A Pune court will on May 18 hear a criminal defamation complaint filed by Satyaki Savarkar, grandnephew of the renowned freedom fighter Veer Damodar Savarkar, over the remarks against the Hindutva icon that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had made during his recent visit to United Kingdom.
“The criminal defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi has been admitted before the court. The matter will be heard before the judicial magistrate Akshi Jain on May 18. We will place our arguments before the court for taking cognisance of the complaint,” said Nita Dhawade, one of the three lawyers through whom Satyaki moved the court against Gandhi.
Satyaki Savarkar said, “While talking at an event in London, Rahul Gandhi said (Vinayak Damodar) Savarkar has penned a book in which he has written that he and five-six of his friends were beating up a Muslim and felt delighted about what was happening. Rahul Gandhi then went on to ask whether this was not a cowardly act.”
But Satyaki said Savarkar did not write any such book as claimed by the Congress leader, “nor has such an incident ever happened”.
“He (Gandhi) has intentionally made false, malicious and wild allegations against Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, fully knowing the said allegations to be untrue, with the specific objective of harming the reputation and to defame the surname Savarkar…” Satyaki stated in his complaint.
The complaint further said Gandhi had deliberately made the remarks that were hurtful to Savarkar’s family members and followers and would “spark communal tension between two religions”. Satyaki has sought action against Gandhi under Indian Penal Code section 500 (defamation).
Now the question arises, why Rahul Gandhi is after Veer Savarkar?
Well, the primary objective is to defame and demean the reputation of Veer Savarkar, as he is among the biggest Hindutva idols in the India. The second reason could be to gain the sympathy of the so called Liberals, Seculars and radical Islamists.
Veer Savarkar’s grandson Satyaki has given an interview to Rediff, here we are producing some excerpts from the same.
Satyaki’s grandfather Narayan Damodar Savarkar was Savarkar’s brother. He said that many of his friends and colleagues have started asking him about the legacy of Veer Savarkar and about his contribution to the freedom struggle. When Rahul Gandhi made such defamatory statements, he decided to fight a legal battle against him to protect the honor of his family.
He stated that Rahul Gandhi’s speeches against Veer Savarkarji has reached the masses. He is all the time talking about his pension and mercy petition, whereas the truth is that the masses know these allegations against him are not true.
This time Rahul Gandhi said in London that Savarkar along with 5-6 friends beat up one Muslim man and enjoyed it too. Rahul Gandhi called this so called act of Savarkar, an act of cowardice.
However, this so called story of Rahul Gandhi, which tries to insult Veer Savarkar in many ways is indeed imaginary. Veer Savarkar never wrote anything like this as Rahul Gandhi is stating. Rahul Gandhi says, ‘Savarkarji ne kitab likha hai usme yeh likha hai — and the fact is Savarkar never wrote about this incident.
If you look at Veer Savarkar’s thoughts you will see that he talks about every human being should be looked up to as human first, which is above his caste, creed and religion. He was a rational thinker and was a pro-democracy leader.
Rahul Gandhi levelled another allegation against Savarkar, that he wrote his own biography under a pseudonym in which he gave himself the ‘Veer’ title and since then became known as ‘Veer Savarkar’.
However, this is a false story. He never gave himself the name Swatantra Veer Savarkar. It was given to him by the public and then I believe by Vaishampayanji who called Savarkarji as ‘Veer’. Later Acharya Pralhad Keshav Atre called him ‘Swatantryaveer’.
On questioning, when Indira Gandhi praised Savarkar after his death, how did he get the tag of a coward?
He stated that it happened due to Mani Shankar Aiyar in 2004. He was the then petroleum minister, and he was instrumental in removing the plaque commemorating Veer Savarkar at the freedom fighters memorial in Andaman’s Cellular jail where he was imprisoned by the British.
He and the entire Congress party then started this campaign on Savarkar’s clemency petition and sustenance allowance. I believe he did it because Savarkar coined the word ‘Hindutva’.
Now, we have a pro-Hindutva government at the Centre and the Opposition thinks that since the ruling party is following Savarkar’s Hindutva philosophy, as he is the father of Hindutva, then they want to regain their lost political mileage (by attacking Savarkar). By doing so, they think they will get their power back.
However, this doesn’t seem possible, as people are now more aware about the patriotic and dharmic acts of Savarkar and they have utmost faith in him. On the other hand we have Congress party and its incapable leadership, which has indulged itself in making such frivolous comments and setting anti-national and anti-Hindutva narrative on the behest of their foreign master. That is the reason why people have started deserting Congress.
