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The story of Savarkar is the history of resistance, strife, struggle, sufferings and sacrifices for the cause of political, social and economic emai^cipation of this Bharat Varsha. His is a political career extended over fifty long years. How many of his great contemporaries could see pioneers from Ranade to philosophers like M. N. Roy, could strive for inde- pendence of India and yet have the good fortune to see the sun of freedom rise over India ? An active political leader who either saw, talked or discussed politics with thinkers from Ranade to Roy, leaders from Surendranath to Subhas, from liberator Tilak to fighter Achyutrao Patwardhan ! No other life on the political stage of India is marked by so many vicissitudes, punctuated with raging storms and lightning and tantalized with gaping gallows ! This is a political life chequered with romantic threads of sufferings and is fringed with sacrifices. Woven with recollections of the sea and the steamer, it is interspersed with hell-like prison life and is lined with historic arrests, trials and releases. Even one single incident from the matchless drama of Savarkar’s life is long, charming and thrilling enough to provide the span for a play of immortal fame.
All his life Savarkcir has been bruised, bleeding, burning and bursting. The sea is never tired of rivers. So is Savarkar never tired of sufferings and services. Perhaps no other free- dom movement produced such an indefatigable fighter with such an undying love for his country ! Who would be pre- pared to undergo such unimaginable sufferings, untold sacri- fices and face formidable dangers for the mere love of his country ? But it was this very characteristic of the forgetful fit of the destiny of this man that though all the while storms kept raging around him, be it rainy season or spring, yet the sun in Savarkar always broke forth.
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Savarkar is an historical personality embodying the duty and beauty of a man of mission and action. Ifis majestic forehead at once reminds you of the forehead of Napoleon who was also a victim of the British imperialistic wrath. One look at the crown of his head and you would at once find a crown in the middle of his head bequeathed by nature herself. His face possesses the effulgent beauty of gold, his frame strength of steel, and his head is a store of the hymns of revolution. His small luring and penetrating eyes hollowed in the high cheek-bones have the depth of the sea, lightning of the sky, sweep of the storm and effluence of the volcano. His eyes peep and probe into the lessons of the past and they unfailingly warn the Hindus every time against the tragedies of the present and the impending catastrophes of the future. The eyes shine like a lighthouse indicating the unfailing direc- tion to the ship of the nation for its movements in order to avert the horrors of the approaching wreck. The square jaws have witnessed his suppressed thoughts, his burning mission, unfulfilled aims, unflagging industry, frustrated plans, stormy life and unexampled sacrifice. His short, proportionate hand- some figure looks like an image carved out of the bones, blood and brains of the great Hindu thinkers and martyrs from Hindu History. His head bald and glistening, his chest broad and invincible, his waist lion-like, his neck short, his hands small and commanding with an excellent rosy colour and his height five feet four inches, all this a marvellous creation of God and Earth. The artificial beauty of an actress or the exaggerated handsomeness of Kashmiri politicians would pale before his natural handsomeness.
And gifted with such a personality and blessed with a life full of extraordinary achievements and undying episodes, he moved among men as a mighty mesmeric man. Savarkar was the first Indian student who was rusticated from the hostel of an institution aided by the British Government and the first Indian political leader, who publicly performed a bonfire of foreign clothes. He was again the first political leader of India to daringly proclaim absolute political independence of Hindusthan as her goal at a time when the mere word Raj or Swaraj spelled ruin for the speaker. Savarkar was the first Barrister, who was refused the degree on account of his
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political line of thought by the British Government and was the first graduate to lose the degree of an Indian University for his love for independence. Savarkar was again the first Indian leader to invest the problem of Indian Independence with international importance. He was the first Indian author, who earned a distinction in the domain of world literature as his work was proscribed by the Governments of two coun- tries even before it was printed or published. Savarkar was also the first rebel leader of India who refused to recognize the authority of the British Court of Law. Savarkar was the first political prisoner m the history of the world the issue of whose arrest was fought out at the International Court at the Hague. Savarkar is the first political prisoner in the poli- tical history of the world, who was sentenced to half a cen- tury’s transportation. Savarkar was the first poet in the world, who, deprived of pen and paper, composed and wrote his poems on the prison walls with thorns and jjebbles, learnt by heart with Vedic tenacity more than ten thousand lines of his poetry for years till they reached his country through the mouth of others, and showed how since the dawn of humanity the great Ary as kept the sacred Vedus circu- lating from one generation to another by word of mouth. Indeed, the legend of the memory of Macaulay, who could repeat all Demosthenes by heart, all Milton and practically the whole of the Bible, would find a formidable rival in Savarkar.
Have you heard this typical Mahratta leader at a mass meeting ? Dressed in immaculate white, with a black round cap on his massive head, a black umbrella in his right hand and a fresh newspaper in his left, the deep well-known long whiskers on his lustrous serene face and eyes encircled in a golden frame, Savarkar’s personality is at once outstanding in any vast multitude. What a vast difference in Savarkar, the lonely giant in his solitary room and Savarkar, the leader and ruler of the masses ! The orator and prophet gets the upper hand and Savarkar is always a hero to his valets !
Orators feed themselves on history. In it they seek inspi- ration. They draw their own conclusions from history. History develops their visions, heroes feed them on heroism and their incomplete dreams fan their emotions. Demosthenes,
394 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
Pitt, Burke, Daniel Webster, Hitler, and Churchill belonged to this type. Savarkar, too, belongs to the line of this immortal race of orators.
Savarkar enters a mass meeting. He comes to the platfoi ni walking the gait of a hero, his way opening before him in an anxious sea of masses. He bows to the masses. The masses move with waves of emotions as if the moon were in the sky. He rises to deliver his message. He never comes with a set speech. He usually speaks on the spur of the moment, lie is like quick-silver. One listens to him in pin-drop silence or misses the train of his arguments. His voice is a gre^at asset and has a peculiar ring. His eyes glitter and glow when he becomes animated.
Savarkar mercilessly overthrows the fallacies in the foggy logic of his opponents. His opponents are bewildered at the torrent of his eloquence. At every sentence you feel an oppo- nent reeling. The flag goes to Attock, to Assam, to Cape Comorin. His speech tears the mask of shams and confronts you with naked realities. His speech has the whirl of a storm. His humour is merciless. He throws logic and reasoning at you through emotion. The audience thrills. It claps. It moves. His eyes flash fire. His face glows with the mission that burns bright in him. The masses mark the stout heart, watch the steel frame, iron will, majestic forehead and the boundless sincerity of a personality that heralded an era into the history of Indian political struggle and social revolution.
