Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul><li>The debate over <keyword id="102381" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nathuram-Godse">Nathuram Godse</keyword>’s ‘patriotism’ is peaking in India ahead of the last polling day.</li><li>Superstar-turned-politician <keyword id="6354603" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="kamal-haasan">Kamal Haasan</keyword>’s attack on Godse met with a severe backlash from Hindu fundamentalists.</li><li>In 2019, India is debating whether the killer of <keyword id="6355532" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="mahatma-gandhi">Mahatma Gandhi</keyword> should be called a ‘terrorist’ or a ‘patriot’.</li><li>The heated debate has even engulfed apolitical corporates like Anand Mahindra, Chairman of The Mahindra Group.</li></ul>In his will, Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse, asked his family not to perform his last rites, until India is united with Pakistan again. In fact, his urn of ashes is passed on to his clan for safekeeping until his dream comes true. While Godse’s wish may remain unfulfilled, India’s politics has kept Gandhi’s killer relevant 71 years after his death. Rekindling the debate over his ‘patriotism’ is believed to help consolidate the majoritarian vote that can influence the election result. No wonder, the debate is peaking in India before the final polling day in the 2019 election for the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s Parliament. On May 13, debutante politician and famous actor Kamal Hassan raked this issue when he called Godse, “independent India’s first terrorist”. This comment was made from Hassan who was campaigning for his new-born political party, Makkal Needhi Mayyam, which fielded candidates in Tamil Nadu. What followed was a political stir that drew nearly everyone into the debate. <keyword id="58687" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bharatiya-Janata-Party">Bharatiya Janata Party</keyword>’s (BJP) Bhopal candidate <keyword id="40663" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sadhvi-Pragya">Sadhvi Pragya</keyword> Thakur, hit back at Haasan and called Godse a ‘patriot’. “Nathuram Godse will be a deshbhakt (patriot) and will always be so. People who make comments on him, should introspect their own actions,”<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/nathuram-godse-was-a-deshbhakt-says-sadhvi-pragya-thakur/videoshow/69356645.cms"> she said</a>. However, Thakur retracted her statement after her party, the BJP, distanced itself from the comments, but the debate over Godse is still raging on. Hassan defended his <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/kamal-haasan-to-ndtv-on-his-remarks-on-nathuram-godse-not-intimidated-by-reactions-terrorists-abound-2038842">comment</a> even today and said, “terrorists are abound in every religion”. Interestingly, Haasan himself played the role of Saket Ram, who plots to kill Gandhi in the 1999 epic, Hey Ram, which details the protagonist’s journey from extremism to non-violence. Just when Saket Ram was discovering Gandhi’s glory in the fictional story, Nathuram Godse fires at the father of the nation. While the clash of rhetoric on social media is not surprising, someone threw slippers at Haasan for condemning Gandhi’s assassin. 
	<div type="twitter" handle="madhukishwar" handlename="MadhuPurnima Kishwar" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/957311651790831616/aPQe3swS_normal.jpg" favoritecount="6817" retweetcount="2796" status="Sure he murdered Gandhi but he didn't hit &amp; run. He surrendered &amp; faced the trial with heroic courage &amp; left a very… https://t.co/xQR2n1wKfH" createdat="1558019606000" id="1129042179316494336"></div>



 The political slug was to be expected but even industrialist Anand Mahindra, Chairman of The Mahindra Group, took a moment to express his exasperation. 
	<div type="twitter" handle="anandmahindra" handlename="anand mahindra" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1053583782584807425/-7IRmY5u_normal.jpg" favoritecount="21816" retweetcount="5922" status="For 75 yrs,India’s been the land of the Mahatma;a beacon when the world lost its morality.We used to be pitied for… https://t.co/bnp3pheiev" createdat="1558054211000" id="1129187320987447296"></div>



 Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has sought a report from the Madhya Pradesh’s Chief Electoral Officer on Thakur’s comments<a href="https://www.thehindu.com/elections/lok-sabha-2019/pragya-singh-thakur-calls-nathuram-godse-a-patriot-bjp-disagrees/article27149158.ece"> on Thursday</a>. Patriot or not Godse has been a debated topic ever since he shot Gandhi in 1948 as the latter was returning from a prayer meet. The assassin had immediately surrendered, and reportedly, never showed any remorse for his actions. During the famous Red Fort trial, he wrote a long statement as a response to prosecution. This statement was later printed as a book, called “Why I assassinated Gandhi”. A ban of on the book was lifted in 1968. While Godse was hanged for his actions, his undying passion for a ‘Hindu state’ has its fans even now.

