In a shocking development the student wing of the RSS put the busts of martyrs Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose with the Savarkar's on one pedestal at the University of Delhi late in the night on August 20, 2019. This clubbing of busts of Bhagat Singh and Netaji with VD Savarkar is tantamount to 2nd killing of the 2 great martyrs who laid down their lives for the freedom of the country. Bhagat Singh sacrificed his life for a socialist-democratic-secular Republic and Netaji raised Azad Hind Fauj (INA) consisting of people of all religions and regions for the armed liberation of India. The contemporary documents are witness to the fact that while Bhagat Singh and Netaji fought against the repressive British rule and the two-nation theory, as Savarkar brazenly sided with the British rulers and the Muslim League in order to defeat the all-inclusive freedom struggle.
'Veer' Savarkar Submitted FIVE Mercy Petitions & Got Remission of 35+ years
The most shameful and shocking part of this combination of busts is that whereas Bhagat Singh and Netaji never subjected to the diktats of the colonial masters, never repented and never sought mercy this Hindutva 'Veer' submitted in all five mercy petitions in 1911 (within few months of his incarceration at the Cellular Jail), 1913, 1914, 1918 and 1920.[i]
The texts of his two detailed mercy petitions are available. The one dated November 14, 1913 ended with the following words which make clear the level of his surrender.
"I am ready to serve the Government in any capacity they like, for as my conversion is conscientious so I hope my future conduct would be. By keeping me in jail nothing can be got in comparison to what would be otherwise. The Mighty alone can afford to be merciful and therefore where else can the prodigal son return but to the parental doors of the Government? Hoping your Honour will kindly take into notion these points."[ii]
The other mercy petition dated March 30, 1920 was also the narrative of a total surrender to the British masters. He reminded the rulers that it was his loyalty to the British masters that
"I offered myself as a volunteer in 1914 to Government when the war broke out and a German-Turko-Afghan invasion of India became imminent. Whether you believe it or not, I am sincere in expressing my earnest intention of treading the constitutional path and trying my humble best to render the hands of the British dominion a bond of love and respect and of mutual help…if the Government wants a further security from me then I and my brother are perfectly willing to give a pledge of not participating in politics for a definite and reasonable period that the Government would indicate… This or any pledge, e.g., of remaining in a particular province or reporting our movements to the police for a definite period after our release - any such reasonable conditions meant genuinely to ensure the safety of the State would be gladly accepted by me and my brother."[iii]
He ended the mercy petition by lamenting his "my early" life and while begging his release which would be "a new birth and would touch my heart" assured the rulers that he would be "personally attached and politically useful in future. For often magnanimity wins even where fails might. Hoping that the Chief Commissioner, remembering the personal regard I ever had shown to him throughout his term and how often I had to face keen disappointment throughout that time, will not grudge me this last favour of allowing this most harmless vent to my despair and will be pleased to forward this petition - may I hope with his own recommendations?-To His Excellency the Viceroy of India.
This 'Veer' though sentenced for 50 years (in 1910-1911), was in the Cellular Jail for less than 10 years and was finally released in 1924 from Yerwada Jail in Maharashtra. Thus he was able to secure remission of more than 35 years. There were hundreds of other revolutionaries who in the Cellular Jail and other jails remained incarcerated for full terms of their convictions. There were, of course, martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Chandershekhar Azad, Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Sukhdev, Rajguru and Roshan Singh who neither begged for mercy nor were shown any leniency. There was also large number of Ghadarite revolutionaries and Bengal revolutionaries who refused "to plead with the British authorities for mercy. Nor did they agree to give up their struggle for India's liberty in exchange of their own personal liberty."[iv]
How Savarkar Backstabbed Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose
When Netaji during World War II was trying to secure foreign support for liberation of the country and trying to organise a military attack on the northeast of the country which finally culminated in the formation of ‘Azad Hind Fauj’ (Indian National Army), it was Savarkar who offered full military cooperation to the British masters. While addressing 23rd session of Hindu Mahasabha at Bhagalpur in 1941, he said:
"The war which has now reached our shores directly constitutes at once a danger and an opportunity which both render it imperative that the militarization movement musts be intensified and every branch of the Hindu Mahasabha in every town and village must actively engage itself in rousing the Hindu people to join the army, navy, the aerial forces and the different war-craft manufactories."[v]
It was Savarkar's direct call for Hindus to join the British armed forces. To what extent Savarkar was willing to help the British would be clear by the following words of his:
"So far as India’s defence is concerned, Hindudom must ally unhesitatingly, in a spirit of responsive co-operation with the war effort of the Indian government in so far as it is consistent with the Hindu interests…Again it must be noted that Japan’s entry into the war has exposed us directly and immediately to the attack by Britain’s enemies. Consequently, whether we like it or not, we shall have to defend our own hearth and home against the ravages of the war and this can only be done by intensifying the government’s war effort to defend India. Hindu Mahasabhaits must, therefore, rouse Hindus especially in the provinces of Bengal and Assam as effectively as possible to enter the military forces of all arms without losing a single minute."[vi]
Savarkar’s total support to the British war efforts when leaders like Subhash Chandra Bose were trying to chalk out a strategy to throw out the British rule from India through armed struggle was the result of a well-thought-out Hindutva design. It was in Madura (22nd session of the Hindu Mahasabha, 1940) that he made his choice clear. His support to the British rested on the logic that “it is altogether improbable that in this war England will be defeated so disastrously as to get compelled to hand over her Indian Empire, lock, stock and barrel into German hands”[vii] thus believing in the invincibility of the British Empire.
