Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Savarkar began his political activities as a high school student and continued at Fergusson College in Pune. He and his brother founded a secret society called Abhinav Bharat Society, advocating for an independent India. When Savarkar travelled to England for his law studies, he involved himself with organisations such as India House and the Free India Society. He also published books advocating complete Indian independence by revolutionary means.

In 1910, Savarkar was arrested by British authorities and deported back to India as a result of his involvement with India House. Upon returning to India, Savarkar was sentenced to 50 years of imprisonment in the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He was released in 1924 after writing a series of mercy petitions to the British colonial government. According to historian A. Devare, Savarkar “virtually ceased” his criticism of British rule in India after his release from the Cellular Jail in 1924. He remained restricted to Ratnagiri district and prohibited from political activity until 1937. Savarkar started travelling widely, becoming a prominent orator and writer who advocated for Hindu political and social unity. In his 1937 Ahmedabad presidential address, Savarkar described Hindus and Muslims as “two nations in the main” in India, a position that has been interpreted by scholars as an expression of the two-nation theory. The Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar's leadership endorsed the idea of India as a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation).

In 1939, the ruling Indian National Congress (INC) resigned en masse after Britain declaring India a belligerent in World War II. The Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar formed alliances with the All-India Muslim League and other non-INC parties to form government in many states. Subsequently, the INC, under Gandhi's leadership, launched the Quit India Movement; Savarkar boycotted the movement, writing a letter titled "Stick to your Posts" and recruiting Indians for the British war effort. In 1948, Savarkar was tried for his alleged involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi but was acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence.

Life and career

Early life

Savarkar was born into a Marathi Hindu Chitpavan Brahmin family on 28 May 1883 in Bhagur, a village in the Nasik district of the Bombay Presidency of British India. His parents were Damodar and Radhabai Savarkar. Savarkar had two brothers named Ganesh and Narayan, and a sister named Mainabai. He began his activism as a high school student. At the age of 12, he led fellow students in an attack on the village mosque following Hindu-Muslim riots, stating: "We vandalised the mosque to our heart's content." In 1903, in the nearby city of Nasik, Savarkar and Ganesh founded the Mitra Mela, an underground revolutionary organisation, which became Abhinav Bharat Society in 1906. Abhinav Bharat's main objectives were to overthrow British rule and revive Hindu pride.

Student activist

Savarkar continued his political activism as a student at Fergusson College in Pune. Savarkar was greatly influenced by the radical nationalist leader, Lokmanya Tilak. Tilak was in turn impressed with the young student and helped him obtain the Shivaji Scholarship in 1906 for his law studies in London. To protest against Bengal partition of 1905, Savarkar led foreign-clothes bonfire in India with other students in presence of Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

London years

In London, Savarkar associated with India House, a centre of Indian nationalist and revolutionary activity. During his time there, he was involved in anticolonial political activities and the dissemination of revolutionary literature. British authorities subsequently identified him as a figure within the Indian revolutionary movement and arrested him in 1910 in connection with his alleged involvement in revolutionary activities. One of the books he published called The Indian War of Independence about the Indian Rebellion of 1857 was banned by the British colonial authorities.

Savarkar was influenced by the life and thinking of Italian nationalist leader, Giuseppe Mazzini. During his stay in London, Savarkar translated Mazzini's biography into Marathi. He also influenced thinking of a fellow student called Madanlal Dhingra. In 1909, Dhingra assassinated Curzon Wyllie, a colonial officer. It is alleged by Mark Juergensmeyer that Savarkar supplied the gun which Dhingra used. Juergensmeyer further alleged that Savarkar supplied the words for Dhingra's last statement before he went to the gallows for the murder. Savarkar met Mohandas Gandhi for the first time in London shortly after Curzon-Wyllie's assassination. During his stay, Gandhi debated Savarkar and other nationalists in London on the futility of fighting the colonial state through acts of terrorism and guerrilla warfare.

