We fought the First War of Independence in 1857. Then came the British, who plundered India. Most of them were bad, a rare exception was Akbar, who was a great assimilator and tried to take everyone along. The first aberration came with the Muslim invaders. We have thousands of years of uninterrupted history. The story of India goes like this: Once upon a time, we were a great nation. This is how history is taught to the uninitiated kids in the school. These two are central to the much-celebrated concept of the Idea of India. One, anti-colonial struggle, and two, secular communal binary. India’s mainstream, dominant historiography limits modern Indian history to two narratives. Indian historiography and an ‘ infallibile’ Savarkar Now, one of the most powerful Union ministers in the Narendra Modi government has endorsed this fact, albeit in a different context, thus putting the legacy of Savarkar under unexpected and newfound scrutiny.Īlso read: Anti-BJPism didn’t work for Muslims. Savarkar seeking mercy and writing letters to this effect has been in public domain more as folklore and as a contested fact/fiction. That’s why we do not find any negative reference to Savarkar in the textbooks written during the Congress era. Gandhi’s murder, although it was never proved. We can clearly see that before Rahul Gandhi took over the driving seat of the Congress, the party always tried to co-opt Savarkar, despite his alleged role in M.K. Manmohan Singh propagated a more nuanced view by saying that the Congress “was not against Savarkar” but against his Hindutva ideology. Indira Gandhi had condoled Savarkar’s death and her government had issued a commemorative postage stamp honouring him in 1970. Perhaps Indira Gandhi did not want to cede any icon seemingly associated with the anti-British struggle to the RSS. Savarkar, though considered one of the foremost adherents of Hindutva ideology, which is now being led by the RSS, was also celebrated by the secular-liberal politicians and history book writers. That conviction gave him hope and courage to overcome depression and keep fighting wherever he was – inside the prison, or outside.” What was the secret of Savarkar’s strength? He was utterly confident that India would achieve freedom. He valiantly continued the fight for human dignity and freedom, even in prison. Many (prisoners in Cellular Jail) went insane and a few committed suicides, but Veer Savarkar refused to be daunted.
Its introduction section presents Savarkar in a hagiographic manner: “No history textbook will tell you the hardships Indian revolutionaries had to suffer and the sacrifices they had to make for their country’s freedom. One of these books is titled Veer Savarkar. A popular source of learning such urban mythologies are the immensely popular comic books published by Amar Chitra Katha (ACK). What was previously only a debate between politicians and historians is now in the town square.Īlso read: Gwalior to Godse - Was Sardar Patel soft on Savarkar in Gandhi murder case, and if so, whyīesides school and college textbooks, kids learn about ‘history’ also from myths and mythologies. Based on my own experience and after talking to several students and teachers of history, I would like to claim that no History textbook taught to kids in Indian schools tells them about Savarkar’s apologies and clemency petitions filed before the colonial government. Savarkar seeking mercy from the British has not been taught even to undergraduate History students.īut now, Rajnath Singh’s attempt to Gandhi-wash Savarkar in the mainstream discourse has carved the Hindutva ideologue’s clemency petitions in stone. Savarkar’s five mercy petitions – filed between 19 – have been a hush-hush matter in the Indian public sphere. And school textbooks have played an important role in keeping it that way. It was on Mahatma Gandhi’s insistence that he filed a mercy petition,” Singh said at the function Wednesday. Mahatma Gandhi had told him to file a mercy petition. The truth is, he did not file these petitions for his release. “It has been repeatedly said that he (Savarkar) filed multiple mercy petitions before the British government. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has, perhaps unknowingly, done an almost blasphemous act on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the undisputed crowning jewel of Hindutva politics. At the launch of a book on the Hindu Mahasabha leader, Singh touched upon a topic that RSS followers rarely feel comfortable discussing – Savarkar’s various mercy petitions to the British begging to be pardoned when he was lodged in the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.