George Orwell had Ministerial characters like Mr. Pranab Mukherjee in mind when he wrote with biting but realistic sarcasm:  “Political language – and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists – is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind”.  The comedy is that Mr. Pranab Mukherjee has forgotten that all political parties including his own have to die at last of swallowing their own lies.  The truth relating to the whole affair has fallen between the troika of splintered responsibility represented by the Board of Trustees of Indian Oil Corporation, the Union Petroleum Minister who happens to be its Chairman and the Central Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister.   

Distinguished men dressed in brief authority like the Union Petroleum Minister and the Union Defence Minister cannot erase the names of fearless, selfless, and matchless freedom fighters like Veer Savarkar (who never aspired or angled for any Ministerial office!) from the minds and hearts of the people for immemorial ages. Placement and replacement of memorial plaques are under the control of Governmental authorities. Thoughts and memories cannot be proscribed or confiscated by any Government. They will continue to flourish for centuries because they are beyond the control of Governments. Abiding and permanent places of glorious men like Veer Savarkar in history are indeed independent of dissolutions of legislatures and parliaments, caprice of constituencies and even of the course of time.   

Bernard Shaw said that get hold of facts first before you distort them. The observations of Rajaji, (who himself was hated by the Congress High Command from 1942 to 1945) should be borne in mind in this context: “Facts do not cease to exist by our ignorance or cussed refusal to recognize them”.          

I would like all the ministers in the UPA Government to bear in mind the following facts about Veer Savarkar: 

Ø       In the history of struggle for Indian independence, V.D. Savarkar's place is unique. He had a firm belief that only a strong, armed revolt by Indians would liberate India from the British. 

Ø       An extraordinary Hindu scholar (he is one who coined Indian words for telephone, photography,  the parliament  among others), a recklessly brave revolutionary and fiercely patriotic leader. It was he who uncovered the truth about Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. 

Ø       During his high school days, he used to organize Shivaji Utsav and Ganesh Utsav, started by Tilak (whom Savarkar considered as his Guru) and used these occasions to put up plays on nationalistic themes. 

Ø       He founded Abhinav Bharat Society in Pune where he had his college education.  As a student leader fighting for our freedom he was expelled from the hostel and at one point from the college as well.  However he managed to get the prestigious Shivaji Scholarship to study law at London and the College authorities had to make way for his scholastic journey to London.   

Ø       In London, even while pursuing Law as a student, he attracted the attention of the Scotland Yard for his revolutionary activities.  He wrote a biography of Gieuseppe Mazzini, the great revolutionary leader of modern Italy in Marathi Language and the manuscript of this book was smuggled out of England  and later published by his brother Baba.  This book created a public wave.  2000 copies were sold out secretly, read and re-read.  His brother, however, was imprisoned for printing the book. 

Ø        He was keen on bringing out an authentic book on The Great Indian Revolt which the British had termed as “Sepoy Mutiny” of 1857.    This sacred and self-chosen task was completed by Veer Savarkar in London when he wrote in Marathi his immortal book called “The Indian War of Independence 1857”.  He could not get it printed in Europe.  Though the manuscript found its way to India, due to tight British vigilance, all printing presses in Bombay and Pune were raided by the Police and therefore it could not be printed in India at that time.    The great revolutionaries assisting Veer Savarkar however saw to it that the manuscript was smuggled out of India to Europe where it was unfortunately lost.   An English version of this book, therefore, became a necessity.  Assisted in this venture by other revolutionaries who had come to study for Law and Civil Service in London, the book was published in Holland by Madam Bhikaji Cama without any cover or name. The cover pages of popular classics like ‘Don Quixote’,  ‘Oliver Twist’, etc. were used for the book and successfully smuggled to India.  One Box with false bottom was used to take copies of this book at great risk by a Muslim friend who later became Chief Minister of Punjab!  The book thus reached the right people through secret sympathizers in Ireland, France, Russia, USA, Egypt, Germany and Brazil.  

