The details emerged during cross-examination in a Pune court in a defamation case involving Congress leader Rahul Gandhi
PUNE — The ghost of Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodhar Savarkar, known popularly as Veer Savarkar, walked into a Pune courtroom in Maharashtra on Saturday, and it brought receipts.
During a heated cross-examination in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s defamation trial, Savarkar’s grandnephew Satyaki Savarkar confirmed what critics have long cited and supporters have long debated: the Hindutva icon filed not one, but five mercy petitions from the Cellular Jail under British rule.
“It is true to say that Savarkar had filed mercy petitions five times while he was in the Cellular Jail,” Satyaki told the court, before quickly adding context. “Not only Savarkar, but many political prisoners also sent similar petitions to the British government.” The implication was clear: don’t single him out.
The testimony didn’t stop at prison paperwork. Satyaki also waded into Savarkar’s most controversial ideological fault lines.
Did Savarkar worship the cow? No. “Savarkar referred to the cow as a useful animal, not a god,” he said, pushing back on a sacred symbol that has since become political lightning.
Did he invent the two-nation theory? Also, no, according to Satyaki. “Savarkar made factual comments on the issue, but the original concept was proposed by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.”
And what about his call for Indians to join the British Army during World War II, a move that still draws fire? Satyaki framed it as a strategy, not surrender. “The purpose was to provide military training and experience so that after independence, India would have trained forces to defend itself.” Critics, he suggested, judge the past without reading the whole chapter.
When pressed on why Savarkar doesn’t command the same uncontested reverence as Bhagat Singh, Satyaki didn’t flinch. “Debates and differences of opinion are part of every great man,” he said. “Comparisons between revolutionaries should be avoided.”
The fireworks are part of a defamation case Satyaki filed in 2023, accusing Rahul Gandhi of making “false and malicious” remarks about Savarkar at a London event. The court has already said Gandhi can’t be forced to hand over self-incriminating material. In 2025, the case was upgraded to a summons trial, throwing the door open for a full-blown historical slugfest with evidence, archives, and competing narratives.
Cross-examination picks up again on June 1. Expect more than legal arguments. This is now a public trial of memory itself: Was Savarkar a pragmatist playing a long game, or a compromiser who bent much too far? The court will rule on defamation. The country will keep arguing the rest.