Savarkar’s remarkable political speeches and masterpieces were delivered before the Peshwas’ Shanivarwada, Poona, on the Ghats of Cawnpore or in Delhi. They struck his critics dumb, and cleared doubts and dusty thoughts. It is characteris- tic of Savarkarian speeches that they sound as though the Muse of oratory danced, played and wept with the feelings, joys and sorrows of Savarkar ! His masterpieces begin with such earnest and gripping sentences in a deep sonorous voice and end with such a dramatic touching rise and fall in his voice and moving tone that old men shed tears, youths are filled with unbearable pathos and women piteously sigh. His magni- ficent oratory, clear-cut thoughts and inspiring messages have often sealed and unsealed historic decisions. He defeated and left a wreck of Gandhiji’s draft resolution advising the
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withdrawal of the Hyderabad struggle before the Sholapur Conference of the Arya Samaj in 1939. His concluding speech at the Nagpur Session of the Hindu Mahasabha deli- vered with a heart-force and a burning mission inspired the inter-provincialists and new-comers. Leaders like Dr. Mookerjee were magnetized during the course of one of such speeches at Calcutta. Not only leaders, lawyers and literary figures listen to him spell-bound, but foreigners also are en- chanted with the magic w; ,d of his oratory. While Savarkar was on his way to Shilloi’j , an Englishman travelling in the same train, heard the deafening greetings of the people to Savarkar at every station. At one station the Englishman requested Savarkar through his secretary to make a short speech ; for he had heard in England, he said, that Savarkar was one of the greatest orators. He heard Savarkar speak before a crowd at the next station, introduced himself to Savarkar and wishing him all success went away. Fortunate were those who heard him speak on the ‘War of Independence of 1857 ’ after his release in 1937. Those who heard his Presi- dential Addre.ss at the Marathi Literary Conference in Bombay were lucky. Those who attended the Non-Party Conference in Bombay and Poona need no introduction to understand why Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru came to Savarkar’s chair at the time of the Bombay Non-Party Conference, thanked Savarkar from the bottom of his heart and said ; “It is you who saved the Conference.” Of Savarkar the Amrit Bazar Patrika, Calcutta, said that Savarkar was a man of Mission. The Sunday Standard, Bombay, described him as an orator of the first order. It added : “ Few others in the
whole of India can thrill and sway his listeners as this simple- looking Hindu leader can. He is an orator of the first degree ; and it is a pleasure to hear him speak, his eyes flashing, his lips quivering, his weak body trembling with emotion.” India has enjoyed the scintillating speeches of Srinivas Sastri, the sweet flow of Jayakar, the roarings of the tireless Satyamurthi, the powerful appeal of Maulana Azad, the high-flown emotio- nal speeches of Devi Sarojini Naidu, the seriousness of the visionary in Pandit Nehru and the chattering train of Rajaji, but India witnessed the culmination and perfection of oratory in Savarkar, rightly called the Indian Demosthenes.
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n
If you want to study the history of the Indian Revolution, the history of the social revolution in Maharashtra, and the history of the literary movement launched to purge the Indian languages of foreign influence and words, and keep our Lingua Franca undefiled, you must study Savarkar. Maharashtra has not produced a more volcanic brain than Savarkar, a leader whose outlook is absolutely rational and up-to-date. According to him, rational outlook must obtain control over the political, social and military life of India, if India is to survive the struggle for existence. Savarkar welcomes the machine age, believes in mechanized agriculture and modernised industry. He wants India to prepare and equip herself physically, mentally, technically, mechanically and militarily, not with the object of enslaving other nations, but for liberating the enslaved peoples of the world from all kinds of shackles, superstitions and imperialism. During the last two decades no leader has waged more ruthlessly an unrelenting war against the barriers of caste system in schools and in public places, in intercaste dinners and in social intercourse, and has as much suffered, toiled and faced dangers and dispraise and even curses as Savarkar in the annihilation of untouchability. That is why they call him a fusion of the great Mahratta leaders of modem times who heralded a new epoch in the history of India. The spirit of Nanasahib, who fought the War of Indian Independence of 1857, the sweep of Wasudeo Balwant Phadke who first raised an armed revolt in Maha- rashtra for the establi-shment of an Indian Republic, the mental force of Chiplunkar, the reformative zeal of Agarkar, the sacrifice and struggle of Tilak, the service of Gokhale and untiring work of Kelkar, all these find an echo in the alchemy of Savarkar. Who made Shivaji what he was ? Who moulded Tilak ? Paranjpe or no Paranjpe, Tilak or no Tilak, Savarkar would have been Savarkar !
Savarkar is a Hindu among the Hindus, but of the Chitor type. He is proud of his heritage and grateful to it. He finds his guiding star in Lord Krishna, the glory of Hindusthan. He sees in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj the fount of inspiration. He regards Rana Pratap as the fire of patriotism, Guru Govind
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Singh the sire of martyrdom, and Sadashiv Bhau the righteous sword of Hindusthan. To defend, to enliven and to raise the Hindu Nation is to him a national, patriotic, righteous, just, human and a sublime cause.
Savarkar does not hate you because you are an Englishman or a Mohammedan or a Jew ! He has paid glowing tributes to the skill and might of the Britishers. Savarkar was the only leader in India, who envisaged a State for the floating race of the Jews ever since 1908, and in 1923, he wrote in his famous work Hindutim that ‘ if the Zionists’ dreams were realised, if Palestine became a Jewish State, it would gladden us almost as much as our Jewish friends.’ * Since his release in 1937, he had been a staunch supporter of the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and in 1947, no Indian leader was as happy as Savarkar except possibly Master Tara Singh to see the emergence of a Jewish Slate in Palestine. It was curious that Jinnah, who fought for the partition of India, paradoxically opposed the partition of Palestine, and Gandhiji and Nehru, who favoured the Arabs with an undivided Palestine accelerat- ed and accepted the vivisection of India ! As for the Parsees and Christians, Savarkar had no grudge against them. He not only appreciated their co-operation and patriotic outlook, but also cherished hopes of building with them an Indian State in which the religion, culture and language of the minorities would be preserved. He never cherished to impose dis- advantages upon the non-Hindus. That is why he met and discussed in a frank, free and accommodating spirit with the leaders of the Parsees, the Jews and the Cliristians who wanted to remain in India as loyal citizens enjoying equal rights with the Hindus. But as he rightly suspected the separatist tenden- cies and extra-territorial ambition of the Muslims, he was not prepared to give them an inch more than they democratically deserved and for this outspokenness he was called a communa- list by those who were pro-Muslim. Events have proved now the correctness of Savarkar’s stand and the futility and falsity of the appeasing policy of the pro-Muslim patriots who claimed the appellation nationalists for themselves. Some of the pro-Muslim Hindu leaders and journals drum that the medieval days of the Peshwas are gone. But they forget that
1 Savarkar, Hirtdutva, p. 112.
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had Savarkar lived during the Peshwa rule, he -would have conquered back the land of Gandhar and it is equally true that he would have bravely faced the Todarmals, Birbals and Mansinghs.
