www.sacw.net | September 6, 2004
Veer of a Different Kind
Footsoldiers in Search of an Icon
by Subhash Gatade
"The epitah for the RSS volunteer will be that he was born, he joined the RSS and died without accomplishing anything."-V. D. Savarkar
(D.V.Kelkar, "The R.S.S." Economic Weekly ( 4 Feb 1950: 132) Page 36, The Brotherhood in Saffron,The RSS and The Hindu Revivalism, Andersen and Damle,Vistaar, 1986, Delhi)
The search is finally over. Hindutva brigade's long and arduous search for a Hero is finally over.And here we have the Advanis'-Vajpayees'-Thakres's singing paens to the man who when alive had castigated the Hedgewars-Gurujis' and their Swaymsevaks umpteen times and the Hedgewars'-Golwalkars' had also returned the compliment in the same vein.The uproar in the parliament , the 'juta maro' tamasha held in Mumbai and recent decision by the Maharashtra state BJP to take out a Savarkar Yatra on the eve of the elections has finally proved beyond doubt that the R/SS brigade is the 'official inheritor' of the legacy of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar acronymed as 'Veer Savarkar'. Definitely the fact that this 'Veer Patriot' ( to quote the clownish looking editor of 'Panchajanya' Herr Tarun Vijay) died a lonely man abhorred especially by the thriving 'Parivar' then, which made special efforts to maintain distance from him in those days, did not bother these 'legatees'. It did not pertrub their conscience a bit that it took more than thirty four long years after his death that they ultimately decided to claim their lineage from this pioneer of the Hindutva project . It was not that they remained always in wilderness all these years or not that they did not enjoy fruits of power in the intervening period. Starting from the Dombivali Municipality in the early seventies to the topmost echleons of power in Delhi the gullible public did vote them to power but for some mysterious reasons they just kept mum over their legacy. It could be said that much on the lines of the Bollywood films or the telesoaps where the leading characters suffer a memory loss they also underwent a long period of amnesia and just could not even once remember their inviolable right over this legacy which they seem to be doing now during last two three years such gusto. The hyperactiveness exhibited by them in this connection is for everyone to see. It can be said to have a Bollywoodian ring around it where the heroine/hero who regains memory starts behaving in a rather queer manner.
Leaving aside the eternally sinning 'pseudo seculars' ( now rechristened 'secular Talibans' by the Jhandewalanis ) many from their own fraternity have noted the undue haste shown by them in this whole exercise and have also exposed the hypocrisy involved in it. In an interview to the Indian Express Mr Vikram Savarkar, Savarkar's own nephew ( Savarkar nephew hits out at BJP, August 30, 2004) accused the senior leaders of the party for 'keeping mum despite noticing the removal of his uncle's quotations from Port Blair's Cellular Jail'. According to him Ram Kapse, the incumbent Lt. governor of Andaman and Nicobar and former M.P Ram Naik ( both BJP workers) "..did not utter a word when the plaque was removed." The report further says that ,' ..he is not surprised at BJP's lack of interest in Savarkar. "We know very well that the BJP and RSS did not appreciate his (Savarkar's) philosophy."..' ..The report further says that ' (Vikram- author) Savarkar insists BJP's sudden love for the legend is an eyewash.' "It is an effort to woo voters for the Assembly elections in Maharashtra."
It is typical Golwalkarian method that the Saffrons neither get much pertrubed by the questions of consistency nor do they have feeling of guilt over their silence when the nation was taking a new turn in its life.ìMany people worked with the inspiration to free the country by throwing the British out.After formal departure of the British this inspiration slackened.In fact there was no need to have this much inspiration.We should remember that in our pledge we have talked of the freedom of the country through defending religion and culture. There is no mention of departure of the British in thatî. - M.S. Golwalkar alias Golwalkar Guruji (Sri Guruji Samgra Darshan,Volume IV, p.2)
ì In 1942 also there was a strong sentiment in the hearts of many. At that time too the routine work of Sangh continued. Sangh decided not to do anything directlyî. - M.S. Golwalkar alias Golwalkar Guruji ( Sri Guruji Samgra Darshan, p.41)
Ofcourse even a layperson can understand that the memory recall experienced by the R/SS brigade vis-a-vis Savarkar does not have spiritual but purely temporal considerations. It is clear that apart from the immediate task on hand ( namely the assembly elections in Maharashtra) the 'sole proprietary claim over Savarkar' serves a larger purpose for them and it relates to their utter compromising role during the anti-colonial struggle.
