Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant hailing Vinayak Damodar Savarkar as a ‘glorious patriot’, has announced that his state government will soon re-print two books authored by Savarkar.
Sawant was speaking at the launch of ‘1957 che Swatantrya Samar’ and said that it was this book that had “ignited the flame of patriotism among many youth and the British regime banned this book. Fortunately, only one copy of this book was saved with a Goan person, and this helped in getting it re-printed.”
The other book authored by Savarkar which will be reprinted by the state government is ‘Gomantak’. Both books will then be placed in all libraries in the state.
Pramod Sawant said that “Swatantryaveer” as an “unsung hero, who fought the British regime, faced the most brutal punishment and yet after India’s Independence, a section of people have only spread lies, falsehood and hatred against him… We as Indians have largely failed to acknowledge the life and work of this glorious patriot.”
Sawant was speaking at the closing ceremony of the Kumaon Literary Festival (KLF) in Panaji, and praised the book ‘1957 che Swatantrya Samar’, saying it was this that “ignited the flame of patriotism among many youth and the British regime banned this book”.
According to the CM, “One copy of this book was saved with a Goan person, and this helped in getting it re-printed.” The CM also released author Vikram Sampath’s book ‘Savarkar (Part 2): A Contested Legacy, 1924-1966.’
The Goa CM launched the Hindi and English editions of Sampath’s book and said, “Unfortunately, in our country, the history that has been forced upon us, has been the propaganda of the West and what they thought about us. They thought that we were a land of snake-charmers, they thought that we were a country of the poor. But my question is, did they invade us because we were poor? The answer is definitely no. The first person to challenge this vicious propaganda was Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.”
According to Sawant along with the two books by Savarkar, Sampath’s book too will be circulated in libraries of Goa. He described Savarkar as a “much-maligned” firebrand revolutionary, a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional genius, who had led a “stormy”, “tempestuous” life and was a complex character who simultaneously meant many things to many people.
