Veer Savarkar

[KALKI]

May 28, 1883 to February 26, 1966

Founded the Abhinav Bharat Society and Free India Society; brought out an authentic informative researched work on The Great Indian Revolt of 1857 called "The Indian War of Independence 1857"; founded Hindu Mahasabha.

Veer Savarkar occupies a unique place in the history of Indian freedom struggle. His name evokes controversy. While some consider him as one of the greatest revolutionaries in the Indian freedom struggle, others consider him a communalist and Machiavellian manipulator. Vir Savarkar was also a great orator, prolific writer, historian, poet, philosopher and social worker. He was an extraordinary Hindu scholar. He coined Indian words for telephone, photography, the parliament, among others.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, lovingly known as `Veer Savarkar`, matriculated in 1901. He received further education in Fergusson College, Pune and graduated from Bombay University. As early as 1899, V.D. Savarkar and his brother Ganesh Savarkar established a revolutionary society `Mitra Mela` for teaching of drill and physical exercises to its members. Savarkar was greatly influenced by Mahatama Sri Agamay Guru Paramhansa who was preaching revolution by force. On 9th June 1906, Savarkar left for London where he reached in July 1906. In January 1910 he had gone to Paris and returned to London on 13th March 1910 when he was arrested on the Victoria Railway Station in pursuance of the arrest warrants issued by the Bow Street Court London on 22nd February 1910 for the offence of "waging war against the King Emperor". The court orders for Savarkar`s return to India were issued on 12th May 1910 and he was finally put in the ship S.S. Morea on 1st July 1910 for journey to India. Each day, rather each minute spent by V.D. Savarkar in London was devoted by him for revolutionising the minds of Indian youth, as has justly been described by Harindra Srivastava in his appreciable book Five Stormy Years, Savarkar in London (1983).

In 1907, Savarkar celebrated the golden jubilee of the Indian War of Independence (1857) with the aim to honour the martyrs. Savarkar gathered a multitude of Indian youth and injected in them the intensity to fight for freedom. He also commemorated the Indian national uprising of 1857 in India House in London on 10th May 1908 and released a two-leaf pamphlet titled, "O` Martyrs!" which was considered as "a blast in London that set the Thames on fire"."

The birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru, a great poet and a great warrior was also celebrated on 29th December 1908 in Caxton Hall, Westminster. Savarkar himself invited all Indians to attend the celebrations. Gifted with the ability to make a moving speech, immaculate sincerity and blazing heart, Savarkar thrilled his audience. `Vande Mataram` (Hail Motherland) was popularised by him as a national hymn.

After one year of exhausting research in the India Office Library, Savarkar wrote The Indian War of Independence of 1857. The book was proscribed even before publication. It was originally written in 1908 in Marathi. The manuscript was smuggled into India by the revolutionaries. The British authorities failed to lay its hands on it even in India and the manuscript reached Paris. It was translated into English under the supervision of V.V.S. Aiyar and the English manuscript was also sent to Paris. It was printed in Holland and the books were smuggled into India under fake fine-looking title covers. This book not only corrected the British version of the national uprising of 1857, but also became a bible for the revolutionaries.

While in Europe, V.D. Sarvarkar maintained his relations with a revolutionary society known as `Abhinav Bharat Samaj` in Maharashtra. Twenty Browning automatic pistols with ammunition were sent by him through one Chaturbhuj Amin, a cook in India House in London who reached Bombay on 6th March 1909, about a week after the arrest of Ganesh Savarkar. One of these pistols was used on 21st December 1909 by A.L. Kanhare for shooting down Jackson, district magistrate of Nasik. During the investigation a conspiracy was came to light. Savarkar`s residence was searched and some incriminatory books and documents were seized. It led to the framing of the Nasik Conspiracy Case. An arrest warrant for V.D. Savarkar was also issued in this case. He was arrested on 13th March 1910 and lodged in Brixton prison. He was put on board the liner Morea on 1st July 1910. The vessel touched at Marseilles on 6th July 1910. Savarkar went to the water closet of the ship on 8th July. Stripping himself practically of all his clothes, he escaped through the port-hole into the sea, swam ashore and ran three meters into the French territory. The English guards ran after him, shouting, "Thief, Thief". Then two French marine gendarmes (French for policeman) ran after him and caught hold of him. They handed him over to the British guards. Savarkar could not speak French and so could not reveal his identity as a political refugee. His recapture created a sort of celebrated question in international law. Savarkar was brought to Bombay on 22nd July 1910.