It’s 2019 and India is debating if the murder of Mahatma Gandhi was Godse’s ‘patriot act’

After the Narendra Modi interview fiasco, <keyword id="6408304" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="doordarshan">Doordarshan</keyword> has decided to back out from telecasting a docu-drama on <keyword id="6355532" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mahatma-Gandhi">Mahatma Gandhi</keyword>’s assassination as the Prasar Bharati board expressed concerns that “it is likely to be inflammatory in nature.” The programme was to depict <keyword id="102381" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nathuram-Godse">Nathuram Godse</keyword>'s trial. 
 The 52-episode serial was withdrawn by director-producer duo <keyword id="35883" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="ketan-mehta">Ketan Mehta</keyword> and <keyword id="126820" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Deepa-Sahi">Deepa Sahi</keyword>, owing to time constraints. The Prasar Bharati board felt that focusing the programme only on Gandhi's assassination was not a "very good idea.” The Prasar Bharati board had discussed this in its January meeting. 
 
Recently, Prasar Bharati was heavily criticised for editing Narendra Modi’s remarks on Priyanka Gandhi and Ahmed Patel from an interview. Doordarshan had, however, defended itself, saying there was no “deliberate attempt at editing.” 
 
On the Gandhi serial, the board observed, "Considering that the subject matter spans a relatively short period in the life of Mahatma Gandhi, the proposed number of episodes (52) appears to be on the higher side and could be judiciously pruned. Since the material on the trial of Nathuram Godse is likely to be inflammatory in nature, focusing the programme on the trial is avoidable... It was felt that the theme of the proposed programme could be woven around the various events that happened during the last days of Mahatma Gandhi, including Independence, Partition, the Noakhali tragedy, etc." 
 The board also recommended setting up a committee, including DD director general <keyword id="203386" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tripurari-Sharan">Tripurari Sharan</keyword> and part-time board members <keyword id="33011" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Muzaffar-Ali">Muzaffar Ali</keyword> and Prema Cariappa. "The committee may co-opt any other subject expert, if so required. The committee may also like to interact with Ketan Mehta on the matter while arriving at the final decision," the minutes of the meeting stated. 
 
"There were certain concerns raised by the board. But the proposal was withdrawn by Ketan Mehta, citing his inability to take it further. He later told me he thought the subject may have a better prospect as a film," said Sharan. 
 
Maya Movies’ co-founder Deepa Sahi said, "We have withdrawn from the project for the time being due to time constraints and informed DD." 
 
Godse was executed following a year-long trial. Recently, a play called Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy was also banned to avoid controversy. 
Image Courtesy: Thinkstock

Doordarshan Shelves TV Show On Gandhi’s Assassination

Famous Telugu film actor and political debutante Pawan Kalyan who put in a tough fight has lost the Gajuwaka assembly election seat to YSR Congress' T Nagireddy by a little over 16,000 votes. Kalyan's Jana Sena Party has won only a single seat, which has fought the elections in the state for the very first time. The Telugu superstar Kalyan also joined the Mahagatbandhan coalition led by Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party, at a national level. Tough terrain The actor with many superhit movies under his belt, is also the brother of Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi. He followed his brother’s footsteps and kickstarted his own political party in 2014 but contested only this elections. But Chiranjeevi’s party Praja Rajyam had failed to make an impact, merged with Congress and later vanished from electoral rolls and people’s minds. Kalyan also chose a tough constituency for his political debut since it is the largest constituency in the state. Also, he had to fight off many ‘outsider’ slurs during the campaigning even as large masses attended his rallies. Hassan’s boys to lose deposit On the other hand, yet another South star Kamal Hassan is struggling too. While Hassan hasn’t contested himself, he fielded 21 candidates in 38 Lok Sabha seats. His party Makkal Needhi Mayyan (MNM) has not made an impact. As per initial results, it looks like most of his candidates will be losing deposits with lower than the required vote share of 16%. Hassan had to face multiple controversies during his campaign. The worst of them was his comments on Nathuram Godse, saying that he was ‘independent India’s first terrorist’.

Pawan Kalyan loses by a wafer thin margin in Gajuwaka

In what can be called a bizarre incident, farmers in a village in <keyword id="6355554" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Madhya-Pradesh">Madhya Pradesh</keyword> received <keyword id="3826395" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rs-2000-notes">Rs 2000 notes</keyword> without <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/bizarre-farmers-stunned-after-they-receive-rs-2000-note-without-mahatma-gandhis-photo-on-it/articleshow/56351265.cms">Mahatma Gandhi's </a>photo on it from a State Bank of India branch. 
 
