Thread by @ThePrintIndia

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta "Western historians tell us Aurangzeb was a peace loving individual & protected more temples than he destroyed. This leads to a backlash from people who don't know how to respond intellectually so their responses get violent," @vikramsampath to @ShekharGupta in #ThePrintOTC

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta “Savarkar has hardly been academically analysed or studied. I am amazed by the singular lack of academic interest in him among historians, his political opponents or proponents," says @vikramsampath, author of 'Savarkar: A Contested Legacy', at #ThePrintOTC

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta “Post independence only one shade of ideological history — Marxist historiography — has ruled the roost. It ensured that anyone writing anything different was cancelled," historian and author @vikramsampath tells @ShekharGupta in #ThePrintOTC.

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta "Savarkar was never part of the RSS. He had once said that if there was ever an epitaph of a Sarsanghchalak it would have only 3 lines: He was born. He joined the RSS. He died. No other singular achievement in his life," historian @vikramsampath to @ShekharGupta in #ThePrintOTC

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta "Savarkar believed cows weren't worthy of being worshipped but he did think they should be protected. He, in fact, advocated non-vegetarianism," historian @vikramsampath tells @ShekharGupta in #ThePrintOTC

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta Narratives calling Savarkar a British stooge on the basis of filing petitions or receiving pension from them need urgent correction. These weren’t tools available to or used by him exclusively: historian and author @vikramsampath to @ShekharGupta in #ThePrintOTC

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta Revolutionaries used to sign 'mercy' petitions like Savarkar did all the time. They were filed with the intention of getting out of prison, they used language and were written in a format that was suitable to those times: @vikramsampath in #ThePrintOTC.

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta "Savarkar wouldn't have found any place in today's politics with the RSS or the BJP," says @vikramsampath, author of 'Savarkar: A Contested Legacy', in #ThePrintOTC

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta “Gandhi promised Swaraj and said we would establish a Caliphate in Turkey, within a year. None of this happened, & this sent a mob on rampage. Even Ambedkar said this was too heavy a price to pay for Hindu-Muslim unity,” historian @vikramsampath to @ShekharGupta on #ThePrintOTC.

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta GOI & Govt of Bombay facilitated the murder of Gandhi. On 20 January 1948, first attempt was made on his life. The police let a lot of clues pass that indicated his life was under threat. Gandhi was a sitting duck: @vikramsampath to @ShekharGupta in #ThePrintOTC

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta In March 2018, a Supreme Court bench headed by then CJI SA Bobde said they went through the documents of Gandhi murder trial and Kapoor Commission report and found no evidence of Savarkar’s involvement in it: historian @vikramsampath to @ShekharGupta in #ThePrintOTC.

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta “Just like their portraits hang on opposite sides of the central hall of parliament, Gandhi and Savarkar are two polar ends of India’s history, the two shall never meet. This also stands for the multiple ideas of India,” @vikramsampath to @ShekharGupta in #ThePrintOTC.

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta “Bhikaiji Cama and Savarkar had a long friendship. She sent his family money for a long time, when all Savarkar brothers were in prison, and even the utensils of their house had been confiscated,” @vikramsampath tells @ShekharGupta in #ThePrintOTC

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta “Savarkar, the father of Hindutva, stood for the dismantling of the Varna system. He and Ambedkar had similar views on caste,” historian and author @vikramsampath to @ShekharGupta in #ThePrintOTC

@vikramsampath @ShekharGupta With this, we come to the end of a very engaging #ThePrintOTC.
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