A special tribunal was set up for his trial under the Special Tribunal Act which had no jury and which had no provision for appeal. It consisted of the chief justice of Bombay high court, Sir Basil Scoth, Sir N.G. Chandravarkar and justice Heaton. VD. Savarkar was defended by Govindrao Gadgil and Rangneker. The case involved thirty-eight persons including VD. Savarkar. The trial opened on 15th September 1910.

Since V.D. Savarkar had challenged his extradition to British India in the international forum, he declined to surrender to the jurisdiction of Indian courts and refused to make any statement or bring any evidence in defence. The tribunal, however, proceeded with the trial regardless of his plea and without waiting for the verdict of the international forum. The trial lasted for sixty-eight days. The judgement was announced on 23rd December 1910. Apart from Keshab Chandra, twenty-eight others were also convicted and eight were acquitted. Savarkar was convicted and sentenced to transportation for life and his property was confiscated.

In the second Nasik Conspiracy Case, Savarkar was charged with abetment in the murder of Jackson, collector of Nasik. He was convicted and sentenced to another deportation for life on 30th January 1911. The Hague Tribunal announced the judgement in the extradition case on 24th February 1911. He was sent to the Andamans in July 1911. The first poem Savarkar composed was on Guru Gobind Singh, the sire of martyrdom.

In 1920, many prominent freedom fighters including Vithalbhai Patel, Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak demanded the release of Savarkar. On May 2, 1921, Savarkar was moved to Ratnagiri jail, and from there to the Yeravada jail. In Ratnagiri jail Savarkar wrote the book 'Hindutva'. On January 6, 1924 he was h freed under the condition that he would not leave Ratnagiri district and abstain from political activity for the next five years. On his release, Veer Savarkar founded the Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha on January 23, 1924 that aimed to preserve India's ancient culture and work for social welfare.

Later Savarkar joined Tilak's Swaraj Party and founded the Hindu Mahasabha as a separate political party. He was elected President of the Mahasabha and toiled for building Hindu Nationalism and later joined the Quit India movement.

The Hindu Mahasabha opposed creation of Pakistan, and took exception to Gandhi's continued Muslim appeasement stances. Nathuram Godse, a volunteer of the Hindu Mahasabha, assassinated Gandhi in 1948 and upheld his actions till his hanging. Veer Savarkar was arrested and indicted by the Government of India in the Mahatma Gandhi assassination case. But he was acquitted by the Supreme Court of India, for reasons of lack of evidence.

Veer Savarkar died on February 26, 1966 at the age of 83.

[BulletProofYogi]

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (pronunciationⓘ), Marathi pronunciation: [ʋinaːjək saːʋəɾkəɾ]; 28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966) was an Indian politician, activist and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva while imprisoned at Ratnagiri in 1922.

He was a leading figure in the Hindu Mahasabha.[4][5] He started using the honorific prefix Veer ("brave") since he wrote his autobiography. Savarkar joined the Hindu Mahasabha and popularized the term Hindutva (Hinduness), to create a collective "Hindu" identity as an essence of Bharat (India). Savarkar was an atheist.

Hindutva

In contrast with Dayananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo, who were "men of religion" who introduced reforms in the society and put Hinduism in front of the world, Savarkar mixed politics and religion and started an extreme form of Hindu nationalism.

During his incarceration, Savarkar's views began turning increasingly towards Hindu cultural and political nationalism, and the next phase of his life remained dedicated to this cause.[93] In the brief period he spent at the Ratnagiri jail, Savarkar published his ideological treatise – Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? in 1923. In this work, Savarkar promotes a farsighted new vision of Hindu social and political consciousness. Savarkar began describing a "Hindu" as a patriotic inhabitant of Bharatavarsha, venturing beyond a religious identity.[93] While emphasising the need for patriotic and social unity of all Hindu communities, he described Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism as one and the same. He outlined his vision of a "Hindu Rashtra" (Hindu Nation) as "Akhand Bharat" (United India), purportedly stretching across the entire Indian subcontinent.[95] He defined Hindus as being neither Aryan nor Dravidian but as "People who live as children of a common motherland, adoring a common holyland

Savarkar's celebration and justification of violence against [British] women and children in his description of the Mutiny of 1857,
"transformed Hindutva into the very image of Islam that he defined and found so intolerably objectionable".

