Claim
“Historian” Vinayak Damodar Savarkar asserted Vellore Mutiny of 1806 as the predecessor to India’s First Independence Struggle in 1857 – Tamil Nadu Eighth Social Science Textbook.
Rating
Explanation
Tamil Nadu State Board’s 8th Standard Social Science book has mentioned that Hindu Nationalist Leader V.D.Savarkar is a Historian and he has pointed out that Vellore Mutiny of 1806 is a precursor to the widely acknowledged India’s First Independence Struggle in 1857.
We confirmed the existence of such a paragraph in the Tamil Medium’s 8th Standard book from a school teacher, who preferred to remain anonymous. The teacher also confirmed that V.D.Savarkar is indeed mentioned as “Historian”. Although similar paragraph is found in the English version of the book, Savarkar is not termed as “Historian” in the English Medium’s version of the book.
The downloaded versions from Tamil Nadu Government’s website, both Tamil and English, indeed mention that V.D.Savarkar was a Historian. This was last updated in 2020, during the ADMK regime.
We found that there is no mention of Savarkar in 2015’s edition of the Social Science book under the heading “Vellore Mutiny 1806”.
However, in the 2017th edition of 12th Standard Social Studies book, both in Tamil and English, V.D.Savarkar is mentioned under the same chapter with same message, although without the tag “Historian”.
We clarified with a noted History Professor Biju and confirmed that V.D.Savarkar indeed call Vellore Mutiny of 1806 as the precursor to the First Independence Movement of 1857 in his book “Indian War of Independence 1857”.
Union Minister Amit Shah mentioned in October 2019, that Savarkar coined 1857 revolt as first independence war.
Vellore Mutiny was in 1806. And the revolt that he mentioned as first independence war was in 1857. It is noteworthy that Savarkar was born on 28, May 1883.
Conclusion
We indeed found that there is mention of Savarkar in the 8th Standard Social Science Book and the lesson from the book mentions that Savarkar has pointed out Vellore Mutiny of 1806 as the precursor to the 1857 First War of Independence and the same can be corroborated from V.D.Savarkar’s book “Indian War of Independence 1857”.
Proof Links
