Author: Mohan Dharia
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 28, 2003
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=24731
The country recently witnessed a
most unfortunate controversy over the installation of the portrait of the
great freedom fighter and revolutionary V.D. Savarkar in Parliament. It
is sad that the Congress, Communist and other parties should have opposed
the move without assessing the supreme sacrifice of Savarkar during our
struggle for independence.
During 1896-97, Pune was visited
by the plague. The government decided to get the affected localities vacated
and British soldiers were asked to execute the order. The soldiers used
all sorts of methods while fetching people from their houses and sending
them to safe areas.
The resistance offered by the people
was inhumanly crushed. Kesari, founded by Lokmanya Tilak, was the only
journal to carry news of the atrocities. An agitated Damodar Chaphekar
and his two brothers residing near Pune, decided to teach a lesson to the
then governor and unsuccessfully tried to shoot him.
One senior officer was shot dead
in the attack and all three brothers, aged between 18 and 21, were hanged.
The news shocked the country.
That event inspired young Vinayak
Savarkar who was then a school boy of hardly 16 years. He formed the 'Abhinav
Bharat' movement to fight against the British Raj.
Several spirited youngsters joined
the movement. They chose the hard path of violence and decided to illegally
secure arms and ammunition. Senapati Bapat, a great revolutionary, went
to Nepal to secure training in preparing hand bombs. Vinayak left for England
and enrolled for Bar at Law. The main purpose, however, was to secure pistols
and ammunition.
The British government arrested
him for offences including his plan to dislodge the empire. He was sent
to India for a criminal trial. News about his courageous escape during
the journey from the steamer and his re-arrest reached India. Savarkar
became a national hero. After the farce of trial, he was convicted. He
was the rare freedom fighter to receive a rigorous conviction of 50 years
in the notorious prison in Andaman islands.
Sardar Udham Singh, inspired by
Savarkar, killed General Dyer for his inhuman killings of more than 300
innocent Indians at Jallianwalla Bagh. Savarkar drafted the statement Udham
Singh made in court. Though Udham Singh was hanged, his statement shocked
England, particularly the House of Commons. Till then, the people in England
were in the dark about the general's
atrocities. Hundreds of youngsters, including this writer, who had faith
in a violent struggle to secure independence were inspired by Savarkar
to take up arms to fight the British Raj. His books inspired many.
It is generally said that India
became independent because of the non-violent struggle launched by Gandhi.
With due respect to Gandhi, I believe that both violent and non-violent
struggles were responsible in securing our independence. The independence
of India was the total result of the non-violent movement led by Gandhi,
violent struggles by the great revolutionaries and the international situation.
The agonies suffered by Vinayak
Savarkar and his brother in the Andaman prison have no parallel. But Savarkar
never compromised while undergoing his long imprisonment of 50 years. Like
many others, I have never accepted Savarkar's philosophy of a Hindu state
nor the communal views preached by him in the later part of his life.
However, his supreme sacrifice for
the country is unquestionable. His scientific world view never allowed
him to accept the cow as a holy animal. He regarded it only as an useful
animal and openly expressed his views. He opposed the philosophy of varna
propagated by Manu and invited a scheduled caste person to perform pooja
at the Ram temple at Ratnagiri. For this, he was boycotted by the conservatives.
To oppose the installation of Savarkar's
portrait is an insult to the great revolutionaries who went to the gallows
with smiles on their lips. Those who preferred the violent path during
the struggle for freedom had only two options: To face bullets or to go
to the gallows. Their sacrifice could never be compared with those who
accepted the safer non-violent path.
Today is the 120th birthday of Sarvarkar
and as a mark of respect to our great martyrs, I appeal that the controversy
over his portrait in Central Hall must end for all time.
(The writer is a former Union minister)
