Savarkar & Gandhiji

Savarkar did not “escape” the gallows (Jan. 30); the charges against him were withdrawn. His acquittal was not a choice exercised by Nehru and Patel — he was acquitted in spite of state attempts to implicate him in Gandhiji’s assassination. Both the Congress leaders derived the best possible political mileage from the episode by maligning the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS, and banning the latter for no legitimate reason.

V. Skanda,California

Savarkar was acquitted due to lack of evidence, rather absence of independent corroborative evidence in support of an approver’s testimony. However, the Kapur Commission of Inquiry conclusively proved, with corroborative evidence, that Savarkar was indeed behind the conspiracy to murder Gandhiji. But interested parties have always highlighted the acquittal of Savarkar by the trial court, effectively suppressing the Kapur Commission’s conclusion. They have even managed to put Savarkar’s portrait in Parliament House and name the Port Blair airport after him.

G. Radhakrishnan,Thiruvananthapuram

The past, no doubt, is important but we cannot look to the future with the ghosts of the past haunting us. Gandhiji and Savarkar are history. What the nation needs now is not a debate on who was responsible for the assassination of the Father of the Nation but on how we propose to realise his vision. Every historical figure has been tinged in shades of grey and it is up to us to look at the white and ignore the black.

Sharada Sivaram,

Chennai