Well known author Vikram Sampath launched “Savarkar – a Contested Legacy”, the concluding volume of the Savarkar Biography series on Monday the 16th of August at the Taj West End. The event was organised by Prabha Khaitan Foundation and Kitaab -Books.
The book was unveiled by Sri CT Ravi, current National General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party, and Sri Mohandas Pai – Chairman, Manipal Global Education. It was live streamed on Youtube as a covid precaution and was attended by a very small group of people following the covid protocols.
There was a conversational discussion on the book by Vikram Sampath and Vasanthi Hariprakash followed by Q and A from the audience. Vikram spoke at length on his journey of writing the first book and the concluding book of the series.
ABOUT THE BOOK “SAVARKAR: A CONTESTED LEGACY”
by Vikram Sampath
Decades after his death, Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar continues to
uniquely influence India's political scenario. In this concluding volume of the
Savarkar series, exploring a vast range of original archival documents from across
India and outside it, in English and several Indian languages, historian Vikram
Sampath brings to light the life and works of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, one of the
most contentious political thinkers and leaders of the twentieth century. The book
begins where the first volume ended, in 1924, with Savarkar’s conditional release to
Ratnagiri. It takes us through the strenuous social reforms that he undertook in
Ratnagiri for 13 years and helped consolidate the Hindu society and Sangathan
movement. As the president of the All-India Hindu Mahasabha, Savarkar was a
severe critic of the Congress's appeasement politics and provided an ideological
counter to Gandhi and the Congress, opposing stoutly the Partition of India till the
very end. After Gandhi's murder, Savarkar was charged as a co-conspirator in the
assassination. While he was acquitted by the court, Savarkar is still maligned as
having played a role in Gandhi's assassination---a topic that is often discussed and
debated. The book draws on voluminous archival material to debunk the canards that
are often spread for political expediency that Savarkar or the RSS had a role to play in
the murder of Gandhi, through exhaustive documentation. It ends with Savarkar’s
death in 1966 and also touches upon the several contestations that continue till date on
his name and legacy.
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