It is, however, a fact that Savarkar is an echo of the unjustly suppressed, exploited and disturbed soul of the Hindus. His soul has become one, and is synchronized with the sorrows and joys of Hindudom, the Hindu world. Whenever some- thing harms or jeopardizes the interests, property, honour and lives of the Hindus, he gets restless. So perennial is his love for the Hindus, so eternal is his hope of their great future and the role of the Hindus in the building of the peace and prosperity of the world, that he is infuriated whenever he hears that the Hindus are suppressed and their just rights denied ; and when that feeling is on him, he shows signs of a violent dislike for those who trample upon the Hindu rights, oppress them and make aggressions on them.
Savarkar has been waging war since his early youth. His war is against those who trample upon the just and fimda- mental rights of the Hindus in their Homeland. His war is against those who deface and disgrace humanity in this land. His was the war of a Nation against all intruders, disruptive men and bogus World Federalists whose practice was divorced from their professions and whose actions led to the break-up of the solidarity and the integrity of Hindusthan. And there- fore Savarkar is a terror to tyrants, foe to injustice, an antidote to anti-nationalists and an unforgiving critic of the pro-Muslim politicians in India. To him a disruptive patriot or a Pakistani Hindu is synonymous with a pretender or a traitor respec- tively and literally. Savarkar is opposed to Pakistans as heat is to cold. His political philosophy is as different from Gandhism as chalk from charcoal. He wants a place for the Hindus on the map of the world as Bharat Bhoomi or Hindusthan and so he says that Hindusthan belongs to the Hindus. What is -wrong in it ? Can the Hindus rightfully say that Britain, Germany or Turkastan belongs to them ?
Savarkar is an electric powerhouse. You cannot touch it. His conversational gift is nothing less than dictatorial, but tinged with utmost rationalism. To begin -with, he will patiently listen to you with some pertinent queries and then
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would do 1 .ost of the talking. Looking to the force of his arguments, logic and reasoning, some say he is vain and egoistic. But the fact is that by temperament he is assertive, unyielding and dictatorial due to a feeling of superiority complex, a belief in the rightness and justice of his cause and due to his strong convictions and mellowed thoughts. And strong personalities cire alw^ays so. Bernard Shaw once silenced his critics who charged him with vanity and egoism. He told his cj’itics that had any of them gone through the trials and hardships which he himselt had undergone, he would have been hundred limes tnore vciin and egoistic than Shaw himself. One-tenth of Savarkar’s trials, tribulations and talents, and the critics would have been ten times more egoistic and vain than Savarkar.
Savarkar’s logic is curt, his humour caustic and his whipping electric. He is a stern mouth-stopper. During his premier- ship Mr. Fazlul Huq boasted that the Muslims were tigers and lions and they would harass the Hindus. Savarkar hit him back : “ The history of creation proves that it is men who
have reclaimed the earth and lions and tigers had to retii*e to the obscuritj^ of the forest. We Hindus are men. One man with a whip in his hand controls scores of lions and tigers in a circus and these beasts obey wonderfully well.’’ The same Muslim leader said that Malabar was a part of Arabia. Savarkar pulled him up by replying tliat if it was so, then Arabia must be annexed to India ! To the Pakistanis and their supporters who said that because in some provinces the Muslims were in a majority, they wanted Pakistan, Savarkar replied with equal ruthlessness that because in Hindustban the Hindus were in a majority, Hindusihan belonged to the Hindus. Dr. Rajendra Prasad said during the Biharsharif riot days that he advised the Hindus as his own people. Savarkar asked Dr. Rajendra Prasad as to w^hen he had deserted his Indian Nationalism and condescended to call only the Hindus his own people. One wordy Socialist once asked Savarkar whether he had read Lenin. The upstart was silenced by Savarkar with one stroke : “ Had Lenin read Savarkar ? ” Not that he has neglected literature on Communism. The author has seen some books on the subject in Savarkar ’s small personal library read, underlined and with remarks made in
400 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
the margin by Savarkar at the proper places, especially on books by Lenin and Trotsky. Savarkar has read many book.s on the subject before his release and of late he often directs his men to buy the latest books on Socialism. But what he hates most is blind babbling of foreign phraseology and blind worship -which totally disregard the conditions, traditions and the history of our country.
Savarkar is a unique combination of a dreamer and a doer, a prophet and a warrior, a realist and a revolutionary all in one man. In him you will find a Washington who unsheathed liis sword for freedom ; a Thomas Paine who wielded an inspiring pen, and a Mazzini who ushered in a revolutionary epoch and started the war of Independence. Soaringly imaginative yet severely logical, erudite yet perspicuous, Savarkar is not merely a great writer, but a very great one. Describing Savarkar’s place in the domain of literature, Gandhiji’s Mahratta biographer, Sri D. N. Shikhare wrote :
“ It is admitted on all hands, including his political opponents, that Mr. Savarkar is a rare genius. He is a pen of fire. He wields pen and pistol alike. Patriotism and Poetry run through the veins of his literature. England may be proud of her statesmen writers like Morley and MacDonald and Russia may well boast of Tolstoy and Gorky ; but India surpasses all these countries in having Mr. Savarkar who is a writer, a statesman and a warrior. His pen would have shaken the world from its bottom but for the narrow scope of the Marathi language, through which mother tongue he masterly expresses himself.^ In India Savarkar as an author is a class by him- self, for Savarkar has -written in blood lines with his blood and the bones of martyrs. It is the characteristic of all immortal authors that they cannot write in artificial pruned lines with their stomach at ease, for there is no halfway house for positive personalities. Savarkar’s -writings raise a storm of emotions and shake your intellect. His pen arouses fierce hatred and fierce loyalties. You feel a storm has passed over you or some power has dashed against you. All his -writings, both jyoetry and prose, preach resistance to tyranny, inspire you with courage and direct your energies towards the libera- tion of mankind from all bondages. Savarkar is a great poet,
1 D. N. Shikhare, The Mahratta, dated 27-5-1938.
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a poet of g!’eat, grand and epic poetry. His poetry is logic on fire, as all great poetry is, and satisfies your intellect as well as emotions. His epic genius gave the people high ideals, his great pen infused an irresistible spirit of independence into the people, his supreme courage and unparalleled sacrifice aroused their patriotic feeUngs, his words made them feel the spirit of nationality and realize the solidarity of the nation. Savarkar has educated the illiterate, motivated the educated and activized the learned.
