Freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy has been the target of attacks from several BJP leaders over the past week, starting with former Union Minister Basanagounda Patil Yatnal, who called him a “fake freedom fighter” who behaved like a “Pakistan agent.” Despite demands from the Opposition, the BJP leader has refused to apologise for his comments.
The Hindu caught up with Mr. Doreswamy to solicit his views on the furore. Excerpts from the interview:
You have been the target of several BJP leaders in the past week. How do you respond?
I am baffled as to why suddenly I have become the target of such a vicious personal attack, questioning my work and commitment of the last several decades. They are trying to paint me as an offender, but I am at a loss to understand my offence. I am more deeply saddened by the silence of Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa. He knows me very well over the past several decades and is a senior person in public life in the State, and yet he has been silent.
Why do you think you are being attacked?
I don’t know the answer to that question. But I see this attack as part of a larger design to discredit and attack any critique of this regime. Many people have suffered far worse, being jailed or even killed. As far as I am concerned, [my] taking an active role in the recent anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in the State may have been a trigger... Some BJP leaders have pointed out that I once gave a call to “finish Modi”. I was speaking to the media on the eve of the 2018 Assembly elections in the State, and my call was to defeat Modi. Colloquially, finish does not only mean kill. I accept that the choice of word could have been better, but anyone who knows me will know that I never am a votary for violence. As regards to calling V.D. Savarkar a “coward”, I even today wonder why a revolutionary leader like him apologised to the British and later stayed away from the national movement.
You have even been called anti-national.
We need to differentiate between the government, the State, and the nation. The Constitution gives every citizen the right to criticize the government. I have definitely opposed the policies of this regime and have called for its defeat, and I will continue to do so. A few BJP leaders have been calling me anti-national since I shared the stage with the young leaders Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and others. I see them as youth fighting for the future of this country.
Several BJP leaders have accused you of being partisan and anti-BJP, and said that your criticism of the incumbent regime stems from an ideological bias.
It is true that I am ideologically opposed to the BJP and I believe there can be no compromise on secularism and pluralism. But beyond our ideological differences, I have had many friends in RSS-BJP and had cordial relations with them. They know what my ideology is and I know theirs. But this is what they are destroying now, leading to extreme polarisation of society. Opposition in a democracy also needs to be civil.
However, I have not been partisan. Post-Independence, I distanced myself from the Congress too. When Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in 1975, I wrote a letter to her saying the British were more magnanimous than her. I called her a dictator and was arrested as a result. Since then, whenever I have felt the government has erred, I have spoken out, participated in Gandhian democratic struggles. I was part of the India Against Corruption movement when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power. I also led several movements when Siddaramaiah and H.D. Kumaraswamy were Chief Ministers of the state.
The Opposition produced documents of your incarceration to counter allegations of your being a ‘fake freedom fighter’. Are you hurt that you have to prove your credentials?
I am amused that people who do not know the history of this land have risen to such responsible positions. My life has been an open book and the people know what I am. I need not defend myself.