The Maharashtra Congress has slammed PM Modi over the ‘Gallery of Revolutionaries’ underground museum at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai dedicated to freedom fighters. Congress alleged that the freedom movement was being shown through the right-wing perspective.
The Maharashtra Congress has alleged that the ‘Kranti Gatha,’ an underground museum dedicated to the struggles of Indian freedom fighters inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai, on Tuesday has been influenced by the Rashtriya Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Sachin Sawant, general secretary of the Maharashtra Congress, alleged that the freedom movement is being showcased through the right-wing prism. He stated that the mainstream freedom struggle doesn’t seem to have a place in the museum, although the Indian National Congress originated in Mumbai.
Sachin Sawant in a Twitter thread said that “For years, RSS has been trying to undermine the mainstream non-violent freedom struggle & reinvent the history of the freedom movement (as RSS was not part of it) to showcase it through a right-wing prism. Today, the PM will inaugurate the ‘Gallery of Revolutionaries’, a museum at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai
Many sacrificed their lives in the mainstream struggle. There were a large number of martyrs in the 1942 Quit India movement. Unfortunately, Babu Genu’s name is not in Raj Bhavan’s press note, said Sawant.
PM Narendra Modi also took to Twitter and said, “The Gallery of Revolutionaries at the Raj Bhawan in Mumbai is a great effort to connect the youth with our freedom struggle.”
The gallery includes the names of Vasudev Balwant Phadke, Chafekar brothers, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Babarao Savarkar, Krantiguru Lahuji Salve, Anant Laxman Kanhere, Madam Bhikaji Kama; the first armed revolutionary organization ‘Abhinav Bharat’, ‘Patri Sarkar’, Ganesh Vishnu Pingale, Vasudev Balwant Gogte, Shivram Rajguru and many other revolutionaries.
It also includes photographs and information of many tribal revolutionaries drawn by school children. In the next phase of the gallery, some more revolutionaries will be introduced, said a press note.
INFLUENCED BY RSS, SAYS CONGRESS
However, Sawant objected that freedom fighters like SA Dange and other communist leaders were also imprisoned. Since the museum was created under the guidance of Dr Vikram Sampath, there is a great possibility that RSS’s influence may have been there.
He further added, “I sincerely hope that the sacrifices of all other revolutionaries get a place & no-one is excluded on the political agenda. Hope the names of all revolutionaries who received penal sentences & those who did not write mercy petitions will also be there. Many Maharashtrian revolutionaries have endured Kala Pani.”
Similarly, the revolt of 1857 was a united fight of Hindus and Muslims. Even Savarkar agreed so. Would like to see the names of all revolutionaries, including Azimullah Khan. Maharashtra has made an invaluable contribution to the freedom struggle. Peasants & workers struggle or Warli revolt must get a place, added Sawant.
Meanwhile, PM Modi in his speech at the event took a jibe indirectly at Congress for not recognising the value of our historical monuments. PM Modi said that foreign countries would laugh at us if they knew that the underground bunker at Raj Bhavan remained unknown for the last seven decades.
The PM also alleged that the contribution of freedom fighters who triggered the freedom movement on foreign lands was not well recognised.
For example, Modi shared that the ashes of Shamji Krishna Verma, a revolutionary who initiated the movement in London’s India House, had not returned to India since 1930 after his death. It was him (Modi) who brought them back in 2003
