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Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Wednesday said that Vinayak Savarkar's fundamentalist ideology was very different from the Indian culture, despite him being a nationalist and that it wouldn't be Savarkar's argument but Mahatma Gandhi's that should win in the country.
Speaking at a book launch of the Kannada version of "Gandhi's Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea of India" by journalist Dhirendra K. Jha, Rao said, "If we can say with a discussion that Savarkar wins, that's not right; he was a non-vegetarian eater, and he wasn't against cow slaughter; he was a Chitpavan brahmin. Savarkar was modernist in that way but his fundamental thinking was different. Some people said he used to eat beef and he was openly propagating eating beef, so that thinking is different. But Gandhiji had a lot of belief in Hinduism and was conservative in that but his actions were different because he was democratic in that way." He also came down on Muhammad Ali Jinnah and said that despite Jinnah being a "hardcore Islamic believer," he used to eat pork. He also said that Jinnah was not a fundamentalist and just wanted to hold a high position in the government and also called for a separate nation. He reiterated that the RSS, Hindu Mahasabha and other right-wing groups were trying to build on fundamentalism and that the populous needed to be socially and politically aware to understand these. "Jinnah was also a hardcore Islamic believer, but he used to eat pork. As people say, after innovation theory, Jinnah was not a fundamentalist; he wanted to be a prime minister, president and wanted a separate country. That's why he followed secularism; Savarkar wasn't like that. The RSS, Hindu Mahasabha and other right-wing groups are trying to build fundamentalism, which we have to answer by understating their fundamentalism. Politically and socially, awarding people and making people understand is important. We can't defeat them just like that. In all traditions, people are not fundamentalists," Gundu Rao said. Minister Rao was at the book launch event of the Kannada version of "Gandhi's Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea of India," organised by Jagrita Karnataka and Aharnishi Prakashana on the occasion of the 155th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The book was translated by columnist A Narayan and journalist Manoj Kumar Guddi. Taking to social media platform X, Gundu Rao said that the book documents the mindset of Nathrunam Godse and explores how Savarkar influenced Godse's thinking. "The book presents a well-documented account of the mindset of Nathuram Godse, the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, and the events surrounding that tragic moment. It also explores how Savarkar influenced Godse's thinking. Gandhiji's belief in democracy stands as a powerful counter to the rising influence of Savarkar's ideology and the growing wave of fundamentalism it represents today," he said in the X's post. (ANI)
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