Had Savarkar been 'boot licker' of Britishers...: C T Ravi

BJP National General Secretary C T Ravi thanked the opposition party leaders for making provocative and factually incorrect statements against V D Savarkar, as this has given the nationalists an opportunity to tell India who was a real patriot and who were the boot lickers of Britishers.

Speaking after inaugurating ‘Jayastute-- Amar Savarkar... Ajay Bharat’ a lecture programme organised by Arivu, Hubballi and Niramaya Foundation in Hubballi on Saturday, said had Savarkar been really a Bristher’s stooge, as branded by his ‘enemies’, would he suffer two life sentence terms in Andaman jails? “While he shoulders the punishment to extract oil during his Kalapani time, there were other ‘freedom fighters’ who were serving the punishment by putting their hands on the shoulders of Britisher viceroy and governors’ wives,” he said.

Targeting Congress, Ravi said the party was formed by the British Civil Servant Allan Octavian Hume to make sure that revolts such as 1857 do not repeat again. “Congress was formed with the permission of Bombay viceroy in 1885 to ensure that people could give a memorandum to Britishers and get their work done. Till 1910 (by when Savarkar was sent to Andaman jail), Congress did not have an Indian president,” he said and added that Congress did play a role in India’s independence. But the fact is it was not the only organisation that fought for freedom as being projected by a few; claiming so would mean insult to all the other freedom fighters.

“Britishers did not fear Congress, they feared for revolutionaries. Which is why none of the Congress leaders ever suffered life imprisonment, neither were they hung or shot at by Britisher, as they were they real...” Ravi said without mentioning the boot lickers tag.

Quoting a letter written by Mahatma Gandhi to Dr Narayan Savarakar (Vinayak’s brother), Ravi said Gandhi himself had acknowledged Savarkar as a political prisoner and for his release from Andaman Gandhi had started the non-co-operation movement. However, Ravi claimed that there was the political reason behind Gandhi’s letter to Britisher seeking Savarakar’s release. “Savarkar wrote those mercy petitions, which was a legal remedy that Britishers had given to revolutionaries. Returning from Andaman Savarakar continued to inspire revolutionaries,” he said and added that it was Savarakar’s far-sightedness that helped India retain a portion of Kashmir and Delhi as the Indian army, which was earlier filled with ‘so-called minorities’ saw a huge flux of Hindu soldiers, due to Savarakar’s call, and defended India right after India’s partition.

Ravi questioned Gandhi and Nehru's silence during the bifurcation of India. “It was someone’s greed and non-violence that led to the death of hundreds of innocent Hindus returning from Pakistan,” he said and added that had India listened to Dr B R Ambedkar’s advice of complete exchange of Hindus and Muslims between India and Pakistan, today India would not have seen Islamic extremism.

The political hire of Gandhi, who spent three years in jail and ensure his three-four generations ruled India, should explain to India as to why they continue to blame Savarkar for Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination even after courts and commissions formed their own government has exonerated him. Nehru used Godse’s act to settle his scores with RSS, Savarkar and others. However, he failed, said Ravi.

Ravi said had Savarakar compromised with Britishers, he would have been the first prime minister of India.