Savarkar is a great social reformer. Neither talkative nor fashionable reformers can « neasure Savarkar’s worth and work in purging the society pitilessly and fearlessly of its ills, ignorance and superstitions. Many were a bell-ringer to social revolution, a few worked actually in the field, but few had the unfailing courage and the genius of a practical social reformer. A social reformer requires a certain amoimt of courage, con- viction and a stout but elastic heart to achieve his goal. And Savarkar’s courage and heart have well shaken the world. His strong conviction, dauntless courage, endless faith, endur- ing capacity for work, unremitting industry, untiring energy, invincible determination and a volcanic pen belong to the type of men like Luther, Knox, Mazzini, Rousseau, Voltaire and Carlyle, who represent the moral force of the world and stamp their mind upon their age.
But the outstanding characteristic of Savarkar is that he is a great iconoclast, one of the greatest idol-breakers Asia has ever seen or produced. A strong will, a volcanic pen, a power- ful hammer, a fiery heart, a scathing contempt for hypocrisy, Savarkar is a born iconoclast, who despises and scorns hypocrisy in religion, society, and politics. He does not strutt off as an agent of God descended down to herald a new era, nor does he pretend to possess an inner voice. His is the voice of reason and science. Therefore he ruthlessly routed and pitilessly hammered out all kinds of superstitions, bond- ages, sanctimonious hypocrisy in society, in religion and in politics. From bigoted Sanatanists to bogus saints, dead or alive, none escaped the strokes of his hammer ! He possesses all the attributes, tests and elements of greatness. According to Dr. Ambedkar a Great Man is he who acts as the scourge and scavenger of society. Savarkar is a really Great Man,
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who is motivated by the dynainics of a social purpose anu has acted as the scourge and scavenger of Society.
Savarkar is a hero at many points. The hero as poet in Savarkar is extolled to the skies in Maharashtra ; the hero as a man of letters, he is claimed to be an immortal author by litterateurs ; the hero as patriot in Savarkar is deified all over India ; but the hero as prophet in Savarkar is not yet appreciated by many outside his party. The business of a prophet is to see and teach. A prophe t possesses three main qualities. They are insight, courage and sincerity. As to courage and sincerity, Savarkars name is now a legend. Savarkar has proved the unfaiiingiiess of his insight on several occasions. Savarkar predicted as early as 1925 that the separa- tion of Sind from Bombay Province for appeasing the Muslim mind would be a disastrous precedent, would destroy the Sind Hindus and would pique the appetite of the anti-national Muslims. In 1938 he declared to the surprise of the whole nation that the Congress led by Gandhiji would betray the nation and would destroy the unity of India by conceding Pakistan. In 1940 he warned the Assam Hindus that if they did not check the Muslim influx into Assam, Assam would meet the fate of Sind and Bengal. Congressmen then laughed at him. However, in 1947 they owned his prophecy, for Assam was almost tagged to Pakistan, but was fortunately saved through the vigilance of the leaders who at last realized the danger after the frantic and hoarse cry of Savarkar. The warning sounded about the fate of Kashmir in 1938 went unheard and the Kashmir Hindus paid for it and ultimately Hindus all over Hindusthan had to pay crores of rupees and pour their blood for defending Kashmir from the onslaughts of the Pakistanis. Did not the Nizam, too, suffer the fate as predicted by Savarkar ?
When World War II broke out and Russia joined it, Savarkar at once remarked that the crafty Britain had saved her throat, and now she would swallow the whole of Africa. At the time of the battle of Stalingrad, Savarkar said that if Japan failed to attack Russia from the Eastern side, both Germany and Japan would lose the war and Japan would have to pay for her folly in the long run. What actually did happen is too well known to be recounted.
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Men of prophetic vision never try to please the masses. They aim at guiding them. They always look to the larger interests of the people, not only of their own generation, but of future generations as well. So they are many a time not as popular as they should be. They never pander to popularity, nor do they sacrifice their conscience for success. The masses do not understand the prophetic visions of these men because what these prophets see is beyond their horizon.
Ill
The shades of prison life have dominated the citizen Savarkar, and have much affected the politician Savarkar too. Those shades and shadows often times obscure his social inter- course with his partymen and public men. Moody and erratic, he could not create a certain warmth that is needed in a party chief towards his colleagues, partymen and followers. For the consolidation and success of a political party, the wings of the soft heart of the party chief mu.st reach at least the con- necting hooks in the link. The chief must be cordial enough to enquire about the difficulties of his lieutenants and ajTange to help them so as to enable them to devote their best to the cause and service of the people. Excepting the rare names of Ranade, Tilak and Gandhiji, no other party chief could bring himself to this much-needed accommodating frame of mind. Tilak ran to distant places even for settling the marriage of a daughter of his disciple, or could advise a farmer in the matter of his legal problems even from the Mandalay Prison. Gandhiji could tear out his heart, what of purse, to soothe the grief and troubles of his peirty leaders. But the case of Savarkar, the political leader, is quite different. He could not respond to the enthusiasm or warmth of other leaders, who sought his interviews or valuable guidance, or those who even passed valuable information on to him secretly. The fate of interviewers and foreign visitors was no better. The glamour of the furniture of Mr. Jinnah, the warmth and hospitality of the special guest-house of Tilak for political leaders and eminent guests, the living interest and paternal inquiries of Gandhiji into the personal affairs of his lieutenants, and Pandit Nehru’s abiding hospitality to foreigners, or friendly invitations
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for dinners to eminent men, admirers, or party leaders, or a casual invitation to his inter-provincial visitors or an appreciative call to the pressmen, all these could not impress Savarkar, the political leader. Cynically disinterested, he did not feel any inward urge for it. His ideas and beliefs of patriotic duties and national obligations were purely and supremely patriotic and selfless. His motto was duty irres- pective of any consideration of fruit. And this was the noble motto of all those early selfless revolutionaries. Savarkar expected every Indian to do his duty by his Motherland who pined for freedom. This highly disinterested and selfless mental make-up came in the way of the modern set-up of propaganda, which depends upon much give and take. This has materially affected the destiny of the party and his leader- ship.
