Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

• 1. Student Revolutionary Networks

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  Vinayak Damodar Savarkar began his political activities as a high school student in 1895. He led fellow students in an attack on the village mosque following Hindu-Muslim riots. Savarkar stated that they vandalized the mosque to their heart's content. At age twelve, he founded Mitra Mela with Ganesh Savarkar and others. This underground revolutionary organization became Abhinav Bharat Society in 1906. The group aimed to overthrow British rule and revive Hindu pride. Savarkar continued his activism at Fergusson College in Pune. Lokmanya Tilak helped him obtain the Shivaji Scholarship for law studies in London. In 1905, Savarkar led foreign-clothes bonfires to protest against Bengal partition. He traveled to England in 1906 to study law.

• 2. Arrest And Cellular Jail Incarceration

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  British authorities arrested Vinayak Damodar Savarkar on the 13th of March 1910 in London. He was accused of waging war against the state and delivering seditious speeches. The trial before the special tribunal started on the 10th of September 1910. A Bombay court sentenced him to fifty years imprisonment and transported him to the Cellular Jail. He arrived at the jail on the 4th of July 1911. Savarkar submitted his first clemency petition on the 30th of August 1911. This petition was rejected on the 3rd of September 1911. He wrote a series of mercy petitions over the next decade. His fourth petition was submitted on the 30th of March 1920. The British colonial government rejected it on the 12th of July 1920. He signed a statement endorsing his trial verdict and renouncing violence as a bargain for freedom. Savarkar was released from the Cellular Jail on the 6th of January 1924 but remained restricted to Ratnagiri District until 1937.

• 3. Formulation Of Hindutva Ideology

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  The Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar's leadership formed alliances with the All-India Muslim League in 1939. They joined hands to form governments in provinces like Sindh NWFP and Bengal. When the Congress launched the Quit India Movement in 1942, Savarkar boycotted it officially. He wrote a letter titled Stick to your Posts instructing party members to stay active in the war effort. Savarkar urged Hindus to enlist in armed forces to learn the arts of war. The organization organized Hindu Militarisation Boards which recruited armed forces for helping the British in World War Two. Savarkar supported Hitler's policy about Jews in speeches during 1939. He characterized the Jews as a communal force on the 11th of December 1939. By year end he directly equated Indian Muslims with German Jews in his rhetoric. These speeches circulated in German newspapers with Nazi Germany allotting a

• 4. World War II Political Stance

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  point-of-contact person for engaging with him.

  Police arrested Vinayak Damodar Savarkar on the 5th of February 1948 from his house in Shivaji Park Bombay. He was charged with murder conspiracy to murder and abetment to murder following Gandhi's assassination on the 30th of January 1948. The mass of papers seized from his house revealed nothing connected with Gandhi's murder. Approver Digambar Badge testified that Nathuram Godse visited Savarkar on the 17th of January 1948 before the assassination. Apte told Badge that Savarkar blessed them Yashasvi houn ya meaning be successful and return. Badge's testimony was not accepted as the approver's evidence lacked independent corroboration. Savarkar was acquitted by the court for lack of evidence. In August 1974 Manohar Malgonkar questioned Badge about the veracity of his testimony against Savarkar. Badge insisted he had put up a valiant struggle against being made to testify against Savarkar. The Kapur Commission

• 5. Gandhi Assassination Trial

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  later concluded all facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group.

  Savarkar advocated reducing the number of Muslims in the military police and public service. He criticized Gandhi for being concerned about Indian Muslims. In his 1963 book Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History, Savarkar wrote that Muslims and Christians wanted to destroy Hinduism. Historian Vinayak Chaturvedi notes that in a 1937 speech Savarkar said kitchen and children were main duties of women. He suggested their education focus on how they could be good mothers and create patriotic children. As per Savarkar any woman digressing from domestic duties was morally guilty of breach of trust. In Jhansi twelve women along with twenty-three children and seventy-five men were killed during the 1857 uprising. Savarkar calls this killing of British whites as a Bali or Holy Sacrifice. On page 202 of Volume 5 Savarkar Samgraha he writes that young and beautiful Muslim girls should be

• 6. Controversial Rhetoric On Minorities

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  captured converted and presented to Maratha warriors to reward them.