It was not as if Savarkar was unaware of the strong resentment which was brewing in the ranks of common Indians against such an approach. He brushed aside any criticism of Hindu Mahasabha’s decision of co-operating with the British in war efforts as,
"political folly into which the Indian public is accustomed to indulge in thinking that because Indian interests are opposed to the British interests in general, any step in which we join hands with the British government must necessarily be an act of surrender, anti-national, of playing into the British hands and that co-operation with the British government in any case and under all circumstances is unpatriotic and condemnable."[viii]
Savarkar spent the next few years in organizing recruitment camps for the British armed forces which were to slaughter the cadres of INA in different parts of North-East later. The Madura conference of Hindu Mahasabha concluded with the adoption of an ‘immediate programme’ which stressed “to secure entry for as many Hindus recruits as possible into army, navy and the air forces”.[ix] He also informed them that through the efforts of Hindu Mahasabha alone, one lakh Hindu’s were recruited in the British armed forces in one year. It is to be noted that during this period RSS continued inviting Savarkar to address the RSS youth gatherings for motivating the latter to recruit into the British armed forces.
Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar’s leadership organised high-level Boards in different regions of the country to help the Hindus seeking recruitment in the British armed forces. We come to know through the following words of Savarkar that these Boards were in direct contact with the British government. Savarkar informed the cadres,
"To deal with the difficulties and the grievances which the Hindu recruits to the Army find from time to time, a Central Northern Hindu Militarization Board has been formed by the Hindu Mahasabha at Delhi with Mr. Ganpat Rai, B.A., L.L.B Advocate, 51, Panchkuin Road, New Delhi, as convener. A Central Southern Hindu Militarization Board is also formed under the Chairmanship or Mr. L.B. Bhopatkar, M.A., LL.B., President Maharashtra Provincial Hindusabha, Sadashiv Peth Poona. All complaints or applications for information etc. should be addressed by those Hindus who want to enter the forces or have already enlisted themselves in them, to the above addresses. Sir Jwala Prasad Shrivastav; Barrister Jamnadasji Mehta, Bombay; Mr.
V.V. Kalikar, M.L.C., Nagpur and other members on the National Defence Council or the Advisory War Committee will certainly try their best to get these difficulties removed so far as possible when they are forwarded by these Militarization Boards on to them."[x]
This clearly shows that the British Government had accommodated leaders of the Hindu Mahasabha on its official war committees. Those who declare Savarkar as a great patriot and freedom fighter must bow their heads in shame when they read the following instruction from Savarkar to those Hindus who were to join the British forces:
"One point however must be noted in this connection as emphatically as possible in our own interest that those Hindus who join the Indian [read the British] Forces should be perfectly amenable and obedient to the military discipline and order which may prevail there provided always that the latter do not deliberately aim to humiliate Hindu Honour."[xi]
The British Government was in regular touch with Savarkar so far as the organisation of its highest war bodies was concerned. It included individuals whose names were proposed by Savarkar. This is made clear from the following thanksgiving telegram Savarkar sent to the British government. Bhide’s volume tells us that,
"The following Telegram was sent by Barrister V.D. Savarker [sic], the President of the Hindu Mahasabha to (1) General Wavell, the Commander in-Chief; and (2) the Viceroy of India on the 18th instant (July 18, 1941).
YOUR EXCELLENCY’S ANNOUNCEMENT DEFENCE COMMITTEE WITH ITS PERSONNEL IS WELCOME. HINDUMAHASABHA VIEWS WITH SPECIAL SATISFACTION APPOINTMENT OF MESSERS KALIKAR AND JAMNADAS MEHTA."[xii] [As per the original text.]
It is important to note here that even the Muslim League, sub-serving the interests of the British rulers, refused to join Defence Committees established by the government as done by Savarkar.
