It is very easy to condemn great humans and disregard their body of work when you are not capable of achieving even 1% of what the other has achieved. This happens when you think you can take the system for granted. People in highly influential positions and ones who occupy government-designated prefixes should have control over what they say in public. These days many political leaders display a long tongue and a light brain. They don’t think twice before abusing on national television and are also shameless enough to outrage the modesty of women in public. The recent incident of Rahul Gandhi is an example of high headedness and lack of respect. He had behaved in the same manner earlier also. Insulting Veer Savarkar was one of the worst showdowns he has displayed to us. It is better to not comment if we are not experts. A man behaves like the company he keeps. Rahul Gandhi is in the company of routine abusers for some time thus such an event was expected. It was reported in the news channels that Uddhav Thackeray gave a hollow breath to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stating that he will not tolerate the insult of the great revolutionary freedom hero Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. In fact, Rahul Gandhi took the stand to insult Veer Savarkar twice at the beginning and end of the budget session of the State Legislature and Mr Uddhav Thackeray and his MLAs chose to remain silent on it. They did not utter a word.
Freedom fighter Savarkar made a valuable contribution in many fields apart from the freedom struggle. He did the work of eradicating caste, eliminating superstition, glorification of Marathi language, and giving literature to the Marathi language. Every countryman is indebted to his immeasurable contribution. The whole country and especially Maharashtra will never forget his contribution. He had a vision of popularising the concept of “Hinduism” even during times of criticism and controversy. He wanted to create a sense of Hindu identity and he did this through his speeches and writings. His ideology was free from caste discrimination and other elements which fragmented all the Hindus. When he was studying in London, he learnt the atrocities of the British and explained the same to other students and educated them. He wrote many books on what he believed and always wanted India to be independent of the British clutches. He was very brave, he confronted the Britishers, Indian National Congress, and its string leaders regarding the partition. Savarkar was very practical, he allied with the people whom he was not a fan of to achieve his goal. In 1939, he allied with the Muslim League and other political parties to come into power. He even opposed the “Quit India” movement which asked the British to leave but the British army to stay. He was very patient and wrote many books when he was imprisoned in the Andaman jail and did not lose his belief in Hindutva ideology.
Politicians should restrict themselves to their territory and avoid disrespecting stalwarts, irrespective of the ideology they belong to. When action was taken against Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi according to law, Mr Uddhav Thackeray and his MLAs were seen defending him very vigorously. In doing so, he did not see any insult to Veer Savarkar. This was the high point of the surrender of Uddhav Thackeray and his MLAs. If a woman in Maharashtra can be arrested for posting a forward against Sharad Pawar on Twitter, can we apply the same rule to the powerful?
Now a very childish attempt is being made by Uddhav Thackeray to mislead the people by making statements in public meetings and to make the people think they are fools. But the public has recognized the duplicity portrayed by Uddhav Thackeray. While he is making these statements on one hand, his son Aditya Thackeray, on the other hand, is making a statement that ‘Both parties are different and that is the role of the Congress party’ in the presence of Congress state president Nana Patole. That is unreasonable. Now, no matter how much Mr Uddhav Thackeray covers up it is of no use. When our great leaders are insulted and we remain silent, that is the high point of frustration and desperation in politics. Whether you believe in the ideology of a person or not, disrespecting them is not our culture.
Most politicians today visited jail for money laundering, cheating, raping or scams. None of them has been arrested for a social cause or for the good of the nation. The ones who arrange for a VIP arrangement in jails and are proud of themselves irrespective of their crimes will never understand what Veer Savarkar went through at Andaman Jail. The rule remains, those who do not value the people, the land and the culture of a nation are uprooted from the soil. The motherland will save its children from all harmful foreign elements like every mother.