Arrest and transportation to India

In India, Ganesh Savarkar organised an armed revolt against the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909, and was sentenced to life imprisonment on the Andaman Islands. Around the same time Vinayak Savarkar was accused of participating in a conspiracy to overthrow British rule in India by organising murders of various officials. Hoping to evade arrest, Savarkar moved to Bhikaiji Cama's home in Paris, but against advice from his friends, returned to London. On 13 March 1910, he was arrested in London on multiple charges, including procurement and distribution of arms, waging war against the state, and delivering seditious speeches. At the time of his arrest, he was carrying several revolutionary texts, including copies of his own banned books. In addition, the British presented evidence that he had smuggled 20 Browning handguns into India, one of which Anant Laxman Kanhere used to assassinate the Nasik district's collector A.M.T. Jackson in December 1909. During the trial of Nasik Conspiracy Case 1910, government's advocate alleged that Savarkar was a moving part and inspiration behind assassination of Jackson. A Bombay court tried him in the Nasik conspiracy case and sentenced him for life-imprisonment and transported him to the notorious Cellular Jail of Andaman Island and forfeited his property.

Although his alleged crimes were committed both in Britain as well as India, the British decided to try him in India. He was subsequently put on the commercial ship SS Morea with a police escort for his transport to India. When the ship docked in the French Mediterranean port of Marseille, Savarkar escaped by jumping from the ship's window, swam to the French shore, and asked for political asylum. Local French port officials ignored his pleas and handed him back to the police escort on Morea. When the French government was informed of the incident, they asked for Savarkar to be brought back to France, and lodged an appeal with the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

French Case before the Permanent Court of Arbitration

Savarkar's arrest at Marseille caused the French government to lodge a protest against its British counterpart, arguing that Britain could not recover Savarkar unless it took appropriate legal proceedings for his rendition. The dispute came before the Permanent Court of International Arbitration in 1910, and it gave its decision in 1911.

The Court held, firstly, that since there was a pattern of collaboration between the two countries regarding the possibility of Savarkar's escape in Marseille and there was neither force nor fraud in inducing the port authorities to return Savarkar to them, the British did not have to hand him back to the French for the latter to hold rendition proceedings. On the other hand, the tribunal also observed that there had been an "irregularity" in Savarkar's arrest and delivery over to his police escort.

Trial and sentence

Arriving in Bombay, Savarkar was taken to the Yervada Central Jail in Pune. The trial before the special tribunal was started on 10 September 1910. On 10 February 1911 he was measured as a 5 ft 2.5 in (1.59 m) slender man. One of the charges on Savarkar was the abetment to murder of Nasik Collector A. M. T. Jackson. In July 1911, Savarkar was transported to Port Blair and imprisoned in Cellular Jail.

Prisoner in Andaman

Clemency petitions

1911

Savarkar applied to the Bombay Government for certain concessions in connection with his sentences. However, by Government letter No. 2022, dated 4 April 1911, his application was rejected and he was informed that the question of remitting the second sentence of transportation for life would be considered in due course on the expiry of the first sentence of transportation for life. A month after arriving in the Cellular Jail, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Savarkar submitted his first clemency petition on 30 August 1911. This petition was rejected on 3 September 1911.

1913

Savarkar submitted his next clemency petition on 14 November 1913 and presented it personally to the Home Member of the Governor General's council, Sir Reginald Craddock. In his letter, he described himself as a "prodigal son" longing to return to the "parental doors of the government". He wrote that his release from the jail will recast the faith of many Indians in the British rule. Also, he said

Moreover, my conversion to the constitutional line would bring back all those misled young men in India and abroad who were once looking up to me as their guide. I am ready to serve the government in any capacity they like, for as my conversion is conscientious so I hope my future conduct would be. By keeping me in jail, nothing can be got in comparison to what would be otherwise.

