A screenshot of a newspaper clipping is doing the rounds on social media with a headline: ‘सावरकर न होते तो 1857 की क्रांति इतिहास न बनती : शाह’ (English translation: “Had Savarkar not been there, the 1857 revolution would not have become historic: Shah.”
The clipping is shared with the text claiming that Savarkar was born in 1883, yet he has been given credit for the 1857 revolt.
Here’s the link to the above post.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the post, and found it to be misleading.
Running a keyword search, we found multiple articles from 2019, where the original statement was present.
An article by The New Indian Express quoted Shah as saying: “Had it not been Veer Savarkar, we would have known the 1857 struggle as merely a revolt. It was Savarkar who gave the name ‘First War of Independence’ to the 1857 ‘kranti’.”
The video of the same speech was also uploaded by ANI, dated October 17, 2019, with a headline: Veer Savarkar was one who named 1857 rebellion as first Independence struggle: HM Shah
According to the video description, shah made the statement while he was in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, to inaugurate a two days international seminar ‘Gupt Vansh Ka-Veer’ at BHU.
The description reads: “…While addressing the event, Home Minister Shah said: “Had it not been for Veer Savarkar, the rebellion of 1857 would not have become history, we would have seen it from the point of view of Britishers. Veer Savarkar was the one who named the 1857 rebellion as the first independence struggle.”
Thus, from the above fact check, it is clear that the viral newspaper clipping has been shared with misleading context.
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