८ जुलै १९१० चे महत्व / The mystery behind Veer Savarkar's escape from British custody.

ही अशी उडी बघताना । कर्तव्य मृत्यू विसरला ॥ 

बुरुजावर फडफडलेला । झाशीतील घोडा हसला॥ १॥ 

वासुदेव बळवंतांच्या । कंठात हर्ष गदगदला ॥ 

क्रांतीच्या केतूवरला । अस्मान कडाडून गेला ॥ २ ॥ 

दुनियेत फक्त आहेत । विख्यात बहाद्दर दोन ॥ 

जे गेले आईकरिता । सागरास पालांडुन ॥ ३ ॥

हनुमंतानंतर आहे । या विनायकाचा मान ॥ 

लावुनिया प्राण पणाला । अस्मान कडाडून गेला ॥ ४॥ 

८ जुलै १९१० रोजी मार्सेलिस बंदरात विनायक दामोदर सावरकरांनी बोटीतून मारलेली त्रिखंडात गाजलेली ऐतिहासीक मार्सेलिसची उडी- अर्थातच साहसदिन :

स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकरांना विनम्र अभिवादन.

🙏🙏🙏🙏

आजचा दिवस त्या स्मरणाचा.

The mystery behind Veer Savarkar's escape from British custody

NRI researcher claims freedom fighter's bid to escape from British custody in France was foiled by two Indians.

An NRI researcher has exposed a neatly maintained lie by the British government regarding the arrest of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in France on July 8, 1910, when the revolutionary escaped from their custody by leaping into the sea from merchant vessel Morea at Marseilles. The British government claimed in the international court at The Hague that Savarkar was caught by a French soldier and handed over to the British. But Chicago-based Shridhar Damle, 70, has found that Savarkar was caught by Amarsinh Pardeshi and A. Siddiqui-two British policemen of Indian origin-who were on board guarding him, a short while after he swam ashore.

Shridhar DamleShridhar Damle.

In March 1910, British police arrested Savarkar for anti-British activities at London's Victoria railway station, as soon as his train reached there from Paris. They sent him back to India by ship in order to prosecute him for his inflammatory 1906 anti-government speech in Mumbai. Morea reached the French port of Marseilles on July 7, 1910. Next morning, between 6 and 7 a.m., Savarkar escaped through a porthole and swam ashore. According to the British police, a French marine brigadier arrested the revolutionary and handed him over. Three people from the vessel helped him in the recapture.

Veer SavarkarVeer Savarkar.

Damle, who met Savarkar in 1959 as a college student at the latter's home in Mumbai, contradicts the British claim. He went through documents of inquiry, initiated after Savarkar's escape by Scotland Yard and the British-Indian government, and stumbled upon Pardeshi and Siddiqui's involvement in the arrest that had led to a worldwide furore. Documents reveal that Siddiqui first caught hold of Savarkar's neck. Then Pardeshi caught his left arm. Only then did the French brigadier catch Savarkar's right arm. Interestingly, Pardeshi, a native of Savarkar's hometown of Nashik, was present at his send-off function when he left for London to study law in 1906. He was chosen to arrest Savarkar as he could identify him. "British police thought Pardeshi had a soft corner for Savarkar. They doubted whether he would arrest the Hindu nationalist and sent Siddiqui along,?? Damle says.

Savarkar had informed Paris-based revolutionaries Madam Bhikaji Cama and Shyamji Krishna Verma of his plan of escape and asked them to be ready with a car on shore. "Cama and Verma reached half an hour late. By that time, the British had arrested Savarkar.?? Damle, a retired public relations officer with a multinational bank, started his research in June 2010. "I wanted to study Savarkar from the British point of view,?? says Damle, who claims he pored over 40,000 pages at London's India House and British National Archives, Paris and Delhi's National Archives and Delhi's Nehru Memorial Museum & Library. His only regret: "Foreign institutes are more helpful than the Indian ones.??

Kiran Tare

November 30, 1999

ISSUE DATE: March 11, 2013UPDATED: March 9, 2013 11:02 IST

https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/nation/story/20130311-the-untold-savarkar-story-veer-savarkar-shridhar-damle-762280-1999-11-30