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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
AKHIL BHARTIYA PRATINIDHI SABHA
7- 9 March 2003, NAGPUR Dt. 8.3.03
Denigrating Heroes of
Independence Reprehensible
This meeting of the ABPS strongly condemns the efforts of certain
political parties and pseudo-intellectuals to demean and denigrate the
contributions of a great patriot Swatantrya Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
by opposing the unveiling of his portrait in the Central Hall of the
Parliament and issuing statements berating his struggles and sacrifices.
This is not just an affront to that great leader but also an insult to the
entire freedom struggle.
It is to be remembered that our national movement for independence was a
grand saga of struggles, sacrifices and sufferings. Countless men and
women had laid down their lives in the service of the Motherland, with the
single-minded determination of seeing her in liberated glory. Their paths
were different, programmes were varied, ideologies disparate, yet the goal
was the same. Indian freedom struggle was a beautiful mosaic of all such
contrasting yet complementary movements. We cherish each one of those
struggles - and the heroes who led them - fondly and reverentially. And we
regard our independence as the result of the combined efforts of all those
movements and struggles.
However, post-independence, there were efforts to blackout the
contributions of many of our patriots whereas the entire credit for our
independence was sought to be appropriated by some. Not content with that,
these forces now seem to be trying to denigrate and denounce all those
great patriots and freedom fighters who shared a different ideological
vision. Recent attempts by the Congress party and some other parties to
defame Savarkar are a part of that nefarious design only.
Savarkar was one of those great heroes of our Independence movement whose
role was deliberately blacked out. He was not just a revolutionary and
freedom fighter. He was a literary genius, poet, historian and social
reformer too. It is quite painful that some elements are trying to portray
him as "anti-national" today.
That the opposition to Savarkar by certain parties is motivated by
political reasons is clear from the fact that it was their own senior
colleagues who were paying rich tributes to him till yesterday. It was
Hiren Mukharjee of the CPI, who proposed in the Lok Sabha two days after
the demise of Savarkar in 1966 that the House pay homage to him for his
services to the nation. The Left is in the forefront of opposition to
Savarkar today. Similarly while Smt. Indira Gandhi paid rich tributes to
Savarkar calling him "great patriot" enjoying "important place in the
annals of our freedom movement"; got a postal stamp released in his memory
and made a personal donation of Rs. 11,000 to his memorial fund in 1980,
ironically, the Congress party chooses to oppose unveiling of his portrait
and writes to the President asking him to reconsider his decision to
participate in the function.
In fact the decision to install Savarkar's picture in the Central Hall was
taken not by the Government, but by a committee of parliamentarians who
included Shivraj Patil and Pranab Mukharjee from the Congress and Somnath
Chatterjee from the Left. It needs special mention here that the decision
was unanimous. It is the very same parties that are opposing the decision
now. This kind of audacious and irresponsible behaviour was unheard of in
our public life before.
While the ABPS takes a grim view of this controversy, it also sees a
deeper design in it. The sudden opposition to Savarkar, in our view, is
less to do with the leader himself, and more to the ideology he propounded
in early 20s, which is popularly known as Hindutva ideology.
The ABPS condemns the role of some Leftist pseudo-intellectuals in
spearheading this controversy and prodding obliging parties like the
Congress to rake it up. Through out the history the Left has played a
similar destructive, anti-national and anti-Independence role. They
defiled and denigrated many a national leader. They abused Subhash Chandra
Bose as 'Running Dog of Tojo' and Mahatma Gandhi as 'Stooge of British
Imperialists'. They were the first to support the Pakistan Resolution of
the Muslim League. Their leader P.C. Joshi extended 'unconditional
support' to the British in their cruel attempts to suppress Quit India
Movement of 1942. They actively connived with the Muslim League in
partitioning the country. They propagated Multi Nation Theory and tried to
dismember India. They encouraged Telengana and Kakadweep armed struggles
to derail our newly won independence and wrote letters to Mao of China
inviting him to 'liberate' India from Indian rulers after independence. It
is a great travesty that today they are questioning the patriotism of
great leaders like Savarkar. The ABPS registers its appreciation for the
hon'ble President for ignoring this motivated campaign of calumny, and
unveiling the portrait.
The ABPS expresses its great reverence for all the heroes of our
independence struggle and calls upon the people of our country to
resurrect the cherished memory of all of them, one of the greatest among
whom was Savarkar. The ABPS also calls upon the countrymen to defeat the
designs of those political and pseudo-intellectual elements that are out
once again with the game plan of deriding our national leaders in their
vain effort to destroy the surging Hindu sentiment in the country.
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