Historian and author Vikram Sampath criticized the Congress for criticizing Veer Savarkar as the Savarkar vs Tipu Sultan controversy escalated in Karnataka. In an exclusive interview with India Today, Sampath said Congress leaders need to go back and mention Indira Gandhi, who said that Savarkar’s role in India’s freedom struggle is unique.
He said, “Indira Gandhi issued a postage stamp in his honor after his death in 1966. She received a documentary film on Savarkar through the government’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. She also made a personal grant to the Savarkar Memorial in Mumbai. “
Sampath said the Congress, which is targeting Savarkar, needs to ask itself why Indira Gandhi as PM did all this.
“History and Savarkar have suffered casualties in the political struggle,” he said.
His remarks came just days after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “Modern-day Savarkar and Jinnah continue their efforts to divide the country.”
Refuting the Congress’s claim that Savarkar propounded the two-nation theory, Sampath said: “The two-nation theory was established even before Savarkar was born. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan first established the Hindu and Hindu religion in 1876. There was talk of keeping Muslims in separate nations (Savarkar was born in 1883).”
3. Will the PM also recall today Shyama Prasad Mookherjee, the founder of the Jan Sangh, who championed the Partition of Bengal against the wishes of Sarat Chandra Bose, and who sat in free India's first Cabinet while the tragic consequences of Partition were becoming evident?
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) August 14, 2022
Sampath took a dig at former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, saying: “If Savarkar was so powerful that he could actually divide a nation into two parts, he might have become the Prime Minister of independent India.”
He said that the Hindu Mahasabha, of which Savarkar was the president, strongly opposed the partition of India.