In the last two three years , there have been a number of books authored by Indic writers , not to be mistaken for Indians writing in English. Some people call them right wing, though it doesn’t make much sense to me.
Before going in to Biography of Veer Savarkar by Dr Vikram Sampath ,it is worth going through a brief biodata of the author himself.
Dr Vikram Sampath was raised in Bangalore and completed his schooling at the Sri Aurobindo Memorial School and Bishop Cotton Boys’ School . He was trained in Carnatic Music since the age of five; among his teachers were Jayanthi Kumaresh and Bombay Jayashri. Sampath graduated from BITS Pilani with a degree in Electronics Engineering, and later with a master’s degree in mathematics.
Against the wishes of his professors, who wanted him to pursue a PhD in topology (an avatar of pure mathematics) , he shifted to finance and obtained an MBA in Finance from S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research. In October 2017, Sampath received a doctorate in ethnomusicology from the School of Music at University of Queensland, Australia.
His first love of music ; and as can be seen from his qualification in Science and Finance, one wonders what motivated him to write about Veer Savarkar , a name that would automatically slot him into Right Wing. A point to note is that his first book was on Wadiyar Dynasty of Mysore, second on Gauhar Jaan who was India’s first classical musician to record on the gramophone and the third was on the life of Veena maestro S. Balachander. The common thread running through all these subjects is the love ‘India that is Bharat’ .
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar or Veer Savarkar is not the kind of household name in our country as Gandhi or Nehru; though it should have been.
Veer Savarkar had founded the Abhinav Bharat , a revolutionary movement in 1904. It was a secret society founded on the lines of Mazzini of Italy towards an armed struggle to win freedom for the country.
He served for 15 years in Andaman and by the time he was interned in Ratnagiri Mahatma Gandhi was already leading the Congress.
Everybody knows , that Indian National Congress was sharply divided into moderates and extremists.
It is the story of moderates we hear; Gandhi, Nehru , Patel and so on. There were contributions from thousands of others who believed in different paths to liberation of their nation . They were great patriots , no doubt, but their stories were given a quiet burials by their own countrymen, as the British did not approve of their methods.
Among extremists , Lala Lajpat Rai , Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal of the Lal, Bal and Pal fame are known to some extent. Who all have heard of Madan Lal Dhingra ,VVS Iyer, Vanchinathan, Neelkanta Brahmachari,or Thirumalacharya ?
Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and his INA is well known due to the the mass following Bose enjoyed; predominantly from WB and Tamilnadu. A curious fact is that the fan following for Netaji crossed the seas and had a great presence in Srilanka. The tiger in LTTE’s flag is inspired by Netaji’s INA Flag.
But for the kind of following enjoyed by Bose in these States, our historians would have underplayed the role of INA in Indian freedom struggle as an undesirable fringe Movement.
The moderates enjoyed the limelight and every moment was recorded as history . The extremists, meaning the faction that wanted no negotiations on freedom, had to function in total secrecy . There were no books , no records and all communications were through word of mouth and secret meetings. All we have are a few grainy photos and verbal accounts passed on through generations. It is understandable that pre 1947, it was a hostile situation. But what stopped Independent India from remembering these freedom fighters ?
Much is made of the mercy petition by Veer Savarkar . If anything , Savarkar chose to remain a ‘moderate’ kind of freedom fighter (like Gandhi or Nehru) for the rest of his life . He devoted his life to social reforms, literary field and Hindu unity. I don’t understand what’s wrong with that.
Mahakavi Bharthiyaar in Tamilnadu also faced a similar predicament. He stayed in exile at Pondichery and devoted his life to literature and social reforms. At some stage in life he was tired of looking over his shoulders all the time. He just wanted to return to his home town to live in peace and so he gave an undertaking to the British that he would stay away from politics.
By Savarkar and Bharthiyaar staying out of British prisons, India gained.
History of these unsung and much maligned warriors has to be told . Every accusation against these great men have to be gone into to get a right perspective , a perspective unaffected by our not so liberal ‘liberals’ and the Western writers.
To be continued……
He suffered 15 years at Kala Pani. On return to mainland, he was incarcerated at Ratnagiri.
Those who brand him as mafiveer cannot be more thankless and shameless.
Chidambaram could not stand prison for a week, remember!
Interesting. Well digged facts. Anxious to read 2nd part.
Excellent work! Remember Netaji also led a similar life incognito after his much publicised death! These vibhutis come for sojourn on Earth on purpose…a short term and a long term! They are well aware that kaal chakra is always dominant and prevails over all endeavors. And thus guided by their purpose they change their tac!
Waiting for Part 2.
I had watched in October last year the India Today Conclave where Rajdeep Sardesai had moderated a discussion between Vijay Sampath and Shashi Tharoor. It’s approximately 45 minutes long but worth a watch as Vijay very deftly takes on not just a very suave Shashi but also Rajdeep.
https://youtu.be/qswlt56eCro
One has to see the cellular Jail at Andaman Islands to know what such a long harsh imprisonment meant.
The moderates were lodged in Ahmednagar fort, which was like a holiday, very conducive to write philosophy.
Sawarkar was vilified for encouraging youth to join the British armed forces, but that’s why we had the capability to liberate Kashmir in 1947/48.