“Not just Savarkar! Modi democratises freedom struggle saga, rescues Gandhi, Patel, Ambedkar, Bose from Nehruvian tyranny”, Firstpost, May 31, 2023:

“There were several freedom fighters who were the victims of the Nehruvian establishment just because they found themselves on the other side of the politico-ideological divide. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Dr BR Ambedkar — the list is long and exhaustive. But none have been as targeted and vilified as Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Savarkar epitomises the ills of the victor-takes-it-all history writing. He was the foremost among Indian revolutionaries who had already caught the nation’s imagination when Mahatma Gandhi was yet to start his political journey in India. In fact, it is widely believed that Gandhi had Savarkar in mind when he wrote Hind Swaraj, while Savarkar’s 1923 treatise Essentials of Hindutva was an intellectual potshot at the Mahatma and his pacifist philosophy.

Savarkar was Gandhi’s biggest rival, politically and intellectually. He was a Hindutva ideologue and yet he inspired some of the noted communists like MN Roy and SA Dange; even Bhagat Singh was deeply influenced by a small English biography of Savarkar that he read in the Dwarkadas Library of Lahore…..”

Read the full article at Firstpost.com