Everybody knows that the RSS came into being in the mid twenties when the anticolonial struggle was surging ahead but preferred to keep itself aloof from this upsurge and concentrate on its supposedly 'cultural work'. Not even once during this twentyplus year journey till we reached independence did it give any call specifically opposing the Britishers, rather it penalised those activists who wanted to participate in the people's movement for freedom. Even its founder Mr Hedgewar went to jail only once after the founding of RSS and that also under the Congress banner. It has been well documented how sheepish their behaviour was during those days when even the secret reports of the Britishers did not write anything averse about them. The Britishers even 'appreciated' their immediate compliance when they were ordered to stop military type training in the late 30s. Not content with their opposition / non participation in the independence movement they even made special efforts to break the broad anti imperialist unity of the Indian people by dividing them on communal lines.They very well know that this 'controversial past' of theirs cannot be erased from public memory. They very well know that while it is relatively easy to rewrite 'ancient history' or 'medieval history' a la Herr Murli Manohar Joshi or his 'Sancho Panja' Herr Rajput, the task becomes increasingly difficult once the period under consideration is close by where there are lot of documentary evidences available. Also all their efforts to project a larger than life image for Mr Hedgewar and placing him on par with Gandhis' Boses' has also fallen flat.The 'iconisation' and the 'glorification' of Savarkar thus serves a dual purpose.The projection of Savarkar as a great freedom fighter and claiming lineage from him whitewashes the 'Parivar's' silence during those stormy days then and Savarkar's later transformation from a nationalist into a Hindutva fascist serves them equally well.
One was witness to similar attempts on their part during their six year stint in Delhi when the process to coopt/discover 'Icons' had reached state level also and Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat even had gone to Britain to bring the ashes of Shyamji Krishna Verma, a revolutionary nationalist who preceded Gandhi.Surprisingly the present debate around V.D. Savarkar's evaluation which has been precipitated by the 'plaque removal incident' at Andaman has rather got restricted with two-three major incidents of his life and consciously his supporters have raised questions of interpretations to obfuscate the real issue. The controversy surrounding the clemency petitions sent by Savarkar to the Britishers for his release while he was in the Andamans still simmers. While his detractors have been able to show his clearcut surrender before the Britishers by presenting documentary proofs which includes Savarkar'yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyhkjs own petitions his die hard supporters ( interestingly which does not include only the R/SS brigade and its cohorts) have rather adopted a more 'flexible' strategy to buttress their case. Initially they challenged the vearcity of his clemency petitions themselves but when that could not be sustained they have portrayed the whole exercise as a tactical move on his part to get out of jails so that he could join the struggle outside. In fact this whole exercise to discover 'tactics' behind Savarkar's petitions for clemency are a great insult to the memory of those known and unknown revolutionaries who braved heavy odds to persist in their struggle many of which embraced death rather than seek amnesty.
Definitely there are many loopholes in this defence. One is surprised to find that a leader of his stature whose heroic deeds in the prime of his youth for the cause of freedom struggle had electrified the nation had started sending letters of apology and demanding amnesty immediately after being sent to Andamans as part of his punishment for life imprisonment. He even disregarded the fact that an All India Defence Committee had already come up for his release and the Congress Party then had urgently taken up his case before the British regime.But as the book 'Penal Settlement in Andamans' by Mr R.C. Mazumdar ( Gazettees Unit, Department of Culture, Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, Govt of India, 1975, P.221) vividly demonstrates he was really so demoralised with the tough conditions existing there that he promised to serve the government in any capacity in exchange of his release.
The assasination of one of the noblest sons of the Indian people namely Mahatma Gandhi and the role played by Savarkar in it has also been a major controversy revolving about it. Despite enough evidence to show that he had a hand in the conspiracy to kill the Mahatma, his supporters have glossed over all the facts on mere technical grounds that since he was acquitted of the charge it is the final proof of his innocence in the case.Q.E.D.
A few other crucial aspects of his personality which could help us in reaching a balanced conclusion have either not been considered or have been dropped as irrelevant for the debate. It is time one revisits some of these aspects and also take a fresh look at his weltanshaung through which many of the tragic as well as bloody events in the history of Independent India can be foretold.