Thinking that the notes were fake, they approached the bank officials who then told them the notes were genuine, and that the image was missing due to printing error. 
 
Once news spread of this goof-up on social media, Twitter couldn't stop themselves from cracking jokes on this incident and all of them are hilarious! 
 
Here's what they said: 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
	 When Gandhi ji realised that he shares his surname with <keyword id="5268" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rahul-Gandhi">Rahul Gandhi</keyword>. <a href="https://t.co/v0Ox4wniBT">pic.twitter.com/v0Ox4wniBT</a>
	— The Viral Fever (@TheViralFever) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheViralFever/status/816881100903550976">January 5, 2017</a></blockquote>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
	
		She: My parents aren't home Gandhi: <a href="https://t.co/UX60Z0NkQJ">pic.twitter.com/UX60Z0NkQJ</a>
	— Bewda Engineer (@abhijix) <a href="https://twitter.com/abhijix/status/816924460049723392">January 5, 2017</a></blockquote>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
	
		Acha chalta hoon. Duaaon mein yaad rakhna. 
		 <keyword id="6355532" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mahatma-Gandhi">Mahatma Gandhi</keyword> <a href="https://t.co/ZG8PC8KNFO">pic.twitter.com/ZG8PC8KNFO</a>
	— Vishal Bhatt (@Bhatt_Vishal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bhatt_Vishal/status/816876032720510977">January 5, 2017</a></blockquote>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
	
		2000 rupee notes found in wallet of Nathuram Godse. <a href="https://t.co/WLXHxlolED">pic.twitter.com/WLXHxlolED</a>
	— Kachra Peti (@kachra_peti) <a href="https://twitter.com/kachra_peti/status/816875319198175232">January 5, 2017</a></blockquote>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
	
		Baapu ke naam par safaai karte karte, baapu ko hi saaf kar diya. <a href="https://t.co/iAsSuMBEGO">pic.twitter.com/iAsSuMBEGO</a>
	— Sagar (@sagarcasm) <a href="https://twitter.com/sagarcasm/status/816879774643712001">January 5, 2017</a></blockquote>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
	
		Bapu change lene gaye hai. <a href="https://t.co/ycUDgd9oYH">pic.twitter.com/ycUDgd9oYH</a>
	— Godman Chikna (@Madan_Chikna) <a href="https://twitter.com/Madan_Chikna/status/816873479639302144">January 5, 2017</a></blockquote>

Twitter couldn't stop cracking jokes about Mahatma Gandhi going missing in some Rs 2000 notes in Madhya Pradesh

<ul><li>A historic win will make Narendra Modi the first non-Congress Prime Minister to get re-elected.</li><li>This was the first time since 1984 a majority government has been re-elected.</li><li>Visit <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Business Insider India's home page</a> for more stories</li></ul>Narendra Modi has created history by becoming the first non-Congress Prime Minister to get re-elected in the 72 years of India's independence. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in 353 seats compared to its rival the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) that is ahead in 90 seats. The BJP made history even five years back when it clocked in a full majority, the first for any government since 1984. A full majority twice in a row is an even bigger feat for Modi and the BJP. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <div type="image" title="evmBI28-4" msid="69466039" hostid="261"></div>



















 No single rival was fighting Modi to win on his/her own. A motley crew of former foes were waiting for the final tally before they could stitch a suitable coalition that would end Modi's reign. However, as the counting progressed on May 23, it became evident very early that the the room for any political manoeuvre was limited, and eventually, even that disappeared. The Indian National Congress, the only national party other than the BJP, nearly doubled its seat count in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's Parliament, but for Rahul Gandhi, Congress' President, could not escape the embarrassment of having lost a seat, Amethi, that was seen as family bastion for decades. A grand alliance of regional parties, led by Bahujan Samaj Party's Mayawati and Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, pitched itself as an alternative to Modi's strongman vibe. However, the camaraderie failed to strike a chord with the voters of Uttar Pradesh-- India's most populous state that is home to these two parties. The music stopped for the Mahagathbandhan when hoards of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/narendra-modi-varanasi-up-lok-sabha-election-result-2019/articleshow/69455114.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">people in Varanasi</a> danced to Modi's tunes on April 25. The final result for the grand alliance were 15 Lok Sabha seats. Modi's rivals cried against the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indias-government-wants-you-to-believe-that-demonetisation-didnt-slow-down-the-economy/articleshow/67785050.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">whimsical demonetisation</a>, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/unemployment-in-india-is-at-its-highest-in-45-years-says-an-indian-daily-citing-an-undisclosed-jobs-survey/articleshow/67769020.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">peaking unemployment</a>, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/congress-promises-farm-loan-waiver-after-bjp-offers-minimum-income-support-in-budget-2019/articleshow/67827116.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">mounting farm distress</a>, and the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/patriot-act-godse-debate-kamal-haasan-vs-sadhvi-pragya-bjp/articleshow/69372552.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">uneasy polarisation</a>, but none of that left as much as a scratch on Modi's chances. Even the alleged scandal in the government deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets did not cut ice with the country's voters. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <div type="image" title="rafalebi5" msid="69465705" hostid="261"></div>



















