POUTICAL BIOGRAPHY .SAyARKAB . n3 CHAPTER V p o l i t i c a l BlQGRAPHy OF y ._ d .__s a v a b k a r (1883-1966) Early Childhood Vinayak Damodar Sava rice r »as born on 2Bth May, 1883 at Bhsgur in the Nasik District of Maharashtra (the then Bomhay Presidency). In his early days he cultivated the habit of reading, a variety of books mainly on history, 1 poetry and religion. It sharpened his reasoning powsr, moulded his poetic faculty and vetted his interest in history. In 1893 riots among Hindus and Muslims broke out every\»here in In d ie, especially in Bombay, Poona and Yeola in Maharashtra. Young Vinsyak was moved to read about the sufferings of Hindus and thought in a childlike way to avenge them by attacking the local mosques. This does not however, indicate the development of anti-Muslim attitude in him with a ll its seriousness. The last decade of the l9th century was the period of intense political agitation all over the country. Especially the Poona city was the centre of the national movement in Maharashtra. The people of the city had witnessed the remarkable sessions of the Indian National Congress and the controversial Social Conference. The celebrations of t I festivals in honour of Shlvaji, the Founder of Maratha Kingdom and Ganapatii a Hindu Deity) had helped to inculcate national feeling among the people. At the same time the people had been suffering repressioni injustice and humiliation at the hands of the B r it is h . The higl^-handed policy of the British made some of the young Hindus so restless that they thought of taking recourse to terrorism to avenge the sufferings of their brethren. Chapekar brothers of Poona and their companion Ranade assassinated Band, the Plague Commissioner and Mr. lyerst', a British officer, on 2^d June, 1897. All of them were tried and sentenced to death by the British government. Young Vinayak was mightily impressed by the supreme sacrifice of Chapekar brothers. He thought thst political independence tt India required many more sacrifices of patriots. Filled with the thought of continuing the mission of Chapekars he sat before the family Deity ’Durea* and 2 expressed his determination to drive the British out from his beloved motherland. The life of the great Shivaji had shown him that at the age of sixteen in the temple of Rohideshwar Shivsji had expressed the determination to liberate the country. Vinayak, nearly of the same age, determined to follow suit and invoked Goddess Durga to bless the cause of Indian independence as She had done in the 3 days of S h iv a ji. 75 It is clesr that it xas an emotional outburst, uncommon as it was among the youth. It was this prayer which motivated his later political activities. The I reading of historical accounts of different nations which had adopted revolutionary means to liberate themselves from foreign rule had already fired revolutionary ideas in him. Naturally, the Indian National Congress which was most moderate in its approach to the f Indian political problem could not attract Savarkar to its fo ld . ?4gq ■ot.-Sssiai-gosiety He decided to form a secret society. He wanted to train the members of the society mentally as well as physically, and to equip them with firearm s. Every member of the society was to be surcharged with hatred against the enemy to such an extent that he would be prepared even to lay down his precious life at the altar of national freedom. The supreme sacrifice by the members of the society would inspire a few others to follow the same path. It would also arouse spirit of nationalism among many others. The secret society would open its branches at different places in the country. They would take to individual assassinations of British officials, ultimately culminating into a large-scale armed revolution. The seeds of sedition would be sown among the Indian soldiers of the British army so that they would lead the movement 76 aiming at uprooting British rule in India. Al..Sagi)£ With these ambitious ideas in mind he founded a secret society at Nasik at the close of the year 1899, I t was named as ' Bashtra Bhakta Samuha*. At the beginning the members were only three - Savarkar himself) Mhaske and Page. In course of time the number increased. In 1900 it was renamed as ‘MitraMela*. "Its watchword was 4 instruction, insurrection and action.” In the weekly meetings the members discussed various problems« but they mainly discussed the problem of national freedom. **It was obligatory for every member of the ’MitraMela* to have read books especially on history, poetry, essays, religion 5 and philosophy." Naturally the discussions were lively and instructive. During this very period Savarkar had read'biographies of Mazzini and Garibaldi and several other books on philosophy and politics. In his speeches in the MitraMela he cited the examples of adventures and patriotic deeds of