In fact the myth makers engaged in building a 'halo' around Savarkar about his 'bravery' do not want to uncover that he preceded Jinnah in propounding the 'two nation theory'.If Jinnah is portrayed as a 'villain' in the popular imagery supposedly for demanding partition how it is proper to wrap Savarkar in the garb of hero if he was the one who forcefully laid down the principle much before him. The presidential address delivered by him in Ahmedabad at the 19 th session of the Hindu Mahasabha in 1937 not only explained his understanding of Hindutva but also declared that India comprises of two nations. According to him
there are two antagonistic nations living side by side in India, several infantile politicians commit the serious mistake in supposing that India is already welded into a harmonious nation, or that it could be welded thus for the mere wish to do so.These our wellmeaning but unthinking friends take their dreams for realities.That is why they are impatient of communal tangles and attribute them to communal organizations. But the solid fact is that the so-called communal questions are but a legacy handed down to us by centuries of cultural, religious and national antagonism between the Hindus and Moslems ... India can not be assumed today to be a unitarian and homogeneous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the main : the Hindus and the Moslems, in India.
( V.D.Savarkar, Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya Hindu Rasthra Darshan ( Collected works of V.D.Savarkar) Vol VI, Maharashtra Prantik Hindusabha, Poona, 1963, p 296
It is now history how in 1942 when the Britishers were engaged in the World War II and the Congress's call for 'Quit India' reverbated throughout India, thousands of people engaged in government jobs including police and military left their jobs to protest continuation of British regime. It is worth noting that while the RSS preferred to keep itself aloof from the 'Quit India Movement' and concentrate on its divisive agenda when the broad masses of the Indian people were figthing the Britishers the pioneer theoretician of the project of HinduRashtra went one step further. At that time 'Veer' Savarkar preferred to tour India asking Hindu youth to join the military with a call 'Militarise the Hindus, Hinduise the nation' . While on one hand Subhash Chandra Bose was engaged in building Indian National Army to fight the Britishers and on the other hand this 'Veer of a different kind' was unashamedly strenghtening British efforts to suppress the rising tide of people's movement. It is interesting that the myth makers of Hindu Rashtra never forget to talk about Subhash Bose's alleged meeting with Savarkar before he proceeded for Germany communicating a sense that Bose's effort had Savarkar's blessing. But they never try to wriggle themselves out of this contradiction that while Savarkar 'blessed' the formation of Indian National Army, he himself was helping the Britishers to find recruits for their army. The rationale provided to justify Savarkar's help in this war effort is convoluted.
...The objective was to enroll as many Hindus as possible in the British army in order to reverse the "effeminization" of the Hindus, which, according to Savarkar, had been going on during British rule due to the recruitment of soldiers along the colonial theory of martial races.Recruitment of Hindus would tilt the Muslim-Hindu ratio in the armed forces in favor of the Hindus, a ratio Savarkar believed would be crucial for the loyalty and orientation of the forces out of which a new national army would be moulded. ( Phadke 1989, See Page 249, The Saffron Wave, Thomas Hansen,Oxford 2001)
It was during the same period that when anti imperialist forces led by Congress and other radical sections of society were waging a 'Do or Die' struggle against the Britishers, Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar's leadership was running coalition governments in Sind and Bengal sharing power with Muslim league. And while at the level of rhetoric Savarkar had unleashed an attack against the composite, inclusive nationalism of such forces and had no qualms in categorising them for their 'appeasement of Muslims', at the practical level he was busy unashamedly defending this power sharing
in practical politics also the Mahasabha knows that we must advance through reasonable compromises.Witness the fact that only recently in Sind, the Sind Hindu Sabha on invitation had taken the responsibility of joining hands with the League itself in running coalition government.The case of Bengal is well known. Wild Leaguers whom even the Congress with all its submissiveness could not placate grew quite reasonably compromising and socialble as soon as they came in contact with the Hindu Mahasabha and the Coalition government , under the premiership of Mr Fazlul Haq and the able lead of our esteemed Mahasabha leader Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerji, functioned successfully for a year or so to the benefit of both the communities.
( V.D.Savarkar, Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya Hindu Rasthra Darshan ( Collected works of V.D.Savarkar) Vol VI, Maharashtra Prantik Hindusabha, Poona, 1963, p 479-480
Is it not surprising that despite many such acts which can be called noting but pure treason Savarkar is still being portrayed as a 'patriot' by the Hindutva Brigade. One fails to understand what was 'patriotic' about this when the Indian masses were shedding their blood at the hands of the Britishers this 'Veer' was engaged in not only providing legitimacy to their regime but was also engaged in winning over a section of Hindu masses to join the British forces.
Ofcourse the 'Veerhood' of this Patriot of a different kind did not end here. Neither could he hide his glee over the 'banning of Congress' and 'its removal from political field.' He did not mind hurriedly applauding Aiyar, the Dewan of Travancore, when he had exhibited the audacity of declaring the state independent. Qutoed in Frontline, A.G.Noorani, (in his review of two biographies of C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar in -) says that:
Sir C.P.Ramaswamy Aiyar, the Dewan of Travancore, had declared the state independent of India! The perfidy did not stop there. He gallantly and speedily appointed an ambassador from Travancore to Jinnahís Pakistan, thus affirming once more his credentials as an inveterate enemy of India free and whole.And, for this treason, who lustily applauded Aiyar in all of India? Who else but ìVeerî Savarkar?
