New Delhi, September 19: Late Congress veteran and independent India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was jailed nine times during his lifetime, said loads of messages on Twitter in the last 24 hours. The cumulative time period of those jail terms was 3,259 days which is roughly around 10 years. The information was shared by the ever-vigilant Twitterati after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said he cannot rever Nehru as a "veer" (courageous) as the Congress leader had not even spent 14 minutes in jail.

Thackeray, while speaking at the launch of a book, titled "Savarkar: Echoes From A Forgotten Past", said Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar commands respect as he had spent 14 years in prison. On the other hand, he alleged, Nehru was not subjected to a fraction of such hardship by the colonial British regime. Uddhav Thackeray Hits Out at Mani Shankar Aiyar For Comments Against Savarkar in 2018, Says 'Congress Leader Should Be Beaten With Shoes'.

"I'd have called Nehru as Veer (brave) if he had survived jail for 14 minutes against Savarkar who stayed in prison for 14 long years," Thackeray said, adding that if Savarkar would had been the first Prime Minister of India, the nation of Pakistan would not had been formed.

Taking offence to his statement, the official Twitter handle of the Congress asked the Shiv Sena chief to update his facts. "As a responsible leader, Mr.@uddhavthackeray, @ShivSena chief needs to get his history and data straight! Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was in jail for 3259 days (almost 9 years), not just 14 minutes," the party said on social media.

Twitterati Continue Tirade Against Sena Supremo:

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Nehru's first prison term in the pre-independence movement began on December 6, 1992 when he was sent to Lucknow District Jail for 88 days. He was subsequently jailed on regular intervals, with the maximum tenure of his prison term being recorded in Almora jail, where Nehru was sent behind the bars on June 10, 1945 and released on June 15, 1948.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 19, 2019 07:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).