Savarkar Believed In Two-Nation Theory & Formed Coalition Governments with the Muslim League
Savarkar openly opposed the dream of Bhagat Singh and Netaji of a free democratic-secular India. On the contrary he demanded an exclusive Hindu nation and chalked out his Two-nation theory long before the Muslim League. While addressing the 19th Session of Hindu Mahasabha at Ahmedabad in 1937, he said:
"As it is, 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 well-meaning 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... Let us bravely face unpleasant facts as they are. India cannot be assumed today to be a Unitarian and homogenous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the main: the Hindus and the Moslems, in India."[xiii]
The fact should not be missed that Muslim League passed its Pakistan resolution in 1940 only. Savarkar, the great philosopher and guide of RSS, not only propagated Two-Nation Theory long before but entered into alliances with Muslim League in order to break ‘Quit India Movement’. While delivering Presidential address to the 24th session of Hindu Mahasabha at Cawnpore (Kanpur) in 1942, he defended hobnobbing with the Muslim League in the following words,
"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 socialable as soon as they came in contact with the Hindu Mahasabha and the Coalition Government, under the premiership of Mr. Fazlul Huq and the able lead of our esteemed Mahasabha leader Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerji, functioned successfully for a year or so to the benefit of both the communities. Moreover further events also proved demonstratively that the Hindu Mahasabhaits endeavoured to capture the centres of political power only in the public interests and not for the leaves and fishes of the office."[xiv]
It is to be noted that in this coalition government Syama Prasad Mukherjee, second in command of the Hindu Mahasabha was Deputy Premier. Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League formed a coalition government in NWFP also.
Syama Prasad Mukherjee ratified Article 370 and concurred with the decision to refer Kashmir issue to UNO
Another lie which RSS/BJP rulers brazenly spread is that this Hindutva icon opposed Nehru on Article 370 and referring Kashmir dispute to UNO. They claim that Mukherjee laid down his life for revocation of this Article at Srinagar, Kashmir on June 23, 1953. RSS/BJP has been mourning Mukherjee's day of death every year as 'End Article 370 Day‘and 'Save Kashmir Day'. Let's compare these claims with the contemporary documents relating to Mukherjee.
Mukherjee as member of the Constituent Assembly of India signed Indian Constitution with Article 370 as its integral part following its ratification by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949.
So far as, the issue of sending Kashmir dispute to UNO is concerned both Sardar Patel and Mukherjee were parties to it. Mukherjee when he was minister of Nehru's first Cabinet admitted that he was part of the decision making. Addressing Lok Sabha on August 7, 1952 he said: "It has been said that I was a party when the decision was taken to refer the Kashmir issue to UNO…That is an obvious fact".[xv]
With these irrefutable facts from history, even available in the Hindutva organizations' archives, the appearance of Savarkar bust with the great martyrs only means second killing of the latter. It may be a reason for some relief that the Hindutva zealots at DU, and their masters had to remove these combined busts, in face of strong resistance from the University community and those who are committed to defend the great anti-communal and anti-colonial heritage of Bhagat Singh and Netaji. But Hindutva gang of conspirators, masters in falsifying history will not relent. It is time that patriotic Indians must demand removal of Savarkar's photo from the premise of the Indian Parliament and Maharashtra Assembly.
Shamsul Islam
August 21, 2019
Link for some of S. Islam's writings in English, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati and video interviews/debates:
Facebook: shamsul
Twitter: @shamsforjustice
http://shamsforpeace.blogspot.com/
Email: notoinjustice@gmail.com
[i] For texts of Savarkar's mercy petitions see the following link:
https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/05/mercy-petitions-of-hindutva-guru-veer-brave-savarkar/
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[ii] Cited in R. C. Majumdar, Penal Settlement in Andamans,
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Government of India, Delhi, 1975, pp. 211-213.
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[iii] National Archives Delhi. This mercy petition was reproduced in full in Frontline, Chennai, 12-25 March 2005,
[iv] Manini Chatterjee, 'The Kala Pani story' The Indian Express, September 21, 2004.
[v]Cited in Savarkar, V. D., Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya: Hindu Rashtra Darshan, vol. 6, Maharashtra Prantik Hindusabha, Poona, 1963, pp. 460-61.
[vi]Ibid., p. 460.
[vii]Ibid., p. 419.
[viii]Ibid., p. 428.
[ix]Ibid., p. 439.
[x]Ibid., p. xxvii.
[xi]Ibid., p. xxviii.
[xii]Ibid, p. 451.
[xiii] Samagar Savarkar Wangmaya (Collected Works of Savarkar), Hindu Mahasabha, Poona, 1963, p.296
[xiv] Ibid, pp. 479-480, Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League also ran a coalition government in North-Western Frontier Province.
[xv] Lok Sabha Debates, August 7, 1952, Cols. 5885-5899 cited in Eminent Parliamentarians Series: Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee, Lok Sabha Secretariat, Delhi, 1990, p. 109.
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