Savarkar, Unsung Hero, Nationalist and Intellectual

Veer Savarkar was a multidimensional personality—a freedom fighter, social reformer, writer, poet, historian, political leader and philosopher combined. On 28 May, we celebrate his 141 st birth anniversary. On this occasion, we need to understand why a scientific humanist and a crusader against social evils, like caste and entry of Dalits into temples through his Patit Pavan Sanghatana has been called a fundamentalist and a coward. A great social reformer who believes that the rigid caste system ‘deserves to be thrown into the dustbins of history’. The greatest conspiracy of post Independent Nehruvian state framed him and branded him as communal and a fundamentalist when the fact that he was an agnostic who gave weekly lectures in Pune on “Is there a God?” He condemned all religions; hence the Nehruvian secularists condemned him, as for them secularism primarily targets Hindus and not the Abrahamic faiths. It is time that his contributions be assessed and celebrated.