Nehru, Savarkar and Bhagat Singh… Know The Revolution and Jail Terms

Savarkar and Armed Revolution

According to reports,Young Savarkar was an advocate of armed revolution against the British through weapons. Perhaps this was the reason why he called the 1857 military revolt as India's first freedom struggle.Then he took intellectual action against the British by writing a book titled 'First War of Independence of 1857'. He was also greatly influenced by the Italian revolutionary Mazzini. He also translated Mazzini's biography into Marathi. He was also sentenced to the Cellular Jail in Andaman only for his involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate British officer Jackson.

Savarkar was arrested from London on 13 March 1910 in this case. He was tried in India and sentenced to life imprisonment on 30 January 1911. He reached the infamous Cellular Jail in Andaman on 4 July 1911. There he stayed for a total of 9 years 10 months. During this staying,he wrote an apology six times. However, there is a difference of opinion among historians about when he wrote his first apology after reaching jail.

Vikram Sampath, who wrote the biography of Savarkar in two volumes, believes that Savarkar wrote the first mercy petition in 1913. According to Ashok Kumar Pandey, who wrote the book 'Savarkar Kala Pani and After', Savarkar wrote his first mercy petition only six months after reaching Andaman. Niranjan Takle, who did special research on Savarkar, is quoted by the BBC as saying that he had written his first apology within a month and a half of reaching the Cellular Jail.