heroes from history and asked the members to follow them. As the revolutionaries have to suffer physical hardships in life, he asked the members to make themselves physically strong. He himself took many forms of exercises including horse riding and mountaineering. At Nasik he applied his poetic faculty to inspire 7? people and moke them nationally conscious. His songs, full of patriotic fervour, were sung In public gatherings and beccune popular everywhere In the Naslk District. The members of the MltraMela publicly celebrated various festivals iBgladlng the_blrthday of the Great Mughal King Al^bpr. Besides p olitical a ctiv ities they carried on many social activities in Naslk. For instance they carried the dead bodies of those who had fallen victims to the scourge of plague. Savarkar passed his Matriculation examination from the Bombay Jnlverslty in 1901. To merry or not to marry was a question before him. He wanted to live the life of a revolutionary. Marriage, he thought would deviate him from his chosen path of ordeals. At the same time he thought that acts of revolution should continue for generations together and for that sake he should marry. Savarkar in Poona After his marriage he Joined the Fergusson College of Poona on 24th January 1902. It was an opportunity to expand the activities of the secret society. He had 6 expressed his desire to do so. The period in which he was a student of the college In Poona was very Important in the political history of India. During this period the Moderates who had been leading the Indian national movement with their strong faith in the sense of Justice of the 78 British had been disappointed and disillusioned to see thnt the British government was reluctant to concede even their moderate political and economic demands. The Councils gave representation to the Indian people but they were devoid of any real power. The number of non-official members in the Council was Insignificant and therefore ineffective. The rights of non-official members were limited. Even the elective principle was defective. It was the period when Lord Curzon became the Viceroy of India. He was a staunch protagonist of imperialism, centralisation and officialisatlon. He discouraged self-government and Indianlsation. He believed that the highest ranks of civil employment must be held by Snglishmen as they alone possessed the sound knowledge of public administration and the rigour of character partly on account of heredity and partly by training. He pursued the policy of promoting commercial) industrial and financial interests of the British at the coat of Indian interests. He continued the British policy of 'Divide and Rule' and favoured the Muslims of India. In the name of his quest for administrative efficiency he effected the partition of Bengal on 16th October, 1906. By his policies he made the British government unpopular in India. During this very period two events of international significance took place, and created impact on Indian 79 p o litic s . (1) Englpnd which was proud of its strength concluded s treaty with Japsn in 1902. (2) Jappn defeated Russia in 1905. These events exploded the myth of European j superiority. Indians attributed Japan's success to her nationalism, patriotism and spirit of self-sacrifice. Against this background they began to lose faith in the persuasive methods of the Moderates who began to decline in popularity while the Extremists started gaining ground. Political Extremists in general preached political agitation for complete national freedom, national reconstruction through boycott of British goods and British institutions, the practice of Swadeshi and the introduction of national education. The political situation in the country, especially in Poona, fired the already deep-rooted spirit of patriotism in Savarkar. As planned earlier he directed all his efforts to organise the secret revolutionary society among the students of the Fergusson college. Very soon a 'Savarkar Club* was formed. Some of its prominent members being (now Acharya) J.B.Kripalani, Babasaheb Khaparde and R.D.Tarkhadkar. Weekly meetings were regularly held, deepening the conviction that organisation of an nrmed revolt was "the only indispensable passport to political 7 freedom in the present-day world.” Savarkar in his speeches emphasised thst Indians should follow the revolutionary lines laid down by the patriots of Italy, America, the 80 Netherlends etc* He alviays interpreted the events of the history of different nations in the context of Indie, end in the interest of indie. He observed that Japan could defeat Russia because she ><as helped by the enemies of Russia. India in her fight for freedom should also secure help from the enemies of England. To Keep the members of the Club inspired with the idea of revolution various activities had been started in the college.