Can you able to see the difference between an ideology and personal life ? You attack them personally because you failed counter them ideologically.
Savarkar is a disaster compared to Gandhi and Periyar. Both contibted to massive social change. Savarkar continues to be remembered as a coward and stone pelter.
"Can you able ?" I thought it was - are you able ? Minor quibbles aside , You seem to have missed the points I was making . People who profess a particular brand of ideology will be judged both by what they said and what they did . Where the gulf in both is a chasm , they will be called out . This applies to everyone across the religious caste , linguistic , ethnic , gender divide.
The self respect movement by Periyar was as much about women's rights as it was about emancipation of the entire non Brahmanical fold within the larger Hindu religion in what was then Tamil speaking areas. That's also what his followers including Annadurai , Karunanidhi , MGR , downwards have proclaimed . Living up to his ideals is their professed mantra. Now you reconcile them with Karunanidhi's bigamy . While you're at it , perhaps you could also elaborate on how practically every case of caste violence against the Dalits in TN feature people identified with the so called OBC's and not the Brahmins .
Or is it your contention that Periyar fought anti Brahminism exclusively to emancipate a particular section which in this case happens to be the people largely characterised as OBC's today leaving out the Dalits ?Perhaps you could also comment on why every caste grouping today in TN are represented by their own exclusive political parties who tend to amplify the demands of their own caste .
It was never my contention that Savarkar was an exlempary leader deserving emulation . I brought up Savarkar in a particular context . The context being how a particular characteristic of a public personality is identified and highlighted to denigrate him . If Savarkar's groveling apology is held against him , why shouldn't Gandhi's experiments with celibacy be discussed with the same frankness as we dissect Savarkar's apology ?
Just as it's your contention that Savarkar was a disaster , there are people out here who'd hold similar views about most public figures from that era , before and since including the two you've named. The impact that such public figures had over the imagination of the people they inspired doesn't end with their deaths nor is it restricted to people of their generation or a couple of succeeding generations. Savarkar postulated his Hindutva ideology in the 20's - 30's. They have gained currency from the late 80's onwards whereas Gandhi's ideology has been on the wane ever since his departure. Do I even need to add on the relevance of Periyar in contemporary Tamil politics ?
Just as an aside - Periyar was also notorious for his views on the Tamil Language- the corner stone of Tamil ethno nationalism which along with other ideals of the self respect movement defines Dravidian politics till this day in TN . He's inspired great affection and regard among Tamil speakers inspite of it.
Similarly Savarkar in his monumental work on the events 1857 which he wrote about in such glowing terms characterising it as the first war of independence saw the Muslims as brethren of the Hindus in their fight for freedom as he described it holding out the example of Hindu Muslim unity in those days in golden prose . The same Savarkar also coined the term Hindutva and detailed his philosophy of Muslims and Hindus constituting two separate nations much later.
