Looking back into its own history will provide present day party leadership the right perspective on Hindutva icon & revolutionary Savarkar
New Delhi. Is there a systematic vilification campaign that has been launched against Hindu icon, revolutionary and freedom fighter Veer Savarkar by all and the sundry?
Well, its an emphatic yes to the question given most anti-Hindu elements ganging up to tarnish the image of this great son of the motherland.
From removing his bust to defacing his name on the panel depicting directions to the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) mess, politicians and hoolingans of every shade and ideology have tried their best.
Most of these anti-Savarkar campaigners conveniently ignore his contributions to the country’s freedom and uprising against British imperialist rule.
From Congress President Sonia Gandhi to her immature son, Rahul Gandhi with no sense of the Grand Old Party (GOP) seem to have made unsavoury comments.
Partly though, these comments against Veer Savarkar may have come due to their utter disgust and antipathy for Hindutva forces led by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Or, their frustration for not being able to match Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have also got depicted in this undesirable campaign against Savarkar.
Sonia Gandhi as Congress president was served a legal notice way back in June 2016 for having defamed Veer Savarkar on social media. Official tweeter handle of Congress called Savarkar, ‘traitor and coward’. In December 2019, Rahul Gandhi had infamously said, “My name is Rahul Gandhi, not Rahul Savarkar. I will never apologise for speaking truth and nor will any Congressman do so”.
These outbursts and innuendos seem to be symptomatic of Congress as a political formation losing the plot and unable to take on the rightwing BJP led by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah on political plane.
Having forgotten hundreds of revolutionaries as a party in power previously, Congress today depicts serious hatred against Savarkar.
Their leaders called him a Nazi, British agent, conspirator and hateful bigot, etc. India’s oldest political party chose to uncanny use of Savarkar’s mercy petitions before British Government to demolish him. This is in stark contrast to Congress past President piloting a resolution in the party Congress opposing Savarkar’s sentence. Congress may have to revisit its own history to introspect and realign its utterances on Savarkar.
Indian National Congress held its session in Andhra Desha (Pradesh) for the first time in 1923. On the fifth day of this 38th session a resolution was moved by then Congress President Maulana Mohamed Ali on ‘Sjt. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’.
Mohamed Ali said “Mr. Savarkar, as you know, received a life sentence from this Bureaucracy. His brother also received, I believe, the same sentence. And, I may add, as a prisoner myself, I occupied the room in the Bijapur jail where the brother of Sj. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Sj. Ganesh Savarkar was living. Mr. Ganesh Savarakar has been released. But Mr. Vinaynk Damodar Savarakar has not been released and this is the reason why we are making an exception in condemning the action of the Government with regard to one single prisoner. The reason is that this poor man is, being most vindictively kept in jail when he is entitled to be released. And yet, this Government calls itself a Christian Government and says, ‘Revenge is God’s Law,’ Friends, the time is past when we will have to protest against these things. But by passing this resolution, we only show to the whole world how the Government is dealing in this matter in a most vindictive and mean spirit. I hope you all accept this resolution.”
The resolution was passed unanimously. In the proceedings of this session, a laudable tributary Urdu song for Savarkar was also sung. Almost a century ago, the Congress has had honoured Savarkar. Its rather unfortunate and sad to see present day Congress forgot its own past and heap abuses on the Hindutva icon.
In 2016, Rahul Gandhi made unsavoury remarks against Savarkar while participating in a Lok Sabha debate. He said, “We have Gandhi, You have Savarkar”. One would not have expected Rahul Gandhi to read books on Veer Savarkar, hence his ignorance gets completely exposed.
Dhananjay Keer on ‘Veer Savarkar’ had said, “There are sometimes two types of great men working for the good of society at one and the same time. The first type prefers to be pained for the welfare of society while the second whips it to betterment. Gandhi typifies the first and Savarkar represents the second.” Keer is also a renowned biographer of Lokmanya Tilak, Dr. Ambedkar and JyotiraoPhuley.
It is unwise to view Savarakar and Gandhi as those pursuing two different objectives. While on tour of Ratnagiri in March 1927, Mahatma Gandhi said, “You know my regard for you (Savarkar) as lover of truth and as one who would lay down his life for the sake of truth. Besides, our goal is ultimately one.” ‘The Collective Works of Mahatma Gandhi’ makes a reference to Mahatma’s reference to Veer Savarkar.
Its not just Rahul who display their ignorance most valiantly, several others like Chattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Bagel said on October 31, 2019, “Savarkar is called Veer and I wish to know who had conferred this title on him”. Earlier, Congress Seva Dal had distributed booklets titled ‘Veer Savarkar, Kitne Veer?’
These pigmies have no clue of Mahatma’s association with Savarkar brothers. Mahatma Gandhi had met Vinayak Savarkar at a gathering held to commemorate Vijaya Dashmi at London in 1909. He detailed his meeting with Savarkar in ‘Young India’ on May 18, 1921.
Mahatma had written, “The Savarkar brothers’ talent should be utilised for public welfare. As it is, India is in danger of losing her two faithful sons, unless she wakes up in time. One of the brothers I know well. I had the pleasure of meeting him in London. He is brave. He is clever. He is a patriot. He was frankly revolutionary. The evil, in its hideous form, of the present system of Government, he saw much earlier than I did. He is in the Andaman for his having loved India too well.”
It seems the present day Congress may not have even read Mahatma leave alone what he wrote about Savarkar brothers. Mahatma Gandhi himself was not sure of his utility for the Congress. Days before the partition, he said, “I am not a four-anna member of the Congress”. There is no doubt that his suffering was not immediate. Mahatma Gandhi wanted to work with Savarkar but it did not happen.
Insult to revolutionaries by present day Congress only signifies it being pushed into irrelevance and bereft of any historical perspective of its own evolution. At least Rahul’s grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru was more sensible then his descendants. Nehru has many ideological differences with Savarkar but he did not insult or hit him below the belt.
Savarkar was an accused in Mahatma Gandhi’s murder case but the Court did not find him guilty. There is no doubt that Jawaharlal Nehru himself acknowledged Savarkar’s contribution to the freedom movement.
A Congress Commemoration Volume was published under Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Pattabhi Sitaramayya, S. Radhakrishnan, Jay Prakash Narain, Vijayalakshmi Pandit under the title ‘To The Gates of Liberty’ . Forward to this book was written by Jawaharlal Nehru himself. In this book, Saravarkar had written two articles, ‘Ideology of the War Independence – Swadharma and Swaraj and ‘The Rani of Jhansi’. The interesting thing was the Editor of the book wrote Veer before the name of Savarkar that’s today being questioned by power hungry Congressmen.