Paramekkavu temple board, which organises Kerala’s largest cultural event, Thrissur Pooram, prepared umbrellas with images of historical figures including Savarkar. But after protests from the Left, the ones with pictures of the Hindutva leader have been withdrawn
The umbrellas with pictures of historical figures were displayed during Anachamaya Pradarshanam, an exhibition of caparisons, on 8 May. Image Courtesy: @kumarnandaj/Twitter
The upcoming festivities at Kerala’s famous Thrissur Pooram festival have been marred by a controversy over Hindutva leader VD Savarkar’s image on umbrellas used for the kudamattam (exchange of parosals) ceremony.
The two-day festival is set to begin on 10 May. Paramekkavu Devaswom, one of the organisers of the cultural event, prepared umbrellas with pictures of famous leaders from history. Savarkar’s image was on the umbrellas which were displayed during Anachamaya Pradarshanam, an exhibition of caparisons, on 8 May. The other imprints included those of Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Subhas Chandra Bose, Subrahmania Bharati, and Mannathu Padmanabhan.
The images on the umbrellas were selected following a suggestion from Bharatiya Janata Party MP Suresh Gopi. He has recommended the names of freedom fighters to mark 75 years of independence, reports The Indian Express.
The protests
Pro-Left groups were outraged over the images of Savarkar – considered the ideologue for right-wing nationalism – by India’s liberals.
Delhi-based journalist Charmy Harikrishnan wrote in a Facebook post that Paramekkavu should not put Savarkar on its Kudamattam umbrella. “Stop politicising and blatantly communalising Thrissur Pooram,” the post read.
The Youth Congress and the All India Students Federation (AISF), the students’ wing of the Communist Party of India, reportedly staged a protest on Sunday against the use of Savarkar’s image on the umbrellas, reports The News Minute.
Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham, a pro-Left outfit of writers and artists, also came out against the inclusion of Savarkar’s image. In a release, it said that people do not want to see the picture of Savarkar during the auspicious occasion of the Pooram festival.
Umbrellas withdrawn
The Paramekkavu Devaswom decided to withdraw the umbrellas from the exhibition. The temple board president Satheesh Menon told The Indian Express, “We have decided to withdraw such umbrellas [which carry Savarkar’s image]. We don’t want to get into any controversy over this,” he said.
However, another temple board official told The News Minute that the umbrellas were meant to be exhibited for some time and were not for the ceremony. “Savarkar’s name is in the list of freedom fighters issued by the Union government and that is what we replicated on the umbrellas. There were Gandhiji and Subhash Chandra Bose too,” he said.
“We never use replicas of people during Kudamattam as those shouldn’t be held higher than the Goddess,” the official told the website.
In the popular ceremony, men exchange ornate umbrellas while riding elephants.
The legacy of Savarkar
Savarkar coined the term Hindutva and wrote the famous ideological treatise “Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?” It prompted the idea of Hinduism being a cultural and political identity.
Savarkar came to be known for his detestation of Mahatma Gandhi and was arrested for his assassination, though was later acquitted.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP, considers Savarkar to be the father of Hindu nationalism. Since the late 1990s, BJP-led governments have tried to promote him as a key figure in the national movement.
However, the Left-liberal intelligentsia believes he displayed cowardice in his mercy petitions to the British during his time in jail and that he had a hand to play in the killing of Gandhi.
Be it the right or the left, most opinions today are formed on half-truths. With the extreme right trying to reinvent Savarkar and spread its own propaganda, the divide between followers of the two leaders has only become wider.
With inputs from agencies
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.