Noted pro-Hindutva leader, Nathuram Godse’s niece and former president of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, Himani Savarkar died here after prolonged illness.
Savarkar, who was in the forefront of many Hindutva movements, was daughter-in-law of Narayan Savarkar, brother of freedom fighter Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
She played an active role in the organisations — Hindu Mahsabha and Abhinav Bharat — set up by Swatantryaveer Savarkar.
She had also contested 2004 Lok Sabha and 2009 Maharashtra Assembly elections from Pune.
Himani Savarkar(1947-2015) was born in 1947. She was 10 months old when Gandhi was assassinated and her father Gopal Godse went to prison for having participated in the conspiracy for assassination. She was 18 when her father was released.
Himani Ji worked as an architect till 2000, and then joined politics in the Hindu Mahasabha, the political party headed by V. D. Savarkar for 8 years in pre-independence years.
At the instance of Sameer Kulkarni, she agreed to become the President of the extremist organisation Abhinav Bharat in April 2008 that has been implicated in several acts of terrorist bombings. In an interview with the Outlook magazine, she has stated that it was appropriate to respond to Islamic terrorism “blast for blast.”
In an interview to DNA earlier this year, Himani had justified moves to construct temples of her uncle Nathuram by Hindu right wing elements as one based on “personal choice,” and called for the re-writing of history as the present study of the discipline was loaded in favour of the Gandhi-Nehru family with little mention of other freedom fighters.
She also called for images of other stalwarts of the freedom struggle like Lokmanya Tilak, Savarkar and Vasudeo Balwant Phadke, who had paid a much heavier price while fighting the British than the Mahatma and Jawaharlal Nehru.
The Maharashtra state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) interviewed Abhinav Bharat president Himani Savarkar in Pune in connection with the September 29 Malegaon blast. But, did not get any clue about her connection with Malegaon blast.
Himani Ji’s comment ‘The BJP is just another Congress‘ in Oct 2004 made a great controversy and classified her stature as a staunch critique of BJP.
Himani Savarkar is considered as a strong advocate of Hindu Rashtra and Hindu Politics in Bharat in this contemporary period.
Source : Hindu Existence
