Veer Savarkar

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This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

Ideology

February 26, 2018: The Times of India

HIGHLIGHTS

The reason Naidu could have deleted the tweet is because the TDP's relations with ally BJP have been a bit rocky lately

Savarkar, who's said to have coined the term 'Hindutva', is held in high esteem by the BJP

The saffron party venerates Savarkar as a "freedom fighter", but many opposition parties say he wasn't a supporter of India's independence movement.

According to screenshots shared on Twitter, the TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister, tweeted the following around 7 am this morning: "Humble tributes to the legendary freedom fighter, Veer Savarkar ji, on his death anniversary." Soon after, the tweet was unavailable. The reason Naidu could have deleted the tweet is because the TDP's relations with ally BJP - as part of the NDA coalition - have been a bit rocky lately. Savarkar, who's said to have coined the term 'Hindutva', is held in high esteem by the BJP.

The saffron party venerates Savarkar as a "freedom fighter", but many opposition parties say he wasn't a supporter of India's independence movement. These parties, especially the Congress, cite the fact that Savarkar didn't support Gandhi's 'Quit India' movement as proof he was no freedom fighter.

In August 1942, Savarkar, who was then president of the 'Hindu Mahasabha', wrote a letter to its members titled 'Stick to your Posts'. The letter advised Mahasabha members to boycott the 'Quit India' movement.

He instructed those Mahasabha members who were also "members of municipalities, local bodies, legislatures or those serving in the army...to stick to their posts" across the country, and to not join the 'Quit India' movement at any cost, says a 2013 book, 'Hindu Mahasabha in Colonial North India, 1915-1930: Constructing Nation and History', by Prabhu Bapu.

Savarkar had been arrested in 1910 for his connections with a revolutionary group called 'India House', which used to publish an anti-colonialist newspaper, The Indian Sociologist. He was sentenced to two life terms of imprisonment - a total of fifty years - and was moved to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Savarkar was released in 1921 and the Congress cites that fact to say he wasn't a freedom fighter. That's because unlike other patriots like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Ashfaqullah, who refused to ask the British Raj for mercy even at the cost of their lives, Savarkar actually sought clemency.

Savarkar wrote in his plea to the British colonials that if he's freed from jail he will pledge to be "the staunchest advocate of constitutional progress and loyalty to the English government." He was duly released.