SPECTRES OF SAVARKAR

Did Gandhi and Savarkar stay together as 'friends' in London? Did Savarkar pledge to be politically useful to the British? What kind of Hindu rashtra did he want? Arun Shourie's latest book, The New Icon, unravels some of the key myths about the Hindutva leader.

- ARUN SHOURIE

FOR some, the new spotlight on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who wrote one of the foundational texts of Hindutva politics, is an ideology's 'revenge' for being, for long, a historical footnote. For liberal India, however, his name will forever be associated with the conspiracy to kill Gandhi. Savarkar's followers have kept it interesting by piling myth upon myth about his role in the freedom struggle, dissembling his ideas on caste, citizenship and religion. Many of his revisionist biographers have also claimed to have discovered his many unknown parts. Some have said he had an interest in Hindu-Muslim unity in his youth; some have focused on his caste reformism, and some on his poetry.

Veteran journalist and former editor Arun Shourie, who was also a minister in the third BJP-led NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has in his latest book, The New Icon: Savarkar and the Facts (Penguin), based on Savarkar's speeches, essays and statements, sought to steer the reader's attention towards the myths and the man, and a 'Project Savarkar', which he says, is an attempt to erase Gandhi. Excerpts from a conversation:

Why is your book's title The New Icon when Savarkar is the 'grand old man' of Hindutva?

Savarkar is the person who is being resurrected now as part of a project to erase Gandhiji. Otherwise, he was a forgotten figure.

Many books on Savarkar are being written. Why are you interested in him and why do you think it is important now?

Yes, and I've scanned through them. I felt they just regurgitated many of the myths he propagated about himself, about Hindus, about history about religion.... He was a great myth-maker. But some of his ideas are very good. He was a great rationalist regarding the practices and beliefs of Hindus. The rulers today are invoking his name without reading him.