Savarkar Beyond Hindutva

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar had pledged a sacred vow to embark on the armed, revolutionary struggle for independence of India. After Nashik and Pune his next karmabhoomi was London and the centre of the struggle was India House.

A perennial dilemma faced by any sincere student of Indian politics is how to analyse V D Savarkar as a political figure whose ideas and ideals continue to decisively shape Indian polity. The relevance of Savarkar is restricted not just to the political debates surrounding his pivotal treatise on Hinduvta –arguably his most popular work through which he attempted to solidify a nebulous identity of Hindus – but extends to prevailing socio-political realities that continue to define India.

One of least discussed aspects of Savarkar’s life is his views on India’s foreign relations and security policies. He was a pragmatist and his views of foreign policy were driven by his knowledge of the two World Wars and the world order during his time.

स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकरांचे समाजसुधारणेचे महान कार्य तसे दुर्लक्षित केले गेले आहे. आधी स्वराज्य की समाजसुधारणा ह्यावर सावरकर म्हणतात, ‘सामाजिक सुधारणा झाल्यावाचून स्वराज्य मिळाले तर ते तीन दिवससुद्धा टिकणार नाही