Former Union Minister and senior journalist Arun Shourie has recently published a book. The name of this book is- 'The New Icon – Savark...
In this book, Arun Shourie has closely reviewed the work and character of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Arun Shourie has written this book on the basis of documents written by Savarkar and British records.
People's opinion is divided about Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. BJP calls Savarkar a patriot and nationalist, while Congress has been raising many questions.
Arun Shourie, who wrote 'The New Icon – Savarkar and the Facts', says that Savarkar was a great rationalist, which he appreciates. Arun Shourie says that when the movement for independence was going on at the national level, Savarkar was helping the British. Savarkar had promised the British that he would be of political use to them.
Arun Shourie says that Savarkar accepted many such conditions of the British, which were not even the conditions for his release (from jail). The British had not put those conditions before him. Whenever Savarkar met Viceroy Linlithgow, Linlithgow would send the entire record of that meeting to London. According to those records, in the first meeting itself, Linlithgow says twice, 'And then he begged me' (and then Savarkar begged me).
Many things are said about the apologies written by Savarkar. Actually, Savarkar was found guilty of being involved in the murder of a collector of Nasik and was sentenced to two different sentences of 25 years each. He was sent to Andaman i.e. 'Kala Pani' to serve the sentence. After going to jail, Savarkar wrote many apologies to the British. Many people criticize Savarkar for this.
At the same time, Savarkar himself and his supporters justified apologizing to the British on the basis that this was a part of his strategy, due to which he could get some concessions. Arun Shourie has also mentioned this explanation given by Savarkar in his book.
However, Arun Shourie considers Savarkar's apology as a part of Shivaji's strategy. They do not believe in the same strategy.
They say that whenever Shivaji got stuck in something (due to Aurangzeb or his army), he would write a letter saying that he would help Aurangzeb in conquering the South. And as soon as he got out of there, he would start his own things again. But when Savarkar came out, did he do anything like Shivaji? Absolutely not. He kept helping the British.
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