Thread by @vikramsampath

Some alleged journalist I'm told was casting malicious aspersions on aspects related to The Life of Barrister Savarkar's authorship that I quote in my book. After Savarkar's release from Ratnagiri in 1937 Bombay Pradesh Congress Committee & Barrister Jamnadas Mehta sought msgs(1)

From several leaders of the time to felicitate Savarkar in a public gathering. These messages were compiled by them & published in Marathi newspaper Lokmanya of 27 June 1937. Following are msgs AS IS in Lokmanya
श्री विनायकराव सावरकर ह्यांचे सुस्वागत आणि सन्मान असो (Nehru)(2)

"Welcome & respects to Shri Vinayakrao Savarkar" (Nehru).

Subhas Bose:
पुन्हा पूर्ण स्वतंत्र होऊन परत येत असलेल्या बॅरिस्टर सावरकरांचे सुस्वागत असो मला अशी आशा आहे की ते काँग्रेसला मिळून स्वातंत्र्यप्राप्तीच्या चळवळीला जोर आणतील त्यांच्यापुढे उज्ज्वल भविष्यकाळ आहे (3)

Subhas Bose: I heartily welcome Barrister Savarkar who is returning to Bombay now as a free man. I hope he will join the Congress & support the freedom movement. He has a bright future ahead of him.

C Rajagopalachari had this to say: (4)

गतकाळातील बॅरिस्टर सावरकर यांच्या कार्याच्या व संघटन चातुर्याचा माझ्यावर झालेला परिणाम केव्हाही नाहीसा होणे शक्य नाही. मग सध्या त्यांची विचारसरणी व कृती काहीही असो! माझ्यासाठी ते पूर्वीचे तेजस्वी स्वातंत्र्यवीर आहेत. (5)

मी वीस वर्षांपूर्वी त्यांचे चरित्र लिहून प्रसिद्ध केले त्यात आता कोणती नवीन भर घालू शकणार आहे? दहा वर्षांच्या दीर्घकालीन विचाराने, मनन-चिंतन आणि अभ्यासाने बॅरिस्टर सावरकर यांचे बौद्धिक प्रगल्भत्व वाढले असले पाहिजे. (6)

The organizational abilities & work of Barrister Savarkar have undoubtedly had a profound impact on me in the past. He remains a heroic freedom fighter for me. What can I now add to a biography of his I penned nearly 20 yrs ago because since then his intellectual prowess (7)

Must have only deepened by his prolonged introspection during his extended internment." Maharashtra State archives has these old newspaper documentation.

In addition, the nitwit who made that allegation erroneously (so much for peer reviews!) stated it was from a book (8)

Written by Babarao Savarkar, VDS' brother which is totally false. The 4 Parvas - Ratnagiri Parva, Hindu Mahasabha Parva, Akhand Hindustan Ladha Parva and Sangta parva were compilations of press cuttings, speeches and letters - all in Marathi related to VDS compiled (9)

By his secretary BALARAO Savarkar (not Babarao!). These clippings from Lokmanya are in Hindu Mahasabha parva part 1 p. 20, 1st edition February 1975. To say using a secretary's compilation of his political master's speeches, press clippings etc is like saying we can't use(10)

Mahadev Desai's similar compilations of Mahatma Gandhi in any biography of Gandhiji. Can there be a more ridiculous argument than that?
The original paper is in the Archives, the copy of it is published in Hindu Mahasabha Parva & the same is referenced by another biographer (11)

Dhananjay Keer in his book, chp 12, pp 223. What more triangulation do these opaque brains need?

In addition I cite the curious advertisement in Bombay Chronicle July 1927 produced below. It talks of the 1st ed of this book published in distant Madras by BG Paul Publications .

In 1926-27 Savarkar was interned in Ratnagiri & couldn't even move out of the district & the publication being made in Madras Presidency with this advertisement saying it was published by "a close friend" indicated it could have been VVS Aiyar, VDS's comrade in London (13)

VVS Aiyar had translated VDS's 1857 book into English & after his capture had moved back to India & kept operating between Madras & Pondicherry & had ties with Subhramanya Bharati. He died at Papanasam waterfalls around this time. Given sparse details of VDS' childhood/youth (14)

In that book & more focus on the London/Paris days the impression was that Aiyar who was proficient in English wrote this book. Given it dealt with underground movements he kept identity concealed & wrote in a pseudonym Chitragupta & published it in Madras.

The message from Rajaji in Lokmanya about his having written a biography & fact that he too was in Madras Presidency gave credence to belief that either he wrote it or supported its author, who might have been VVS Aiyar. During times of proscription of revolutionary material (16)

Being able to say with certainty who the author of a seditious article/poem/book was becomes next to impossible, especially with pseudonyms. Reg Veer title it was given at a Shivaji Jayanti function in Nasik in 1924 by Wamanrao Joshi, famous Marathi playwright & journalist (17)

& later another Marathi poet Vaishampayan also referred to this "Swatantryaveer" title which stuck on. This is recorded through press clippings in Ratnagiri Parva, pp 51-52.

Some other nitwit seems to have distorted preface of my 1st volume where I had said no reference (18)

To VDS was ever there in " MY " English medium CBSE books. I finished class 10 in 1995 & books of that time did NOT have his mention. To show they are there now is a meaningless exercise in stupidity & utter lack of basic comprehension. But this had an unexpected outcome. (19)

It exposed inadvertently how these NCERT books termed our revolutionaries as "Aatankvaadis" -bolstering point I made a few days ago abt how Bhagat Singh's family objected to books by Bipan Chandra and Mridula Mukherjee calling their ancestor a terrorist. So thanks troll ji 🙏

As I held y'day if even a fraction of this scrutiny (motivated only & only by petty hatred & calumny) was ever directed at the books of all our "eminences", Indian historiography wouldn't have been the distorted mess that it is!