Freedom fighter and among the earliest proponents of the Hindutva ideology, Veer Savarkar, remains one of the most vilified personalities in India’s history. For decades, Savarkar was treated with disdain and demonised by successive Indian governments, a majority of them headed by the Congress party. A conscious effort was undertaken to defame Veer Savarkar so as to discredit his beliefs and undermine his contribution to India’s freedom struggle.
But legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar and her family were among those who saw through this facade, carefully created by the Congress party and its loyalists, and held Savarkar for who he was—a staunch patriot dedicated to the cause of India’s freedom and an erudite man with a flair for poetry and writing.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar or Veer Savarkar was an Indian freedom fighter, activist, politician, lawyer, and writer, who is regarded for articulating the political philosophy of Hindutva. He was born in Bhagalpur village near Nasik in Maharashtra.
Later, he joined the Hindu Mahasabha and advocated the term Hindutva which was previously formulated by Chandranath Basu. He was arrested in 1910 by the British administration over his association with the revolutionary group India House. Savarkar was sentenced to two life terms in the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 1911 after he made a failed attempt to escape while being transported from Marseilles.
While serving his sentence, Savarkar wrote on a broad range of topics—from his yearning for the motherland to his understanding of the Hindutva, about its pride and defined all the people descended of Hindu culture as being part of Hindutva, including the Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs.
The close bond shared between freedom fighter Veer Savarkar and the Mangeshkar family
Lata Mangeshkar and her family shared close ties with Veer Savarkar, something which she has always been proud and unapologetic about. Every year on Savarkar’s birth and death anniversaries, which fall on May 28 and February 26 respectively, the award-winning singer does not shy away from publicly paying her tributes to the Hindutva ideologue and reiterating his invaluable contribution to India’s independence struggle against the British.
This year too, Lata Mangeshkar took to her social media pages to pay homage to the freedom fighter by remembering him and sharing his old pictures with her followers.
Lata Mangeshkar termed Savarkar as the ‘true son of Mother India’ and hailed him as a father-like figure. During his lifetime, Veer Savarkar was referred to as ‘Tatya’ by Lata Mangeshkar, which is a term used in deference for a father or elderly male relation.
Last year, the veteran singer reminisced about the freedom fighter, stating that his name was etched in the hearts of the Mangeshkar family. She had also tweeted that she was honouring the ‘great and multi-faceted personality’ on his ‘Jayanti.’
She had shared a video along with her tweet, which was audio of the song Shat Janma Shodhitana, which had been composed by Lata Mangeshkar’s father Deenanath Mangeshkar. This song was written by Veer Savarkar for her father’s play Sanyasta Khadag.
Earlier in 2019, the veteran singer had posted a tweet recalling her close bond between her family and freedom fighter Veer Savarkar. The legendary singer posted a tweet providing details of her family’s association with Veer Savarkar.
“Veer Savarkar ji aur hamare pariwar ke bahut ghanisht sambandh the, isiliye unhone mere pitaji ki natak company ke liye natak ‘Sanyasta Khadag’ likha tha. Is natak ka pehla prayog 18th Sep 1931 ko hua tha, is natak mein se ek geet bahut lokpriya hua (the families of Veer Savarkar ji and ours were very close, so he wrote the play “Sanyasta Khadag’ for my father’s theatre company. This play was first staged on September 18, 1931, and a song from the play became very popular),” Ms Mangeshkar had tweeted while sharing the link to the song Shat Janma Shoditana.
