An advertisement released by the Karnataka government’s Department of Information and Public Relations to mark the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign on the occasion of India’s 75th Independence Day has omitted the country’s first Prime Minister and freedom fighter Jawaharlal Nehru, and features Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar prominently.
While Nehru is nowhere to be seen on this list, Savarkar has been included in the first row with other freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Vallabhbhai Patel, Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad. Savarkar is named ‘Revolutionary Savarkar’ in the ad.
VD Savarkar was a proponent of Hindutva ideology and wrote a book titled Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?, which was originally published as Essentials of Hindutva. Savarkar has been criticised for not taking part in the freedom struggle after he was released from jail in 1924. He was also charged with conspiring in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, however, he was acquitted by the court for lack of evidence.
Reacting to the Karnataka government’s ad, former CM of the state Siddaramaiah tweeted: “When we thought slavery ended with the British gone, @CMofKarnataka @BSBommai proved everyone wrong by showing that he is still a slave to @RSSorg. Not including #PanditJawaharlalNehru in the list of freedom fighters in today's govt ad shows how low a CM can go to save his chair.”
When we thought slavery ended with the British gone, @CMofKarnataka @BSBommai proved everyone wrong by showing that he is still a slave to @RSSorg
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) August 14, 2022
Not including #PanditJawaharlalNehru in the list of freedom fighters in today's govt ad shows how low a CM can go to save his chair. pic.twitter.com/QHULS19ycG
The ad also features freedom fighters such as Dr Ambedkar, Bala Gangadhar Tilak and Lal Bahadur Shastri, as well as some from the state of Karnataka such as Kittur Rani Chennamma, Sangolli Rayanna and HS Doreswamy. Doreswamy, who continued to participate in various civil rights movements, the latest being the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens, passed away last year in Bengaluru aged 103.
The Union government’s Har Ghar Tiranga campaign has been plagued by several controversies from criticism of the 2022 Flag Code Amendment to the supply of substandard flags.
Watch: The Har Ghar Tiranga campaign and changes to the flag code on Let Me Explain