He was a devoted reader of Indian and world history. He loved to read the history of Matsini, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Prithviraj ,Joychand, Shivaji, Raja Ganesha. He saw the Great Revolt of 1857 through the eyes of an inquisitive historian. Every history taught him a lesson that ,in order to win a war, one has to go back sometimes, the wicked have to be punished with deceit,just like Sathe Shatyang Samacharet.Who is he? He is none other than the great revolutionary, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Savarkar was a worthy successor of Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji sent various petitions as letters to suppress his enemies sometimes before the killing of Afzal Khan, sometimes to free himself from the captivity in Agra or to stop Aurangzeb. Later, when Shivaji became powerful enough in warfare, he took revenge for those insults. War and love are all valid. These were nothing but Shivaji’s successful tactics. Brave revolutionary Savarkar too followed the same pattern in his personal life. He learned from history that Rana Pratap and Prithviraj Chauhan were defeated despite their heroism as they did not destroy the deceivers by deception. Shivaji won as a result of adopting terracotta technique. Revolutionary Savarkar adopted that terracotta policy in his life.Savarkar’s remarkable revolutionary activities during his stay at the India House in England are still shining in history. These include the incident of Jackson murder case, the Cardon Wiley murder case, the conspiracy to use arms against the British government, the printing of books on the Great Rebellion of 1857 and the incitement of revolutionaries during freedom struggle. When his revolutionary activities were caught, he was arrested and brought to India by ship from England. At that time Savarkar had a terrible attempt of escaping through the window of the ship’s toilet. Hr jumped into the sea and swam to an island in France, avoiding incessant gunfire to evade the British police. He was caught on the island for language problem by the French police. The British police took him back into custody. Such a revolutionary was coward? He was imprisoned in the Andaman Cellular Jail. Two life sentences were announced for his life. The order to suffer the imprisonment comes one after another. The limit of imprisonment was 24-12-1910 to 23-12-1980. Fifty years in a row, which is nothing but rare in the history of the British Empire. The British government confiscated all of Savarkar’s private property, revoked his BA degree, and sent him to solitary confinement for six months in prison. Standing for seven days in a row with his hands tied behind his back, he was made to do such inhumane work by making oil out of sunflower seeds. Even in this situation, he did not stop making bombs secretly in jail. But he could not escape the eyes of the British. One of the British officials,Sir Reginald Craddock visited the cellular jail during the imprisonment of Savarkar andvall. He met some political prisoners in jail and listened to their complaints. He took the statement of Savarkar and each of them was allowed to plead for release.It is noted that all the political prisoners in British India were entitled to this opportunity. Moreover, since Savarkar was a lawyer, he took advantage of the situation and released some of his comrades too. Did he choose a comfortable life at home after his release from prison? History does not tell at all. The aim of Savarkar’s revolutionary warplan was not to rot in the British-jail, but to get out of the jail by taking advantage of the opportunity given to him by the British. Joining the freedom struggle of the country again was his only moto. After being relefrom prison conditionally, he was involved in several very important practical decisions of revolutionary activities. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s visit to Germany, formation of Azad Hind Fauj, behind all these was the active participation and successful plan of revolutionary Savarkar. Ras Behari Bose requested Savarkar to send a deserving Indian to Japan, under whose leadership a strong army could be formed to inflict a devastating blow on the British government. Netaji also had a face-to-face meeting with Savarkar in Bombay, when Netaji was a very big figure in Congress. Biography of Savarkar written by Dhananjay Keer described the historic meeting so perfectly. Netaji came to meet Savarkar on June 22 ,1940. Bose wanted Savarkar to tell Gandhiji that Gandhiji should not give undue importance to Mohammad Ali Jinah. Savarkar told Netaji that leadership of Bose is required somewhere else. Savarkar told Bose – “Britain is in deep trouble due to second world war, you (Bose) should visit those nations which are England’s enemies, remember England’s foe are our friends. Ras Bihari Bose has launched Azad Hind Sena. You should take it’s Leadership.”Later when Netaji reached Japan via Germany and joined the Azad Hind forces, it became clear that the plan was of Rasbihari Basu and Savarkar.
The veteran revolutionary and a man of great mental force and powerful pen, Ras Behari Bose who was the guide and sole adviser of the Azad Hind Government of Subhash Bose was in contact with Savarkar till the outbreak of the World War II. Rash Behari Bose wrote this in an editorial when Savarkar finally attained freedom in 1937, “Savarkar is heroism, valor, adventure, and epitome of patriotism. To praise him is to praise the spirit of sacrifice”.All these activities took place after Savarkar’s release from jail. But in the history of India attempts have been made to portray Savarkar as an apologetic cowardly revolutionary. The reason is simple. He was a skilled pioneer of Hindu culture. The bearers of the traditional hindu culture in this country have to pay the price for political reasons.That is a normal phenomenon in today’s India. He wrote in his book,”My Transportation for Life” that he did not apologize.In his Petition to Montagu on 5th September, 1917, Savarkar clearly stated “If the Government thinks that it is only to effect my own release that I pen this; or if my name constitutes the chief obstacle in the granting of such an amnesty; then let the Government omit my name in their amnesty and release all the rest; that would give me as great a satisfaction as my own release would do.”
We find in the world history that, Ho Chi Minh, the then communist leader of Vietnam had signed a similar type of petition to the head of the Kuo Minh Tang government, Marshal Chang. Many indian great revolutionaries like Ram prasad bismil, Sachindranath Sanyal ,commiunst leader P C Joshi, S A Dange also wrote same petitions for their release. It was nothing but an official procedure needed to be followed by the revolutionaries for their release from jail during British period.Netaji Subhas expressed jubilation over Savarkar’s release and requested him to join Congress to strengthen the fight against British.All these facts have been erased by some of the crucked historians to portray Savarkar as a traitor before the nation.They couldn’t succeed for long. Truth of Savarkar is coming out in day light. As today we celebrate the birthday of the brave heart revolutionary,Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, as Indians it is our responsibility to put light on those unfolded facts of Savarkar’s life. Profound honour and respect must be given to him as he was not a traitor,but was one the great sons Mother India.