 The adolescent Indian democracy was looking for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/jlf-gandhi-vs-modi-bjp-vs-congress-dont-understand-indian-voters/articleshow/67685811.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">a Presidential clash</a> but the opposition could not nominate a powerful alternative to Modi. The writing was on the wall but the regional satraps and national figureheads continued playing hardball with each other, and the potential of a desperate <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-avengers-endgame-lesson-for-modi-rahul-gandhis-congress-and-mahagathbandhan/articleshow/69138766.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">anti-Modi coalition</a> was never fully realised. The momentum was so strong in Modi's favour that even the terror accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur-- who was also reprimanded for calling <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/patriot-act-godse-debate-kamal-haasan-vs-sadhvi-pragya-bjp/articleshow/69372552.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse a 'patriot'</a>-- <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sadhvi-pragya-thakur-vs-dijvijaya-singh-bhopal-lok-sabha-election-results-2019/articleshow/69456794.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">won Bhopal with a huge margin</a>. The north-south divide The Modi wave was strong and pervasive but it limited largely to the north of India. The wave <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/exit-polls-2019-no-modi-wave-in-tamil-nadu-karnataka-kerala/articleshow/69402617.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">once again lost momentum</a> south of the Vindhya range of mountains, despite its best efforts. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <div type="image" title="MODIWAVEBI26" msid="69465632" hostid="261"></div>



















 The BJP definitely improved its tally in Karnataka but it could not make any further headway into the other four major states-- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. While the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) swept Tamil Nadu with 31 out of 39 seats, Jaganmohan Reddy's victory in Andhra Pradesh marked <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/ap-andhra-pradesh-assembly-elections-2019-jagan-reddys-win-marks-the-rise-of-the-prodigal-son/articleshow/69462170.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">the rise of the prodigal son</a>. Reddy's immediate neighbour to the west, K Chandrshekhar Rao successfully <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/telangana-lok-sabha-election-result-2019-trs-vs-congress-vs-tdp-vs-bjp/articleshow/69445813.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">protected his territory</a>, Telangana, for a second time in less than a year. Rao called for a premature assembly election in Telangana in 2018 and came out of it with flying colours. The only other place Modi faced <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-tmc-and-bjp-are-fighting-over-the-nrc-in-west-bengal/articleshow/69194392.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">any challenge was in West Bengal</a>. Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee did not pretend to play nice as BJP marched on to claim the eastern state. The clash of titans stirred the volatile electorate with a long history of violence. The BJP may have ended up second in the state but it bagged 18 precious seats that established the party as a serious player in the state for the first time ever. None of this was a surprise. BJP smelled the resentment against the local leadership in the east, and invested itself heavily. Modi himself addressed 17 rallies in Bengal, the most after Uttar Pradesh. The party cadre was funded and fuelled in Odisha and the north-eastern states and all of this paid off rich dividends, much on expected lines. Swinging states Six months earlier, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/here-are-some-reasons-why-indias-ruling-party-lost-to-its-main-rival-in-three-very-important-state-elections/articleshow/67057122.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">BJP had to face defeat in state elections</a> in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. The party had just whisked past the halfway mark in Gujarat, Modi's home state. These results rejuvenated the Congress and, may be, made it a bit complacent too. Within six months, the same states swung back to voting for the BJP. In Modi's home state Gujarat, the BJP is leading in all 26 seats, in 9 out of 11 seats in Chhattisgarh, and in all but one seat in MP-- a stark contrast to the picture of struggle in the assembly elections in December. In Bihar too, the NDA is miles ahead of competition-- leading in 32 out of the state's 40 seats-- including in high-profile constituencies like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/kanhaiya-kumar-vs-giriraj-singh-begusarai-lok-sabha-election-result-2019/articleshow/69453161.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Begusarai</a> and Patna Sahib. Debutante politician Kanhaiya Kumar, from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has less than half the number of votes as rival from BJP, the veteran Giriraj Singh, who was also a minister in Modi's government. In Patna Sahib, sitting Parliamentarian Shatrughan Sinha is trailing Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who has over 55% of the votes. There 17 other candidates in this constituency. Congress' solace Congress is leading in Punjab and Kerala, while its biggest ally the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is cornering maximum votes in Tamil Nadu. In Kerala's Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi is ahead with 67% of the votes where there are 20 other candidates. It was a face saver for Gandhi as he lost the family bastion Amethi to the firebrand from BJP, Smriti Irani. India’s markets celebrated the results. The Sensex hit <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sensex-rallies-550-points-as-bjp-leads-convincingly-in-vote-counting/articleshow/69458099.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">the 40,000 mark for the first time ever</a> as investors hoped that the stability of continuing policies may the give the economy the much-needed fillip. His electoral feats and political might notwithstanding, those who care for it will blame Modi for demonetisation forever. Modi may have pitched himself as a pro-business reformer but experts have expressed fear that if he gets a second term, his policies are likely to be more socialist and akin to the proposals of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/19/opinion/india-elections-modi.html">Bernie Sanders in the US</a>, and not like the policies of Ronald Reagan. Nonetheless, the baton remains with Modi. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india-election-results-fii-watch-narendra-modis-new-cabinet-and-policy-decisions/articleshow/69479558.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Foreign investors are thrilled about Modi's win but don't know what to expect from him</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international-leaders-are-already-congratulating-narendra-modi-for-victory-in-indias-general-election/articleshow/69461194.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Naveen Patnaik’s BJD leads in Assembly and Lok Sabha seats in early trends</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/ap-andhra-pradesh-assembly-elections-2019-jagan-reddys-win-marks-the-rise-of-the-prodigal-son/articleshow/69462170.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Jagan Reddy’s win marks the rise of the prodigal son</a>

