Author: Vidyadhar Date
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 25, 2001
Nationalist Congress Party president
Sharad Pawar on Tuesday made his journey into a political territory uncharted
by him earlier. He went to Savarkar Smarak at Shivaji Park and inaugurated
a lecture series in memory of V. D. Savarkar, who became controversial
for his views on the concept of a Hindu nation.
Mr Pawar hailed Savarkar's sacrifice
and scientific attitude but made no reference to his role as the leader
of the Hindu Mahasabha which stood for militant Hindu nationalism and hostility
towards Muslims. He made only an oblique reference to the other side of
Savarkar, saying some people may have had differences with the patriot.
Mr Pawar apparently hinted at a
reassessment of the Savarkar legacy when he said dramatic changes had taken
place in the world in the last few years. The Berlin wall had collapsed
and Europe was accepting a common currency. He also released the fifth
and sixth volumes of the writing of Savarkar.
Interestingly, chief minister Vilasrao
Deshmukh is scheduled to wrap up the lecture series on Monday.
Mr Pawar was present for the inauguration
in his capacity as former chief minister of the state during whose tenure
in 1978 the then Union minister Jagjivan Ram laid the foundation stone
for the memorial. Again in 1989 when the then President S. D. Sharma inaugurated
the memorial, Mr Pawar attended the function in his capacity as chief minister.
However, no Congress president had in the past visited the memorial.
The Congress, on its part, has always
been opposed to the politics of Savarkar because of its highly religious
overtones. The Congress has also condemned Savarkar because of his involvement
in the Mahatma Gandhi murder case. The Marathas in the Congress, in particular,
have opposed the Brahmin-dominated forces of Hindutva. However, some Congress
leaders share the popular admiration for Savarkar because of his role as
an armed revolutionary and for his sacrifice. Savarkar gave up the prospects
of a bright legal career after studying law in Britain and suffered great
hardship in the Andaman jail. For many, his career as a revolutionary and
poet-dramatist overshadows his Hindu politics he pursued after being released
from the British jail.
Meanwhile, there is considerable
admiration in the Pawar family for Savarkar. Mr Pawar's brother, architect
Suryakant, has decided to extend his cooperation in the rebuilding of the
Savarkar memorial at Shivaji Park. Mr Pawar's eldest brother, Appasaheb
Pawar, was scheduled to launch the memorial lecture series last year but
passed away before the event.
Jayantrao Tilak, a Congressman,
was president of the Savarkar Smarak committee till his death recently.
But he belonged to a different mould as a former Hindu Mahasabha supporter
and grandson of Lokmanya Tilak.
According to Milind Gadgil, president
of the Smarak Samiti, the Savarkar memorial will have five floors, two
of which will be given for commercial use as sanctioned by the municipal
corporation and the government. There will be an air rifle and pistol shooting
range and a reference library, an auditorium and a gymnasium. Most portions
of the memorial, a landmark in Mumbai, will be demolished and a new structure
will be built in the next two years. Savarkar's statue on the terrace of
the single-story memorial has been shifted and placed at the entrance of
the Smarak.
