Gandhi's Savarkar trial begins, sets stage for ideological face-off

Advocate Milind Pawar's office in Shivajinagar, Pune, is a sea of literature on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar — the polarising Hindutva ideologue, whose legacy has long divided India's political discourse.

- Nadeem Inamdar

PUNE:

Pawar, who represents Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case relating to his client's remarks on Savarkar made in March 2023, is busy scrutinising archival material as the trial formally began on Friday in a Pune court.

On the opening day, Savarkar's legal team submitted a copy of Mazi Janmathep, Savarkar's autobiographical account of his time in prison, along with a pen drive containing transcripts and newspaper clippings, as previously requested by Pawar. The court also accepted Pawar's plea seeking a copy of Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?, Savarkar's 1923 book that laid the foundation of the Hindutva ideology. The complainant agreed to furnish the book as evidence.

Pawar, in his written submission, argued that Savarkar had endorsed the two-nation theory during his 1937 presidential address to the Hindu Mahasabha in Ahmedabad, stating that "there are two antagonistic nations living side by side in India". He also maintained that under Savarkar's leadership, the Hindu Mahasabha propagated the concept of India as a Hindu Rashtra or Hindu nation. The court has scheduled the next hearing for May 9.