Veer Savarkar is India’s son and a great hero who struggled for India’s
freedom. Indian academicans have forced students to forget him. He doesn’t find
any mention in textbooks. The unfortunate politics played on one of the heroic
sons of our soil is despicable.
In our recent visit to Andamans evoked lot of interest in this great
Hero. The Port Blair reverberates with his memoirs. They have rightly named the
international airport after him. The cellular jail where he was confined for
over a decade is now made a national memorial and a world heritage. The cell
where he was kept is revered and a favorite place of visit for many tourists
who throng there. The light & sound show and the stories by the guide do
justice to his sacrifice. The Andamans is now visited by many in thousands from
mainland India. So it is good that the average Indian gets to enliven harsh, real
stories of freedom struggle by many of our great heroes which are otherwise untold
by our modern day Academicians.
Here a brief life history of Veer Savarkar is given, so that it
generates more interest in the reader to read more about him, about more people
like him & what they lived and sacrificed their life for?
A Brief Life History of Veer Savarkar:
Veer Savarkar during his student days was a great follower of
Balagangadhar Tilak. He ardently participated in the Ganesha Utsav in the
localities drawing a great force of youth. He supported and garnered many
people in protests called for burning foreign clothes as called by Tilak. He
had formed a great student force to support the freedom movement called by the
leaders of the Congress during those times. He was instrumental in creating a
student union “Mithra Mela” which was working towards aiding the Freedom
movement by the leaders of India.
Subsequently he travelled to England with the blessings of Tilak. Soon
in the heart of England he formed a student & youth union called ‘Abhinava
Bharatha’. The sole aim was to unite the Indian students coming there to study.
Most were going back to work under British to help them loot our own nation. So
it was essential to instill a sense of patriotism amongst them & when the
time comes to create a great united resistance to the British diktat, all these
patriotic Government servants will be a great aid.
British spies had very strict eyes on his activities all the time. Many
times they clamped on ‘India House’ where most of the revolutionary activities
were happening. Savarkar believed in armed resistance. So he published life
history of Mazzini in a book. His publications were clamped by the
administration. Still somehow they were published in India and had a great demand
going out of sale in student circles.
The success of these publications encouraged him for further writing. He
picked up the subject of 1857 Freedom Struggle by Indians. Till then it was
termed derogatively as ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ by the British. But it was more than a
Sipoy Mutiny. Royals, artisans, peasants, house holders, apart from Sepoys
where fully involved. In fact it was a well-planned revolt which erupted
suddenly across all provinces at a time. How could that be possible if it was
just a sipoy mutiny? It was a well-orchestrated multi-pronged, leadership
driven concerted armed resistance by freedom loving people of the country. That
is why it went on for more than a year. And it shook the British crown. Savarkar
studied all materials from British libraries and compiled the story very well. The
news of this publication rattled the British. It was banned even before it was
published. Then Savarkar himself wrote a strong letter to London Times on the Government act of
curtailing the freedom of expression. That got published and London Times also supported his question to the Government. Again through many difficulties, the work
got published in France where British supremacy was not there. It used to get
shipped to India under other book wraps. It became a great inspirational book
for Indian revolutionaries. Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad during their
struggle re-published this book to draw inspiration amongst the youth. The book
is very good even for today’s reading. Savarkar brings out the unity &
sacrifice amongst the Muslims and Hindus in this 1857 Freedom War. He opens up
thread by thread how British yanked away the freedom from the Royals, village
level, and agricultural freedom. Economics, trade, everything fell prey to
their hegemony of single minded loot.
During these times, Madan Lal Dingra killed a cruel British officer in
London itself. He was from Abhinava Bharatha. He went to the British gallows
and so did many back in India by that time from the ignite that had sparked. British arrested Savarkar and deported him back
to India by sea.
Before leaving the British shores, he hatched a plan to escape in
France. The police sensed trouble so while they were nearing the French, Marcelles
shores, they decided not to dock up there and diverted to proceed straight. Madam
Cama and Hardayal were expecting Savarkar on the shores but got to know his
ship is not coming to the shores at all. But brave Savarkar, escaped through
the toilet window hole of the ship, directly fell into the sea and swam for
many kilometers in the harsh sea waters till he came on shores in Marcelles. But
to his bad luck British had chased him and clamped him before he escaped taking
refuge under French police.
All his efforts and his friends’ plans failed his freedom. Upon landing
in India, the magistrate slapped two 25 years harsh imprisonment in solitary
confinement in Anandaman Cellular Jail. One or 2 year sentences in Andaman itself
was very harsh inhuman treatment. But 50 years of sentence was the longest and
harshest sentence one could get. While in the cellular jail he inspired many
fellow cell mates to revolt against inhuman treatment meted out the political
prisoners. His concerted inspirational efforts pushed the British to send a
senior official for negotiations. The political prisoners won some relaxations
from these efforts but were still confined in harsh conditions. In the
meantime, Savarkar found it worthless to rot in this jail far away from the
mainland. So he wrote many mercy petitions to the British. They drew strict
conditions for his release and released to the main land after a decade.
Since his release, he was confined in the hills of Ratnagiri in Bombay
province. Strict vigilance was put up on his activities. While being confined
there, Veer Savarkar, worked hard towards removal of untouchability amongst the
villagers. He constructed a temple of Ram called ‘Pathitha Pavana Mandira’
where the Harijans were the priests and were served food together with all.
Savarkar stood very firm and inspired all sections of the society to unite and
fight out all bad social practices. During this time, he published his 10,000
lines poems he had created while in Cellular jail. He had written these on the
jail walls and by hearted it as the Jailer used to paint it off to prevent
future cell mates to get inspired by the words of the poems. Today his poems
are still inspiring us.
Subhash Chandra Bose during his presidentship of Congress touring all
India, met Savarkar too. It is recorded that Savarkar advised him to take up
armed struggle against British. The world war raging around that time and Rash
Behari Bose having founded the Indian National Army in Japan was awaiting a
great revolutionary leader like Nethaji to come aboard and assume leadership.
It is worth noting that when Japan occupied the Andaman Islands in 1943 to 45,
Nethaji assuming the leadership of INA negotiated with Japan to free up the
Andaman islands and give administration control over to the INA. So hence the
first freedom flag of the tricolor of India fluttered on the shores of the
Andamans even before the British gave us freedom in 1947!! Subhash paying
respects to the Indian leaders’ decision had kept INA flag as tri-colour with
Charaka in the center!!
It is our duty to remember such heroes who struggled their life for our freedom & respect. Jai Hind.
