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Veer Savarkar on a stamp issued by Government of India

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (May 28, 1883-1966), (Devanagari:विनायक दामॊदर सावरकर) sometimes called "Veer Savarkar" (वीर सावरकर - Brave Savarkar), was an Indian Freedom fighter, and a Hindu nationalist leader.

Background

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was a great orator, prolific writer, historian, poet, philosopher and social worker who devoted his entire life to the cause of the Indian Independence movement. He is regarded by some as one of the greatest revolutionaries in India's freedom struggle. He was also one of the most controversial.

Being a descendant of a line of Sanskrit scholars, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar took great interest in History, Politics, Literature and Indian culture. His book, First war of Indian independence movement: 1857, served as an inspiration for many freedom fighters, reportedly including Gandhi.

Born in the village of Bhagur near Nasik, he was one among four children born to the couple Damodarpant Savarkar and Radhabai. His initial education was at the Shivaji School, Nasik. He lost his mother at the age of nine. Brought up by his father, he was influenced by the freedom struggle in British India and got drawn towards it. He lost his father during the plague that struck India in 1899.

In March 1901, he married Yamunabai. Post marriage, in 1902, he joined Fergusson College in Pune to study further. In June 1906, he received a scholarship and left for London to study law.

The freedom fighter

As a student, Savarkar was involved in the Swadeshi movement. He later joined joined Bal Gangadhar Tilak's Swaraj Party. When in London, he founded the Free India Society. The Society celebrated important dates on the Indian calendar including festivals, freedom movement landmarks and was dedicated to furthering discussion about Indian freedom which came to be highly unacceptable to the British. He said, " We must stop complaining about this British officer or that officer, this law or that law. There would be no end to that. Our movement must not be limited to being against any particular law, but it must be for acquiring the authority to make the laws itself. In other words, we want Absolute Political Independence."

In 1908, when he wrote "The Indian War of Independence 1857", the British government immediately enforced a ban on it in both Britain and India. Later, it was published by Madame Cama in Holland and was smuggled into India to reach revolutionaries working across the country against British rule.

In 1909, Madanlal Dhingra, a keen follower of Savarkar shot Sir Wyllie, after a failed assassination attempt on the then Viceroy, Lord Curzon. In the political crisis that ensued, Savarkar stood out with a decision not to condemn the act.

When the then British Collector of Nasik, A.M.T. Jackson was shot by a youth, Savarkar finally fell under the net of the British authorities. He was implicated in the murder citing his connections with India House. A warrant was issued on 13th March, 1910, following which he was arrested in Paris. He hatched a plan to escape at Marseilles which failed.

He was captured and brought to Bombay (Mumbai) on S.S. Morea, and imprisoned at the Yeravada jail. He was tried and at the age of 27 years, sentenced to 50 years imprisonment at the infamous Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. On 4th July, 1911, he was transported to the Andamans.

He appealed for clemency in 1911, and again in 1913 during Sir Reginald Craddock's visit. His supporters suggest that his quisling actions should be viewed in the context of the systematic torture of political prisoners then rampant at the prison and his own declining health.

In 1920, many prominent freedom fighters including Vithalbhai Patel, Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak demanded the release of Savarkar and his brother in the Central Legislative Assembly.

In May 2, 1921, Savarkar was moved to Ratnagiri jail and from there to the Yeravada jail. It was in Ratnagiri jail that Savarkar wrote the book 'Hindutva'. In January 6, 1924 he was released under conditions of stringent restrictions imposed on his travel and activities.

The Politician

He was the founder of the Hindu Mahasabha and contributed significantly to its evolution as a separate political party.

When Britain declared war on Germany and arbitrarily included India in the war, he made a statement - "Britain's claim of safeguarding human freedom was simply meaningless".

Nevertheless, Savarkar asked Hindus to help the British in their war effort against Germany and Japan. His admirers have argued that this was a tactic to get more Hindus to pick up military training that could have been turned against the British later.

The Hindu Mahasabha, under Savarkar's presidency, did not support the Quit India movement (which culminated in independence) launched in August 1942. However, he was not alone. The Communist Party of India and Muslim League also did not support the Quit India movement.

His view of post-independence India envisioned a militarily strong, cohesive and self-sufficient nation.

The Writer

His literary works in Marathi include "Kamala", "Mazi Janmathep" ( My Life Sentence ), and most famously "1857 - The First war of Independence" about what the British had conveniently called the Sepoy Mutiny. Savarkar popularized the term 'First War of Independence'. Another noted book was "Kale Pani" (similar to Life Sentence), the one which reflected the treatment of Indian freedom fighters by the British. In order to counter one of the then contemporary views that India's history was a saga of continuous defeat, he wrote an inspirational historical work, "Saha Soneri Pane" ( Six Golden Pages ), recounting some of the Golden periods of Indian history.