Narendra Modi has retained India's iron throne and reduced rivals to dust

In 1906, in a lodging house for Indian students in Highgate, a pleasant area of north London, a young lawyer called Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi dropped in on a law student called Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who happened to be frying prawns at the time. Savarkar offered Gandhi some of his meal; Gandhi, a vegetarian, refused. Savarkar allegedly retorted that only a fool would attempt to resist the British without being fortified by animal protein.
The meeting is said to have begun hostilities between the two young Indian nationalists; whether or not the story is apocryphal, there were real reasons for antipathy.
The two men had very different approaches to the struggle against Britain. Gandhi, who became leader of the Indian National Congress (INC), was a pacifist with an inclusive attitude towards Muslims and Christians. Savarkar, who would lead the Hindu Mahasabha, was a right-wing majoritarian who spawned the idea of hindutva, or Hindu-ness--the belief that the Hindu identity is inseparable from the Indian identity. Congress eclipsed the Mahasabha and, since history belongs to the victors, the story of India's independence movement became one of non-violence. But the strand of thought that Savarkar represented was more important than is generally recognised, and is enjoying a revival.
A member of the Mahasabha broke away to form the paramilitary Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or national volunteer organisation, in 1925, modelled, some say, on the British army. A social rather than explicitly political organisation, it presented itself as the world's largest non-governmental group, in which like-minded, khaki-uniformed men could gather for dawn calisthenics. It recruited boys at an impressionable age, as the Jesuits did, the better to inculcate them with discipline and with passion for the cause. One such was the eight-year-old Narendra Modi. The future prime minister attended training sessions with the RSS, was subsequently inducted as a cadet, and in 1985 was assigned by the RSS to its political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which he rose to lead.
Mr Modi is India's strongest leader since Indira Gandhi, and its most controversial. The source of controversy is his failure in 2002, when chief minister of Gujarat, to avert a massacre of Muslims, which opponents attribute to a hostility to Muslims born of the ideology that Savarkar spawned. Mr Modi has never apologised for the massacre, though he said last year that he felt regret over them, as he would at seeing a puppy run over in the street. Nor has he made any attempt to distance himself from the RSS.
The RSS, meanwhile, is becoming more overtly political. Mohan Bhagwat, its current leader, is somewhat in the mould of Savarkar, paraphrasing his beliefs and promoting Hindutva. In August this year Mr Bhagwat directly echoed Savarkar by saying all who live in "Hindustan" are in fact Hindus, whatever Muslims, Christians or secular Hindus might say. More striking, the RSS leader has switched the organisation's methods. Now, far from eschewing party politics, the group has become an enthusiastic and effective actor within it. The RSS's millions of members and volunteers (no one knows just how many active ones there really are) played a big role in electing the BJP by a landslide in 2014. At least 19 ministers in government, including Mr Modi, have a background in the RSS. Its leaders are seconded to senior posts in the party too. So the ideas of the man who inspired the RSS matter more than ever before.
<h3>The naked jumper</h3>
The lawyer described by a British official in 1906 as "a small man with an intelligent face and a nervous manner" does not sound like the muscular hero that Indian nationalists crave, but Savarkar clearly had a certain dash. In 1910, while he was in London, he was charged with conspiring to wage war against the king and with providing weapons used to assassinate a Briton in the Indian civil service, sentenced to two life terms--50 years--in jail and sent back to India. While the steamship "Morea" was berthed in Marseille harbour, he slipped away from his guards, leapt, almost naked, into the sea and swam ashore. Unfortunately for the eulogists, he was promptly caught by French police and bundled back to the ship.