1917

In 1917, Savarkar submitted another clemency petition, this time for a general amnesty of all political prisoners. Savarkar was informed on 1 February 1918 that the clemency petition was placed before the British colonial government. In December 1919, there was a Royal proclamation by King George V. The Paragraph 6 of this proclamation included a declaration of Royal clemency to political offenders. In view of Royal proclamation, Savarkar submitted his fourth clemency petition to the British colonial government on 30 March 1920, in which he stated that

So far from believing in the militant school of the Bakunin type, I do not contribute even to the peaceful and philosophical anarchism of a Kuropatkin [sic.] or a Tolstoy. And as to my revolutionary tendencies in the past- it is not only now for the object of sharing the clemency but years before this have I informed of and written to the Government in my petitions (1918, 1914) about my firm intention to abide by the constitution and stand by it as soon as a beginning was made to frame it by Mr. Montagu. Since that the Reforms and then the Proclamation have only confirmed me in my views and recently I have publicly avowed my faith in and readiness to stand by the side of orderly and constitutional development.

This petition was rejected on 12 July 1920 by the British colonial government. After considering the petition, the British colonial government contemplated releasing Ganesh Savarkar but not Vinayak Savarkar. The rationale for doing so was stated as follows

It may be observed that if Ganesh is released and Vinayak is retained in custody, the latter will become in some measure a hostage for the former, who will see that his own misconduct does not jeopardize his brother's chances of release at some future date.

Savarkar signed a statement endorsing his trial, verdict, and British law, and renouncing violence, a bargain for freedom.

Ratnagiri years under restrictions

On 2 May 1921, the Savarkar brothers were transferred from Andaman to mainland India with Vinayak being sent to a jail in Ratnagiri, and Ganesh to Bijapur Jail. During his incarceration in Ratnagiri jail, Vinayak wrote Essentials of Hindutva that formulated the political ideology of Hindutva. Ganesh Savarkar was unconditionally released from jail in 1922. On 6 January 1924 Vinayak was released, but was restricted to Ratnagiri District. Soon after his release, he shifted his work towards Hindu nationalism. The colonial authorities provided a bungalow for him and he was allowed visitors. He also received a pension of 60 rupees a month from the British government. Nathuram Godse, who later assassinated Gandhi, met Savarkar for the first time as a nineteen-year-old in 1929. Savarkar became a prolific writer during his years of restricted freedom in Ratnagiri. His publishers, however, needed to have a disclaimer that they were wholly divorced from politics. Savarkar remained restricted to Ratnagiri district until 1937. At that time, he was unconditionally released by the newly elected government of Bombay presidency.

Leader of the Hindu Mahasabha

Savarkar as president of the Hindu Mahasabha, during the Second World War, advanced the slogan "Hinduise all Politics and Militarise Hindudom" and decided to support the British war effort in India seeking military training for the Hindus. When the Congress launched the Quit India movement in 1942, Savarkar criticised it and asked Hindus to stay active in the war effort and not disobey the government; he also urged the Hindus to enlist in the armed forces to learn the "arts of war".

Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar's leadership organised Hindu Militarisation Boards which recruited armed forces for helping the British in World War 2.

He assailed the British proposals for transfer of power, attacking both the Congress and the British for making concessions to Muslim separatists. Soon after independence, Syama Prasad Mukherjee resigned as vice-president of the Hindu Mahasabha dissociating himself from its Akhand Hindustan (Undivided India) plank, which implied undoing partition.

Opposition to Quit India Movement

Under Savarkar, the Hindu Mahasabha openly opposed the Quit India Movement and boycotted it officially. Savarkar even went to the extent of writing a letter titled "Stick to your Posts", in which he instructed party members who happened to be "members of municipalities, local bodies, legislatures or those serving in the army ... to stick to their posts" across the country, and not to join the Quit India Movement at any cost.

