Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh and Savarkar — What Was the India Each of Them Dreamed Of?

The most tragic and narrow facet of today’s Indian political discourse is that we have divided even the nation’s great thinkers and national heroes along caste and partisan lines.

• In a Dalit settlement or on the dais of a Bahujan party, only the statue of Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar will be visible;
• In the procession of a leftist or student movement, only the red flag of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh will flutter;
• And in the office of a right-wing or Hindu nationalist party, only the portrait of Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar will be found.

As if these three great men had no dialogue amongst themselves whatsoever, as if they were sworn enemies of one another! Political parties, according to their own electoral convenience, selectively prune and clip the ideas of these great figures to turn them into vote-bank posters, and consign their core revolutionary philosophy to the dustbin.

In his book ‘Anokha Bharat’, author N. Singh liberates these three great thinkers from partisan lenses, places them upon the same ideological plane, and asks: What, in reality, was the India of these three heroes’ dreams? Can we not combine the greatest strengths of all three to build a complete nation?

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Three Perspectives, One Shared Goal: India’s Liberation and Reconstruction

1. Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s Vision (Revolutionary Socialism):
   • Bhagat Singh was not merely a pistol-wielding revolutionary; he was a brilliant Marxist and philosopher. His famous dictum was—“The sword of revolution is sharpened on the whetstone of ideas.”
   • It was his firm conviction that the departure of the British alone did not constitute freedom. If brown sahibs (indigenous capitalists and feudal lords) replaced white Englishmen and the exploitation of workers and peasants continued, then that freedom would remain incomplete. He sought ‘the complete end of the exploitation of man by man’.
2. Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar’s Vision (Constitutional Morality and Social Democracy):
   • Babasaheb delivered a clear warning in his final address to the Constituent Assembly on 25 November 1949—“We have entered a life of contradictions on 26 January 1950. In politics we will have equality (one person, one vote), but in social and economic life we will have terrible inequality. If we do not eliminate this inequality at the earliest, those who suffer from this disparity will blow up this democratic edifice.”
   • His dream was—a casteless society founded on Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.
3. Veer Savarkar’s Vision (Cultural Nationalism and Security Consciousness):
   • Savarkar was a staunch nationalist, linguist, and realist strategist. He believed that India fell victim to invasions and subjugation for millennia because Hindus lacked unity, were divided into castes, and suffered from a severe deficit of ‘military strength’.
   • His slogan was—“Hinduise politics and militarise Hindudom!” He was a fierce opponent of the caste system and untouchability (he built the Patit Pavan temple in Ratnagiri where all castes were granted entry). He wanted India to become so formidable in defence that no foreign power could dare cast an aggressive eye upon it.

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A Comparative Study of the Three Great Figures’ Visions

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Bitter Truth from the Book: N. Singh’s Epoch-Making Synthesis

Author N. Singh, in the chapter ‘Three Visions, One Nation’ of his book ‘Anokha Bharat’, writes:

“Instead of making great men beacons of ideas, we have confined them to the enclosures of castes and political parties. Today’s India cannot be complete by leaving out any one of these three! If we are to safeguard India’s borders and sovereignty, we need Savarkar’s national security vision and military consciousness; if we are to deliver social justice and dignity to India’s 80 crore exploited people, Dalits, and women, we need Ambedkar’s constitutional morality and equality; and if we are to protect the nation’s natural resources and workers and peasants from corporate plunder, we need Bhagat Singh’s socialism and sacrifice! Only the synthesis of all three can build an ‘Anokha Bharat’!”
— N. Singh (Anokha Bharat, pp. 256-257)

The author further warns politicians:

“Until you clasp Bhagat Singh’s revolution, Ambedkar’s Constitution, and Savarkar’s love for the nation to your chest together, you will only ever be able to lead a fractured and feeble India.”
— (Anokha Bharat, p. 260)

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Four Principles for Today’s India from the Three Perspectives

1. Learn from Ambedkar: The supremacy of the Constitution, the impartiality of institutions, and the protection of the human dignity of the person standing at the very last rung of society.
2. Learn from Bhagat Singh: The assault of reason upon superstition and dogma, selfless service to the nation, and the struggle for economic equality against crony capitalists.
3. Learn from Savarkar: Zero compromise on national security, self-reliance in modern science and armaments, and national unity forged by breaking down the walls of caste.
4. Liberation of Great Men from Partisan Captivity: A comparative study of the original literature of these three thinkers should be taught in universities and schools so that the younger generation may be freed from prejudice.

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A Question Worth Pondering (The Book’s Message)

Will we continue to use great men merely to garland their electoral posters, or will we bring together the finest ideals of their lives to build an undivided and enlightened India?

To gain a deep understanding of the authentic ideas of these three greatest sons of India and their historical synthesis, every enlightened citizen must read this chapter of N. Singh’s widely discussed book ‘Anokha Bharat’.