Savarkar's home in Shivaji Park may be razed soon

Followers opposed to redevelopment, seek heritage status for historic property

- Ateeq Shaikh

MUMBAI: Savarkar Sadan, the erstwhile residence of Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar which served as the venue for meetings that altered the course of India's history, may soon be pulled down to make way for a new building.

Three independent sources confirmed to Hindustan Times that residents had consented to redevelopment of the property and some had even sold their apartments to a developer.

"The exterior of the building looks alright as it has been painted recently. But internally, the structure is crumbling and there are frequent instances of water seepage," said one of the three sources who requested anonymity. The Swatantryaveer Savarkar Rashtriya Smarak Trust was trying to get more space on the mezzanine floor of the redeveloped building for a larger museum dedicated to Savarkar; they also want to retain the name, Savarkar Sadan, for the mezzanine floor, the sources added.

But some Savarkar followers are opposed to redevelopment of the historic property and have approached courts and government bodies seeking heritage status and a 'monument of national importance' tag for the building.

"If the BJP is serious about respecting Savarkar, they should give heritage status to Savarkar Sadan without any delay," Prof Pankaj Phadnis, a Savarkar admirer and former resident of the building told HT.

Once a bungalow Savarkar Sadan was constructed as a two-storey bungalow in 1938 on a plot measuring around 405 square metres in Dadar's Shivaji Park. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, founder of Abhinav Bharat Society, a secret grouping of Hindutva activists, and a leading figure in the Hindu Mahasabha, a political party, lived here. He met several top leaders at the bungalow, including Subhas Chandra Bose in 1940, and Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte in 1948, before they left for Delhi to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi.