Savarkar & Hindutva- A Review

Savarkar & Hindutva: The Godse Connection by A.G. Noorani

New Delhi: LeftWord, 2002

Savarkar has been one of the most contested figures in the Indian political sphere. The right-wing 'Sangh Parivar' ideologues have left no stone unturned in idealizing him (Veer Savarkar) as a model for Indian youth and the left-wing critique has attempted to deconstruct any such right-wing hypothesis. More than Savarkar, Hindutva finds its protagonists amongst every section of Indian thinkers. The debate has become even more marked since the unveiling of a portrait of Savarkar in the gallery of the Parliament. This development is significant since he is being projected at par with those for whose murder he was tried in the court of law.

A.G.Noorani's present work is a serious research aimed at critiquing Savarkar, who has become a cult figure for the BJP. Unlike Sumit Sarkar's 'Beyond Nationalism', which deals more with nationalist frames and gives isolated references about Savarkar, Noorani's work deals with Savarkar and 'his' ideology of Hindutva. An earlier work 'Kakhi Shorts and Saffron Flags' by Tapan Basu also attempted at discussing BJP's ideological foundations but there has hardly been any extensive work on Savarkar. The present work attempts at dissecting Savarkar's iconisation through serious archival research and extensive critique of his theory of nationalism.

Although, ideologically Sangh Parivar hails Godse and the murder of Gandhi but they hesitate to own him in public. "The Sangh Parivar has always been ambivalent about Gandhi and felt embarrassed if asked to denounce Godse. The sin is denounced, but the sinner is spared:" Organiser (RSS's mouthpiece) portrays Godse as representing 'the people' and the murder he perpetrated, as an expression of 'the people's wrath'.

Sangh Parivar has tried to glorify Savarkar as a revolutionary and a great freedom fighter. Advani claims that he was sent to Andamans for his revolutionary activities. Noorani contests this claim. He presents evidence to show that Savarkar was sent to Andaman on being convicted for complicity in a brutal and wanton murder. He had narrowly escaped conviction for another. Interestingly in neither case did he hold the gun. He goaded the assassin but covered his own tracks skillfully.

Savarkar's cowardice is exemplified from the petition for clemency that he field with the government from Andamans wherein he promised to 'serve the Government in any capacity they like, ..... 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'. Noorani believes that no apology, no plea for clemency can be more abject and demeaning than this. It by itself suffices to render Savarkar unworthy of admiration or respect.

Jinnah is often entirely blamed for propounding the two-nation theory in 1939 and the partition of India in 1947. Interestingly, it was not Jinnah but Savarkar who first propounded this theory in 1923 in his work on Hindutva and secondly at the Presidential address to the Hindu Mahasabha in 1937. "Savarkar believed that not only the Hindus and Muslims are different, but that one is inferior to the other."

Savarkar's The First War of Independence- 1857 can amaze anyone. Interestingly, he consigns 'the antagonism between the Hindus and the Mohammedans to the past and believes that 'their present relation was to one not of ruler and the ruled, foreigner and native, but simply that of brothers, with the one difference between them of religion alone' and though 'their names were different, but they were all children of the same mother'. This work may seem contradictory and deceptive when one reads his 'The Six Glorious Epoch', which he wrote towards the evening of his life. Here he accuses Ashoka of gross intolerance towards Vedantic Hindus, Tipu Sultan for barbarism and Akbar, a foreigner for his cruelty, intolerance and bidharmi.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Savarkar, escaped physical and mental agony in the jail. By pleading against alleged ill treatment by Muslim Warden he managed to get better living conditions for himself and also Foremanship. He used it to lord over the Muslim prisoners. He started propagating Hindi as the national language and invoked a hatred for Urdu.

Savarkar was a practising atheist. Noorani opines that he did not misinterpret Hinduism, he rather ignored it. He laid the foundations of Hindutva not as a synonym of Hinduism but a loose representation of cultural nationalism (Hindu nationalism). Noorani argues that RSS projection of Vivekananda as the progenitor of the Hindutva is not true as the latter dwelt on spiritual realism and Savarkar's Hindutva is not Hinduism. It is interesting that BJP has been championing the cause of Ram Mandir in the name of Hindutva which has nothing to do religiosity.

The whole Hindutva project is motivated with hatred and venom against Muslims. Savarkar has justified violence and till today his fellow brethren are mitigating bloodshed and revenge in Gujarat. At a public meeting at the Vedanta Ashrama in 1925 Savarkar said that we must not think of participating soft virtues like humility, self surrender or forgiveness. On the contrary, we must, during our subjection, develop sturdy habits of hatred, retaliation, vindictiveness and such other features. Noorani has also cited evidence to show Golwalkar's and Savarkar’s concrete links with Nazi Germany.

Noorani gives minute details of Gandhi murder conspiracy and the trial. Although Godse and Apte were tried and hanged, Savarkar was released by the court for absence of corroborated evidence, which Noorani convincingly questions. In the aftermath of the demolition of Babri Masjid and the project of rewriting of history, Noorani raises questions about the rationality of the Hindutva project. The defeat of BJP in 2002 assembly elections in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh has sent a clear message for its stalwarts that Hindutva card won't sustain their electoral gains for too long.

October 2003