But in spite of such restricted sense of warmth in the social intercourse and sympathy with his party men, lieutenants and followers due to the legacy of his long prison life and shattered health, Savarkar is the only political leader in India for whom and at whose command hundreds of youths would lay down their lives. This is due to Savarkar’s unrivalled genius, selfless patriotism, unparalleled sacrifice and dynamic, mighty and mesmeric personality.
So, introvert and restless, Savarkar breathes flames of un- dying faith in spite of an unsympathetic and unsound consti- tution that has withstood unimaginable horrors, terrors and tortures of the Andamans. “ A long exile in the Andamans wrecked his health early in life, and it is amazing how he has regathered his strength and carried on so long in public life,” remarked the National Herald while commenting on the retirement of Savarkar in 1943. So much unsound is his constitution that sleep is always forced on him by the use of bromide. Writing about the introvert and restless Savarkar, a writer in the Hindusthan Times, Delhi, described Savarkar as an ascetic and inward looking man who in his youth almost set the Thames on fire, and observed : “ Savarkar is strange. He may not glitter. His attitude may not please you. He is mesmeric with a capacity to infuse in an observer a sense of cold aloofness.” A little cynicism may be, therefore, excused in such a highly constrained constitution. For almost thirteen
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years he was companionless and was forced to eat with cruel punctuality, at the same place and the same quality and kind of food prepared with the matchless prison skill and medical care. This has made him what he is today. His iso- lation is mostly due to circumstances and partly due to his temperament. He lives alone. That giants must live apart and kings have no company is true, Hterally true of Savarkar.
Savarkar, the promoter of science and advocate of modernism, lives a very simple life. Wonderstruck at the homely and rough simplicity of his little house known as Savarkar Sadan, once Sri Srinivas Sastri asked : “ Savarkar, is this the house you live in ? ” “ Yes,” replied Savarkar.
“ Why, is this not more comfortable than the cell in the Andamans ? ” And Sastri was struck with a strange emotion. After much consideration and many visits of world-famous men to his house, there were slight additions which he would call considerable to the equipment and establishment of his house by way of a little furniture. It is a plain middle-class life of contentment, which yearns not for what it does not have.
Savarkar has no friends. Almost all his brilliant colleagues of early days have perished in foreign lands ; others here are now dead and gone. His present colleagues and co-workers cannot understand exactly what he is. Even older politicians like Dr. Moonje talked with Savarkar with due care and awe and none tried to be familiar with him. As to the relations, there are few who venture to be on visiting terms with the family and none lives with him. It is generally the case with all revolutionary leaders that they live almost estranged and segregated from their friends and families as the circumstances and nature of their work demand. In normal course none would be willing to cast in one’s lot with a revolutionary and that too a leader, and incur the displeasure of the authorities. And Savarkar is such a name ! Terrific, towering, volcanic, panoramic, mesmeric and historic ! What of living and stay- ing with the person, the fire, those who have played with the name have quailed and have been haunted throughout their lives and it has sat upon their chest like nightmare ! Because of ever-attending dangers Savarkar stays alone with his small family consisting of his wife and only son and sometimes his
406 SAVAHKAR AlTD HIS TIMES
TCVartVed daughter on a visit to her father. His brother, Dr N. D Savarkar, resided with his family in the same locality, Savarkar is blessed with a wife of a great Aryan type repre- sentative of the traditional loyalty and endless devotion that stood the long period of 18 years Ml of trials and sufferings. Sober, deep, silent and enduring, she is a prudent housewife and a noble soul. The household affairs are smooth and regu- lar. There is no question of choosing food or eatables. Simple food and fruits, bare necessities and no waste is the rule of the kitchen. The kitchen is not bothered about the likes and dislikes. No complaints, no worries whether some vegetables have less salt or more of spices. Often bhajis and curds and at times icecream and shrikhand are welcome. That a man should not be addicted to anything, but should be accustomed to many things is the rule. During a railway journey he may take eggs-curry and seldom mutton, but no smoking, wine never, not a drop in any form. Savarkar does not like a hot meal ; almost cold eatables he relishes which you may call a legacy of the Andamans.
When Savarkar is in a happy mood, he may indistinctly hum to himself a line or two from his poetry. In a happy mood and when alone, he may stretch his legs a little, may give a gentle push to his cap if it is on, and may hum a tune. Chocolates and Jintan are relished by him. Snuff is his companion ; scent his abiding luxury. His one hobby is gardening and the poet is seen in communion with plants and flowers. Regular light physical exercise in the evening is a habit. He has no love for music. For art he has respect.
Grief, pain, worries and anger he would not give expression
) to. Neither would joy giggle over his face. Those who sur- round him must observe precision in details, for his cross- examinations are testing and inseparable and to some extent worrying, even the slightest deviation being immediately detected. None can hide facts from the penetrating and searching eyes. It is true that he is not easy of access. You have to fix up an appointment beforehand. Strict adherence to this rule has saved him much harassment, but also has estranged many. Travellers, business magnates, eminent leaders and even princes had to go back because they did not fix up the interviews beforehand. If you come to Bombay on
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some work of yours and come to Savarkar Sadan in your huriy to leave Bombay when Savarkar has no time, is it the fault of Savarkar that you leave his house disappointed ? Under such a troubled situation, a great liberal luminary once remarked that it was easy to see the King Emperor or the Viceroy but not Savarkar.
Savarkar’s handwriting is small, slanting and spreads over every corner by and by. As with time so with paper. He uses it sparingly. No letter would be ready for being posted unless the important lines therein are underhned. You may love to see him reading a newspap>er. He holds the news- paper in the left hand and, lifting his spectacles a little with his right thumb, he goes on reading and commenting briefly.
