Thread by @PriyankKharge

BJP is forcing #Savarkar on the people of Karnataka. They want his photo to be installed alongside Lord Ganesha in all the #GaneshUtsav pandals as the supreme freedom fighter of the nation.
But did he really contribute to the freedom struggle as claimed by BJP?

A thread 🧵 1/n

Seems like #Savarkar wanted to be a revolutionary, but was unwilling to pay the price of being one. People like Bhagat Singh,Azad, Bose & thousands of others paid the price with their lives,but the intimidating sentences by British did it’s job of softening him up completely

2/n

When arrested in London for extradition to India in 1910 to be tried in India for Nashik Conspiracy Case, #Savarkar approached the King’s Bench Divisional Court for writ of Habeas Corpus because the rules of evidence in India were different & extradition would be unfair.

3/n

If he was keen to be part of the Independence Struggle & be in India, why then did he file a writ against extradition? Even in India he refused to cooperate in the trial on the ground that his arrest was illegal & he should not have been brought to India at all.
4/n

The Cellular jail had 698 cells & 80,000 prisoners were jailed here over 33 years.
Only handful of them wrote mercy petitions, but the maximum petitions was submitted by #Veer

He filed his first appeal for clemency on August 30, 1911, two months after his arrival in Andaman
5/n

Savarkar’s surrender to the British is evident in the petition.

“I am ready to serve the Government in any capacity they like…The mighty alone can afford to be merciful, and therefore where else can the prodigal son return but to the parental doors of the Government?”
6/n

Savarkar filed his third petition in 1914, after World War I broke out.
He said :
“I most humbly beg to offer myself as a volunteer to do any service in the present war, that the Indian government think fit to demand from me,..

7/n

.. I know that a Kingdom does not depend on the help of an insignificant individual like me, but then I know also that every individual, however insignificant, is duty-bound to volunteer his or her best for the defence of that Kingdom.”
8/n

#Savarkar sixth mercy petition was on March 30, 1920.
In his last petition, he assured the British that “every intelligent lover of India would heartily and loyally cooperate with the British people in the interest of India herself”
9/n

#Savarkar supporters try to make out that his apologies as a MASTERSTROKE, a well thought out strategy against the British to get out of the Cellular jail.
But after his release, did #Savarkar resume his “freedom fighting”. NO.
He stayed true to his words in the petitions.

10/n

If #Savarkar was so keen to dedicate his life for the nation, why didn’t he participate in the freedom struggle? How exactly did he contribute to the struggle after his release?
Let BJP list out his exact achievements against the British with evidence.
11/n