- This
part covers Savarkar’s attacks on Gandhi and Jinnah, Cripps Mission and increase
in popularity of the Hindu Mahasabha.
- It
shows Savarkar’s knowledge of world history and understanding of international
affairs.
Part
ONE covered
childhood and college, revolutionary activities in London, epic escape & trial,
period 1866 to 1911. Part TWO starts with his
entry into Cellular Jail, education of fellow prisoners, preventing conversions
to Islam, German efforts to rescue him, war against British by 8,000 predominantly
Sikh revolutionaries. Lastly, release from jail & return to India. Part THREE covers Savarkar
as a social reformer, rationalist & author and end of internment in 1937
with his unconditional release. Part FOUR
covers whirlwind propaganda, war and militarization and Hindu Manifesto
(includes Hindu Nation, What is Hindutva, Savarkar’s India and description of
Flag designed by him).
Content
herein is verbatim from book Veer Savarkar’ by well-known biographer Dhananjay
Keer. Credits and copyright Popular Prakashan Private Limited. Keer was
fortunate to study Savarkar closely and discuss with him his views and work.
This has given the book a stamp of authority.
Attacks Gandhi and Jinnah
Savarkar’s
main appeal to Hindus was that they should elect only those Hindus who could
boldly act as advocates of a Hindu nation. The Congress had one policy i.e. of
trampling Hindu sentiment to please the Muslims. The more the Congress bent the
more fanatic the Muslims became.
Two guiding
principles inspired Savarkar throughout his career; they were the Independence
and Indivisibility of India. He sensed India’s independence but was scared
of the Congress’s servile, deceptive attitude. A foretold by Savarkar, the
Muslim League came out with a demand for dividing India.
Said its Lahore Resolution of 1940, “The areas in which Muslims are numerically are majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute Independent states in which they shall be autonomous and sovereign.” When Savarkar criticized the Congress they discredited him for having suspected the patriotism of their holy fathers.
Savarkar never
tolerated any unjust or unpatriotic political demands made by Indian
minorities. He wanted patriots not minorities who demanded their pound of flesh
for agreeing to something. When Rajaji offered the League Pakistan, if they
agreed to join the National government, Savarkar said it was a typical Congress
conception of national unity that such as assurance should be given to the
League before even the British had done so.
What
infuriated Savarkar was an article by Gandhi in the Harijan in October 1940
which stated that in case the British were overthrown as a result of the war and
internal anarchy set in, “the strongest power in
the land will hold sway over India and this may be Hyderabad for aught I
know. All other chiefs will succumb to the strongest power of the Nizam who
will be the emperor of India.”
Savarkar
replied that Gandhi knew as little of history as of Hebru and stated that if
the rule of an Aurangzeb was domestic rule, the Hindus detested it as veritable
hell. Gandhi’s disciple, Patel, by attacking Hyderabad 8 years later,
vindicated Savarkar’s stand of 1939.
Whirlwind
propaganda made Savarkar’s health deteriorate. Yet he attended the annual
session of the Mahasabha in 1940 where he was elected President.
In March 1941,
Liberal circles held a non-party conference in Mumbai. Its convener was Tej
Bahadur Sapru. The conference was about to break up since some of the leaders
were nervous about its representation. At this crucial moment Sapru requested Savarkar
to address the meet. He asserted his belief in India’s right to complete
independence, but although some of them present there did not agree with him
fully, they should travel together so long as they had a common journey. Liberal
leaders present were impressed with Savarkar’s intellectual and persuasive
powers, rationalistic and realistic approach to the political problem. Jinnah
as usual said the conference was engineered by the agents of the Congress and
Mahasabha.
The Congress adopted a strange policy towards the Census. Savarkar believed that for the next ten years, the census would determine all constitutional progress and matters w.r.t. public services, representations in legislatures. The numerical strength between Hindus and Muslims as recorded in the census was going to affect the political discussions in India just as the census of 1931 affected the Government of India Act of 1935.
Savarkar
appealed to all Hindus - Arya Samajists, Lingayats, Sikhs, Jains to show their
religion as Vedic, Hindu. The Congress boycotted it since to them it was a
communal question. Savarkar said that if it were indeed communal why had, the
Congress had agreed to communal electorates, they gave recognition to the
numerical strengths while deciding the political questions of India. As a
result Bengal was incorrectly declared a
Muslim majority province. It was the same Congress who had boycotted the Census
of 1931 but took the figures of the Muslim population as correct while
determining the question of communal weightages in 1931.
