'Savarkar Vandalised a Mosque, Called Gandhi a 'Plague'': Arun Shourie Interview
The ex BJP leader Arun Shourie takes a bold stance on Savarkar - one that might surprise you!
By: ESHWAR
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Did Savarkar call Gandhi a walking plague? Did Gandhi ask him to write mercy petitions while he was imprisoned? Were Savarkar and Gandhi friends? What were Savarkar's views on cow worship?
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar — the man with one of the most controversial socio-political legacies of the pre-Independence era, his life story has been a subject of study in school's history textbooks and an inspiration for literary work. But he is also the subject of political contentions in present day India.
While scores of books already exist on Savarkar, he is being written about once again by Arun Shourie — former BJP leader, Union Minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Cabinet, a Magsayay award-winning journalist, and a Padma Bhushan awardee.
So, what does Arun Shourie aim to address in his book?
"I feel many of them are just regurgitating things which advocate the myths that he himself created, and it deals only with specific issues relating to him arising from his own writings - legends and myths about his life and so on," Shourie said.
But while speaking on Savarkar, the conversation with Shourie steers to the present day BJP, and how issues like 'appropriating an advocate of Hindu Rashtra' may have made him snap ties with the party.
On 'Badi Badi Baatein, Shourie discusss the BJP, the 'challenges' of the concept of a 'Hindu Rashtra', and the myths, facts, and narratives about Savarkar.
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