“O beautiful Hindusthan! Our very
soul you are!
O beloved Hindusthan, the most delightful one of all you are! . . .
You are our Holy land! Our Father land!
Our Honor and our Pride!
-
V.
D. Savarkar, Priyakar Hindusthan (Beloved Hindustan)
Hi, Everyone! Savarkar
never advocated the jail-going policy for any freedom fighter. He considered it
a duty of every patriot unlucky enough to find himself in jail to free himself
posthaste by resorting to any available means. Naturally, when incarcerated in
the Cellular Jail, he himself assiduously carried out this duty—by the only way
available to him: petitioning.
All his life Savarkar,
like a true Karmayogi, only followed the path of his duty without any thought
to personal gain. He never sacrificed his principles; he never ever, even for a
moment, sacrificed his beloved motherland. Anyone who takes the trouble to read
what Savarkar has recorded of himself and India’s history—without being blinded
by the maligning rhetoric—will see the truth of this.
I don’t consider myself
a person of extraordinary intellect. So if I can see the truth of Savarkar so
plainly, why can’t the many anti-Savarkar propagandists who are so vociferously
denigrating him do so? I can even understand—though not condone—the injustice to Savarkar that happened in historical
times. But why does it continue till
today?
·
What
powerful ulterior motive is operating this anti-Savarkar propaganda?
It
is most shameful that there are so many Indian leaders, magazines, authors, and
prominent personalities concentrating their energies in unjustly smashing to
smithereens the pristine character and reputation of one of the foremost
freedom fighters of India.
It
is most shameful that Indians are allowing such a thing to happen.
In the last three
posts, I have put before you justification of Savarkar’s petitions. Savarkar’s
reasons for his petitions are entirely consistent with his principles, his
strategies, and his unparalleled love for his motherland. Through his
horrendous incarceration in the Cellular Jail, and indeed all his life,
Savarkar’s every thought and deed was for the good of his country.
·
But I ask you: if it were not so. If Savarkar made his petitions only to
be free, or only to have a slightly less arduous hardship while incarcerated would
that be any reason to rip his reputation and character to shreds?
Would
these holier-than-thou anti-Savarkar propagandists suffer a fraction of what
Savarkar suffered and not be turned into sniveling cowards?
·
Would they have left the safety of Paris
and returned to London to face the wrath of the British just to set an example
to the other revolutionaries?
·
Would they have the guts to execute the
daring escape at Marseilles?
·
Would they have remained uncrushed at
being kidnapped by the British officers and hustled back aboard the SS Morea to a horrendous fate?
·
Would they have faced with equanimity
the fifty-year sentence of transportation imposed after another round of unjust
and contrived trials?
·
Would they have survived the solitary
isolation of the Cellular Jail?
·
Would they have survived being yoked to
the oil mill there?
·
Would they have survived the beatings,
the insults, the hard labor, the atrocious hygiene?
No they would not!
And so, even if they could not grasp the extraordinary character of
Savarkar, even if understanding his burning passion to free his motherland and
all that it drove him to do was beyond them—they should never have dared point callous and unfeeling fingers of aspersions
toward Savarkar.
Savarkar suffered all
of the above and yet not one iota of his passion to free his country was
dimmed. Under the most abject and horrendous circumstances, despite the very
many injustices heaped upon him, he prevailed.
Detractors will do what
they will do. But I do hope, readers, that you will not blindly swallow their
vituperation of Savarkar.
Anurupa
Its true. There has been a systematic attempt to malign the image of Veer Savarkar, marginalize his contributions and there by demean his ideology. He was also maliciously implicated in Gandhi's murder by Nehru which is clearly mentioned in Manohar Malgaonkar's book and the same vested interests till today operate in the name of the most powerful political family of India
ReplyDeleteYour Savarkar literally BEGGED the British for mercy madam! He went to the extent of offering to serve in the English Army itself!!!Gandhi never did that,Nehru never did that. A patient reading of this coward's collection of mercy petitions reveals how desperate he was to get out of the British Jails.And once out of jail,he never poked his nose in the British Occupation of India,unlike what other brave freedom fighters had done. He was a coward and the only reason he is liked by modern Hindu Chauvinists like you is that he shared a genocidal hatred of Muslims with your kind of people. Other than that and the murder of Gandhi he has nothing to his credit. He was a hatemonger,a murderer and above all a traitor to the cause of National Struggle.
