3 min readPuneJul 17, 2026 10:46 AM IST
Satyaki Savarkar, grandnephew of freedom fighter and right-wing ideologue V D Savarkar, on Tuesday told a Pune special court hearing a defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi that India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was against Subhash Chandra Bose and implemented policies favourable to the British.
During his cross-examination by Rahul Gandhi’s lawyer, Milind Pawar, Satyaki told the MP/MLA court that it was his personal opinion that his granduncle would have been appointed prime minister had he compromised with the British in 1946.
Satyaki had filed a defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi for his alleged objectionable remarks against Savarkar during a speech in London on March 5, 2023.
Satyaki said the British government had seized all land and residential properties of V D Savarkar, revoked his Barrister’s degree and sentenced him to suffer imprisonment and detention for 27 years. “This means that he was not a British agent. He was not close to the British. Any ruler gives an important position to a person close to him,” Satyaki said.
He further claimed, ”Nehru had said, ‘Hitler and Japan must go to hell. I shall fight them to the end, and this is my policy. I shall also fight Mr Subhash Chandra Bose and his party along with Japan if he comes to India. Mr Bose acted very wrongly though in good faith’.”
Satyaki told the court that this established Nehru’s opposition towards Bose and he implemented policies favourable to the British Government.
When contacted, Satyaki said he had quoted the facts from ‘Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru’.
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When advocate Pawar cited Mahatma Gandhi’s letter for not accepting the facilities offered by the British while at Yerwada prison in 1930, Satyaki said he did not know whether his grand-uncle took the same stance.
During the previous hearings, Satyaki had said that the British government had rejected Savarkar’s clemency petitions and expressed concern that if he was released (from Andaman jail), he would again participate in revolutionary activities and cause a danger to British rule.
On Tuesday, Satyaki told the court that Madam Cama, Bhagat Singh, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Indira Gandhi, Yashwantrao Chavan and Sharad Pawar had also made laudatory remarks about Savarkar.
In March 2023, while delivering a speech to members of the Indian diaspora in London, Rahul Gandhi had contrasted the actions of early independence leaders with Savarkar and allegedly said Savarkar had written a book stating that he and some of his friends felt delighted by beating up a Muslim. According to Satyaki, Savarkar had not written any such book, nor had such an incident ever happened.
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As per the court’s directions, the Pune City police conducted an inquiry and submitted a report on May 27, 2024, stating that Rahul Gandhi had allegedly defamed Savarkar in his London speech. Rahul Gandhi pleaded not guilty in the defamation case.