Ø       Whilst in London Veer Savarkar organized festivals like Raksbhabandhan and Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti and tried to create awareness among the Indian students.  These festivals were banned by the British Government.  The slogan Savarkar coined for these Indian festivals became a unifying factor: 
 

One Country.  One God
One Caste, One Mind
Brothers all of us
Without Difference
Without Doubt” 

Ø IT WAS DURING THIS STIRRING PERIOD THAT SAVARKAR HELPED DESIGN THE FIRST INDIAN NATIONAL FLAG, WHICH MADAM BHIKAJI CAMA UNFURLED AT THE WORLD SOCIALIST CONFERENCE AT STUTTGART,  IN GERMANY.  

Ø Revolutionary activities of the time in London, Mumbai, Pune and Nasik were traced back to the guidance of Veer Savarkar in London.  His speeches and articles were viewed as seditious and his friends were charged with the preparation of Bombs and transportation of arms (pistols) illegally.  Finally Veer Savarkar was arrested and sent back to India for trial in 1910 by a ship called “Morena”

Ø Savarkar and his friends like VVS Iyer attempted to make a brave escape from the ship at Marseilles Port in France in 1910. Their heroic act became a glorious and legendary chapter in the history of our freedom movement.  Unfortunately for Savarkar the French Police on Guard captured him and handed him over to the British Authorities.   

Ø Later, Savarkar was tried in India for acts of treason and sedition and illegal transportation of weapons and sentenced to 50 years’ jail and deported to the Blackwaters (kalapani) at Andaman Cellular Jail. (Veer Savarkar went there as a great patriot and freedom fighter and not as a petty Cabinet Minister with official pomp and paraphernalia!!). He spent 16 long years in Andaman Jail where conditions were inhuman.  Every day he did the back-breaking job of stone breaking, rope making and milling.  He had to grind the copra in mill, tied like oxen.  He had to take out 30 pounds of oil every day.  (Not half a dozen public or parliamentary speeches on trivial or bestial themes with bravado and alacrity as are being made by our elected MPs and Cabinet Ministers every day today). 

Ø After spending 16 years in the Cellular Jail at Port Blair, Andaman, Savarkar was transferred to the Ratnagiri Jail and then kept under house arrest. 

Ø By the time he was brought to Ratnagiri Jail, he was already well known throughout the world for his great book “1857 – War of Independence”. Two generations of patriotic Indians were influenced by his magnum opus.  The second edition was printed in the USA by Savarkar’s revolutionary friends.  The third edition was brought out by Baghat Singh and its Punjabi and Urudu translations followed soon thereafter and were widely read in India and the Far East. 

Ø Even in the National Army of Subash Chandra Bose, Tamil translation of this work of Veer Savarkar was read out every day like a Bible by the South Indian Soldiers in Singapore, though nobody knows till today who translated it into Tamil.  

Ø He earnestly believed that Indian Independence became a reality not because of a few individuals, leaders or sections of society.  It became possible because of the participation of the commoner who prayed to his family deity every day.  He said that the youngsters who went to gallows to see their motherland free were the greatest Veeradhiveers.  

Sir Walter Scott wrote the following beautiful lines:
              Breathes there the man with soul so dead
              Who never to himself hath said
              “This is my own, my native land”  

The tragicomedy in our national public life today is that the refrain in the immortal lines of Sir Walter Scott which I studied in school 50 years ago is being changed with UPA aplomb and enthusiasm: 

Breathes there the man with soul so dead
         Who never to himself hath said
         “This is my own, my Sonia land”  

Against the above background, we can now compare the life and work of Pranab Mukherjee, Mani Sankar Iyer and the like with the life of Veer Savarkar with no less ruthlessly ‘secular’ and ‘majority-neglecting’ objectivity. His glorious life of struggle, suffering and self-sacrifice for the sacred cause of Indian freedom would be remembered for generations to come long after all the so-called distinguished members of the UPA Government today are forgotten and put into the dustbin of history. 

The glorious deeds of Selfless Heroes like Veer Savarkar will continue to gleam and glow across the gloom of centuries and continue to enrich the soil of the nation. To conclude in the words of a great historian: “Nature renews herself and covers yesterday’s battlefield with green grass and flowers and the blood that is shed feeds the soil and gives sustenance and stimulation to new life”. JAI HIND!!

V. Sundaram, I.A.S.