Veer Savarkar ji aur hamare pariwar ke bahut ghanisht sambandh the,isiliye unhone mere pita ji ki natak company ke liye natak “ Sanyasta Khadag “ likha tha. Is natak ka pehla prayog 18th Sep 1931 ko hua tha,is natak mein se ek geet bahut lokpriya hua. https://t.co/RMzBUc69SB
— Lata Mangeshkar (@mangeshkarlata) September 19, 2019
Lata Mangeshkar would have left singing if it were not for Veer Savarkar’s timely advice
It is a little-known fact that early in her career, Lata Mangeshkar had made her mind of giving up singing to devote her time and energies to social service and for the welfare of the poor. Author Yatindra Mishra in his book ‘Lata: Sur Gatha‘ reveals how it was Veer Savarkar who dissuaded Lata Mangeshkar from taking that decision and inspired her to continue pursuing singing.
In his book, Mishra says Lata, in her teens, had taken a vow of engaging in social service. For this, she was involved in discussions and consultation with revolutionary freedom fighter Veer Savarkar, deliberating on different ways through which she could fulfil her vow. At one point when Lata was thinking of relinquishing her singing career to devote time for social service, Savarkar had talked her out of the notion and reminded her of her father, Deenanath Mangeshkar, who was then one of the leading lights in the Indian classical music and art firmament.
Savarkar had explained to her that one can still engage in the service of society by devoting oneself to music and singing. This affirmation helped Lata Mangeshkar radically upend her notions about a career in music being incompatible with her pledge of indulging in social service. She heeded Savarkar’s advice and completely immersed herself in music, becoming a legendary singer in the process. If it were not for Savarkar’s seminal counsel to Lata Mangeshkar, the world would have been bereft of one of the most transcendent singers to have graced the earth.
The ceaseless vilification of Veer Savarkar by successive Congress-led governments
But history has not been kind to the freedom fighter. Through a concerted attempt, Savarkar was constantly made an object of scorn and contempt by successive governments after India attained freedom in 1947. He was also falsely implicated in the murder of Gandhi Ji but was later exonerated for the lack of evidence against him.
Author Vikram Sampath recently came up with his concluding volume on freedom fighter Veer Savarkar, Savarkar: A Contested Legacy, 1924-1966, which chronicled the final leg of the freedom fighter’s extraordinary life. The book was released on 26 July 2021 and it instantly rekindled the debate surrounding the vigorous attempts made by successive Congress governments and left-liberal intelligentsia to falsely vilify the freedom fighter and besmirch his reputation.
All India Radio under Congress govt sacked Lata Mangeshkar’s brother Pandit Hridaynath for his musical composition on Veer Savarkar’s poems
The Mangeshkar family, comprising of Lata Mangeshkar and Usha Mangeshkar, other sisters and their only brother, Hridaynath, had been composing tunes based on poems written by Veer Savarkar. However, this did not sit well with the Congress party, which had assiduously created a narrative that villainised the freedom fighter. As a result, the All India Radio under the Congress rule had sacked Hridaynath Mangeshkar in 1954 for his musical composition on Veer Savarkar’s poems.
Years later, in an interview with ABP Majha, Hridaynath Mangeshkar admitted how he was fired from All India Radio because he chose to compose a poem written by Veer Savarkar. Mangeshkar said he was canned from his job at the All India Radio, only because he had dared to create a musical rendition of Veer Savarkar’s iconic poem wherein he extolled the sea to take him back to the motherland.
“I was working in All India Radio at that time. I was 17 years old and my salary was Rs 500 per month. It may be peanuts today but Rs 500 was considered a big fat salary during that time…but I was summarily fired from the All India Radio because I chose to create a musical composition for Veer Savarkar’s famous poem ‘Ne majsi ne parat matrubhoomila, sagara pran talmalala‘,” Mangeshkar said in Marathi.
In 2009, 100 years since Savarkar penned the popular poem Ne majsi ne parat matrubhoomila, sagara pran talmalala, Lata Mangeshkar recalled how the poem aroused patriotic fervour and was inspirational to not just Maharashtrians, but to all Indians.
Lata Mangeshkar had then lamented that Veer Savarkar did not get the respect he deserved in independent India. “Savarkar sacrificed a lot for the country. But independent India did not honour him and give his due,” Lata had bemoaned.
