Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday paid tributes to Veer Savarkar on his death anniversary.
The PM called Savarkar a great freedom fighter adding that he dedicated his life to the service of the motherland.
“Tributes to the great freedom fighter Veer Savarkar Ji, the epitome of sacrifice and tenacity, on his death anniversary. His life dedicated to the service of the motherland will always remain a source of inspiration for the countrymen”, said PM in a tweet.
त्याग और तप की प्रतिमूर्ति महान स्वतंत्रता सेनानी वीर सावरकर जी को उनकी पुण्यतिथि पर सादर नमन। मातृभूमि की सेवा में समर्पित उनका जीवन देशवासियों के लिए हमेशा प्रेरणास्रोत बना रहेगा।
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 26, 2022
While tribute to Savarkar was in line with Government’s effort to remember unsung heroes of the freedom struggle, critiques found discomfort in the act of India’s PM praising an individual who allegedly didn’t subscribe to an idea of inclusive nationalism and propagated hatred against felow citizens.
Who was Veer Savarkar?
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar or Veer Savarkar was an Indian Hindu-Brahmin right-wing politician and activist in British India.
Per Indian Express, he was born on 28 May 1883 in a Chitpavan Brahmin family in Maharashtra.
As a leader of the Hindu Mahasabha, Savarkar played an important role in developing its Hindu-nationalist political ideology.
He popularized the term Hindutva to represent all aspects of the Hindu-Brahmin political ideology. He also famously referred to the 1857 sepoy mutiny as the first war of independence.
The British government convicted and sentenced Savarkar to 50-years imprisonment after he organized an armed revolt against the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909.
He was, however, released later after he allegedly apologized and promised to serve the British government with full loyalty.
Soon after his release, Savarkar started working for the Hindu-Brahmin consolidation and became a leader of Hindu Mahasabha.
Anti-Muslim Sentiments of Savarkar
According to the Hindu, Veer Savarkar displayed strong anti-Muslim sentiments since childhood.
It has been reported in various online platforms that at the age of 12, Savarkar and his friends attacked and vandalized their village mosque following a communal riot.
Later as a president of Hindu Mahasabha, he called for the Hindu-Brahmanization and militarization of Hindu society against Muslims.
During the second world war, he offered to support the British war efforts seeking military training for the Hindus.
He advocated the independence of India not only from British rule but also from Muslims and Christians.
He viewed Muslims as traitors and called for the reduction of their numbers in the military, police, and administrative services.
Interestingly, however, he joined hands with the Muslim League to form coalition governments in certain provinces like Sindh, NWFP, and Bengal in the late 1930s.
This was after Congress ministries resigned in protest against Viceroy Lord Linlithgow’s unilateral decision of declaring India to be belligerent in the Second World War without consulting the Indian people.
Savarkar was arrested in February 1948 following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948.
The assassin Nathuram Godse and his accomplices were associated with Hindu Mahasabha and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
He was later acquitted but gave up political activities after his release from jail. He died on 26 February 1966 after undertaking a fast until death.
Views and Ideology of Savarkar
According to the Print, Veer Savarkar was a die-hard Hindu-Brahmin nationalist with strong anti-Muslim sentiments.
Though a self-declared atheist in matters of religion, Savarkar advocated the worship of the motherland.
One can discern the contours of his Hindu nationalist ideology from his pamphlet “Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu?”.
Savarkar saw Muslims and Christians as “misfits” in the Hindu-Brahmin civilization which he generalized as Indian civilization.
He questioned the loyalty of Muslims and Christians to India by arguing that their holiest sites are outside India.
Is India not a Holy Land for Muslims?
According to Muslim scholars, when Savarkar questioned the loyalty of Indian Muslims to India by alleging the location of their holy places outside India, he not only betrayed the spirit of “Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam” but also failed to understand principles of Islamic theology on such matters.
With respect to Islam, it does not designate nations holy or unholy as such as per Islamic scholars, say Islamic scholars.
Holy Quran repeatedly stress that God Almighty is the creator, sustainer and owner of whole Earth and thus whole earth is a Mosque and place of worship for a believer.
Secondly, according to Islamic theology, God’s prophet and messengers are not limited a any particular place or nation.
They have been sent to every community, nation, and civilization on Earth to guide people towards righteousness.
Regarding India, numerous Islamic narrations refer the Indian subcontinent as an abode of Prophet Adam, Noah, and many others, peace be upon them all.
Furthermore, the Indian subcontinent is dotted with the graves and shrines of great Islamic scholars, Sufi Saints and Auliyas revered by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
Quite recently, even our Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented chadar to the shrine of Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer as a mark of respect.
Be they Kirka Sharif and Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan; Shrines of Data Ganj Bakhsh Hajveri, Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi, Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, and Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria in Pakistan; or Hazratbal Shrine and Dargah of Hazrat of Nizamuddin Auliya and Moinuddin Chishti in India, the Indian subcontinent is adorned with the shrines of some of the greatest jewels of Muslims and Islam.
These scholars, philosophers, and saints dedicated their lives to the service of society and poor people.
They choose to die and get buried on this land and not in the middle east and Arabia.
Perhaps, Savarkar should have read and listened to Allama Iqbal’s “Mera Watan wohi hai” Tarana to get an idea of what India means to Indian Muslims.
Indeed, the Haramain Sharifain is located in Mecca but as Majaz Lakhnawi brilliantly puts it “Jo taaq-e-haram mein roshan hai woh shama yahan bhi jalti hai; Iss dasht ke goshey goshey se ik jooy-e-hayat ubalti hai“.
Therefore, rather than questioning Muslims’ loyalty and love for their respective homelands, one must question Savarkar’s loyalty to India and its constitution because he openly challenged and disputed the equality of status of all classes of Indian citizens.
When it came to nation-states, Savarkar regarded India as supreme and natural leader of all other countries politically as well as spiritually.
This view may go against established international law principles of sovereign equality of all nations implicit in Article 1-2 of UN Charter.
Savarkar’s views are not surprising given the Brahmanical ideology tend to view all things from the angle of superiority and inferiority, claim Ambedkarite Scholars.
For them, Brahmins are supreme amongst humans, cow amongst animals, Ganga amongst rivers, Himalaya amongst mountains, and India amongst nations.
As noted constitutional law scholar Rajeev Bhargava puts it, Brahmanism is a “sociopolitical ideology that encodes a memory of an ideal past and a vision of society in the future, one in which Brahmins occupy the highest place not only as exclusive guardians of a higher, spiritual realm but also as sole providers of wisdom on virtually every practical issue of this world...more importantly, their superior position in society and their superior knowledge stems from birth. No one becomes a Brahmin but is born so“.
Perhaps, Savarkar subscribed to the same ideology albeit in the disguise of extreme ethnocultural nationalism if we go by subaltern opinons.
Defender of Caste System
A careful analysis of Savarkar’s writings also reveal that he was a defender of the caste system using various apologetic arguments.
“All that the caste system has done is to regulate its noble blood on lines believed-and on the whole rightly believed-by our saintly and patriotic law-givers and kings to contribute most to fertilize and enrich all that was barren and poor, without famishing and debasing all that was flourishing and nobly endowed”, said Savarkar in his 1923 treatise, ‘Essentials Of Hindutva’.
Nevertheless, all human beings have some positive and negative traits. Perhaps, Savarkar deserves respect and praise in the eyes of some because he participated in India’s freedom struggle.