Savarkar gets up at about seven in the morning. His break- fast consists of eggs and tea. Then he peruses newspapers, attends to his correspondence, and interviews his visitors between 9 a.m. and 11-30 a.m. About noon he takes liis bath and then meal in the kitchen almost all by himself. In between the meal and the bath he would often sit like a Yogin for an hour or so as if in a trance which he calls concentration of mind. At such a time his food may become cold, his wife waiting silently in the kitchen. Owing to pressure of work, of late he found no time to practise what he calls concentration of mind. At noon he has siesta. In the evening comes the reading of important letters to be replied, detailed reading of newspapers and select books. After tea and a talk with familiar guests, if any, he goes downstairs for a stroll in his garden with some gardener’s tools accompanied by the watch- man who assists him. Then follows the daily regular physical exercise. After supper he devotes generally an hour or so to important office work and retires with some regular dose of medicine.
One point more and quite interesting. As is typical of revolutionary leaders, Savarkar talks very slowly about his personal and home matters. To him secrets are treasures. He is too great a veteran revolutionary leader. None could screw out from him what Dr. Schatt, the German Finance Wizard, told him on the eve of the outbreak of World War II, nor the source he received the letters of Has Behari Bose from Japan 26
408 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
during the coiu-se of World War II, nor the full details of his
meeting with Subhas Bose.
IV
Savarkar is majestic in his misery and serene in his sorrows. He clings to the state of his things with the pride of a Pope. Where politics and policy are concerned, money means little or nothing, his ideal everything. Savarkar will not march with anybody and everybody, be he a kingly Kuber or a moneyed Mahatma. Men of mission never rotate around others like satellites. They are creators of dynasties and makers of kings and kingdoms. They never sacrifice their conscience for wordly success ; nor do they care for a passing phase of life, of fame and of happiness. So is Savarkar. What position Savarkar could not have achieved which eminent Liberals, moderate politicians and opportunist leaders could achieve ? Is there any talent superior to Savarkar in the first Cabinet of Free India in intellect, in sacrifice, in mental and oratorical powers, in patriotic service, in intellectual honesty and political strategy ? Where his lieutenant leader, Dr. Mookerjee, could ascend with his blessing, he could have easily walked into such positions. But Savarkar did not compromise his conscience for the success of personal gains and cheap popularity. He sacrificed all the great honour that could have easily fawned at his feet, or else “ our dream of an Indian Republic with Vinayak Damodar Savarkar as its first President ” ^ would have been realized today.
But life for a cause, for a faith and not for power, Savarkar loves most. That life may be surrounded by a storm, or a volcano or the gallows. For, to refuse to betray one’s con- science to the last, in spite of a general defeat and humiliation and stand for a fight against the world, bearing a cheerful face and the cross of sacrifice as freely as the sunflower gives its bosom to the rays of the sun, is the creed of Savarkar. Savarkar is a patriot, who fights losing battles and has the spirit of martyrs who face defeats and death amidst the shouts of enemies. Naturally, to Savarkar the greatest sacrifice a man can make in his life is that of cheap fame. Times without
- Niranjan Pal, The Mahratta, dated 27-5-1938.
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number he told his co-workers, his lieutenants and followers in the Mahasabha that those who had people’s welfare at heart should never pander to popularity. Kant also said the same thing. He said : “ Seek not the favour of the multitude, for it is seldom got by honest and lawful means.” And although Savarkar pitilessly hammered the so-called gods, godmen and superstitions out oi the temples of society, religion and politics, his popularity is tremendous, extraordinary and abiding. Countless heads have bowed down before Savarkar, lakhs of believing multiti; Jes have fallen at his feet with devo- tion in spite ol his resisting unwillingness on rational grounds. Male and female octogenarians have regarded him as an incarnation of God, the Patitpavan, and a few even breathed their last in tranquillity after having a look at his picture which they believed to be divine. In the emulation of their devotion to Savarkar many brilliant youths like Sri Maokar of Nagpur risked their lives. Many have thrown out pictures of false gods and so-called godmen after a visit to Savarkar. His old colleagues and veteran public men have wriggled in their death-beds awaiting his impossible Darshan — glimpse — and some died with his name on their faltering tongue and waver- ing lips instead of the call of Ramnam ! Several revolutiona- ries, many patriots and some poets have borne the dust from his residence on their foreheads with devotion. To thousands he is nothing less than a God. To lakhs he is an art of eloquence. To millions he is a poem of patriotism, a picture of sacrifice and to poets he is an acted epic !
Such a fiery, positive and forceful personality is bound to be brutally frank in his criticism of historic and contemporary personalities. Of Tilak he ever speaks with reverence. He has defensive love for Kelkar, reverence for Ranade, high respect for Gokhale, Nana Shankarshet, Dadabhoy Naoroji, Surendranath Banerjee, B. C. Pal, Srinivas Sastri, M. R. Jayakar and Vijayaraghavachariar. For Lajpat Rai, Hardayal, Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, Ras Behari Bose, Bhai Parma- nanda, and Moonje he has a deep love. He has a soft corner for M. N. Roy and Subhas Bose. He describes Vivekananda as a world genius, Dayananda as a Yogi, a seer and a spiritual teacher who worked like a giant for the uplift of mankind, and describes Dr. Ambedkar’s towering personality, erudition and
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capacity to lead as an asset to the nation. He styled Rama- nanda Chatterjee as a great patriot, who defended the legitimate rights of the Hindus and whose humanitarianism and nationalism, he said, were of the purest ray serene. When Rajaji propagated the ideal of Pakistan, Savarkar described him as a subtle mad MuUa though he had once described Rajaji as the best Premier. He calls Azad crafty ; Pandit Nehru sincere but flamboyeint. He wishes well of Sardar Patel as to him the Sardar is the only man in the Congress ‘ who has steered the ship of our newly born Bharatiya State clear of many a rock and shoal.’
