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V.D. Savarkar drafted
a pamphet in the Andaman cellular Jail captioned "Hindutva! who is a Hindu?" in
1923 sermonised in a formidable fashion "a person who regards the land of
Bharatvarsa from Indus to the Seas as his Fatherland, as well as his Holy land
that is the cradle land of his religion." And for the religious sancitity
Diwali, Rakhi and Hindu pilgrimages were supposed to be essential ‘from a
national and racial’ point of view. And here he glorified the symbol of Ram as
the most illustrious representative monarch of our race. Golwalkar had taken
this further, in his "We or Our Nationhood Defined" under the influence
of Nazism he issued his fatwa that the "non-Hindu people in Hindustan must
adopt the Hindu culture and language, revere Hindu religion and must be wholly
subordinated to the Hindu nation claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far
less any preferential treatment, not even citizen’s rights". The Hindutava
concept of Savarker boils down to his crude and brute concept "Hinduise all
politics and militarise Hindudom" . So when the Prime Minister in his
‘musings’ during his sojurn in Goa tries to project a distilled "pluralistic"
notion of Hindutava it is nothing but a cunning way of wooing his critics.
Vajpayee knows too well what Hindutva is not. He gushed recently "What else
do you expect of Joshiji to do if not to safironise education Do you expect him
to paint education green instead ?"( The Times of India ,January 18, 2003).
Savarkar wrote all
these dangerous views in the British prison, not obviously as a hero but a
betrayer to the cause of India’s freedom. It is curious to note that the plaque
in memory of Savarkar fixed at the Andaman Cellular Jail glorifies him not as a
man devoted to developing national consciousness but as a provider of the
mantras of Hindutva, equality among Hindus, Hindu nationalism etc.
This so called hero
started his political life as a rabid anti-Muslim crusader. His biographer
Dhanjay Keer rights about the devilish glee of child Savarkar in stoning a
mosque. Savarkar was brought to the Andamans in 1911 and within a year he
wrote to Reginald Crudke , the member of the Viceroy’s Council, begging pardon
after he was handed out a life- term punishment for anti-British activities.
Once again this so-called ‘Veer’ wrote a letter to the same person on 14th
November 1913 begging clemency making it expressly clear that if he was released
he could be willingly engaged in any type of service as per the desires of the
Raj. He pledged loyalty to the colonial Raj. He was later released after giving
an undertaking. His later political activity as the leader of the Hindu Mahasava
and Muslim bashing were actually his devotion to the British Raj.
The vexed question of
hanging Savarkar’s portrait in Parliament has at least unmasked the CPIM like
Parliamentary left when the Congress MP Nazma Heptullah spilled the beans that a
comnuttee comprising, among others, two "Left MPs" had endorsed the decision to
hang this portrait in Parliament ( Hindustan Times 7th’ March 2003 ). Rukum
Advani, the columnist, in his satirical writing for the Telegraph ( 9th March
2003 ) commented that the CPIM M.P., Somenath Chatteijee, must be willing to be
on such committees of the Parliament, particularly on a Lying Committee.
Falsehood, compromise with communalism for electoral gains and simultaneous
crying hoarse against communalism are the hallmarks of our Parliamentary Left.
The "Left" image of the CPIM peels off.
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