His daring did, however, win him fame, and also created legal history. France's government, annoyed that Britain had overseen an arrest on its territory, wanted Savarkar returned. Britain refused so the matter went to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. It ruled his arrest was indeed "irregular", but decided Savarkar might as well stay in India. The case was one of the earliest heard by the tribunal.
Savarkar's next stop was the Andaman Islands--a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal. This palm-fringed tropical paradise served as a penal colony for the British. Cellular Jail in the capital, Port Blair, is now a memorial for freedom campaigners. In a park opposite stands a row of statues of independence heroes. One is of a slender man with a pinched face behind round spectacles. A pen protrudes from his jacket pocket, one hand rests on a part-furled umbrella and the other wags a finger at the sky. You might mistake him for a prissy bank manager, but a plaque identifies him as Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. The park is named after him.
Ranjit Savarkar, his great-nephew, who runs the Savarkar trust, says that he showed great fortitude in jail. A trained yogi, he overcame thoughts of suicide. Other inmates nicknamed him "Barrister Babu", for his London legal training. Already a published historian and poet, he used Cellular Jail to work on his writing--literally: he wrote on its walls. He spent a decade there before being moved to the mainland in 1921. He was subsequently freed, after pledging to keep out of politics--a promise which the ideology he was developing in jail suggests he did not intend to keep.
A fierce nationalist, he adored Guiseppe Mazzini, who fought for the unification of Italy, writing about him in the hope of inspiring resistance to the British in India. Savarkar believed that India is really composed of, and must only be run by, Hindus. In his 1924 book, "Hindutva", he drew on cultural, philosophical and religious practices of ancient Hinduism, a rich faith that allows immense variety in how it is followed. But he also distinguished the ideology of hindutva--an attempt to unite disparate Hindus in a political project--from the religion. He himself was an atheist, and disapproved of aspects of traditional Hindu belief, dismissing cow worship as superstitious--a stance that would upset many today. He was an early outspoken opponent of caste discrimination. In the 1920s and 1930s others among the emerging Indian political elite opposed "untouchability", the rejection as sub-human of those considered "below caste". But Savarkar went further, saying modern India should drop altogether the idea of dividing people by caste.
His attitude towards Muslims, who made up a quarter of the population before partition, and other non-Hindus was less liberal. He regarded them as alien and separate, in effect not as real Indians. He was fiercely opposed to the formation of Pakistan and what his great-nephew calls the "appeasement" of Muslims. He believed that they, along with the Europeans, had crushed Hindus for a millennium--a sentiment echoed by Mr Modi in an address to parliament after his election this year, when he spoke of ending "1,200 years of slave mentality" in India.
Aside from his view of Muslims, the big difference between Savarkar and the nationalists in the INC lay in their contrasting attitudes to violence. He also wrote one of the first Indian accounts of the uprising in 1857, centred in Delhi. Known as the "Mutiny" to the British, it is referred to by many Indians as the "first war of independence"--echoing the title of Savarkar's book, "The Indian War of Independence". It was a gruesome episode, in which hundreds of thousands were killed, but Savarkar was untroubled by the violence, and seemed to justify the murders of British women and children. His works are steeped in a desire for revenge against those who have humiliated Hindus, and his frustration with the passivity of his co-religionists: "I want all Hindus to get themselves re-animated and re-born into a martial race." In his early years, he circulated manuals on bomb making. He approved of--and probably assisted in--the assassination of colonial administrators. He was suspected, for example, of encouraging a student radical who shot dead Sir Curzon Wyllie, a government official, one summer night on a Kensington street in 1909.
<h3>Rewriting history</h3>

