Author: Shamsul Islam
Publisher: Media House
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 124
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8174951938
Description
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar today shares national eminence with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: their portraits hang side by side one the walls of Indian Parliament. This is despite the fact that Sardar Patel, the first Home Minister of India, held Savarkar responsible for Mahatma’s murder. In a letter to Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, dated February 27, 1948, Patel wrote, It was a fanatical wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under Savarkar that hatched the conspiracy (to kill Mahatma) and saw it through. And today, the same Savarkar is portrayed as a national hero, thanks to an aggressive campaign by the present day followers of Hindutva to idolize Savarkar by distorting facts.
This book is the outcome of a sincere urge to separate facts from myths and present historical facts as they unfolded in the history of India’s freedom Struggle. In order to know the real Savarkar of Pre-Independence India, the author has mainly relied on original documents available in the archives of Hindu Mahasabha, the RSS, the government of India and the memoirs of revolutionaries who were in the Andaman Cellular Jail with Savarkar. These startling documents show that Savarkar, like the Muslim League, believed and practiced the two-nation theory.
The Hindu Mahasabha under his leadership ran coalition governments with the Muslim League. He not only kept aloof from the Freedom Movement but also openly helped the British war efforts during the World War II at a time when Subhash Chandra Bose was trying to liberate India militarily. Savarkar remained a diehard believer in Castism, Racism and imperialism throughout his life. He called it Hindutva. This book also evaluates the original 1923 edition of Hindutva authored by Savarkar so that all those who cherish a democratic-secular India are able to understand the gravity of ideas which originated to undo India.
Contents
FOREWORD BY D R GOYAL
DEDICATION
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Myth 1: Savarkar Spent most of his life in the Cellular Jail
Myth 2: Savarkar’s mercy petitions were a ruse
Myth 3: Savarkar was a legendary freedom fighter
Myth 4: Savaarkar fought against Muslim Communalism
Myth 5: Savarkar was a rationalist
Myth 6: Savarkar had no role in Gandhi’s murder
Myth 7: Savarkar’s Hindutva provides scientific basis to Indian Nation