Kolkata: Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was a ‘Hindu fanatic who was thinking about the two-nation theory even before Jinnah raised it,’ Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose told ThePrint. Bose’s remarks were in response to claims made in the teaser of actor Randeep Hooda-starrer Swatantra Veer Savarkar.
Hooda, who plays the lead role in the biopic which also marks his directorial debut, while unveiling its teaser on 28 May, described Savarkar as the “man who was the inspiration behind revolutionaries like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, and Khudiram Bose”.
The most wanted Indian by the British. The inspiration behind revolutionaries like – Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh & Khudiram Bose.
Who was #VeerSavarkar? Watch his true story unfold!
Presenting @RandeepHooda in & as #SwantantryaVeerSavarkar In Cinemas 2023… pic.twitter.com/u0AaoQIbWt
— Randeep Hooda (@RandeepHooda) May 28, 2023
Dismissing such claims, Chandra Bose said Netaji and Savarkar were ideologically diametrically opposite. “Savarkar has his own place in history, he was a Hindu fanatic. While Jinnah raised the two-nation theory at the Lahore Conference, Savarkar was already thinking about it in the 30s. It feels that the film is politically motivated and trying to paint a different picture of Savarkar,” he said.
He also told ThePrint that Netaji was a secular leader who believed in inclusivity. “He (Netaji) wanted a united India including the Hindus, the Muslims, the Sikhs, the Jains and all the communities,” Chandra Bose said, adding that Netaji was inspired by Swami Vivekananda and his political mentor was ‘Deshbandhu’ Chittaranjan Das.
Netaji’s elder brother, Sarat Chandra Bose, too supported him in all his efforts, he added.
An economics graduate from London’s Hendon College, Chandra Bose quit the TATA group to set up his own consultancy business in Kolkata. In 2016, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was seen as a big boost for the party in West Bengal owing to Netaji’s popularity in the state for his role in the freedom struggle.
Chandra Bose was pitted by the BJP against Mamata Banerjee in the 2016 Bengal election from Bhabanipur, but lost to her. He contested again in 2019 from Dakshin Kolkata parliamentary constituency but lost to Mala Roy of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
In the 2021 assembly polls, Chandra Bose was hopeful of getting a ticket from the BJP for Rashbehari constituency, but that did not materialise. He then resigned as state vice- president of the BJP after his demand to set up an Azad Hind Morcha within the party was ignored and his suggestions on modification of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules weren’t taken into consideration. He, however, continues to retain the primary membership of the the BJP.
ThePrint reached actor Randeep Hooda via text for comment, but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
However, Chandra Bose has now found a supporter in the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
“In his book ‘Indian struggle’, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose put Jinnah and Savarkar in the same bracket. Both were communal and both were asking for the Partition of India along the Hindu-Muslim divide. The British loved them both. Netaji despised them both,” TMC state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar told ThePrint,
According to Netaji’s daughter Anita Bose Pfaff, Netaji was a devout Hindu. “Perhaps the only thing in common between Netaji and Savarkar was Hinduism. My father didn’t believe in divide and rule. He always had a vision for a united India,” she said.
ThePrint also spoke to Subrata Roy, the grandnephew of martyr Khudiram Bose, who said he had never come across archival material to suggest any links between Savarkar’s ideology and that of Khudiram Bose.
According to historian Purabi Roy, there is no published material to suggest a link between Savarkar and Netaji.
“Savarkar, when he left for London, was accompanied by Sarojini Naidu’s elder brother Virendranath Chattopadhyay. Savarkar was very close to Karl Marx’s grandson. To establish a link with Netaji, one must see archival material from the Soviet side and unravel the truth,” she told ThePrint.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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