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Rediff.com  » News » Savarkar compromised with British: CPI-M

Savarkar compromised with British: CPI-M

Source: PTI
September 13, 2004 22:10 IST
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The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday alleged that Veer Savarkar made 'compromises with the British and his vision of a Hindu Rashtra led to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

But the party acknowledged that Veer Savarkar had made a contribution to the freedom movement.

"There is no doubt about Savarkar's contribution to the freedom movement. But we cannot overlook the fact that when he came out of the Andaman jail, he made compromises with the British and tendered an apology to them," CPI-M Politburo member Nilotpal Basu said at the condolence meeting in Delhi for Kultar Singh, younger brother of Bhagat Singh, who died on September 5.

Kultar Singh was 86.

"While Bhagat Singh and Kultar Singh struggled against the British policy of discrimination and dividing the country into a Hindu Rashtra and a Muslim country, the view point of people like Savarkar strengthened the British establishment. This is the fundamental difference between them," he said.

He added that it was Savarkar's vision of a Hindu Rashtra that led to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
Attacking the previous NDA regime, Basu said, "No mention was made of the innumerable revolutionaries from places like Punjab and Bengal who laid down their lives, as there has been no oil minister who would put up a plaque in their memory."

Addressing the meeting, CPI leader Amarjit Kaur hit out at Uma Bharti's 'tiranga yatra'.

"People who during the independence movement mocked at the freedom fighters, calling them 'sir phira', felt affinity towards the Nazis and never respected the tricolour are now taking the support of the national flag to meet their own political ends."

"We know what their real motive behind hoisting the flag at the Idgah was. It was not done for any patriotic reasons but to foment communal trouble," Kaur said.

"We need to draw inspiration from freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh and Kultar Singh and take a pledge to safeguard the ideals of secularism and socialism," she said.

Senior Congress leader Mohsina Kidwai said there should be proper documentation done of the life and
times of the freedom fighter, which will act as inspiration for the youngsters and the generations to come.

Also present on the occasion were Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal, chairman of the All India Freedom Fighters Federation Shashi Bhushan and the son and three daughters of Kultar Singh.

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