The comedy called Savarkar

The self-proclaimed Veer

The BJP leadership seems to be determined to confer a posthumous Bharat Ratna on V.D. [no pun intended] Savarkar, if not elevate him as an interim Rashtra Pita while the original Pita is being assassinated again and again by the currently fashionable febrile nationalism. Was he indeed a Veer or a Bheeru? Who conferred the title of Veer on a man who tendered four apologies one after another to the British colonial oppressors and two to the Indian government?

India is determined to rewrite its history. Amit Shah has articulated that intent too clearly. Narendra Modi is shrewd enough to play it safer. In the original history, it is Savarkar who wanted to divide India along communal lines before even the atheistic Mohammad Ali Jinnah put on the robe of the Muslim Messiah.  Interestingly, Savarkar was an atheist too.

Savarkar propounded the two-nation theory in 1923 in his essay on Hindutva and later, in 1937, elaborated on it in his presidential address to the Hindu Mahasabha meeting in Ahmedabad. Jinnah embraced the same theory in 1940. The original father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, was starkly opposed to both of these atheists who fought for two polarised religious groups. Gandhi wanted one nation of many religions, many languages, many cultures. Savarkar wanted to be the bulldozer that pulverised all diversities.

That is the history which BJP will soon rewrite. Savarkar will soon be more than a Veer. Who conferred the honour of Veer on him is another interesting question. In all probability, he conferred it on himself in a pseudo-biography of his which he wrote himself.

He was a coward. He was characterless. Why? He tendered too many apologies to the British rulers and behaved like a pathetic beggar all his life.

He was first despatched to the Andaman Islands in 1911 in a case related to the murder of ATM Jackson, Collector of Nashik. Jackson was a reputed Sanskrit scholar who admired India for various reasons. Savarkar found a sitting duck in that gentleman and killed him. Veer indeed!

Within a month of reaching the Cellular Jail, Savarkar went on his knees and tendered his first apology to the British government. The letter found its place in the dustbin sooner than Savarkar thought. Then, in 1913, he wrote a very cowardly and absolutely characterless apology. “I am ready to serve the Government in any capacity they like,” he wrote to the British Government. He added that he was the “prodigal son” returning to “the parental doors of the Government”. Moreover, he promised to “bring back all those misled young men in India and abroad” to the British fold.

In 1917, Savarkar submitted another mercy petition, this time making it a general apology on behalf of all the prisoners in the Andaman. Savarkar’s fourth apology came in 1920 following a proclamation from the British King that the Empire desired to improve the relations between the King and his subjects. In this apology he promised to be a loyal citizen of the British Government in India.

His servile apology got him a release from the Andaman. He was transferred to the Ratnagiri Jail and then to the Yerwada Jail in Pune. Here in Yerwada, Savarkar’s spine broke for the fourth time when he signed an apologetic bond with the British on 6 Jan 1924. “I heartily abhor methods of violence resorted to in days gone by,” reads that bond signed by the Veer. He promised to “uphold (the British) Law and the Constitution”.

The Veer’s fifth apology came after the assassination of the real father of the nation with the Veer’s assistance. “I beg to submit that I am now 65 years old,” wrote the Veer to the Commissioner of Police, Bombay, after Gandhi’s assassination. He was in the Arthur Road prison for his involvement in the Gandhi assassination. He wrote that he had accepted the nation’s new national flag “even to the embarrassment of some of my followers.” He went on to say, “I wish to express my willingness to give an undertaking to the Government that I shall refrain from taking part in any communal or political public activity…”

Veer's followers today

Savarkar’s sixth apology followed the Nehru-Liaquat Pact in 1950. He was detained, along with other Hindu Mahasabha leaders on 4 April 1950. Within three months the characteristically cowardly apology came from the Veer who also went on to resign from the Mahasabha.

This characterless man is projected as a hero today by worse men. It is up to India to choose its history and heroes instead of being silly puppets in a ridiculous comedy that is being directed by two crooks.