Savarkar wrote mercy petitions on Mahatma Gandhi's request: Rajnath Singh
New Delhi, Oct 12: Hailing Savarkar as a staunch nationalist and India's first military strategist in the 20th century, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said it was on Mahatma Gandhi's request that he wrote mercy petitions to the British and people from the Marxist and Leninist ideology wrongly accuse him as a fascist.
He described Savarkar as a "national icon" at an event to release a book on him and said he gave the country a "robust defence and diplomatic doctrine".
"He was an icon of the Indian history and will remain so. There can be a difference of opinion about him, but to look down on him as inferior is not appropriate and justifiable. He was a freedom fighter and a staunch nationalist, but people who follow the Marxist and Leninist ideology are the ones who accuse Savarkar of being a fascist...," Singh said, adding that the hatred towards Savarkar is illogical and unplaced.
Talking about Savarkar as a freedom fighter, he said his commitment for freedom was so strong that the British sentenced him to life imprisonment twice.
"Lies were spread about Savarkar repeatedly. It was spread that he filed many mercy petitions for seeking his release from jails.... It was Mahatma Gandhi who asked him to file the mercy petitions...," the defence minister said.
Savarkar was forthright in saying that India's relations with other countries should depend on how conducive those ties are to India's security and its interests, irrespective of the kind of government in those countries, he said.
"Savarkar was India's first military strategic affairs expert in the 20th century, who gave the country a robust defence and diplomatic doctrine," Singh said.
Discussing Savarkar's concept of Hindutva, he said the word "Hindu" for him was not associated with any religion and it was linked to India's geographical and political identity. For Savarkar, Hindutva was associated with cultural nationalism, he added.
"For Savarkar, an ideal state was the one where its citizens were not differentiated on the basis of their culture and religion and therefore, there is a need to deeply understand his Hindutva," the veteran BJP leader said.
Echoing similar sentiments about Savarkar, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said his ideology of Hindutva never suggested to differentiate between people on the basis of their culture and methodology of worshipping the god.
"Savarkar used to say, why do we differentiate? We are the sons of the same motherland, we are brothers. The different methodologies of worship have been the tradition of our country. We have been fighting for the country together," Bhagwat said.
Underlining that Savarkar was not an enemy of the Muslims, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief said he had written many ghazals in Urdu.
Several people talked about Hindutva and unity in the Indian society, it was just that Savarkar spoke about it loudly and now, after so many years, it is being felt that had everyone spoken loudly, no division (of the country) would have happened, he added.
"...the Muslims who migrated to Pakistan after the partition have no prestige in that country, because they belong to India and it cannot be changed. We have the same ancestors, only our methodology of worship is different and we are all proud of our liberal culture of Sanatan Dharma. That heritage takes us forward, that is why all of us are living here together," Bhagwat said.
He also said whether it is Savarkar's Hindutva or Vivekananda's Hindutva, all are the same as they all talk about the same cultural nationalism where people are not differentiated on the basis of their ideology.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
ALSO READ: Why remove Mahatma Gandhi's name, asks Priyanka on move to replace MGNREGA
The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