Alliance with Muslim League and others

The Indian National Congress won a massive victory in the 1937 Indian provincial elections, decimating the Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha. However, in 1939, the Congress ministries resigned in protest against Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's action of declaring India to be a belligerent in the Second World War without consulting the Indian people. This led to the Hindu Mahasabha, under Savarkar's presidency, joining hands with the Muslim League and other parties to form governments, in certain provinces. Such coalition governments were formed in Sindh, NWFP, and Bengal.

In Sindh, Hindu Mahasabha members joined Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah's Muslim League government. In Savarkar's own words:

Witness the fact that only recently in Sind, the Sind-Hindu-Sabha on invitation had taken the responsibility of joining hands with the League itself in running coalition government

In the North West Frontier Province, Hindu Mahasabha members joined hands with Sardar Aurangzeb Khan of the Muslim League to form a government in 1943. The Mahasabha member of the cabinet was Finance Minister Mehar Chand Khanna.

In Bengal, Hindu Mahasabha joined the Krishak Praja Party led Progressive Coalition ministry of Fazlul Haq in December 1941. Savarkar appreciated the successful functioning of the coalition government.

Arrest and acquittal in Gandhi's assassination

Following the assassination of Gandhi on 30 January 1948, police arrested the assassin Nathuram Godse and his alleged accomplices and conspirators. He was a member of the Hindu Mahasabha and of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Godse was the editor of Agrani – Hindu Rashtra, a Marathi daily from Pune which was run by the company "The Hindu Rashtra Prakashan Ltd" (The Hindu Nation Publications). This company had contributions from such eminent persons as Gulabchand Hirachand, Bhalji Pendharkar, and Jugalkishore Birla. Savarkar had invested ₹ 15000 in the company. Savarkar, a former president of the Hindu Mahasabha, was arrested on 5 February 1948, from his house in Shivaji Park, and kept under detention in the Arthur Road Prison, Bombay. He was charged with murder, conspiracy to murder, and abetment to murder. The mass of papers seized from his house had revealed nothing that could remotely be connected with Gandhi's murder. Due to lack of evidence, Savarkar was arrested under the Preventive Detention Act.

Badge's testimony

Godse claimed full responsibility for planning and carrying out the assassination. However, according to the Approver Digambar Badge, on 17 January 1948, Nathuram Godse went to have a last darshan (audience/interview) with Savarkar in Bombay before the assassination. While Badge and Shankar waited outside, Nathuram and Apte went in. On coming out Apte told Badge that Savarkar blessed them "Yashasvi houn ya" ("यशस्वी होऊन या", be successful and return). Apte also said that Savarkar predicted that Gandhi's 100 years were over and there was no doubt that the task would be successfully finished. However Badge's testimony was not accepted as the approver's evidence lacked independent corroboration and hence Savarkar was acquitted.

In the last week of August 1974, Mr. Manohar Malgonkar saw Digamber Badge several times and in particular, questioned him about the veracity of his testimony against Savarkar. Badge insisted to Mr. Manohar Malgonkar that "even though he had blurted out the full story of the plot as far as he knew, without much persuasion, he had put up a valiant struggle against being made to testify against Savarkar". In the end, Badge gave in. He agreed to say on oath that he saw Nathuram Godse and Apte with Savarkar and that Savarkar, within Badge's hearing, had blessed their venture.

Kapur commission

On 12 November 1964, at a religious program organised in Pune to celebrate the release of Gopal Godse, Madanlal Pahwa and Vishnu Karkare from jail after the expiry of their sentences, G. V. Ketkar, grandson of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, former editor of Kesari and then editor of "Tarun Bharat", who presided over the function, gave information of a conspiracy to kill Gandhi, about which he professed knowledge six months before the act. Ketkar was arrested. A public furore ensued both outside and inside the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and both houses of the Indian parliament. Under the pressure of 29 members of parliament and public opinion the then Union home minister Gulzarilal Nanda appointed Gopal Swarup Pathak, M. P. and a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India as a Commission of Inquiry to re-investigate the conspiracy to murder Gandhi. The central government intended on conducting a thorough inquiry with the help of old records in consultation with the government of Maharashtra. Pathak was given three months to conduct his inquiry; subsequently, Jevanlal Kapur, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India, was appointed chairman of the commission.

