As the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, referred to Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar when targeting the BJP during the second day of a debate on the Constitution on Saturday, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) hit back by invoking former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s letter praising the “remarkable son of India” Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s son, quoted Indira’s letter, “Veer Savarkar’s daring defiance of the British government has its own importance in the annals of our freedom movement. I wish success to the plans to celebrate the birth centenary of this remarkable son of India.” The row was triggered after Gandhi claimed he had spoken to Indira about Savarkar. “I had asked Indira Gandhiji about her views on Savarkar, and she said, ‘Savarkar apologised to the British . Gandhiji went to jail, Nehruji went to jail, but Savarkarji sought forgiveness,’” he said. The Congress has been seeking to put a lid on the heat generated by Gandhi’s remarks on Savarkar after it threatened to derail attempts to forge Opposition unity last year. After Congress ally Shiv Sena (UBT), worried about its Maharashtra base, raised the matter with Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, an agreement was reached to cool off on Savarkar. But that did not stop Gandhi from raising the matter this time even as the BJP targeted Jawaharlal Nehru. This led Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray to tell the BJP and the Congress to “stop talking about Pandit Nehru and Savarkar”. “Let’s talk about the future now. Those two have done what they wanted to do in the past. Talking about them should be stopped by both the parties now,” he said in Nagpur on Tuesday. Amid the rise of the BJP and its glorification of Savarkar, post-2000, the Congress view on the Hindutva ideologue has hardened, with the party targeting him as a “coward” who pleaded with the British for mercy. Gandhi’s previous comments along these lines kicked up rows, including during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Asked whether he could have apologised to escape the defamation conviction, which led to his disqualification as an MP, Rahul said: “I am not Savarkar that I would apologise. I am a Gandhi and a Gandhi does not apologise.” Savarkar and politics On November 22, 1957, during proceedings in the Lok Sabha, Raja Mahendra Pratap, an Independent MP from Mathura, moved a Bill “to recognise the service to the country of certain persons, namely, Shri Vir Savarkar, Shri Barindra Kumar Ghose (brother of Shri Aurobindo Ghose) and Dr Bhupendra Nath Datta (brother of Swami Vivekananda)”. The Deputy Speaker allowed the Bill to be introduced but Congress members raised objections. Finally, there was a division of votes, with 48 votes in favour and 75 against the introduction of the Bill. Mahendra Pratap walked out, declaring: “I hope every Bengali and every Maratha will also walk out.” Support for Mahendra Pratap came from unexpected quarters: CPI MP and Left stalwart A K Gopalan. The CPI MP’s argument found another supporter in Feroze Gandhi, the grandfather of Rahul Gandhi. “This action of opposing the introduction of the Bill by the government amounts almost to a vote of no-confidence in the Deputy Speaker,” Gandhi said. In 1965, when Savarkar was critically ill, the Congress of Lal Bahadur Shashtri released Rs 3,900 for his help from the Home Minister’s fund and later gave another Rs 1,000. The Maharashtra government, also led by the Congress, granted Rs 300 per month relief to Savarkar from September 1964 until his demise on February 26, 1966. By that time, Indira Gandhi had taken over the leadership of the Congress and the government. With the passing of the baton from leaders forged in the fires of the freedom struggle, the nature of politics had already started changing. Two days after Savarkar’s death, some members of the Bhartiya Jana Sangh (the predecessor of the BJP) and Praja Socialist Party requested the Lok Sabha Speaker (Akali Dal-turned-Congressmen Hukam Singh) for a reference of condolence. The Speaker rejected this, saying it “would be creating a new precedent because we usually do not make such a reference to such personalities and dignitaries. Therefore, however great our respect for the departed person, we should avoid breaking the precedents that have been set up.” While Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Satya Narayan Sinha backed the Speaker, again it was a CPI MP, H N Mukherjee (Calcutta Central seat), who objected. “If rules preclude us from condoling the death of a very great man merely because he did not have the dubious distinction of having been a member of the Central Legislative Assembly where Shri Satya Narayan Sinha was a luminary, this is something I cannot comprehend.” Sinha, in response, said: “We can do it (offer condolence).” There were also demands and suggestions from different quarters after his death for a memorial to be set up in his memory and issuing of a postage stamp. After repeated requests from many quarters, the first such stamp in his memory was issued, on May 28, 1970, when Indira Gandhi was the PM. On March 7, 1973, in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on whether the government considers Savarkar a freedom fighter, Minister of Home Affairs Umashankar Dikshit of the Congress said the government had decided to accord the status of freedom fighter to Savarkar. In August 1985, another Congress MP, Chandra Shekhar from Khalilabad in UP, told the Lok Sabha: “We cannot ignore his (Svarkar’s) great contribution to the freedom struggle. Therefore, I would appeal to the Honorable Home Minister to rename Port Blair as Savarkar Dham after the name of India’s brave son.” How Congress’s views evolved As the Ram temple movement drew fresh battle lines between parties, the Left completely distanced itself from the Jana Sangh with which it had earlier allied and shared power in states; with the BJP and Left both supporting the Janata Dal government in 1989. The Congress hardened its stand on Savarkar. During the NDA government of Atal Behari Vajpayee, in February 2003, the government published a profile of Savarkar to mark his death anniversary and his portrait was installed in the Central Hall of Parliament by President A P J Abdul Kalam on February 26, 2003. The Left parties and Congress boycotted the function. Then Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote to Kalam against installing Savarkar’s portrait, saying it would be a “great tragedy if the Central Hall is utilised” for this. In August 2004, there was an uproar in the House as BJP and Shiv Sena MPs alleged that a plaque at the newly built Swatantrata Jot (flame of independence) at the Cellular Jail in the Andamans, where Savarkar was imprisoned, had been removed on the instructions of then Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, who inaugurated the memorial.