ReplyDeleteSir/Madam, it is because misunderstandings such as these abound that I have written a novel and am writing blog posts to make matters clear. For me it is a duty and dedication.
ReplyDeleteBut I can only write, how each person understands and processes my words is in his/her hands.
BTW, Gandhi begged the British Govt. for 7 months for the privilege of bearing arms in squashing the Zulu rebellion. And he offered himself to the British Govt. as a recruiting agent for the army in WWI. Do read my posts on Gandhi Revealed. I have written it quoting
documentation available in Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi.
I would have been glad had you allowed my other comment to appear too. It contains the exact wordings if Savarkar's beg petitions to the British and show him exactly how he was. All haters are like that!! So was Savarkar! More smoke than fire!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd what Gandhi did peacefully,without resorting to violence is completely incomparable to what a hypocrite who spoke in two tongues did. Savarkar sometimes spoke of allegiance to the British and at other times betrayed his masters.
Moreover Gandhi never took a life and always stood his ground on Non-violence. He always spoke of peace and non-violence even to the British. Savarkar on the other hand always called for genocide and ethnic cleansing. He represents the worst of rightwing thinking. He was and will remain a traitor.
Sir/Madam,I have not received your second comment for moderation. I assure You, I have no intention of not posting any such comment such as yours.
ReplyDeleteNor do I intend to get into an argument with you in these comments. It is pointless---If you have read what I am writing in my posts, then you haven't understood it or don't want to.
You, as is everyone else, are free to believe to what you will.
Here I am re posting that comment. Let all those who stumble upon this page to know about "veer" savarkar also know his other side:
ReplyDelete"Savarkar described himself as a ''prodigal son'' longing to return to the ''parental doors of the government''. While referring to his earlier letter of clemency in 1911, Savarkar wrote, ''...if the government in their manifold beneficence and mercy release me, I for one cannot but be the staunchest advocate of constitutional progress and loyalty to the English government which is the foremost condition of that progress. As long as we are in jails, there cannot be real happiness and joy in hundreds and thousands of homes of His Majesty's subjects in India, for blood is thicker than water; but if we are released, the people will raise a shout of joy and gratitude to the government, who knows how to forgive and correct, more than how to chastise and avenge.''
Savarkar went on to add, ''Moreover, my conversion to the constitutional line would bring back all those misled young men in India and abroad who were once looking up to me as their guide. I am ready to serve the government in any capacity they like, for as my conversion is conscientious so I hope my future conduct would be. By keeping me in jail, nothing can be got in comparison to what would be otherwise. The Mighty alone can afford to be merciful and, therefore, where else can the prodigal son return but to the parental doors of the government.''
Note: I have no malicious intent towards Hinduism being a Muslim unlike the modern followers of BJP/RSS whose regular target is my religion,my Prophet,my Quran and my entire Muslim community. I never abuse Hinduism and its books even in private inspite of the hatred I have for RSS becoz I know real Hinduism is quintessentially peaceful and different from RSS' militant and venomous ideology. I believe RSS is an insult to the great tradition that Hinduism is just like Salafist thought of Saudis is to Islam. My comments against Savarkar need not be taken as an attack on Hinduism as I have deep admiration for its spirituality. All said, I assert that RSS/BJP are the single biggest enemies of harmony and peace in this country.
Thank you,have a nice time.
Sir, I have no malicious intent towards anyone. I do not belong to any organization and I am an American. I have always have had Muslim friends and so do my kids. My husband was Christian as are my kids. I just want Savarkar to be understood and recognized for what he was, as I discovered for myself in 2009.
ReplyDeleteI do wish you will read this short story I have written based on a real life incident recorded by Author Shailaja Raje.
http://anurupacinar.blogspot.com/2013/02/savarkar-short-stories-savarkar-is-for.html
With reference to Savarkar's petition, I have written about this in this very series we are commenting on.