Savarkar should have been tried for treason. They let him go in those days of national euphoria. It only whetted his passion for more treason and grosser crime, culminating in Gandhiís assassination.The epic of bravery of this 'Veer of a Different Kind' would remain incomplete if one does not take into account the way he propagated politics of revenge in general and even went to the extent of propagating rape as a political weapon to further the cause of Hindu Rashtra. The way Savarkar justifies violence against innocents, the way he castigates the greatest Maratha king Shivaji for his chivalry towards women is reprehensible.
Dhanjay Keer in his biography of Savarkar narrates an incident of Savarkar's childhood when as a 12 year old child he had gone to stone a local mosque. Savarkar's own description of the incident is noteworthy
" We vandalised the mosque to our heart's content and raised the flag of our bravery on it. We followed the war strategy of Shivaji completely and ran away from the site after accomplishing our task."
As expected when the Muslim boys in the village reacted to this incident, Savarkar and his comrades from the village did not hesitate to retaliate violently with knives, pins etc. Savarkar cannot hide his glee over the victory of their side in this 'religious war'.
In fact Savarkar's valorisation of violence against English women and children is also problematic.Mr Jyotirmaya Sharma in one of his articles 'Invented Enemy : Savarkar's Politics of Revenge' published in Times of India also gives an example about the way Savarkar narrates the event of 1857 in Kanpur. Discussing the 1857 siege of Kanpur Savarkar tells the reader in an unemotional comment the way 'buthchers were called by the Begum Saheb of Bibigarh, the chief officer of Bibigarh when the prison guards refused to massacre the English.' According to Savarkar, ' ..As soon as they entered with their swords and knives, they butchered 150 women and children. While going in, the buthchers walked on the ground and while coming out they had to journey through blood.'
Ofcourse Savarkar's 'magnum opus' Bhartiya Itihasatil Saha Soneri Paane ('Six Golden Epochs in Indian History)' can be considered to be a representative of his new weltanshauung where he carefully departs from his earlier nationalist philosophy and focusses his attention on the project of Hindu Rashtra. Ajit Karnik in his comment 'Savarkar's Hindutva' (Economic and Political Weekly, April 12,2003) tells us how Savarkar condemns Marathas for not taking revenge on Muslims. According to him,
"...On pages 390-391 of the above-mentioned book, Savarkar takes to task the Marathas for not taking revenge on Muslims in response to the atrocities committed around the year 1757 by Abdalli. Savarkar would have liked the Marathas to not just take revenge, but to annihilate Muslim religion (Mussalmani Dharma) and exterminate the Muslim people and make India ìMuslim-freeî. He reports with great approval how Spain, Portugal, Greece and Bulgaria had done a similar thing in the past and ensured the safety of Christianity. Presumably, Savarkar would have liked India to be rid of Muslims to make the country safe for Hindutva. Clearly, the India he wanted to create had no place for Muslims: the country had to be cleansed of Islam and the followers of Islam."
It is worth noting that in this much discussed book Savarkar propounds the thesis of the 'collective guilt of Muslims.' He lays down the thesis that Muslims need to be punished not only what they themselves have done but what their coreligionists had done. In a way he presents himself as the father of the language of Pratishodh, Pratikaar, all synonyms for revenge, retribution and retaliation and a pioneer thinker who inspired a wide spectrum of individuals and organisations ranging from the Sangh Parivar, Shiv Sena and Hindu Mahasabha to the Hedgewars, Golwalkars to the Modi, Togadias.
Karnik further adds :
Further (page 392), Savarkar is unrelenting in his criticism of the Marathas for failing to exact revenge, not only on Abdalli and his forces for their atrocities on Hindus, but on those ordinary Muslims who continued to live in Mathura, Gokul, etc. According to Savarkar, the Maratha army should have killed ordinary Muslims (i e, not soldiers), destroyed their mosques and raped Muslim women. The revenge was to be taken, not on the perpetrators of the earlier atrocities, but on those who had nothing to do with the earlier episodes, on those who were ordinary residents of these places and whose only crime was that they shared their religion with the perpetrators of the earlier atrocities.The act of ethnic cleansing has come in lot of criticism in the civilized world of late. The way ultranationalists of Serbia engaged in such campaign in Bosnia has not only been well documented but for such acts against humanity its 'architect' Slobodan Milosevic is facing trial before the world court. The events in Gujarat when the Hindutva fascists enacted one of the worst genocides of the minorities have also received lot of condemnation and even the Supreme Court of the country has categorically stated that it was 'terrorism' who was spearheaded by 'Modern Day Neroes'.
