Savarkar, Mahatma Gandhi side by side in ministry post: Cong, others slam govt

• Spotlighting a man who authored What is Hindutva and Essentials of Hindutva

• V.D. Savarkar, whose ideological DNA is tied to Nathuram Godse, suddenly side-by-side with Gandhi

• Today, PM Narendra Modi called the RSS the “world’s largest NGO” in his Independence Day speech

The Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas marked Independence Day with what it apparently thought was a unifying tribute to the nation’s freedom fighters — but by placing Vinayak Damodar Savarkar on the same pedestal as Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, and Bhagat Singh.

Indeed, Savarkar's image tops all the others, and is actually placed slightly higher than the national flag, an absolute break in protocol, prompting netizens to either remove his image altogether, or replace it with that of Jawaharlal Nehru.

The ministry’s post on X featured a montage of the four men’s faces with the caption: 'Freedom was their gift, shaping the future is our mission'. It added, 'As we celebrate our nation’s independence, let’s remember — liberty thrives when we nurture it every day, through unity, empathy, and action. Happy Independence Day.'

Congress general-secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal accused the Modi government of using every Independence Day to “distort” history and elevate “traitors” to hero status. “This Orwellian image, elevating a British mercy petitioner like Savarkar over Gandhi ji — the undisputed Mahatma who got us freedom, and completely eliminating Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel ji, shows their contempt for our freedom fighters,” Venugopal wrote on X.

Savarkar, an ideological forefather of Hindutva and an early leader in the Hindu Mahasabha, famously wrote multiple mercy petitions to British colonial authorities while imprisoned in the Andamans, pledging loyalty to the Raj in exchange for release. He was later accused in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi — carried out by Nathuram Godse, a former member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) who shared Savarkar’s extremist ideology.

Though Savarkar was acquitted for lack of direct evidence, the later Kapur Commission cited circumstantial links implicating him. Historians have also long noted speculation that the honorific veer (brave) was not a popular bestowal, but a self-chosen flourish first appearing in a book Savarkar wrote under a pseudonym.

Congress MP Manickam Tagore said: “Don’t disgrace the martyrs who fought and died for freedom by glorifying those who begged the British with apology letters.”

In his own post, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera delivered one of the day’s sharper jabs, in Hindi: “While mixing ethanol in petrol, now you’ve started mixing impurities even in freedom fighters. Those who couldn’t become great in history, you’re making them big on posters.”

The ethanol remark was a pointed dig at the government’s ethanol-blending fuel policy — and the perceived adulteration of history to suit present politics. “The country is asking you for cheaper oil, not cheap comedy,” Khera added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day address, had also praised the RSS — the organisation from which Godse once emerged — for what he called its role in “nation-building”. The juxtaposition of those remarks with the oil ministry’s poster did little to blunt Opposition outrage.

CPI(M) MP John Brittas weighed in: “The deliberate elevation of VD Savarkar over Mahatma Gandhi is not a coincidence but a calculated act… Those who uphold the Constitution should unequivocally condemn this mockery of justice and secular values.”

Tushar Gandhi, the Mahatma’s great-grandson, dispensed with parliamentary restraint entirely: “Shame on the Patroleum And Natural Gas Ministry for placing the traitor and murderer Savarkar above true patriots and martyrs. That too with money of the exchequer,” he said.

BJP leaders, however, defended the ministry’s post. B.L. Santhosh, the party’s general-secretary (organisation), replied to Khera: “Sick brigade to the core… Veer Savarkar lived and died for the country.”

In recent years, the BJP has gone to great lengths to rehabilitate Savarkar’s image — from installing his portraits in Parliament to inserting him into school textbooks. But the oil ministry’s Independence Day graphic made one thing clear: in the battle over India’s history, the fuel is plentiful, and so are the sparks.

With PTI inputs