Savarkar: A Contested Legacy, 1924-1966

by Vikram Sampath

Q: Assuming that Congress disintegrates, do you foresee a contest for political power between a form of Hindu fascism and communism? A: A Hindu of my conception is not a fascist, but a real democrat in the true sense of the word. He is also a communist in a way. If all the Hindus who believe in the fundamentals of Hindutva unite, then the question of a contest for a political power does not arise.

There is an allusion that Gandhi had Savarkar in mind while writing Hind Swaraj, while Savarkar’s 1923 treatise Essentials of Hindutva was undoubtedly his first major salvo against Gandhi whose pacifist philosophy he was totally opposed to. Though swaraj was the goal of both their works of 1909, for Gandhi, the means was intrinsically linked with the ends and non-violence was the guiding mantra. Savarkar however believed in self-assertion of the nation, which many a times could have no other outlet than a violent, armed one. He derided the pusillanimity of ahimsa and all his life believed that militarization was a prerequisite for a strong country. As the first leader to vociferously demand nothing short of complete freedom at a time the Congress was still petitioning the British for concessions, Savarkar articulated his vision of a grand constitutional republic for India, way back in 1908. It was to be a bicameral Parliament akin to Britain with native princes who helped the freedom struggle as members of the upper house and directly elected representatives to the lower house.

In terms of contrasts, while Savarkar stood for modernity and science, separation of ritualistic religion from politics, militarization and dismantling the caste system, Gandhi spoke in terms of faith, religion and ahimsa, approved of the caste system in principle, and had not much time or appetite for science. With economic liberalization, the Pokhran nuclear tests, our space conquests and rapid urbanization instead of gram swaraj—not to speak of course of the ascendant political right in India today that claims its ideological lineage from him—it is perhaps Savarkar’s vision of India that is fructifying and not Gandhi’s. Yet, he is the one icon and the tragic anti-hero of Indian history who shall not be named or credited for any of those, even by his political proponents.

All his life Savarkar romanticized the idea of dying a martyr. But even in death Gandhi stole a march and ended up becoming the martyred ‘Father of the Nation’ and Savarkar on the other hand, always insinuated as his murderer by implication. Sociologist and scholar Ashis Nandy terms him as the ‘disowned father of the nation in India’.