Gruesome murders “The zealot whose unseen hard hands had controlled the flow of at least three political assassinations.” – Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre.
1. 1909: Col. Sir William Curzon Wyllie, an India House official, executed through Madanlal Dhingra.
2. 1909: A.M.T. Jackson, District Collector of Nasik, through Anant Kanhere.
3. 1931: Sir Ernest Hotson, acting Governor of Bombay, through V.G. Gagate.
4. January 30, 1948: Gandhiji, through N.V. Godse & Co.
Abject apologies 1. Lodged in Cellular Jail at the Andamans on July 4, 1911. Within six months Savarkar petitioned for mercy.
2. November 23, 1913: A Note by Home Member Sir Reginald Craddock recording Savarkar’s plea for mercy when he met him in prison in October 1913.
3. November 14, 1913: A second mercy petition within a year. “I am ready to serve the government in any capacity they like….”
4. March 22, 1920: The Home Member of Bombay, Sir William Vincent, revealed in the legislature two more mercy petitions in 1914 and 1917.
5. March 30, 1920: Savarkar promises to abide by the Government of India Act, 1919 (For text see Frontline , April 8, 2005).
6. A 1924 apology (published in Frontline , April 7, 1995).
7. February 22, 1948: An undertaking to abjure politics tendered to the Commissioner of Police, Bombay.
8. July 13, 1950: A similar undertaking in the High Court to Chief Justice M.C. Chagla and Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar.
In the entire history of freedom movements all over the world since the dawn of time, is there any other figure with such a remarkable record on either count? Savarkar holds the record on both. The Sangh Parivar and Savarkar deserve each other.
A.G. Noorani
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