VEER SAVARKAR REMEMBERED ON HIS 137TH JAYANTI
Bureau,Odishabarta
Bhubaneswar: The Bharat Raksha Manch today held a memorial meet on the 137th birth anniversary of Veer Savarkar at Bhubaneswar today. The State president of the Manch, Dr. Ashok Acharya, and others paid tributes to the freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue and said that Savarkar had motivated several people to join the freedom struggle. He said that it was Veer Savarkar who boldly expostulated by writing that whatever happened in 1857 was not a revolt but was indeed the First War of Independence.
Anil Dhir, National General Secretary of the Manch, said that Savarkar is one of the most misunderstood among the freedom fighters of the nation. His role in inspiring many others has not been acknowledged and we have not given him a proper place in history. Pradeep Tripathy, the general Secretary of the Manch lamented that the major works of Savarkar have not been translated from Marathi. He called for translation of his works in all major Indian languages like the works of Gandhi and Nehru have been done.
Savarkar was undoubtedly one of the most politically influential characters in India’s freedom struggle. He is also bestowed with the moniker, “The Father of Hindutva,” for his enunciation of the Hindutva ideology which he expressed in his landmark piece of literature, ‘Hindutva. Who is a Hindu,’ a text that come to be cherished and critiqued in equal measure.
His book, ‘The History of the War of Indian Independence’ was a watershed moment in India’s struggle against the British colonialist rule, in the manner in which it challenged an oppressive regime’s historiographical narrative, and mobilised the indigenous population. The book came to be banned across the British Empire, but copies inevitably made its way into France, Germany and the Netherlands, as Savarkar’s popularity began to grow immensely. It was he who had laid the foundation stone of the freedom struggle.
The meeting was attended by Anjan Debata, Sanghamitra Rajguru, Santosh Jena, Pradeep Patri and others.
