EDITORIAL

 Savarkar Affair: The Message Is Clear

WITH fascist brazenness, the Vajpayee government has gone ahead and unveiled a portrait of V D Savarkar in the Central Hall of the Parliament.  While the entire opposition boycotted this ceremony in protest, the drumbeaters of the BJP in the NDA acquiesced shamelessly.  Apart from the very weighty and sound reasons as to why a Savarkar portrait should not adorn the Central Hall of the Parliament, the singular message that the RSS-BJP seeks to convey cannot be missed.

By placing this portrait right opposite that of Mahatma Gandhi, the RSS/BJP is seeking to redefine the paradigm of Indian nationalism.   While Gandhi stood for Indian nationalism devoid of any religious denomination, Savarkar aggressively propagated Hindu nationalism.  The attempt to equate Hindu nationalism alone with Indian nationalism is the backbone of the ideological project that seeks to metamorphose the secular democratic Indian Republic into a fascistic "Hindu  Rashtra".

That such an event could be possible only 55 years after India's independence is a telling point.  Once controlling the reins of State power, the RSS/BJP spare no efforts to systematically demolish the foundations and structures of secular democracy in order to facilitate the fascistic transformation of India. 

Savarkar, it must be recollected, was the first person who propounded the two-nation theory. This was two years before Mohd. Ali Jinnah and Muslim League advanced this notion which eventually led to the partition of the country and the consequent bloodshed, miseries and insecurity that continue to plague us till today. 

Savarkar had also coined the slogan of Hindutva way back in 1923.  In doing so, he clearly states that Hindutva cannot be seen as being synonymous with Hindu religion.  Clearly, this was a political slogan aimed at misutilising  the religious sentiments of the people for capturing political power.  Even some well-meaning people today are engaged in a facile debate on seeking to define the right type of Hindutva:  Vivekananda's Hindutva or the RSS's Hindutva.   There are no two or many Hindutvas.  A political slogan can neither be open to interpretation nor subjected to different expressions.  There is only one propounded by Savarkar which has little to do with Hindu religion itself. 

The enormous damage that this political ideological formulation of Hindutva is doing to our country's body politic is there for all to see. 

Worse is the fact that Savarkar shamelessly sought mercy from the British and on this basis was released from the Andamans.  Elsewhere in this issue, the relevant portions of his letter to the British are reproduced.  This was a time when hundreds of Indian patriots were languishing  in the cellular jail in the Andamans refusing to seek pardon or mercy from the British colonialists. 

The contrast with Bhagat Singh cannot but bring out the character of Savarkar more sharply.  Bhagat Singh's father had written to the British seeking mercy for his son.  Bhagat Singh promptly admonished his father and told the British that no Indian patriot can ever seek mercy from those very forces against whom he was struggling for India's freedom.

It is a portrait of such a person which now adorns the  Central Hall of the Parliament!

Reports now indicate that the Vajpayee government had earlier approached the then President K R Narayanan with a suggestion that Savarkar be awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously.  The fact that this proposal has not been implemented till date suggests the role that the President of India can play in such matters. 

In contrast, despite the urging by the entire opposition, President Kalam went by the government's bidding. It will, indeed, be unfortunate, if not tragic, that the apprehensions made by the Left during the course of the presidential elections proved to be true.