Later the
negotiations between Jinnah and the British Cabinet Mission for determining the
issue of Pakistan were taken on the basis of these
census figures.
Jinnah
denounced the Mahasabha and warned the British that if they failed to create an
independent group of Pakistan States, others would come and do it. Savarkar
retorted that if the state of Croats was an ideal of his Pakistan, he asked
Jinnah to read history and know the fate of Croats, Serbs and Slavs who had
been victims of larger states. He said that the Hindu-Buddhist alliance from Jammu to Japan
would be resisting a Pan-Islamic alliance.
He ended by
saying, “History avers to the ever-abiding truth that in India: Pakistans may
come and Pakistans may go But Hindustan goes on forever.”
It was the
belief of Savarkar that no nation in World War II was actuated by moral
considerations. To underline this truth he sent a cable to American President
D. Roosevelt on 20/8/1941 urging him
to declare whether the Atlantic Charter announced by him and Churchill covered
the case of India or not and whether America guaranteed the full political
freedom of India within a year of the war. The cable was broadcast throughout
the world esp. in Germany, Britain, and America etc. and fully exploited by
Hitler to expose the Allies profession of love and democracy.
The point Savarkar
drove home that India need not base her hopes on the professed war aims of the
Allies.
Savarkar
toured Assam in 1941 where received a grand ovation. He was told that Nehru’s
attention was drawn into the Muslim influx into Assam who replied that nature hates
vacuum to which Savarkar commented that Nehru did not know that nature abhors
poisonous gas.
The Bhagalpur
session of the Hindu Mahasabha in 1941 was banned by the government. A hundred
thousand workers from all sections of society rushed to the scene and huge
demonstrations held. Savarkar was arrested at Gaya but the session went on.
They were released in a week. This struggle proved that Hindus by themselves
could launch a nation-wide mass movement in defence of the rights of the
people.
Cripps Mission
Since this
matter has been dealt with in the essay on Sardar Patel (section-great men of
India). The popularity of the Sabha was on the rise. Various dignitaries had
discussions with Savarkar.
With the fall
of Singapore
to the Japanese, it seemed that the Japs would smash the allied forces in the
East. At this critical moment Savarkar issued a statement. Excerpts, “Nothing
can rouse the Indian people with a war like spirit, but a bold and unambiguous
declaration that India is guaranteed forth with a co-partnership in an
Indo-British Commonwealth with other self-governing constituents like Britain.
If Japan is allowed to reach the borders of India such her immediate aim is to
free India, such a Proclamation on their part cannot but catch the imagination
of the Indian people by storm and usher in incalculable political complications.”
Apprehensive
after the fall of Singapore and with a view to impressing the American people
with the genuine sincerity of British aims about India, Churchill announced the
Cripps Mission on 11/3/1942.
The scheme put
forward by Stafford Cripps envisaged the creation of a new Indian Union, which
would constitute a Dominion, associated with the United Kingdom immediately
after the cessation of hostilities. Secondly the scheme granted the right to
any province that was not prepared to accept the new Constitution framed by the
constitution making body, to retain its status, provision being made for its
subsequent accession, if it so desired.
Cripps had an interview with Savarkar. Read on.
To support his
arguments Cripps said that the right of self-determination was not new in
politics, as given to every unit in Canada before the formation of her
federation. Savarkar then turned those arguments against Cripps by telling him
the Canadian states were separate entities before they were called together to
say whether they liked to form themselves into an organic state. But India was
already one welded Central unit.
To this Cripps
replied that India was never a Unitarian nation. Savarkar said, “To the Hindus,
it is an article of faith that India, their motherland and holy land, is a
cultural and national unit undivided and indivisible. Also the British government
calls it as one administrative unit with one army, navy and air force.” Cripps
had to keep silent.
The Mahasabha
was the first political organization that rejected the Cabinet proposal
entirely. The Congress was willing to accept the scheme but was unhappy that
the Defence portfolio would remain with the Brits during the war, eventually rejected
the scheme. Savarkar’s stock rose further.
