'Great patriot' Savarkar on Gandhi memorial museum's special edition
India Today
The special edition of the monthly magazine 'Antim Jan', carried out by Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, features Hindutva leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar on its cover.
A monthly magazine run by a Cultural Ministry-run institution, set up in Mahatma Gandhi's memory, has featured Hindutva icon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar on its cover, hailing him as a "great patriot".
The June edition of the magazine 'Antim Jan', carried out by Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti (GSDS), has a number of articles on Savarkar. The foreward of the magazine calls the Hindutva leader's contribution to India's freedom struggle as "no less than that of Gandhi".
The foreward of the magazine, written by GSDS vice-chairperson Vijay Goel, is titled 'Mahan Deshbhakt Veer Savarkar' (great patriot Veer Savarkar). In his write-up, Goel says, "Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was a great patriot, freedom fighter, carrier of indomitable courage, wonderful writer and a fabulous orator".
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"Whenever one will talk of making supreme sacrifices during the freedom struggle, Veer Savarkar's name shall be taken with due respect and stature," the foreward reads.
The special edition's foreward speaks about Savarkar's stay in the Celular Jail on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. "It pains that those who have not been lodged in jail for a day, did not suffer for the nation, did not do anything for the country and the nation, they criticise patriots like Savarkar who have made sacrifices. Even though, Savarkar's place in history and his honour when it comes to the freedom struggle is no less than that of Gandhi," he said in the foreward .
Goel hailed Savarkar as a person with "multi-faceted talents" and a "writer of high quality" and a "nationalist thinker".
