Need to have informed conversations on Savarkar, says FM Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said there is a need to have informed conversations about the ideas propounded by freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Veer Savarkar is an important personality in Indian history about whom so much is discussed without quality research, Sitharaman said at a book release event here.

Releasing the book titled 'Savarkar-A Contested Legacy 1924-1966', authored by Vikram Sampath, she said Savarkar attracts much conversation.

"Informed conversation (about Savarkar) most of the time is missing and that opinionated conversation is also not based on fact or any other fact, and as a result, it becomes based on emotions of strong likes and dislikes," she said.

In the process, she said, "we are doing a big disservice to the nation" because leaders like Veer Savarkar stood their ground, and as a result, their contribution is distinct.

"We cannot afford to miss that distinct strand which also contributes in Indian history. So it might sometime align with some, let us say, political ideology...may even sound as aligning with an opposite ideology, but that is where we need a well researched, solid fact-based, biographies or books on such leaders," she said.

Speaking at the event organised by Prabha Khaitan Foundation, Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal said he passionately feels about the need to change curriculums.

"I think it is something that we are working towards. There are some people working towards it but there are some things that we need to first settle. One of them is that in order to begin to change curriculums and so on, you actually need to get the hard academic work actually done," he said.

He also said there is nothing much written on Savarkar even though he was a mainstream revolutionary.