The commission's reinvestigation saw Savarkar's secretary and bodyguard to have testified that Savarkar met with Godse and Apte right before Gandhi was killed.

The commission was provided with evidence not produced in the court; especially the testimony of two of Savarkar's close aides – Appa Ramachandra Kasar, his bodyguard, and Gajanan Vishnu Damle, his secretary. The testimony of Mr. Kasar and Mr. Damle was already recorded by Bombay police on 4 March 1948, but apparently, these testimonies were not presented before the court during the trial. In these testimonies, it is said that Godse and Apte visited Savarkar on or about 23 or 24 January, which was when they returned from Delhi after the bomb incident. Damle deposed that Godse and Apte saw Savarkar in the middle of January and sat with him (Savarkar) in his garden. The C. I. D. Bombay was keeping vigil on Savarkar from 21 to 30 January 1948. The crime report from C. I. D. does not mention Godse or Apte meeting Savarkar during this time.

Justice Kapur concluded: "All these facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group."

The arrest of Savarkar was mainly based on approver Digambar Badge's testimony. The commission did not re-interview Digambar Badge. At the time of inquiry of the commission, Badge was alive and working in Bombay.

Later years

After Gandhi's assassination, Savarkar's home in Dadar, Bombay was stoned by angry mobs. After he was acquitted of the allegations related to Gandhi's assassination and released from jail, Savarkar was arrested by the government for making "Hindu nationalist speeches"; he was released after agreeing to give up political activities. He continued addressing the social and cultural elements of Hindutva. He resumed political activism after the ban on it was lifted; it was however limited until his death in 1966 because of ill health.

In 1956, he opposed B. R. Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism calling it a "useless act", to which Ambedkar responded by publicly questioning the use of epithet ‘Veer’ (meaning brave) by Savarkar.

On 22 November 1957, Raja Mahendra Pratap attempted to introduce a bill in Lok Sabha to recognise the service to the country of people like V D Savarkar, Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Bhupendranath Datta. But the introduction of the bill was defeated with 48 votes favouring it and 75 against it. This introduction of the bill was supported by communist leader like A. K. Gopalan by highlighting the privilege of a member to introduce a private bill. A. K. Gopalan argued about procedural aspects and the unusual opposition to its introduction. However, A. K. Gopalan viewed communal organizations like the Hindu Mahasabha and RSS, with which V.D. Savarkar was associated, are harmful to the nation and was a strong critic of them.

Death

On 8 November 1963, Savarkar's wife, Yamunabai, died. On 1 February 1966, Savarkar renounced medicines, food, and water which was termed as prayopavesha (fast until death). Before his death, he had written an article titled "Atmahatya Nahi Atmaarpan" in which he argued that when one's life mission is over and the ability to serve society is left no more, it is better to end the life at will rather than waiting for death. His condition was described to have become as "extremely serious" before his death on 26 February 1966 at his residence in Bombay (now Mumbai), and that he faced difficulty in breathing; efforts to revive him failed, and was declared dead at 11:10 a.m. (IST) that day. Prior to his death, Savarkar had asked his relatives to perform only his funeral and do away with the rituals of the 10th and 13th day of the Hindu faith. Accordingly, his last rites were performed at an electric crematorium in Bombay's Sonapur locality by his son Vishwas the following day.

There was no official mourning by the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee or the central government in Delhi during the time of his death. No minister from the Maharashtra Cabinet paid homage to Savarkar. The political indifference to Savarkar has also continued after his death. After the death of Nehru, the Congress government, under Prime Minister Shastri, started to pay him a monthly pension.