Varanasi, October 17 (PTI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on Thursday, said that had it not been for Swatantryaveer Savarkar, the First War of Independence in 1857 would have been regarded as a revolt. In that case, India would have seen that part of history from the British point of view.

 

 

 

These remarks came two days after the Maharashtra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party said in its election manifesto that it would ask the Centre to confer the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

 

Amit Shah also insisted that rewriting history from India’s point of view was the need of the moment. ...

THAT some elements in the country are opposing the idea of conferring Bharat Ratna on Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, is very unfortunate. The elements that are opposed to the idea are actually those who have spent much of their energies in maligning nationalistic ideals as part of an ongoing campaign to belittle the contributions of many stalwarts and iconic personages who have made signal contribution to the national cause. Swatantryaveer Savarkar was one of the persons whose contribution to the story of India was not recognised by those in power for long, long decades.

 

Swatantryaveer Savarkar was not just anybody, to say the least. Much to the contrary, he was a doyen of patriots and guided India’s thought-process about freedom and its future. He was many things rolled into one -- a patriot of high merit, an armed revolutionary who organised a secret movement whose outward name was ‘Abhinav Bharat’, a litterateur par excellence, a poet of rare virtue, a historian who blocked the British effort to snuff out the 1857 War of Independence from public memory. And he was also the man who was denied due credit for his contribution even in Independent India.

 

So bad was the stance of the Leftist and socialist politicians and intellectuals that they spread nonsensical canards about Swatantryaveer Savarkar’s personality to malign his image. That they did not succeed, was another story, but their efforts are on even seventy-two years after India gained Independence. Politically-driven persons such as the then Union Minister Mr. Mani Shankar Iyer even ordered removal of Swatantryaveer Savarkar’s nameplate from the Cellular Jail in Andaman where the iconic patriot was serving two consecutive life-terms in prison for his participation in freedom struggle.

 

No matter all that dirty, filthy politics, generations of young Indians grew up nursing their nationalism on the ideas and ideals promoted by Swatantryaveer Savarkar. There are millions of people now in India talking in total reverence about the great man. Countless books, media articles, plays, literary festivals are coming up every year all over the country. The inspiring story of his life is told and retold in countless Indian homes, motivating young minds to adopt patriotic thought as a matter of faith.

 

But let us refer to the point Mr. Amit Shah made in his Varanasi speech -- that had it not been for Swatantryaveer Savarkar India would never have known the full truth about the 1857 War of Independence. The British wanted to paint the great war as just a revolt by a few Indians. But then, one young man stood between the British effort and truth -- Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. He researched and wrote the full story of the 1857 War of Independence and ensured its publication. But that was not without a stout effort by the British Government to thwart the attempt, not just in India but also in Britain, France, Germany and several other countries. The Savarkar family fought hard to make the publication possible, thus preserving a great part of Indian history.

 

In the Andaman Jail, Swatantryaveer Savarkar went through rigorous imprisonment. He was a Barrister and a poet and a historian. But the British wanted him to suffer like hardened criminals. However, for Swatantryaveer Savarkar, all that torture was part of the mandate of a patriot.

 

Much can be written about the man and his intellectual prowess and his adventure -- like trying to escape from the British boat that was bringing him back to India for trial and punishment. That story can be told a zillion times without any loss of thrill.

 

Unfortunately, the Government of free India also did not treat Swatantryaveer Savarkar with respect, and its leaders did not carry any sense of shame for that sinful behaviour.

 

Now, however, there are signs that the Government will confer upon Swatantryaveer Savarkar the Bharat Ratna honour posthumously. That will be truly a golden-letter day for the country. For, that will mean that the country has compensated for its mistreatment to a great patriot, though only to some extent.

 

This must happen at the earliest. If there is anybody who deserves such an honour, it is Swatantryaveer Savarkar.

For, he was not an icon without reason. For, when he approached the thought of freedom as a teenager in Bhugur near Nashik (Maharashtra), he committed the entire family to the ideal. He and his elder brother Babarao went to jail and their wives and other members of the family suffered terribly. Yet, none of them capitulated ever. The whole family has assumed a talismanic importance in India’s story of struggle for Independence. It is only natural that the Government honoured Swatantryaveer Savarkar with Bharat Ratna, our highest civilian award as early as possible.

Even that too would be only a small honour in a way. For, it is not possible for anybody to calibrate the contribution of the great man.