Rahul
Gandhi, the defeated prince of Amethi, once again criticised the achievements
of the most revered Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Referring to a
letter written by Savarkar to the British government, Rahul blabbered on during
his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. Unfortunately, in Maharashtra, the father-son duo –
Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray – who claim to be the heirs of Shiv Sena supremo
Balasaheb Thackeray, welcomed and greeted Rahul with a warm hug.
I absolutely do not intend to pen down anything about Rahul Gandhi’s profound
knowledge and political acumen. But I take this as an opportunity to introduce
Swatantryaveer Savarkar’s contribution to India’s freedom struggle to Gen
Next.Savarkar’s contribution to our freedom struggle is unparalleled; he had to
pay a huge price for this contribution. It is unfortunate that his contribution
was not given due consideration when the history of our freedom struggle was
being written.
After
being sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment, Savarkar was transported to the
infamous Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands where prisoners sent
from India were subjected to endless
torture. Savarkar, who penned the epic poem Kamala on the walls of
the jail cell in Andaman while serving the ‘black water’ sentence, was indeed a
man of prodigious talent.
It is
difficult for Rahulbaba and his followers to understand Savarkar, who wrote
verses like Oh Motherland, sacrifice for you is like life! Living
without you is death! Interestingly, Rahul’s grandmother and former
prime minister Indira Gandhi donated Rs 11,000 for the construction of a
memorial to Savarkar.
His
postal stamp was also released by the Indira Gandhi-led government, which even
produced a documentary on this freedom fighter. At Cellular Jail, Savarkar made
use of his solitary confinement to write. With no reading and writing material,
he used the prison as his medium; the walls turned into pages, stones and
thorns became pens and he composed the epic poem Kamala.Savarkar
penned a few other books called 1857 ka Swatantraya Samar (The
Real Story of the Great Uprising) and Saha Soneri Paane, which
aptly narrates the history of the country’s independence struggle. Plays
like Majhi Janmathep, Sanyastha Khadg and Ushyap and
an aarti written in praise of Chhatrapati Shivaji, titled Jaidev
Jaidev Shivraya, verses like Sagara praan talamalala are
literary assets that bear witness to the Savarkar’s exemplary talent.
Of
course, for Rahul Gandhi, who is used to reading out speeches and listening to
prompters, it will be difficult to apprehend and grasp the importance of the
extraordinary works of Savarkar. After returning to Ratnagiri from Andaman,
Savarkar took up the unique task of improving the society; he had made tireless
efforts to eliminate caste discrimination in Hinduism.
The
freedom fighter, who had gone abroad and acquired a barrister’s degree, had
strongly advocated armed revolution. He had strongly opposed the divisive
stance of the Congress and its overall politics of appeasing minorities.
To date,
no Congress leader has ever experienced the plight Savarkar was subjected to.
After the ‘Quit India Movement’ in 1942, former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru
was indeed kept in the Ahmednagar jail. But Nehru was cared for and pampered by
the jail authorities, as narrated by Maulana Azad in his autobiography.
But this
is not my point of contention at this juncture. What bothers me is the repeated
spasms of hatred for Savarkar by Rahul Gandhi and the likes of him,
including some journalists. And if the Congress leader wants to show that he is
coming down bitterly against the ideology of Hindutva through such statements,
his political wisdom better be with him.
To bag
political mileage, Rahul and his followers must have been advised to make such
bold and abusive statements against the RSS and Swatantryaveer Savarkar. And
Rahul must have also made an understanding that political strategies must be
planned on the advice received from such advisers.
Of
course, political intelligence and ingenuity need to be so strong for the brain
to work independently, right? Sonia and Rahul have sailed through owing to the
merit of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. But now the mother-son duo is ruining the
Congress.
After
the Emergency, there was a huge wave against Indira Gandhi and the Congress
across India. Even in that kind of a hostile scenario, the Congress managed to
bag 157 seats. In that election, the Congress had got 34.5 per cent votes.
Whereas
in 2014, the Congress barely managed to win 44 seats in the Lok Sabha. The
Congress could not even get the desired number of seats to get the leader of
the opposition position in Lok Sabha. This shows the political achievements of
the mother-son duo.
Indira
Gandhi had never felt the need to make such controversial statements to survive
politics. Some intellectuals might be of the opinion that in order to prove that
the Congress is secular, it must speak against Swatantryaveer Savarkar and
against the RSS.
It
should be recalled that an intellectual, Mani Shankar Aiyar, made similar
arguments against Swatantryaveer Savarkar almost 17 to 18 years ago. At that
time, Balasaheb Thackeray had personally taken to the streets for ‘Jode Mara’
agitation by hitting the former’s effigy with a footwear for insulting Veer
Savarkar.
Unfortunately, those who proclaim to be the heirs of Balasaheb, are now welcoming and hugging Rahul Gandhi. Uddhav and his son have once again proved that they do not deserve to be the political heirs of Balasaheb. If Savarkar’s contribution to the freedom struggle cannot be glorified, at least his name must not be dragged for petty political gains. And it is not at all surprising that Rahul had any sense before doing what he did, else he would not have. He claims to have launched ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ but failed to give any ideologies and vision to people to make him emerge as a true leader.
It is unfortunate for the Congress that Rahul needs and is glad with the kind of publicity he is getting by indulging in such stunts during his yatra.
(Article Pre-Published in News18.com – 24 NOV. 2022)
Keshav Upadhye, Chief Spokesperson
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