The 30th President of America Calvin Coolidge, once said, “A nation that forgets its heroes will itself soon be forgotten.” The quote aptly reflects the way we look at our own History. Our Indian History is more about the missing pages about Nationalist Heroes, the heroes we have forgotten to read and revere. We are made to ignore or forget the glorious pages from Indian History by the well- entrenched Marxist academia as it would undermine their well-established narratives. 

Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Subhash Chandra Bose and Veer Savarkar were the few prominent ones whom the British despised for their revolutionary thoughts and armed struggle. It's unfortunate the same narrative has continued post-Independence under the dispensation of Nehru legacy and ecosystem of Left-Liberals. In recent years Savarkar's thoughts and ideas have gained new currency but in popular memory and discourse, Savarkar is still either maligned or ignored. A new generation of scholars, writers are seeking to correct this anomaly in the coming years.

The story of Savarkar and his nationalism goes back to his childhood days, when the Chapekar brothers were hanged by British government in 1890s and it traumatized young Savarkar, who would vow before Goddess Durga that he would strive to ensure Bharat is independent from the clutches of foreign occupation.

The seeds of patriotism sown in childhood days were blossoming into a plant which would grow up like a big banyan tree. Savarkar travelled to England to study Law on a scholarship and his revolutionary activities started to take shape. Savarkar was arrested in London in 1910 on charges of inciting revolt and violence against the British and was sent back to India. What followed was 50 years of imprisonment and transportation for Life to the dreaded Cellular jail in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Apart from being a true Nationalist, one of the most striking qualities of Savarkar is his role as a historian and he was a creator of History as well and we can understand his life through his works.

In 1908, Savarkar at the young age of 26, wrote the magnum opus The First War of Independence - 1857. The book is a step by step account of the uprising of Indians against the ruthless British rulers and the author establishes the fact that the uprising was a War of Independence and not a mere Sepoy Mutiny as recorded by the British.  Savarkar wrote “The history of the tremendous Revolution that was enacted in the year 1857 has never been written in this scientific spirit by an author, Indian or foreign.” The book became the inspiration for Indian revolutionaries.

'My Transportation for Life' by Savarkar was published in the weekly “Kesari” of the celebrated Late Lokmanya Tilak in a series during 1925-26. Savarkar writes about Hindu Muslim relationship in his book Hindu Pad Padshahi, that while the historic enmity between Islamist aggression and Hindu resistance should not be projected into current normal Hindu-Muslim relations but the lessons from history, however, should not be forgotten.

Savarkar was also emphatic and critical about the existing fault lines in our society. Savarkar was a fierce rationalist, he rejected the birth based varna system and built places of worship for people from all sections of society.  Savarkar was a Social reformer and worked against many issues ailing Hindu society like untouchability, divisions among Hindus based on caste and proselytization of Hindus to Islam and there were no ways for Hindu brethren to return back to Dharmic fold. 

Savarkar gave the country the political philosophy of Hindutva and coinage of the term ‘Hindutva’ in his book Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu? (1923). As per Savarkar, this was how he defined a Hindu, “Those who regard this land of Bharat spread between the river Sindhu in the north and the ocean Sindhu Sagar, Indian Ocean in the south as their Pitrubhumi (fatherland) and Punyabhumi (holy land) are called Hindus”. In the age of political correctness, the fact remains it was Savarkar who gave Hindutva a definitive shape and no doubt he remains the philosophical and intellectual fountainhead of Hindu political renaissance.

In the later years Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History was written by Savarkar to counter the then accepted view that India's history was a saga of continuous slavery and defeats by external powers and regimes inimical to culture of the land.

The word, ‘Savarkar’ is synonymous with courage, bravery, might and patriotism. True to his name, he was an inspiration to many revolutionaries of Indian's freedom struggle, starting from Bhagat Singh, Dr Hedgewar of RSS, Subhash Chandra Bose and many more. Savarkar in spite of being proclaimed atheist was a true karma yogi who followed the principles of the Gita in his life.

If the British confined Savarkar's spirit to the cells of Cellular jail for over a decade but there is no bigger ignominy to patriots like Savarkar when a nation forgets or ignores the sacrifices of numerous people who laid down their lives for nations greater good. We should always remember Veer Savarkar as a patriot who led the country through troubled times. He unapologetically united the Hindus under one flag and gave them an ideology that should inspire and guide them for generations to come. As Savarkar said, for a nation to survive it has to reclaim its past. “The nation that has no consciousness of its past has no future." The only fitting tribute for Savarkar in the 21st century would be an establishment of a Hindu rashtra.

Image Source: News 18