"VEER" SAVARKAR or "COWARD" SAVARKAR? || The Most Controversial Revolutionary of India ||

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.... A "Patriot" or a "Traitor"..... Today we gonna check out some things from our history about him....

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was a Chitpavan Brahmin from Maharashtra. Being from a Brahmin family, he did not think Hinduism as a religion. He believed that it is a geographic and cultural identity, Hinduism is a way of life and religion is a western concept.
He is someone who did not believe in the Caste system. He was the man who incites the violence in the name of religion. He used to dining with some of his friends, who are used to think belonging to the lower caste. He opened a Temple in Maharashtra, where people from every caste were welcomed.
Vinayak was the most wanted criminal of the British Raj. His crime was his weapon, not a Gun but a Pen. He was a Poet. He wrote a lot of things in his lifespan. He was the first man, denying the fact that "1857 Uprising" was a "Mutiny". He was the first to demand "Poorna Sawraj" means "Total Independence".
Vinayak was a sharp student. He got Scholarship to go to London and get a Law Degree from there.

There Comes the story of India House

India House : It was the center of Political activism against the British in their own Home London. Madam Cama, V.N.Chatterjee, Lala Hardayal and many other revolutionaries stayed over there including Vinayak. In this place they would get inspired by Italian and Irish Revolutionaries and learn from them.

After The Revolt of 1857

British realized that if the Armed forces revolted against them they would get waved off.
Vinayak realized that the Britishers were trying to manipulate the history. He wrote a book The Indian War of Independence 1857. This book became the Guide Book for Indian Revolutionaries including Bhagat Singh, Chandra sekhar Azad and Subhas Chandra Bose.
He was supplying Guns to Indian Revolutionaries and when Madan lal Dingra shot Curzon wyllie, Vinayak gets arrested.
He was the same person who got most brutal punishment from British. Two life sentences of 25 years back to back in Andaman Cellular Jail.

Here comes The Historic Mercy Petition

His term started with 6 months of Solitary Confinement. (You cannot talk to anyone but just watch other prisoners hung to death.)
He knew it was his responsibility to get out from the prison to help the Nation. He knew that he is useless for the country if he stayed in the prison.
That is why he wrote Petitions so that he could get out. and moreover it was not for himself only for all the prisoners over there.
He was called "Bada Babu" even in the prison. He was their Leader.

Point of view

If we call him "Coward" without knowing these facts, it would be more brutal than "Kaala paani". Vinayak was in "Kaala paani".
Even after those punishment, Tortures, he returned to his cell and wrote Poetry. Because he was a Poet. But no one talks about these
writings. everybody is talked about his Mercy Petitions, which he did not just for himself but for the fellow prisoners, for the country. So next time before calling him "coward" just keep in mind these facts.