He wrote several books when in prison. Among those that he wrote when in Ratnagiri jail, was the profoundly influential book Hindutva which deals with the Hindu nationalistic approach to the idea of the Indian nation and Hinduism. It may be noted here that Savarkar himself was an atheist and conceptualized Hindutva as a unique way of life rooted in and permeating every aspect of life on the Indian subcontinent. Others were "Hindu Padpadashashi" and "My Transportation for Life". At the same time, religious divisions in India were beginning to fissure. He described what he saw as the atrocities of British and Muslims on Hindu residents in Kerala, in the book, "Mopalyanche Band" (Muslims' Strike) and also "Gandhi Gondhal" (Gandhi's Confusion), a political critique of Gandhi's politics. Savarkar, by now, had become a committed and persuasive critic of the Gandhian vision of India's future.

He is also the author of poems like "Sagara pran talmalala", and "Jayostute", claimed to be one of the most moving, inspiring and patriotic works in Marathi literature by his followers and some critics. "Jayostute" was written in praise of Mother India.

He is credited with several popular neologisms in Hindi like Digdarshak (leader, one who points in the right direction), Shatkar, Saptahik (Weekly, as in weekly periodicals/magazines) and Sansad (Parliament).

The Social Worker

Through the Hindu Mahasabha, it has been said that Savarkar worked hard to protect minority rights, though this is the subject of controversy. During the celebration of Hindu festivals, it is said that Savarkar visited Muslim and Christian homes to promote good will. He is claimed to have encouraged intercaste marriage and assisted B. R. Ambedkar in the upliftment of the untouchables. This has been disputed by the political movements representing the lower castes in India themselves and is, again, the subject of much controversy. He appealed for a wider use of Hindi as the mother tongue and suggested reforms to the Devanagiri script to facilitate printing. He coined many Hindi words to facilitate its use in offices.

Controversies

Alleged Involvement in Gandhi assasination

In the period leading to and immediately after Indian Independence, the stand taken by Mahatma Gandhi supporting the formation of Pakistan created deep divisions in the country. Savarkar, by now one of the fiercest critics of the Mahatma, expressed his opposition to Gandhi's stance in no uncertain terms during that period. Later on when Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic, Nathuram Vinayak Godse, there were several allegations that Sarvarkar masterminded the assassination of Gandhi. This had its origins in Godse's membership of the Mahasabha and presence at meetings chaired by Savarkar. Godse and Narayan Apte, the two main accused, were known to Savarkar and frequently visited him. Savarkar was alleged to have blessed Nathuram Godse before he shot Gandhi, with the words “Yashasvi howun yaa” (“Come back with success”). After Gandhi's assassination, mobs stoned Savarkar's home in Bombay, where he had shifted to from Ratnagiri. The Government of India at the time arrested Savarkar and implicated him in the assassination case, but he alone was accquitted by the Supreme Court of India, for reasons of lack of evidence. The mystery and controversies surrounding this incident, with claims and counter-claims raised by admirers and critics of Savarkar across the Indian political and social spectrum, reverberate to this day.

On Hindutva

Savarkar articulated the Hindutva ideology for the first time and wrote extensively on the subject. Savarkar defined a Hindu as one "who regards this land of Bharatvarsha, from the Indus to the Seas as his Father-Land as well as his Holy-Land that is the cradle land of his religion". He said: "So with the Hindus, they being the people, whose past, present and future are most closely bound with the soil of Hindusthan as Pitribhu (fatherland), as Punyabhu (holyland), they constitute the foundation, the bedrock of the Indian state. Therefore even from the point of Indian nationality, must ye, O Hindus, consolidate and strengthen Hindu nationality; not to give wanton offence to any of our non-Hindu compatriots, in fact to any one in the world but in just and urgent defence of our race and land; to render it impossible for others to betray her to or subject her to unprovoked attack by any of those 'Pan-isms' that are struggling forth from continent to continent."

This is what he had to say about two-nation theory : "I have no quarrel with Mr Jinnah's two-nation theory. We, Hindus, are a nation by ourselves and it is a historical fact that Hindus and Muslims are two nations."

External links

Biography - An Article on Kamat's Potpourri
Freedom fighter profile
Savarkar and Sangh : a muddled equation - An article on the relations of RSS and Savarkar.
History of Andaman Cellular Jail
¹ Allegations on Savarkar on Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Freedom Fighther - Savarkar
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
The mastermind? - Outlook article that discusses the theory that Savarkar masterminded Gandhi's assassination. (Requires registration, may use BugMeNot)
Who was Veer Savarkar? - Rediff.com article about allegations on Savarkar.
Godse accompanied Savarkar to Shimoga in 1944 - The Hindu September 22, 2004

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 On 4th July, 1911, he was transported to the Andamans.
-He appealed for clemency in 1911, and again in 1913 during Sir Reginald Craddock's visit. This should be viewed in the context of the systematic torture of political prisoners then rampant at the prison and his own declining health.
+He appealed for clemency in 1911, and again in 1913 during Sir Reginald Craddock's visit. His supporters suggest that his [[quisling]] actions should be viewed in the context of the systematic torture of political prisoners then rampant at the prison and his own declining health.
 In 1920, many prominent freedom fighters including [[Vithalbhai Patel]], [[Mahatma Gandhi]] and [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]] demanded the release of Savarkar and his brother in the Central Legislative Assembly.