Savarkar is Sir C. V. Raman’s bright Diamond. Millions hail him as Swatantryaveer — the hero of Independence. To Rajaji Savarkar is a symbol of courage, bravery, fearlessness and intense patriotism and a pioneer who strove and struggled for inflaming the aspirations of the Indian people.’ Gandhiji paid tributes to Savarkar’s patriotism and fearlessness and said that sacrifice was the common bond between them.’-’ Jayakar said that to honour Savarkar was to honour patriotism and sacrifice. M. N. Roy described him as his inspirer and a fear- less man and appreciated his sacrifice and intellectual honesty. Sri Srinivas Sastri hailed Savarkar as ‘ a great and fearless patriot and added that volumes could be written about Veer Savarkar’s yeomen services in the cause of Indian freedom.’ Mr. K. F. Nariman described Savarkar as a colourful, picturesque and romantic personality. Bhai Parmananda said of him that Savarkar was the fusion of Burke and Mazzini. To Mr. S. R. Pather, Bar-at-law, South Africa, and one-tune colleague of Savarkar, India owes her present advanced posi- tion to Savarkar’s early struggle in the cause of freedom. To historian Dr. Pattabhi, Savarkar is one of the noble characters that devoted their life to this noble and patriotic task (emanci- pation of Motherland) and who worked according to their lights and according to the lights of the times for the emanci- pation of India. To Guy A. Aldred, editor the Word, Glasgow, he is a prophet, and deserves a place in the line of prophets !
1 Kajaji, Message to the Lokamanya, dated 26-6-1937.
2 D. N. Shikhare, the Chitraviaya Jagat, November 1944.
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V
But what about the aims and ideal for which Savarkar stood and fought ? Is his life a success ? It is for the cool, calculating and balanced history to assess man’s work with a cold impartiality and grade it great or otherwise. Feelings, passion;; and prejudices often affect contemporary judgment.
Reviewing this eventful life, one finds two notes of action, which had filled the skies at the time of Savarkar’s birth and boyhood, have echoed tin ough the life story of Savarkar. The revolting force of Wasudeo Balw^ant, the spiritual and social renaissance set in by Dayananda on the one hand, and the wave of Hindu-Muslim riots and the consequential bifurcation in the political ideal of the Hindus and Muslims on the other. The revolutionary urge and the Hindu-Muslim problem clung to Savarkar’s life throughout. Savarkar took a vow while in his teens that he would fight out the British power and make his country free, independent and great. His political ideal was : “ India must be independent. India must be united.
India must be republican. India must have one common tongue. India must have one common script. That script is Nagari ; that Language is Hindi ; that republic is that national form of Government in which the sovereign power — whether it be exercised by a monarch or by a President matters not much — must rest ultimately and uncompromisingly in the hands of the Indian people.” This was the ideal for which the Abhinava Bharat stood. This was the ideal for which the Hindu Mahasabha stands. There is scarcely any other historic figure under the sun that has gone through such epic ordeals as Savarkar has done for fulfilling his vow.
The idea of bifurcation conceived by the historic Muslim mind and started on its foot by Sir Syed Ahmed was enthusiastically supported by the Muslims, was accepted by the Congress leaders and ended in the vivisection of India. As Savarkar saw independence in sight, he grew restless about the unity and integrity of India, the concept and ideal of which to men like Savarkar was noble, sublime and divine. But during the period of Savarkar’s long incarceration and internment, the Gandhian lead betrayed a woeful lack of self- confidence in the conduct of the national struggle, ultimately
412 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
discredited the power, prestige and patriotism of the Hindus, the national majority, undermined their confidence and mortgaged the destiny of the country to the anti-nat ional forces. Savarkar’s insight perceived this danger and he fore- warned the people and applied all his energies to averting the colossal disaster which was ushered in by the Gandhian lead. But with herculean efforts he could not avert the vivi- section of the Motherland. The Hindu Mahasabha lacked full-time workers. The party had no ^ dailies ’ to back up their propaganda and leaders. There were few weeklies ixt District places, but they also suffered foi’ want of active support. The culpable boycott of the so-called nationalist but in fact commercialized press and the Press Agencies on Savarkar’s statements and speeches was no less responsible for this fate. The news agencies that could give full and roaring publicity to Jinnah’s anti-national outbursts, state- ments and speeches, suppressed wickedly the views, speeches and statements of Savarkar and whenever they broadcast them, they dropped out most pertinent criticism of the Britishers and the Congress party and his constructive and valuable advice to his countrymen. And when these fabricated extracts came down to the commercialized papers, they did the rest to Savarkar’s statements and speeches. The ignorant and superstitious masses were not knowing what was happening. In fact, those capitalists and moneyed men who had contribut- ed heavily to the Congress press and propaganda for years, were not now prepared to lose all investment by incurring the displeasure of the ruling party in the country. In such a state of affairs, Savarkar’s warnings went unheard and he lost his battle for Akhand Hindusthan. That way his fate is no better than the fate of Burke and Demosthenes, the two great pathetic figures in the political history of the world. In his brilliant essay on Edmund Burke, John Churton Collins observed : “ Both (Burke and Demosthenes) animated by
the purest motives, patriots to the innermost fibre, with no thought, with no aim, but for the public good, wore out their lives in leading forlorn hopes and in fighting losing battles. Both were prophets with a curse of Cassandra upon them, to be found wiser after the event, to be believed when all was lost.” Add the third name of Savarkar to the line of these
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great orators and read the lines again. Telling his readers that Demosthenes saw Athens at the feet of Macedonian despot, and Burke saw England dismembered of America, Mr. Collins goes on to say : “Of the superhuman efforts made by the great Athenian to retrieve the disasters in which the neglect of his warnings had involved his countrymen, there was not one which was not thwarted either by a cruel fortune or by the perfidy and levity of those whom he was striving in their own despite to save.” ^ Savarkar strove his utmost to avert the greatest betrayal in human history and the colossal disaster, but was thwarted by the perfidy, levity and betrayal of his contemporaries. Nevertheless, his failure was more glorious than the ignoble success of his political opponents.
As for the Independence that came, it did not come as a result of the Congress struggle alone which was fought out by the Socialists in 1942. It is ludicrous to say that the battle was fought in 1942 and the victory came in 1947. The final victory was won when politics was carried into the Indian Army, when patriotism took fire in the ranks of the Indian armed forces, when militarized Indians thus inspired with a great ideal rose in revolt under the lead of Ras Behari Bose and Netaji Subhas Bose. The British Imperialists, consider- ably weakened by World War II, realized that it was impossible to keep India in bondage any more for they had no faithful army. The army, that was entrusted with the work, had turned their guns towards their heads. The Prime Minister of Britain, Mr. Attlee, stated before the House of Commons on March 15, 1946, on the occasion of making a declaration of the proposed transfer of power to India, that the national idea had spread right through, not the least perhaps among some of the soldiers who had done such wonderful service in the war. Mr. Fenner Brockway, the Political Secretary of the Independent Labour Party of England, gave three reasons for the transfer of power by Britain to India. He said that the Indian people were deter- mined to achieve Independence ; secondly, there was the revolt of the Royal Indian Navy and that the Indian forces could not be relied upon for serving Britain’s purposes, and
I Twentieth Century Essays And Addresses^ edited by W. A. J. Archbold, p. 175.
