Stonewalled on the Re-Search For Savarkar -The New Indian Express
MUMBAI: Chicago-based retired public relations professional Shridhar Damle has devoted his post retirement life in researching Veer Savarkar’s contribution to India’s freedom struggle and his contacts abroad. An ardent Savarkar follower, Damle received valuable information for his study in the US, UK and France. However, Maharashtra Police have thrown a spanner in his works.
For the past three years, Damle has been trying to access several files pertaining to Savarkar, which are in the Maharashtra government’s custody.
Earlier, he got a clearance from then home minister R R Patil and current Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, but police have refused to allow him access to the files.
Savarkar was born on May 28, 1883. He was a pro-Independence activist, politician, poet, writer and playwright. He advocated dismantling the caste system and reconversion of converted Hindus back to Hinduism and created the term ‘Hindutva’. He died on February 26, 1966.
Damle has been researching Savarkar to write a book on him. He has photo copies of around 40,000 pages on Savarkar from the archives in the US, UK and France. The pages contain some confidential records as well.
“It is very easy to get information even though it is confidential in foreign countries but not in Maharashtra,” Damle told The Sunday Standard. “Rules say every record should be made public after 26 years.
Police officers interviewed me four times when I sought permission to access the files. They asked me some ridiculous questions like why I wanted the information, how will it change the common people’s life, what was the guarantee that I will use it for writing a book. I am tired of their attitude,” he says.
Damle studied and grew in Mumbai but later settled in US and worked as a public relations officer for a multi-national bank. He comes to India for three months every year for his study. He has gathered piles of information on Savarkar from 1911 to 1943. The records have revealed several unknown facts on him and his activities abroad.
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The confidential records shows that Savarkar was caught by two Indian soldiers in the British Army in France when he had an epic leap from British custody in the French port of Marseilles in July 1910. The British government had lied in the international court that the French police had arrested Savarkar and later handed over him to them,” Damle says.
According to him,
one of the Indian soldiers was from Savarkar’s hometown, Nashik. He was chosen because he recognised Savarkar. The other soldier was to keep a watch on his colleague in arms.
Damle wants to access records from 1943 to 1956, a very crucial period before and after Independence. He believes that there are several unknown facts hidden in the post-1943 files. They include details on Savarkar’s meetings with Subhash Chandra Bose, the then king of Nepal and Adolf Hitler’s banking advisor as well as relations between Savarkar and Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
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Hitler’s banking advisor had called on Savarkar in 1941 at his residence in Bombay (now Mumbai). Intelligence Bureau officers had sent a report of this meeting to their superiors. This report is a part of the Savarkar files in the government’s custody. If I could access them, they will reveal whether Hitler was in touch with Savarkar before World War II,” Damle says.
“Some people have told me that Hitler’s advisors had intimated Savarkar about a possible war between Germany and England. He had advised Savarkar to manufacture planes and arms in India. Of course, this is hearsay. The proof lies in those files,” Damle adds.
He has obtained a confidential report from Washington on a near miss meeting between Savarkar and Jinnah. The report states that Savarkar and Jinnah were to discuss the fallout of partition, but both refused to visit each other’s places. The report quotes Savarkar writing to Jinnah, “We great leaders should not be childish”.
Damle believes that the police might have refused him access to files fearing that he would obtain information on Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, which might lead to another controversy. “All records pertaining to Gandhiji’s killing are available with the Kapoor Commission, which had conducted an investigation into it. I want to study Savarkar’s appeal to the Navy for a mutiny and what was going on his mind during the partition,” Damle says.
He will return to the US on May 5. “I have extended my stay here. It is not fruitful. I will search for more records in US,” he says.
Veer Savarkar
Savarkar was a pro-Independence activist, politician, poet, writer and playwright. He advocated dismantling the caste system and reconversion of converted Hindus back to Hinduism and created the term ‘Hindutva’. He died on February 26, 1966. Damle believes that there are several unknown facts hidden in the post-1943 files on Savarkar, including details on Savarkar’s meetings with Subhash Chandra Bose and Adolf Hitler’s banking advisor and his relations with Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
Veer Savarkar with Shri.Golwalkar Guruji, Baburao Sanas,Senapati Bapat, and S.G.Barve
Veer Savarkar with his supporters,
Veer Savarkar paying homage to Indian revolutionaries at public meeting in Rungta School, Nashik, 09 May 1953. Also seated from left and wearing caps: Dr.VM Bhat, member of Abhinav Bharat and Mayor of Pune Ganpatrao Mahadev Nalawade
Picture of Lokmanya Tilak, Savarkar carried with him to Cellular Jail.
Savarkar at 80 years old.