While Savarkar was not long dead when these events occured but it is not difficult to surmise how he would have reacted to such incidents if one compares his approach towards similar incidents in the past.One knows that the advent of Pushyamitra Shung in the early part of the first millenium had lead to ethnic cleansing of Buddhists on a mass scale.It is the same period when Brahminical revival took place and Manusmriti was codified. In his book Savarkar had no qualms in justifying the large scale massacre of Buddhists by Pushyamitra Shung (Veer Savarkar Prakashan, Kurla, Mumbai,1997, 9th edition, Chapter 2, P 51-74).But one of the most reprehensible but also the least known part of Savarkar's life is the way he criticised Shivaji for his chivalry towards the daughter in law of Nawab of Kalyan who was captured and brought before him by his army. He calls this act perverted virtue. ( Bhartiya Itihasatil Saha Soneri Paane, Chapter 4 and 5, P. 147-74). The legend goes that when one of his enthusiastic assistants presented before him the daughter in law of Nawab expecting to get some special favour, Shivaji not only reprimanded him for such act but also punished him and sent back the women to her place with full honour. But Savarkar condemns this act by Shivaji and says that he was wrong as this cultured and human treatment could not evoke in those fanatics the same feelings about Hindu women. It may be shocking to note that thus Savarkar gives a theoretical justification for the innumerable rapes of the 'other' women by the terrorists of the Hindutva brigade ranging from Bhagalpur to Gujarat. In fact like Shivaji, Chimaji Appa another Maratha warrior had also dealt with a similar situation in a similar manner to the wife of the Portugese governor of Bassein. Savarkar is quite unambiguous when he discussed the import of these chivalrous acts and not only condemns Chimaji Appa as well as Shivaji. He sees a problem with the fact that why people in general have been favourably inclined towards these noble acts. According to him :
Even now we proudly refer to the noble acts of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Chimaji Appa, when they honourably sent back the daughter in law of the Muslim governor of Kalyan and the wife of the Portugese governor of Bassein respectively. But is it not strange that when they did so, neither Shivaji nor Chimaji Appa should ever remember the atrocities and the rapes and the molestation perpetrated by Mahmud of Gazni, Muhammad Ghori, Alla-uddin Khilji and others on thousands of Hindu ladies and girls like the princess of Dahir, Kamaladevi, the wife of Karnaraj or Karnawati and her extremely beautiful daughter, Devaladevi...
But because of the then prevalent perverted religious ideas about chivalry to women, which ultimately proved highly detrimental to the Hindu community, neither Shivaji Maharaj nor Chimaji Appa could do such wrongs to the Muslim women.( Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History, P. 461, Delhi, Rajdhani Granthagar, 1971.)
Ofcourse Savarkar does not stop in the medieval period. For him all these incidents have a contemporary import which needs to be properly looked into. And while discussing the Indo-Pak conflict Savarlar remarks :
He said that Pakistan's inhuman and barbarous acts such as kidnapping and raping Indian women would not be stopped unless Pakistan was given tit for tat. Two years earlier Savarkar had expressed his opinion that the liberal policy adopted by Shivaji in case of Muslim women was wrong as this cultured and human treatment could not evoke in those fanatics the same feelings about Hindu women. They should have been given tit for tat, he observed frankly, so that they might have realised that the horrors of these brutalities.
( Dhanjay Keer, Veer Savarkar, Bombay, Popular Prakashan, 1966, p. 539)As already stated the search of the footsoldiers of the Hindutva brigade is finally over with the 'discovery' of Savarkar. Definitely they can have the liberty of having an icon who after playing a heroic role in his youth metamorphosed himself into a fanatic who preferred to become a theoretician and practitioner of hate. But they have no right to impose such an icon on the Indian people as a freedom fighter par excellence. It is pure insult to the memories of the martyrs of India's freedom struggle.
The cohorts of the Hindutva Brigade can derive solace from the fact that this 'Veer' systematically turned virtue itself into perversion a la Shivaji and Chimaji Appa but for all those persons who are committed to gender sensitivity and gender equality it signifies sheer exhortation to rape and nothing else.
It is time the nation takes a fresh look at the 'freedom fighter' imposed on the Indian people. It is time the people of the Indian Union understand the pitfalls in choosing such a 'fall guy' as their new hero.
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