AGAINST THE GRAIN

VEER SAVARKAR

The Man Who Could Have Prevented Partition By Uday Mahurkar & Chirayu Pandit

RUPA

₹595; 352 pages

Vinayak Damodar ‘Veer’ Savarkar (1883-1966) was a leading figure of the Hindu Mahasabha and is credited with developing the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva while imprisoned by the British in Ratnagiri in 1922. He invited much controversy with his views of a larger Hindu Rashtra and by opposing both the Quit India movement and Partition. Savarkar accused the Indian National Congress of following a weak-kneed and expedient appeasement policy towards Muslims that ultimately led to the partition of India. In 1948, Savarkar was charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi but was later acquitted by the court for lack of evidence. Excerpts from Veer Savarkar: The Man Who Could Have Prevented Partition by Uday Mahurkar and Chirayu Pandit:

THE MAKING OF AN IDEOLOGUE

When the dark clouds of pro-Muslim nationalism were hovering over the Indian horizon, Savarkar stepped on to the national political scene after his release from internment in Ratnagiri, which was preceded by 14 years of rigorous imprisonment. During this period, in