Veer Savarkar (The man who could have prevented partition)

SCENE ONE: FEBRUARY 1947

That India will be partitioned at the point of the Muslim League’s loaded gun in the guise of Direct Action is now final. Riots start engulfing various parts of India, killing thousands. However, the worse massacres in Punjab, such as the one in Sheikhpura that took a toll of over 10,000 lives-mostly Sikhs and Hindus-and that resulted in the dishonour of hundreds of women, are yet to happen. A Congress structure, based on the slogan of complete non-violence and Hindu-Muslim unity at any cost is clueless about the Muslim League violence and, therefore, caving in under influence. In this atmosphere of distrust and violence, Vinayak Damodar (V.D.) ‘Veer’ Savarkar receives a letter from a distraught Dr Syama Prasad (S.P.) Mukherjee. One line in the letter says it all: ‘Had the Hindus listened to your call, they wouldn’t have remained slaves in the land of their birth.”