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The continuing campaign to caricature Vinayak Damodar Savarkar says rather more about the impoverishment of India’s political discourse than it does about Savarkar himself. A recent viral video mocking him proffers the familiar spectacle of those who believe that reducing a complex historical figure to a punchline constitutes serious political argument. The most revealing aspect of the latest mockery is its casualness. It treats the man as though he were merely a political opponent from...

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The continuing campaign to caricature Vinayak Damodar Savarkar says rather more about the impoverishment of India’s political discourse than it does about Savarkar himself. A recent viral video mocking him proffers the familiar spectacle of those who believe that reducing a complex historical figure to a punchline constitutes serious political argument. The most revealing aspect of the latest mockery is its casualness. It treats the man as though he were merely a political opponent from yesterday, rather than a revolutionary who spent years confronting the British Raj and endured the extraordinary brutality of Cellular Jail in the Andamans. The conditions of Kala Pani were marked by punishing isolation, hard labour, oil grinding and coir pounding, which were instruments of punishment designed to break prisoners physically and psychologically. The argument over his mercy petitions illustrates precisely this problem. Critics cite them as proof of capitulation while Savarkar’s defenders point to the circumstances in which they were written and reject the conclusion that they erase his revolutionary record. But even more telling is the erasure of the human cost borne by Savarkar and his family. In 1909, while he was in London, his four-year-old son Prabhakar died of smallpox. His brother Baburao was imprisoned and the family was subjected to severe persecution. Savarkar could not simply return home without exposing himself to arrest. At Brighton, amid this personal catastrophe and exile, he composed Sagara Pran Talamalala, a cry of longing for his motherland. One need not share Savarkar’s politics to recognise the human tragedy behind it. There is also a delicious irony in the selective memory surrounding him. India itself has never treated Savarkar as an uncomplicated historical footnote. It was the government headed by Congress scion Rahul Gandhi’s own grandmother - Indira Gandhi – that had issued a commemorative stamp bearing his portrait and the Cellular Jail. The country’s historical establishment has, at different times, recognised his place in the freedom struggle even while disagreeing profoundly with his politics. But today’s political class appears less interested in such complexity. Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders have repeatedly used Savarkar as a rhetorical punching bag, apparently calculating that attacking him is an easy way to attack the political tradition they oppose. A democracy does not become more liberal by making contempt its substitute for history. Savarkar does not need protection from criticism. It is Indian history that needs protection from intellectual laziness. The man can be debated and his ideas challenged. But what should not pass for political courage is the cheap denigration of someone like Savarkar, whose life was marked by sacrifice, imprisonment and extraordinary historical consequence unimaginable to his detractors. In fact, the real weakness of Savarkar’s detractors is not that they criticise him. It is that, so often, they seem incapable of doing anything more serious.

Fraying Frontier

Correspondent

Jun 10

2 min read

The latest unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is a reminder that territorial control alone does not confer legitimacy. As clashes between protesters and security forces intensify in Rawalakot and other parts of the region, Pakistan finds itself confronting a crisis that has been years in the making. Across the Line of Control, meanwhile, India is celebrating the breakthrough of the strategic Zojila Tunnel, a project that promises all-weather connectivity between Kashmir and Ladakh. Together, these developments tell a tale of two Kashmirs and of two very different approaches to governance.

The immediate trigger for the latest violence was the gathering of supporters of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) outside a hospital morgue in Rawalakot following the death of an activist. As security forces moved to disperse crowds, protesters and police traded accusations. Reports have emerged of several deaths and injuries, though the precise figures remain disputed. The episode comes amid heightened tensions after the PoK Supreme Court ruled that twelve legislative seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees living in Pakistan cannot be abolished without a constitutional amendment.

To focus solely on the latest clashes would be to miss the deeper malaise. Public anger in PoK has been simmering for years. The JAAC has repeatedly mobilised large crowds over issues ranging from soaring electricity prices and economic distress to governance failures and demands for greater political rights. The very fact that a grassroots movement has been able to bring thousands onto the streets despite official pressure speaks to a broader crisis of confidence in the administrative structure governing the territory.

For decades, Pakistan has sought to present itself internationally as the champion of Kashmiri aspirations. The recurring turmoil in PoK completely exposes the contradictions in that narrative. When protests have erupted, Islamabad’s instinct has often been coercion rather than accommodation.

The unrest also comes at an awkward time for Pakistan. The country is grappling with economic fragility, political uncertainty and persistent security challenges stretching from Balochistan to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. PoK’s troubles add another layer to an already complex domestic landscape. They utterly undermine Islamabad’s efforts to portray itself as a credible advocate of self-determination while allegations of political repression emerge from territory under its own control.

While PoK remains restive, India has increasingly emphasised connectivity, investment and infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir. The breakthrough of the Zojila Tunnel is emblematic of that approach. Once completed, the tunnel will provide year-round access to Ladakh, reduce strategic vulnerabilities and improve economic opportunities for residents.

As Pakistan grapples with unrest and crackdowns, India has been attempting to knit together difficult terrain through concrete and steel. This sheer contrast lays bare the bankruptcy of Islamabad’s Kashmir policy. Its model breeds resentment while India’s model offers a pathway to stability and prosperity. The stark lesson is that legitimacy can never be earned through occupation and coercion, but through development and governance.

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