[Reader-list] Remembering Veer Savarkar Ji on his anniversary

[anupam chakravartty]

For a revolutionary such contradictions in action and thoughts could be
fatal. And what Mr Durani refers as "sickular":

 "In 1907, Savarkar designed the national flag for free India, incorporating
the symbols for Muslims, Sikhs and other Hindus. This was hoisted in the
Stuttgart convention."

"With the intention of making a collective, united Indian bid for freedom,
the oath of his secret revolutionary society, Abhinav Bharat, was: One God,
One Country, One Aspiration, One Community, One Life, One Language."





On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 10:50 AM, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>wrote:

>
> http://indiatribune.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2545:veer-savarkar--a-true-sincere-and-devoted-son-of-india&catid=30:opinion&Itemid=460
>
> India’s freedom movement is replete with countless Indians, who have
> sacrificed their lives.  However,  today they are, by and large, swept away
> into oblivion. But there is one name that will remain permanently in
> history.   He, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, prevails. He was born on May 28,
> 1883.
>
> Savarkar is the stuff that heroes are made of. As a man of sharp
> intelligence and political acumen, supreme orator, passionate poet, he was
> a
> leader of leaders. He had the magnetic personality, the daring, the
> capability and sincerity to inspire a nation. But, being a foremost
> exponent
> of the Karmayoga, as propounded in the Bhagavad-Gita, he believed in duty
> for the sake of duty. Not for him was the path of acquiring self-glory and
> power. He was very uncompromising in his principles.  This, his deep
> abiding
> love for India and his rational approach to life was the driving force of
> all his actions. As a revolutionary social reformer, he campaigned far and
> wide to rid society of the caste system.  He was a firm believer in freedom
> and equality for all. The India he had visualized was one where every
> individual would have equal rights and opportunities, irrespective of
> caste,
> creed, race or religion. The minorities would have effective safeguards to
> protect their language, culture and religion, but would not be allowed to
> create a state within a state. All Indians should regard India as their
> Fatherland and Holyland. With the intention of making a collective, united
> Indian bid for freedom, the oath of his secret revolutionary society,
> Abhinav Bharat, was: One God, One Country, One Aspiration, One Community,
> One Life, One Language.
>
> How many countries are blessed with a son of his caliber, his brilliance?
> His many contributions to India are invaluable, though invisible to many
> today. It behooves us to direct our thoughts, to spare at the very least a
> moment of our time, to this great patriot who has sacrificed so much all
> life long for India.
>
> He was the first to declare complete Independence as a goal for India. With
> India for the Indians as his goal, in 1899, 16-year-old Savarkar took a
> sacred oath to sacrifice his all for his Motherland, if need be.
>
> By the late 19th century, India was emasculated, a mere slave of the
> British. How then was this vicious imperial power ruling by military might
> and making new laws to serve their end to be circumvented? Where was the
> Constitution that freedom fighters could appeal to? How were their voices
> to
> be even heard, when Indians were being flung into jails, or hanged at the
> slightest provocation? Where were they to find guns and bombs and military
> might to counteract all the enemy armory? In England, so Savarkar was quick
> to realize that. With that in mind he, by winning a scholarship, left for
> England on June 9, 1906, ostensibly  to become a Barrister. In reality his
> goals were manifold. He wished to study British Law, to circumvent it in
> his
> mission. Paramount was the need to spread patriotism in the hearts of the
> Indian youth. To bring all Indians together for this common, national
> cause,
> he wrote The Indian   War of Independence, 1857.  The government getting a
> whiff of this, promptly banned the book before its publication. The book
> was
> published regardless. In later years, Bhagat Singh and Netaji Subhash
> Chandra Bose translated it into regional            languages to inspire
> the
> people.  In 1907, Savarkar designed the national flag for free India,
> incorporating the symbols for Muslims, Sikhs and other Hindus. This was
> hoisted in the Stuttgart convention. The plight of India was now an
> international issue. He was also determined to contact revolutionaries of
> other countries and make a common cause for freedom of all slave countries.
>
> The British recognized at a glance in Savarkar what India fails to see even
> today. Desperate to annihilate him, they charged him with waging war
> against
> the King of England and procuring and distributing arms in London. But to
> doom him for all eternity, he had to be extradited to India. So they
> tangled
> Savarkar in a concocted charge of delivering seditious speeches four years
> earlier in India. The Jaws of Hell, the judiciary system prevailing in
> India, swallowed him. For 27 years, he was held in bondage by the British.
> When, finally released, he fought, at the cost of his health, for the
> freedom of a united India, with equal rights and opportunities for all
> Indians. After Indepen-dence, he continued to look out  for Indian
> interests
> right up to his death. To strive so, for the country that so consistently
> forsook him, is the mark of a great personality. Savarkar was indeed a
> true,
> sincere and devoted son of India.
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