Muzaffarnagar, UP: The Hindu Mahasabha is receiving flak after a video showing them holding a Tiranga Yatra with a picture of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse surfaced online.

A video clip of the rally quickly went viral on social media triggering controversy over carrying a photograph of Godse during the I-Day rally in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar town on Monday.

Defending the rally, Hindu Mahasabha national president Yogendra Verma on Tuesday said their members carried out the yatra with photographs of several revolutionaries and the photograph of Godse was one among them, as part of Independence day celebrations.

Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha flaunts picture of Gandhi's assassinator Nathuram Godse during a "Tiranga Yatra" in India's Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh on Independence Day. pic.twitter.com/fr9zkmYXEv
— Mahmodul Hassan (@mhassanism) August 16, 2022

“We had organised a Tiranga Yatra on Independence Day and the rally travelled across the district. All prominent Hindu leaders participated in it. We had put up photographs of several revolutionaries and Godse was one of them,” he told news agency IANS.

Hindu Mahasabha leader also said that Godse was compelled to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi only because of the policies that he pursued, adding that the former faced death sentence for the assassination too.

“We believe that Godse had taken steps against Gandhi's policy, which was against the nation,” he said.

Also Read: Constable D Raj Shekhar from AP Among 7 ITBP Jawans Killed in Pahalgam Bus Accident