Today, some Indians adulate him. On the day your correspondent called in at Cellular Jail, a party of jovial men in their 80s and 90s, an official "Eminent Committee of Freedom Fighters", was also visiting. Among the last surviving veterans who battled the British in the Quit India movement in the 1940s, they raised gnarled fists to chant "Jai Hind", posed for pictures and praised Savarkar as strong. The local MP called veer (brave) Savarkar a "ferocious, dangerous man who frightened off the British". Rashida Iqbal, the jail's curator, assessed him as "one of the most important freedom fighters". Port Blair's airport, like the park, bears his name. Some 2,000km away, in his native Maharashtra, a street and a park in Mumbai also each carry his name. (In London a blue plaque identifies his former home in Highgate.)
Savarkar's enthusiasm for violence sits uncomfortably with conventional ideas of how India got its independence. India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and then the Congress party (successor to the INC) promoted a pacifist narrative of history, the idea that Gandhi and the likes of B.R. Ambedkar, a social reformer who inspired the Modern Buddhist Movement, triumphed through non-violent resistance. That meant downplaying the bloodshed of 1857, in which atrocities were perpetrated by both sides, and also the roles of Savarkar, Subhas Chandra Bose and Vallabhbhai Patel.
Bose, the Bengali leader of an Indian National Army against the British in the second world war and an ally of Hitler and imperial Japan, led some 40,000 soldiers against the British. (He didn't get far, though the Japanese briefly handed him control of the Andamans.) Patel, the "Iron Man of India", had the Bismarckian task of uniting the country. He oversaw the integration of 562 princely states into India, threatening and using military force. Operation Polo in 1948, a five-day conquest of Hyderabad, a wealthy and Muslim-run state in the south, was bloody indeed. Official estimates, only made public in 2013, suggest the fighting and subsequent Hindu-Muslim clashes there killed between 27,000 and 40,000 people. Some historians claim the real toll might have been five times higher.
The way the story of Indian independence is told is beginning to change. Mr Modi and the BJP are keen to celebrate muscular, nationalist figures. Patel is likely to have a much higher profile in future: in the national budget, in July 2014, the government set aside $32m to erect a statue of him in Gujarat, twice the size of the Statue of Liberty, by 2018. And while Mr Modi frequently invokes Gandhi's name and beliefs, he refers almost as often to Swami Vivekananda, a 19th-century nationalist who revived Hinduism and promoted it abroad. Mr Modi is said to be named after him (the swami was originally called Narendra Nath Datta) and frequently poses before his photograph. Vivekananda's ideas on invigorating Hinduism foreshadowed Savarkar's hindutva project.
Savarkar's profile is lower, but is also rising. Educational comics, hagiographies and patriotic films retell parts of his life story. In 2008 Mr Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, inaugurated a website (savarkar.org) that promotes a man "largely unknown to the masses because of the vicious propaganda against him and misunderstanding around him that has been created over several decades", and in 2012 he launched a Gujarati-language biopic. A previous BJP-led government put Savarkar's portrait in parliament. On his birthday this year, May 28th, the prime minister paid homage to him there. Mr Modi tweeted about Savarkar's "tireless efforts towards the regeneration of our motherland". Ranjit Savarkar's group plans various events to mark the 50th anniversary of Savarkar's death in 1966. (Aged 83, he submitted to what he called atmaarpan--refusing food, water or medicine in order to die. It took 20 days.)
Yet Savarkar remains immensely divisive. He was a fiercely outspoken critic of Gandhi, still India's top national hero: he called Gandhi weak, a "sissy" and far too willing to collaborate with Britain. Gandhian talk of man's common humanity he regarded as utopian to the point of naivety. In articles from the 1920s to the 1940s Savarkar lambasted Gandhi as a "crazy lunatic" who "happens to babble...[about] compassion, forgiveness", yet "notwithstanding his sublime and broad heart, the Mahatma has a very narrow and immature head." Gandhi promoted ahimsa, a Buddhist rejection of violence which Savarkar called "mealy-mouthed". He said Gandhi was a hypocrite for supporting violence by the British against Germany in the first world war. Nor did he cheer Gandhi's prominent backing for the Ottoman Caliphate Movement, designed to win Indian Muslims to oppose British colonial rule.
Over the years, Savarkar was eclipsed by his rival. During the 1920s and 1930s, the INC benefited from its ability to claim plausibly that it spoke for Muslims as well as Hindus, which made it a more credible interlocutor with the colonial authorities. Perhaps more important, it had an impressive organisation and, in Gandhi and later in Nehru, accomplished political leaders.
