There are moments in a nation’s history where it must pause and ask itself—what kind of leadership, philosophy, and vision do we need to face the challenges of today and tomorrow? In India, we have for far too long been caught in the inertia of romanticising the past, glorifying some icons while vilifying others, not based on the merit of their contribution but on the convenience of political narrative.
And it is in this context that I say what many think but few dare to voice: India does not need a Gandhi today. It needs a Veer Savarkar.
Let me be clear. This is not an exercise in historical erasure. Mahatma Gandhi played an essential role in India’s freedom struggle. His non-violent resistance moved millions and exposed the British Empire’s moral bankruptcy. But Gandhi’s relevance must be measured in context. His vision was tailored for a colonised India seeking moral superiority over an imperialist power. That India is gone. Today, we are a sovereign, aspirational, and assertive Bharat. And such a Bharat cannot afford to be guided by philosophies of appeasement, selective pacifism, or moral ambiguity.
Instead, we need to reintroduce ourselves to a man whose name was either scrubbed from textbooks or painted with controversy—Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. The man who warned us about the dangers of religious fanaticism, who envisioned a united, powerful, and culturally rooted India, and who understood that freedom was not merely about transfer of power, but about awakening the civilisational consciousness of a nation.
Veer Savarkar spent over a decade in the hellish confines of the Cellular Jail in Andaman. His bones bore the testimony of British brutality. Yet, his mind remained unshackled. He was not a prisoner—he was a prophet. While Gandhi preached non-violence from the podiums of mass movements, Savarkar quietly wrote treatises on nationalism, history, and identity from a prison cell. He was the first political leader to call 1857 a “War of Independence” and inspired revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Let’s not be fooled by the lazy propaganda that labels Savarkar a communalist or British collaborator. These accusations come from those who benefit from a fragmented Bharat, not a united one. Savarkar was not against Muslims or Christians. He was against religious fanaticism. He didn’t preach hatred. He preached clarity. He didn’t demand uniformity. He demanded loyalty—to the nation, to its values, and to its civilisational spirit.
Compare that to Gandhi’s soft approach. Gandhi’s policy of “Sarva Dharma Sambhava” has today morphed into “Sarva Dharma Apasandhi”—a secularism that mocks Hinduism while protecting every other faith. His idea of harmony came at the cost of the majority’s cultural pride. In his obsession with communal unity, Gandhi kept silent during the Moplah massacre, bent backwards during the Khilafat Movement, and in many ways sowed the seeds for the Partition. Savarkar opposed Partition tooth and nail, calling it a national suicide.
Today, as India stands at the crossroads of global influence and internal disruption, we must ask—what would Gandhi do? And more importantly, what would Savarkar do?
Would Gandhi support the abrogation of Article 370? Would he stand firm against Islamist radicalisation? Would he dare to speak against vote-bank politics, against temple desecrations, or against foreign-funded NGOs that weaken the soul of this nation from within?
Unlikely.
Savarkar, on the other hand, would have stood tall and unflinching. He would have called out the duplicity. He would have reminded us that being secular does not mean being suicidal. That being inclusive does not mean being indifferent to the erosion of one’s own identity.
India needs a new ideological compass—one that does not swing with the winds of political correctness. We need a leadership that talks less about “tolerance” and more about “pride.” We need to stop apologising for being Hindu, for being nationalistic, for putting Bharat first.
This is not to say we must be belligerent. Savarkar never advocated violence as a default solution. But he believed in preparedness. He believed in deterrence. He believed that only a strong, united Bharat could command respect in a world that does not reward weakness.
Today, the threats we face are both visible and invisible—terrorism, cyber warfare, cultural infiltration, demographic imbalance, and an educational system that still teaches our children to feel ashamed of their own heritage. Gandhi’s tools are blunt against these new weapons. Savarkar’s ideas are sharp, modern, and unapologetically Indian.
And maybe that’s what scares his critics the most.
The India of 2025 is not the India of 1947. We are no longer begging for freedom. We are building empires in technology, defense, space, and diplomacy. But with this rise must come responsibility—to safeguard what we are and where we came from.
Veer Savarkar understood that. He lived it. He bled for it.
So let us stop looking for saints in a battlefield. Let us stop chasing moral optics while our enemies sharpen their knives. Let us rise—fierce, proud, and united.
Because India does not need a Gandhi today. It needs a Veer Savarkar.Not just to survive. But to soar.
