article on Veer Savarkar

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http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=196562

 

I wish to have specific response to the article printed below. I am

not interested in general responses about the 'impeccable life and

complete dedication' of Veer Savarkar.

 

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Amit

 

Savarkar had begged the British for mercy

 

AKSHAYA MUKUL

 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, MAY 03, 2002 10:14:29 PM ]

NEW DELHI: On Saturday, when Union home minister L K Advani names

Andamans airport after Veer Savarkar, he will attempt to draw a line

over an uncomfortable facet of the Hindutva icon's personality. For,

unlike other patriots like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Ashfaqullah, who

refused to ask the British Raj for mercy even at the cost of their

lives, Savarkar, the father of the BJP's Hindutva ideology, had

actually sought clemency while lodged in Andamans' Cellular Jail.

Savarkar's letter asking for forgiveness dated November 14, 1913 is

reprinted in a book, Penal Settlement In Andamans, published by the

Gazetteers Unit of Union ministry of education.

 

Savarkar described himself as a ``prodigal son'' longing to return to

the ``parental doors of the government''. While referring to his

earlier letter of clemency in 1911, Savarkar wrote, ``...if the

government in their manifold beneficence and mercy release me, I for

one cannot but be the staunchest advocate of constitutional progress

and loyalty to the English government which is the foremost condition

of that progress. As long as we are in jails, there cannot be real

happiness and joy in hundreds and thousands of homes of His Majesty's

subjects in India, for blood is thicker than water; but if we are

released, the people will raise a shout of joy and gratitude to the

government, who knows how to forgive and correct, more than how to

chastise and avenge.''

 

Savarkar went on to add, ``Moreover, my conversion to the

constitutional line would bring back all those misled young men in

India and abroad who were once looking up to me as their guide. I am

ready to serve the government in any capacity they like, for as my

conversion is conscientious so I hope my future conduct would be. By

keeping me in jail, nothing can be got in comparison to what would be

otherwise. The Mighty alone can afford to be merciful and, therefore,

where else can the prodigal son return but to the parental doors of

the government.''