savarakar’s name had been removed. He said he got it placed there again.

“How can we go without remembering Veer Savarkar today. Savarkar made this jail a pilgrimage. He gave a message to the whole of India that no matter how much tyranny you unleash, you cannot deprive me of my rights and my country the freedom. I visited his cell. Right in front is the hanging house, the oil mill and the whipping site. No one knows, in 10 years, how much tyranny Savarkarji must have endured here. In those 10 years he must have also heard the inner cries of the freedom fighters hanged. Yet, with determination he remained associated with the freedom struggle,” Shah said.

Shah said Savarkar had all facilities to lead a good life but dedicated his life to the nation.

“He was an intelligent man, well read and knew several languages. We just heard his poetry in Urdu. He was a great linguist, a great social reformer, a great freedom fighter, a great orator and a great writer. He wrote a book in 1857 and perhaps it is the only book that was banned before it could be published. Such a thinker, litterateur, a man of such courage is being subjected to controversies,” Shah said.

The Home Minister said he gets renewed energy whenever he visits the Cellular Jail as despite suffering unspeakable tyrannies, the 1,000 freedom fighters lodged in the jail did not bow before the British and eventually went back home chanting Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki Jai.

“Wherever these martyrs are, they must be really satisfied. Now the road that the nation has chosen and has been walking on for the past seven years is the road that freedom fighters such as Savarkar and Sachin Sanyal imagined for the country,” Shah said.

He said he became emotional when he went to Sanyal’s cell. “Sachin Sanyal was the only freedom fighter who was brought to the Cellular Jail twice. West Bengal has had a special contribution in India’s freedom struggle. Only Bengal and Punjab have sent the maximum number of freedom fighters here. When Sanyal went back, he kept struggling against the British and he was brought here again. I salute these freedom fighters,” Shah said.

The Home Minister said the PM has decided to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav so that the youth come to know about the contribution of the many unknown freedom fighters and to rekindle the feeling of patriotism.

“In 2018, Modi initiated the project of submarine optical fibre and inaugurated it in 2020. Modi ji has started a trend where we initiate the project and we only finish it. Andaman and Nicobar Islands were the first to gain independence. In 1943, Netaji unfurled the Indian flag here,” Shah said.