Mesmerized by
the false notions of its president Maulana Azad, the Congress Working Committee
passed a resolution in April 1942, “That the Congress could not think in terms
of compelling the people of any territorial unit to join the Indian Union
against their declared and established will.” The 1942
resolution tacitly accepted Pakistan. However, Babu Jagat Narayan moved
his Akhand Bharat Resolution in May 1942 and got it passed at the AICC session.
Mahasabha Marches on
The Akhand
Hindustan Movement was gradually gaining ground. The Hindu Mahasabha was
defeating the Congress in municipal, local and district local board elections.
It upset the Congress applecart in Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra.
The Sabha observed 10/5/1942 as anti-Pakistan and Independence Day. While
Muslim League leaders were allowed to propagate the cause of Pakistan, the
Sabhaites were arrested at many places.
History will
record that Savarkar was the only great leader to raise his voice against the
division of India.
Gandhi said,
“Let the Hindus say to the Muslims, have as big a share of the spoils as you
want, we will be content to serve you.” He later said, “Vivisect me before you
vivisect India” but the Muslims never listened to him! Lastly he said, “I would
be ruled by them, for it would still be Indian Rule.” In 1942 Nehru said, “There is now a demand on
the part of some Muslims for partition of India, and it must be remembered that
this demand is only four years old.”
Read Seeds
for Partition were sowed starting the 1920’s
In May 1942, John Paton Davis, second secretary of the U.S. Embassy
came to interview Savarkar. Then an American Negro leader came and told
him how of the disabilities the Negroes were undergoing in the U.S. Then came
journalist Lois Fischer. He asked Savarkar, why don’t you concede Pakistan? To
which Savarkar asked why don’t you grant Negrostan? Lois said that would be
anti-national. Lois tried to corner Savarkar but the fiery Savarkar armed with
irrefutable arguments shot back.
What Louis did
not know that he was crossing swords with one of the greatest intellectual
giants of Maharashtra?
In May 1942 a
group of Chinese Muslims visited Muslim-majority
cities, States and strongholds and promised help after the end of the war. Savarkar
warned that if China did not check their activities, separatist’s tendencies
would rise there too.
On special
request of the Arya Samaj, Hindu Sikh Nava Javan Sabha etc he visited Jammu
& Kashmir in July 1942. He presided over the Hindu-Sikh conference in
Jammu. Stopping at Rawalpindi he told the Press that Rajaji was making two
fundamental errors, Pakistan would usher everlasting Hindu-Muslim unity and the
outcome of a united demand for freedom would lead to the withdrawal of British
power.
Unable to take
the physical strain any longer Savarkar resigned from the Presidentship of the
Hindu Mahasabha in July 1942.
Having failed
with the Individual Disobedience Movement Gandhi was all set for the Quit India
Movement. Savarkar said the declaration of Quit India was absurd since Gandhi
agreed to the stationing of their army in India. However, he promised to
cooperate with the Congress provided it stood by the integrity of India.
Gandhi
declined the offer and wrote to Jinnah. Excerpts, “Congress will have no
objection to the British transferring all the powers it today exercises to the
Muslim League on behalf on behalf of the whole of India. The Congress may even
join such Government.”
Savarkar
ensured the Mahasabha did not identify with the Congress because he believed
that in terms of in respect of tactical questions, the timing, the ways, means
and methods of revolution, effectiveness depends on some sane calculations but
in the Congress there was no planning at all. Savarkar wanted a pre-planned
revolution, which would attempt to gain military support because no revolution
can succeed without their support.
Gandhi was set
to launch his Struggle but was arrested the same night. Yet the marked feature
of the struggle that it was predominantly Hindu with Jinnah emphasised the
Muslim aloofness from this movement.
Savarkar urged
Hindu Sanghatanists who were part of government or armed forces not to be led
by emotion and abandon their posts and conserve energy for the fight of
national integrity.
After the
August revolution, Savarkar views were heard with more concern and interests.
The reputation of the Hindu Mahasabha was at its highest ever.
If you wish to
read the above chapters in more detail chapter-wise links are below.
Also read
1 Savarkar
the man and mission beyond mercy petitions
2 Do
not malign Savarkar for petty political gains
3 Hindu
Pad-Padashahi
4 Attacks
Gandhi and Jinnah
5 Cripps
Mission
6 Mahasabha
marches on