Savarakar is a historian's enigma: Vikram Sampath

Who was Vinayak Damodar Savarkar? “Savarkar was a revolutionary, an evocative poet and a social reformer. Even his supporters distanced themselves from him because history was written with broad brushstrokes. But he is a historian’s enigma,” said historian Vikram Sampath at the Times Litfest on Sunday.

As the panel comprising Sampath, journalist Vaibhav Purandare and historian Hindol Sengupta deconstructed the “controversial figure”, they reached a consensus: it would be “unfair” to write off Savarkar as either a hero or a villain.

At a time when Hindutva has gained political currency, Sampath pointed out that Savarkar’s idea of Hindutva was based on a “cultural and nationalistic identity", Sampath added.

Savarkar’s name becomes fodder for news but the reasons for Savarkar’s resurgence in the national discourse are always extreme — while the ruling dispensation and its former allies have, on several occasions, demanded a Bharat Ratna for him, the opposition has often discredited his “contributions” to the making of modern Indian polity.

The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Savarkar, the proponent of Hindutva as an ideology, was also an atheist who would have disowned politics in the name of the cow, said Purandare. But he also pointed out Savarkar’s idea of Hindutva was “exclusive and divisive”. “While there were political and personal reasons for Savarkar to come up with the idea of Hindutva, his definitions stereotyped Muslims and stated that they would choose their holy land over their nation given an option,” he added.