Inside the Enemy Camp Veer Savarkar www.savarkar.org Table of Contents Table of Contents ...........................................................................2 Preface ...........................................................................................5 1 CHAPTER ONE .....................................................................7 1.1 On board the ship s.s. Persia................................................................ 7 1.2 Experience of the Previous Travellers................................................... 8 1.3 We need to change when we go abroad............................................... 9 1.4 Harnamsingh....................................................................................... 10 1.5 I changed the mind of Harnamsingh ................................................... 12 1.6 Mazzini (1805-1872) ........................................................................... 14 1.7 Mr. Etiquette........................................................................................ 17 1.8 Tranquility at night time ....................................................................... 17 1.9 Suez and Marseilles............................................................................ 18 2 CHAPTER TWO...................................................................20 2.1 When I reached London...................................................................... 20 2.2 Dadabhai Naoroji the grand old man of Indian politics (1825 - 1917).21 2.3 London Indian Society......................................................................... 21 2.4 East India Association......................................................................... 22 2.5 Dadabhai fails to get elected in the elections of British Parliament ..... 23 2.6 Dadabhai's new works - Poverty and un-British rule in India............... 24 2.7 British and Unbritish ............................................................................ 25 2.8 British Liberals and Conservatives ...................................................... 25 2.9 Dadabhai enters British Parliament (1893).......................................... 26 2.10 Wave of loyalty to the British............................................................... 26 2.11 An ineffective / empty gesture ............................................................. 26 2.12 The Irish example................................................................................ 27 2.13 Personality of Dadabhai ...................................................................... 27 2.14 Dadabha unkowingly paid tribute to Indian Revolutionaries................ 27 2.15 British Committee of the Indian National Congress............................. 28 2.16 Then came 1897 ................................................................................. 28 2.17 But in a far away place called Pune? .................................................. 29 2.18 Resolutions of the Congress and sparks of revolutionaries................. 29 In the Enemy Camp Page 2 of 92 2.19 Mr. Hyndman....................................................................................... 29 2.20 Shyamji Krishnavarma (1857 - 1930).................................................. 30 2.21 Shyamji suddenly moves to England (1897) ....................................... 33 2.22 Move made but not for active politics. ................................................. 34 2.23 Shyamji's transformation. .................................................................... 34 2.24 Death of Herbert Spencer (1903). ....................................................... 35 2.25 First political act of Shyamji................................................................. 35 2.26 The paper Indian Sociologist............................................................... 36 2.27 Founding of the Indian Home Rule Society......................................... 37 2.28 Establishment of India House.............................................................. 37 2.29 But what is your programme? ............................................................. 38 2.30 Bipinchandra Pal (1858 - 1932) put forward above programme first. .. 40 2.31 But Dadabhai was already talking of Self Government in 1904........... 41 2.32 Why the word 'Home Rule' was not used?.......................................... 41 2.33 Time seeks revenge............................................................................ 42 2.34 Barrister Sardarsingh Rana................................................................. 42 2.35 End of Dadabhai's Parliamentary Front (1906) ................................... 43 2.36 Morley becomes Secretary of State for India. ..................................... 43 2.37 First annual meeting of Home Rule Society. ....................................... 44 2.38 Surendranath Banerjee is arrested and fined. (1906) ......................... 44 2.39 First meeting of indians in Paris: Beginning of India's role in International politics ...................................................................................... 45 2.40 Mrs Cama(Madam Bhikaji Rustum Cama) 1861 - 1937...................... 45 2.41 Indian youth in Britain at that time. ...................................................... 46 2.42 Armed revolutionaries demanding complete independence did not exist 50 2.43 Arvindbabu Ghose .............................................................................. 50 2.44 Charuchandra Dutta............................................................................ 50 3 CHAPTER THREE ...............................................................53 3.1 Peak of British Empire......................................................................... 53 3.2 Only the revolutionaries were aware of the military might of the British. 56 3.3 My records in London C.I.D................................................................. 57 3.4 Reports by Mr. Montgomery, I.C.S...................................................... 58 3.5 Rowlatt Report .................................................................................... 61 In the Enemy Camp Page 3 of 92 3.6 The story of Agamya Guru. ................................................................. 62 3.7 Incredible work of Indian Revolutionaries............................................ 63 3.8 Indian History should not be written based solely on British C.I.D reports 64 4 CHAPTER FOUR .................................................................65 4.1 Joseph Mazzini: Biography and Politics .............................................. 65 4.2 Mazzini's influence on Indian Politics. ................................................. 65 4.3 Secrecy for the sake of secrecy. ......................................................... 66 4.4 I decide to translate Mazzini's work into Marathi. ................................ 67 4.5 The Method that I adopted .................................................................. 68 4.6 Rajamanya vs Lokamanya.................................................................. 69 4.7 Why was the book dedicated to both? ................................................ 69 4.8 Mazzini, Garibaldi, Victor Emmanual and Cavour ............................... 74 5 CHAPTER FIVE ...................................................................76 5.1 Establishment of Free India Society and writing of Indian War of Independence 1857 ...................................................................................... 76 5.2 Many thought an armed revolution was impossible............................. 76 5.3 The example of 1857 .......................................................................... 77 5.4 India Office Liabrary and records*....................................................... 78 5.5 I was surprised by tenacity and discipline of the English..................... 78 5.6 The librarian was outwitted.................................................................. 79 5.7 I was banned from India Office Library................................................ 79 5.8 The work was completed but… ........................................................... 80 History of the book........................................................................81 Appendix A ...................................................................................84 Appendix B ...................................................................................88 Appendix C - Explanations ...........................................................89 In the Enemy Camp Page 4 of 92 Preface Savarkar started to write his Autobiography in the 1930s, but British Administrators forbade such writing. He therefore started to write it after the Indian independence in 1947. First part, dealing with his childhood and reviewing the political situation in India from 1857 to 1906, was published in Marathi in 1952. The second part of the autobiography dealing with his work in London (1906-10) was published in Marathi in 1965. It has been translated below into English (by VS Godbole, London). This book should be read in conjunction with another book ‘Newsletters from London sent by Savarkar’. Savarkar shows us how the Indian freedom struggle moved through the following phases. (1) Prayers, petitions and deputations of the Moderates (2) Swadeshi or sponsoring of indigenous Indian industries and boycott of British goods, by the Militants. (3) Home Rule movement of Shyamji Krishnavarma (4) Armed revolution of Savarkar. Savarkar reviews movements of