Source: Sharma, Jyotirmaya (2011), Hindutva: Exploring the Idea of Hindu Nationalism (3rd ed.), Penguin Books India, ISBN 978-0-14-341818-4

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hindutva-Jy.../dp/9351773973

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinayak_Damodar_Savarkar

[jay999]

Better then Gandhi and Nehru , thats for sure!

English heritage site:

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/...odar-savarkar/

Inscription:

VINAYAK DAMODAR SAVARKAR 1883-1966 Indian Patriot and Philosopher lived here

Plaque erected in 1985 by Greater London Council at 65 Cromwell Avenue, Highgate, London, N6 5HS, London Borough of Haringey

LONDON YEARS

Savarkar was born near Nasik in the province of Bombay (now Mumbai), India, and at the age of 12 vowed to fight for Indian independence. His four years in London were critical to his development as a Hindu nationalist and revolutionary leader. Savarkar came to England on a scholarship arranged by his fellow nationalist Shyamaji Krishnavarma, with further support from Lokamanya Tilak. Savarkar entered Gray’s Inn to study law, and was called to the Bar in 1910.

It was Krishnavarma who set up India House, as 65 Cromwell Avenue was then known. The house was inaugurated with a speech by the socialist leader Henry Mayers Hyndman on 1 July 1905, and was intended to be used as a hostel for Indian students in London. However, it also served as the headquarters for several organisations, including the Indian Home Rule Society, and became known as a hub for political activism. While living there in 1906–9, Savarkar mixed with other campaigners for Indian independence, including Gandhi, who spent the night there on 20 October 1906.

Meanwhile, Savarkar developed his literary interests: in 1907 he translated into Marathi the autobiography of Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini, his European hero, and carried out research for The Indian War of Independence of 1857 (1909), a publication banned in India until 1946.

IMPRISONMENT AND POLITICS

In 1910 Savarkar was accused of helping to organise the murder of a British official in Nasik, and in so doing conspiring against the king, George V. Following a dramatic chase by police, Savarkar was finally arrested in France and extradited to India, where he was convicted. During his years in prison, ‘Veer’ (meaning ‘heroic’) Savarkar became a committed Hindu nationalist, writing the influential pamphlet Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? (1923).

On his release in 1937, he entered politics, encouraging the militarisation of Hindus and campaigning against untouchability (the practice of segregating minority groups). The controversy that dogged him throughout his life reached a peak after the assassination of Gandhi in 1948, a crime which he is said to have co-organised, though he was acquitted by the courts.

The GLC plaque, put up at the suggestion of the Savarkar Centenary Celebration Committee, was unveiled in 1985 by the former MP Lord Fenner Brockway.

[NaiNikaa]

It would be pointless to Judge him by todays standards (which many will do)
He supported the Nazi war with Britain since it kept the British occupied away from India.


if you think about it logically...Saying that, its quite strange even as an atheist he prefered Hinduism to reflourish throughout India (maintain its cultural roots) then Islam or anything else.


Don't forget, nationalism them (pre 1947) was defying the British, creating mutinys and rejecting any foriegn rule.


800 years of Islam and 300 years British rule, our civlisation was under attack from Christians and Muslims for centuries



Both religions constantly degrading our customs..So much to say on that!

[Asiansoul]

Originally Posted by NaiNikaa

It would be pointless to Judge him by todays standards (which many will do)
He supported the Nazi war with Britain since it kept the British occupied away from India.


if you think about it logically...Saying that, its quite strange even as an atheist he prefered Hinduism to reflourish throughout India (maintain its cultural roots) then Islam or anything else.


Don't forget, nationalism them (pre 1947) was defying the British, creating mutinys and rejecting any foriegn rule.


800 years of Islam and 300 years British rule, our civlisation was under attack from Christians and Muslims for centuries



Both religions constantly degrading our customs..So much to say on that!

When British westerners or assholes think of Nationalism in the west..
They vision and associate it with skin heads like the "national front" or BNP, those proper old school racist groups that smash and burn asian shops after a few pints or a football match It rings alarm bells...

Bhagat Singh was a Nationalist too..He opposed Gandhis thoughts...He said it straight..."If they kill us, we will kill them.." (Them, meaning the British)
No idiot is going to imitate Bhagat Singh today. that was then and this is now.
Savarkar's goal was to revive Hinduism (the culture of the land) after 1,000 years of invading bullshit.
He had no intention to invade or force Hinduism across the globe unlike some of the fucked up shit we see today.