Savarkar — a reassessment
SAVARKAR AND HINDUTVA — The Godse Connection: A. G. Noorani; Leftword Books, 12, Rajendra Prasad Street, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 125.
Every age anoints its heroes and heroines of history. The Indian Government has, amidst much controversy and popular opposition, officially resurrected the figure of Damodar Vinayak Savarkar, the ideologue of Hindu extremism, from historical disgrace and oblivion.Historical scholarship and popular disdain had relegated Savarkar, the seventh accused in the Mahatma Gandhi murder conspiracy case who escaped conviction on a technicality, to the dust heap of history, in the company of such reviled figures as Gandhiji's assassin, Nathuram Godse. Today Savarkar's portrait finds a place in Parliament, amongst those of a constellation of freedom fighters and nationalists, including Mahatma Gandhi, whose ideals Savarkar bitterly and openly opposed, and in whose assassination it is still believed he was involved.
Indeed, no amount of official whitewashing has been able to entirely remove the stain of this charge on Savarkar. Nevertheless, as new establishment icons are created, the historical record on them is often obliterated. In a much-needed exercise at this juncture, the well-known constitutional expert and political commentator, A.J. Noorani, has diligently marshalled the historical evidence, old and new, on Savarkar's life and role. What emerges is a damning indictment of Savarkar and the practical import of his ideology and personal code of conduct during the period of the freedom struggle. By any fair measure of historical evaluation there can be no defence made for him or his ideological legacy.
Noorani's book is a scholarly but also a polemical response to the current deification of Savarkar. What is it that justifies the title of `Veer' (brave) that has been given to him, Noorani asks. "Lofty nationalism? A noble vision? Unremitting sacrifice? Courage? Intellectual gifts of a high order? Nobility of character? Not one phase of his chequered career reflects any of these." Noorani's conclusion is fully borne out by his meticulous research on Savarkar which shows him up as a die-hard Hindu fanatic who believed in violent methods of struggle, but who used others for his purposes. When apprehended by the state he would cringingly beg forgiveness from the British.
The first myth about Savarkar which has been assiduously built by the Sangh Parivar, most notably so by Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, is that of Savarkar's brave conduct during his incarceration in the Andaman Circular Jail for nationalistic activities. With new evidence, Noorani explodes that myth. Savarkar was brought to Port Blair on July 4, 1911. Before the year was out, he was pleading with the British in abject terms for clemency. He refers to this appeal in yet another letter he wrote to the British in 1913 begging for clemency yet again. In it he promised to "serve the Government in any capacity they like, for as my conversion is conscientious, so I hope my future conduct would be." If this were not craven enough, he continues, "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."
Savarkar was the instigative force behind the murder in London in 1909 of William Curzon Wylie by Madanlal Dhingra, as he was of the assassination of A.M.T Jackson, the District Magistrate and Collector of Nasik District in the same year. Noorani views this behaviour of Savarkar's "as part of a pattern of conduct in which he invariably uses another person to fire a gun and enthusiastically provides any undertaking, any apology, to escape the consequences of his misdeeds."
This happened yet again when Savarkar was brought back from the Andamans and lodged at the Yeravada Jail in Pune after which he and his family made frantic efforts for his release. He quickly accepted the demeaning conditions of release the British laid out, and in addition, wrote saying that he had a "fair trial and just sentence".
He further wrote, "I heartily abhor methods of violence resorted to in days gone by, and I feel myself duty bound to uphold Law and the constitution... .and... to make the Reform a success insofar as I may be allowed to do so in future."
He was referring to the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms of 1918, which had fallen far short of nationalist expectations. In 1939, he met the Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, who later quoted him as saying "our interests are now the same and we must therefore work together".
The most damning evidence against Savarkar is however contained in Noorani's chapter on the Gandhiji's murder trial. The case against Savarkar was built on the evidence given by Digamber Badge, an accused turned approver.
Badge had accompanied Godse and the accomplice Narayan Apte to Savarkar's home in Mumbai on January 17, 1949, and in court reported Savarkar's farewell words to the assassins: "Yashasvi houn ya" (Be successful and come back).
Later Apte reportedly told Badge that Savarkar predicted that "Gandhiji's 100 years were over - there was no doubt that that work would be successfully finished."
In the final judgement given in February 1949 in the Gandhiji's murder case, the judge acquitted Savarkar on the grounds that the corroborative evidence for Badge's testimony was inadequate. Noorani has documented the outcome of a later Commission of Inquiry under Justice Jivan Lal Kapur, which submitted its finding in 1969.
The Commission included the testimony that was not tendered before the court 25 years ago, which included the testimony given by Savarkar's aides after his death. "If these aides had deposed in court, Savarkar could not have escaped conviction for the crime," Noorani said.
The chapter on Gandhiji's murder trial contains fresh evidence on the course of the trial and Savarkar's conduct during that period.
As the experience of the freedom struggle recedes further into the past, and as new generations of young Indians are brought up on history text-books in which the role of the Hindu right, and the circumstances of Gandhiji's murder are being given new spins, Noorani's painstaking construction of history will remain an invaluable documentation of an important period of our past.
PARVATHI MENON
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