414 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
thirdly, Britain did not want to estrange India which was a great market and a source of foodstuffs for Britain. Though Brockway did not mention directly the I.N.A., it was dear that the revolt in the armed forces had bent them to the inevitable. Then who had truly worked towards that end, the carrying of the fire of patriotism into the ranks of the Indian army ever since 1908 ? And who made heroic attempts despite the curses of the Congressmen and Congre.ss journals to preach militarization and impress upon patriotic youths the importance of entering the Army, Navy and Air Forces ? It was Savarkar and Savarkar alone. At last the destined leader, Netaji Subhas Bose, seized the opportunity, and reaped the fruit of the pioneer efforts of Ras Behari Bose and the militarization policy of Savarkar. History will record this. Viewed in this light Savarkar has achieved his goal. The heroic war inaugurated by the heroes of 1857 for winning back the independence was fought out to a successful end by the sacrifice of thousands of revolutionaries of Ram Singh Kuka, Wasudeo Balwant, the Abhinava Bharat, the Anusilan Samiti, and other organizations in Bengal and the Ghadr ; the heroic sufferers and patriots in the Congress, the valiant fighters of the Party of Bhagat Singh and the pioneer services of the Liberals.
And what about other principles for which Savarkar stood ? The national script of India is now the Devanagari, the Lingua Franca is now Hindi. Savarkar has been struggling hard since 1908 for investing Hindi and the Nagari script with national honour. That dream has been ultimately realized. He worked for it in the Andcimans, he struggled for spreading the movement all over the country from Ratnagiri and after his release in 1937 the movement gathered force and at last the Hindu Sanghatanist forces purged the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan of Gandhian influence and won a resounding victory. But the finishing stroke was given by Savarkar to the cult of Hindustani during the annual session of the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan held in Bombay in December 1947. Addressing the Session, Savarkar warned the leaders of the Sammelan against the threats of Gandhiji and Nehru and asked the delegates and the one hundred and fifty one members of the Consti- tuent Assembly who had signed their pledge to support
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Sanskritized Hindi and the Nagari Script to achieve their object in spite of those threats. He added that the interests of the nation must be their sole concern and above the threats, fasts and fads of Gandhiji and Nehru.
The Indian Republic has also come into being on January 26, 1950. The sovereignty is now in the hands of the people.
But this is not the end of Savarkar’s mission. For making tliis free India an up-to-date and powei’ful nation, along with the defence problem, the labour problem must be attended to and solved satisfactorily. With the growing industrialization and the growing agricultural needs, the labour problem and the agrarian problem are coming to a head and they have begun to affect the destiny of political parties and leaders in India. As the labour problem affected Mazzini’s leadership in a way in his old age, Savarkar the leader of the Hindu Mahasabha is not less affected by it.
For the solution of the labour problem, Savarkar has his own nationalistic approach. To him both Manu and Marx are not infalliable and omniscient. According to him the Marxian approach is one of the many remedies suggested for the removal of human ills as those of Darwin and Freud, who also diagnosed the ills of humanity in their own way. Being a rationalist, Savarkar is not a believer in the orthodox church of Marx. But a lover, promoter and upholder as he is of the machine age, he understands that social equality and social justice are the culmination of the machine age. In his scheme of things the labour problem was upto the day of Independence a limb of the nation that was to be set free. With the freedom and progress of the nation, he believed that the fate of labourers must improve. That is why he gave more importance to the Pakistan problem that also involved economically and politically the destiny of India and her problem of peace and safety. National freedom and national security are the prerequisites for practising any scheme concerning land, labour and industries. But then the modern youth, the laboxirers and workers did not amply understand why Savarkar’s party was not the least moved whenever there were unrest, agitation and strikes in the labour area. There was a fair chance for the party to practise the principle of national co-ordination of class interests and fight for the workers. In fact, the much advertised socialist in Nehru is doing the same thing. But because Savarkar had thrown all his might and main for averting the national disaster, he had no time to pay attention to the labour and agrarian problems.
India is now coming over to the ideal of Savarkar. If India is to survive, she must accept Savarkarism. She must approach all social and political problems with Savarkar ’s realistic, scientific, and nationalistic angles. She must mechanize her agriculture, must gradually liquidate all landlordism, nation- alize all key industries and industrialize on a broader scale. She must Hinduise all key-posts and militarize the Hindus. Not conflagration of class interests, but interests of the nation should be her motto.
The ideal of Savarkar desires that India must follow her bent. India must represent the culture of the national majority, the Hindus. Not the prestige and greatness of one individual, but the prosperity and security of the common man must be her goal. It has been said of Bismark that he made Germany great, but the Germans too small. Savarkarism says that this should not be allowed to happen in India. Some say that India will be a China. That cannot happen to India, if she learns as early as possible that neither a family rule, nor a group rule, nor one parly rule leads to the prosperity and security of the nation, but the joint responsibility and real democracy lead to its prosperity and security. But India would be a Poland, if the present leadership hugs the wrong belief that Indian history began with its rise and cuts itself from the spirit, history and names of Vikramaditya, Shali- vahan, Shivaji, Guru Govind Singh, Dayananda, Vivekananda and Tilak. They are India’s representative guides, gurus, inspirers, and saviours, who teach India how to survive with honour and self-respect in this world. And after having made sure of security and survival, India can look forward to Buddha and Mahaveer.
And if India is true to these saviours, India would realize Savarkar’s another prophecy made ten years ago. He said :
“ If you wish, O Hindus, to prosper as a great and glorious Hindu Nation under the sun, and you will have a claim on it, that State must be established under the Hindu Flag. This dream would be realized during this or coming generation. If
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it is not realized, I may be styled as a day-dreamer, but if it comes true, I would stand forth as its prophet.
I am bequeathing this legacy to you.”
If in the history of modern India there is any great leader who neither pursued fame nor followed fortune, nor individual greatness, discarding national interests, national integrity and national honour, that great leader is Veer Savarkar and as such he would carry influence with posterity. As he was not a party to the vivisection of India, which is a heritage of sorrow and disgrace to posterity and the fu^eatest betrayal ever known in human history, Savarkar would be a beacon- light of hope, guidance, inspiration and courage.