By the mid 1940s Savarkar and his supporters in the Mahasabha (which he led until his death) had a new gripe against Gandhi. They were enraged at the prospect of Pakistan seceding from India. Gandhi, in their eyes, did nothing to stop that "vivisection". Worse, he seemed to favour Pakistan when it sent forces to violently seize Kashmir, evidence to Savarkar that warlike Muslims were again crushing passive Hindus. When Nehru applied economic sanctions on Pakistan (refusing to pass on its share of central-bank funds from before independence), Gandhi launched a fast in protest and forced him to back down. To Savarkar's followers in the Mahasabha, that constituted national betrayal.
On January 30th 1948 Gandhi was assassinated in Delhi. The killer, Nathuram Godse, was a member of the Mahasabha, edited its newspaper and was an associate of Savarkar's. Godse's explanation of his actions echoed Savarkar: he said he murdered Gandhi for his "false notions of Hindu-Muslim unity" and in fury over the secession of Pakistan. Savarkar was arrested and tried as a plotter in the murder. He denied all and was acquitted. That did not convince everybody. As the leader of the Mahasabha, who had praised the efficacy of violence and railed against Muslims, it was reasonable to suspect he had at least inspired Gandhi's killer. A.G. Noorani, author of a book on Savarkar and Godse, goes further. He draws a parallel to the Kensington murder of Wylie in 1909, saying the elder man had twice pressed others to pull the trigger. "I would definitely call him complicit in the assassination of Gandhi," he concludes. He points, too, to an official commission of inquiry into Gandhi's death, in the late 1960s, which drew on testimony unavailable at the original trial. It found the evidence was "destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group". Following Gandhi's murder the RSS was also banned, for a year. Yet the final reason why Savarkar should remain unacceptable in modern India goes beyond suspicion over Gandhi's murder. It lies in his attitude to his fellow, non-Hindu, Indians. In his own writing he relates joyfully how as a 12-year-old boy he led a gang of schoolmates to stone his village mosque and smash its windows and tiles, in the aftermath of Hindu-Muslim riots. Relating how "we vandalised the mosque to our heart's content", he adds that when confronted by Muslim boys, he and his pals wielded knives and sticks and chased them away.
Throughout his writing he sets out Muslims as savage, immoral, sensual and eager to destroy the Hindu way of life. In 1937 he wrote of there being "two antagonistic nations living side by side in India", an idea that relies on using religion as the defining characteristic of any Indian, one utterly against the secular constitution of India. And while he occasionally wrote admiringly of the political and religious fervour of Islam, or rather of Muslim political leaders, he did so to encourage his fellow Hindus to match or exceed it.
In India today the fear of communal clashes--between Hindus and Muslims--should not be overblown. But it is never far away. Especially before elections, parties exploit religious tensions. Those who promote hindutva and echo Savarkar whip up stories of "love jihad", alleging that Muslim men convert large numbers of Hindu women by seducing them. Earlier this month a BJP parliamentarian praised Godse as a "patriot" equal to Gandhi. Members of the increasingly influential RSS feel emboldened. Such majoritarian politics, when a larger religious group sets out to absorb or flatten a minority, is utterly destructive. One need only look at the failure of Pakistan as a reminder of that. Sarvarkar could be a brilliant, eloquent and progressive leader. He could also be extremist, violent and divisive. If his influence grows, India's tolerance and moderation will be at risk.
"Notwithstanding his...broad heart, the Mahatma has a very narrow and immature head," wrote Savarkar
&#xa0;
Savarkar (back row, second left) was arrested and tried as a plotter in Gandhi's murder. He was acquitted
&#xa0;
Click <a href="https://subscriptions.economist.com/nwcd">here</a> to subscribe to The Economist

You Searched For "Nathuram Godse" and got 6 results

It’s 2019 and India is debating if the murder of Mahatma Gandhi was Godse’s ‘patriot act’

Katya Naidu

Doordarshan Shelves TV Show On Gandhi’s Assassination

BI India Bureau

Pawan Kalyan loses by a wafer thin margin in Gajuwaka

BI India Bureau

Twitter couldn't stop cracking jokes about Mahatma Gandhi going missing in some Rs 2000 notes in Madhya Pradesh

Poulomi Das

Narendra Modi has retained India's iron throne and reduced rivals to dust

BI India Bureau

Narendra Modi's Mentor Thought Gandhi Was A Sissy

The Economist

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides