VD Savarkar features prominently in tourism ministry webinar

The tourism ministry, as part of its ongoing intiative Dekho Apna Desh hosted a webinar on Wednesday that chronicled the life of freedom fighters such as Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Batukeshwar Dutt while they were imprisoned in the Kaala Paani prison or Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar islands .

Dekho Apna Desh is the ministry’s flagship initiative in which series of webinars highlighting the country’s main tourism attractions are conducted. The ministry has conducted over 40 webinars till date, five of which have been specially organised around the theme of Independence Day, 15 August.

According to the officials, the topics of the webinars are chosen to highlight the unique features of any given location. “One can not have a conversation about Tourism in Andaman and Nicobar Islands without mentioning the Cellular Jail,” said a ministry official. In the webinar on Kaala Paani or Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands where the British met out cruelest treatment to political prisoners, is right-wing icon Savarkar who features most prominently.

“Savarkar was arrested by the British on the suspicion of being involved in a protest organised by his elder brother against the Indian Council Act, or the Minto Morley Reforms,” the ministry states in the webinar.

According to historian Ramachandra Guha, while Savarkar’s views on Hindutva are ‘reprehensible’, one cannot forget that he was ‘a heroic and brave freedom fighter’. “It is not easy to find a historical figure who is either completely good or completely bad,” said Guha. Other freedom fighters to find mention include Bhagat Singh’s accomplice Battukeshwar Dutt, Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Subhash Chandra Bose, among others.