Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said that people who don’t believe in Veer Savarkar must be 'beaten in public'. Thackeray further said that people criticising Savarkar 'won’t realise the struggle and importance of Veer Savarkar in India's independence'. Even Rahul Gandhi has insulted Veer Savarkar in the past, he added.

Thackeray's comments come a day after a row broke over the installation of busts of Savarkar, Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose in North Campus of Delhi University (DU). The National Students Union of India (NSUI) members, on Thursday, threw ink on Savarkar's bust and garlanded it with shoes and claimed that Savarkar did not deserve to be on the same platform as Bose and Bhagat Singh.

The busts were installed by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)-led Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) without a go-ahead from the university administration.

"There is a cellar on campus where Bhagat Singh was kept during the trial. We had demanded that either a statue of Bhagat Singh be erected or the cellar be made public. But the university administration did not respond to us. So, we had no other option but to do what we did," DUSU president Shakti Singh had told news agency ANI on Thursday.

"All these leaders — Savarkar, Bose, and Bhagat Singh — had made great contributions in the freedom struggle. Youth should take inspiration from them," Singh had further said. The busts, each two-feet tall, have been installed on a six feet pillar outside the Art Faculty at the North Campus.