[sacw] [ACT] Hindutva's foreign tie-up in the 1930s (Part I)

[Harsh Kapoor]

FYI
(South Asia Citizens Web)
----------------------------------

Hindutva's foreign tie-up in the 1930s
Archival evidence

MARZIA CASOLARI

(courtesy Economic and Political Weekly, January 22, 2000)

Fascist was in Summit Sarkar's words till the other day a mere epithet (The
Fascism of the Sangh parivar, Economic and Political Weekly, January 30,
1993 p 163). It has come to define the ideology and practice of the Hindu
militant organisations. It is a common place accepted by their opponents as
well as by those who have a critical but not necessarily negative view of
Hindu fundamentalism. Defining the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and in
general the organisations of militant Hinduism as undemocratic with
authoritarian, paramilitary, radical, violent tendencies and a sympathy for
fascist ideology and practice has been a major concern for many politically
oriented scholars and writers. This has been the case with the literature
which started with Gandhi's assassination and continues up to the present
day with works such as Amartya Sen's India at risk (The New York review of
books, April 1993) and Christophe Jaffrelot's The Hindu Nationalist
movement in India (Viking, New Delhi 1996) the latest book published on the
subject or the well known Khaki shorts and Saffron flags (Orient Longman,
New Delhi 1993) which came out soon after the destruction of the Babri
Masjid. As a result the fascist ideological background of Hindu
fundamentalism is taken for granted never proved by systematic analysis.
This is an outcome that is to a certain extent explained by the fact that
most of the above-mentioned authors are political scientists and not
historians.
It is a fact that many of those who witnessed the growth of Hindu radical
forces in the years around the second world war were already convinced of
the Sangh's fascist outlook. Particularly acute was the perception that the
Congress had of these organisations and their character. There is no need
to mention the already well known opinion of Nehru who right from the
beginning had pointed at these organisations as communalist and fascist.
Less well known is the fact that as shown by a confidential report
circulated within the Congress most probably at the time of the first ban
of the RSS after Gandhi's assassination the similarity between the
character of the RSS and that of fascist organisations was already taken
for granted. In fact the report itself states that the RSS
i) Started in Nagpur some sort of Hindu boys scout movement. Gradually it
developed into a communal militarist organisation with a violent tendencies.
ii) The RSS has been purely Maharashtrian brahmin organisation. The
non-brahmin Maharashtrians who constitute the bulk of CP and Maharashtra
have no sympathy with it.
iii) Even in the other provinces the chief organisers and whole- time
workers will be found to be inevitably Maharashtrian brahmins.
iv) Through the RSS the Maharashtrian brahmins have been dreaming of
establishing in India's Peshwa Raj after the withdrawal of Britishers. The
RSS flag is the Bhagwa flag of the Peshwas Maharashtrian rulers who were
the last to be conquered by the British and after the termination of
British rule in India the Maharashtrians should be vested with political
powers.
v) The RSS practises secret and violent methods which promote fascism. No
regard is paid to truthful means and constitutional methods.
vi) There is no constitution of the organisation; its aims and objects have
never been clearly defined. The general public is usually told that its aim
is only physical training but the real aims are not conveyed even to the
rank and file of the RSS members. Only its inner circle is taken into a
confidence.
vii) There are no records or proceedings of the RSS organisation no
membership registers are maintained. There are also no records of its
income and the expenditure. The RSS is thus strictly secret as regards its
organisations. It has consequently (National archives of India (NAI),
Sardar Patel correspondence, microfilm, reel no 3, a note on the RSS
undated).
Unfortunately the document stops abruptly here but it contains enough
evidence of the reputation the RSS already had by the late 1940s.
This document however is by no means exceptional. An accurate search of the
primary sources produced by the organisations of Hindu nationalism as well
as by their opponents and by the police is bound to show the extent and the
importance of the connections between such organisations and Italian
fascism. In fact the most important organisations of Hindu nationalism not
only adopted fascist ideas in a conscious and deliberate way but this
happened also because of the existence of direct contacts between the
representatives of the main Hindu organisations and fascist Italy.
To demonstrate this I will reconstruct the context from which arose the
interest of Hindu radicalism in Italian fascism right from the early 1920s.
This interest was commonly shared in Maharashtra and must have inspired BS
Moonje's trip to Italy in 1931. The next step will be to examine the
effects of that trip namely BS Moonje tried to transfer fascist models to
Hindu society and to organise it militarily according to fascist patterns.
An additional aim of this paper is to show how about the end of the 1930s
the admiration for the Italian regime was commonly shared by the different
streams of Hindu nationalism and the main Hindu leaders.
Particular attention will be devoted to the attitude adopted by the main
Hindu organisations during the second world war. During those crucial years
Hindu nationalism seemed to uneasily oscillate between a conciliatory
attitude towards the British and a sympathy for the dictators. This is in
fact far from surprising because as will be shown in those years militant
Hindu organisations were preparing and arming themselves to fight the
so-called internal enemies rather than the British.
More generally the aim of this paper is to disprove Christophe Jaffrelot's
thesis that there is a sharp distinction between Nazi and fascist ideology
on one side and RSS on the other as far as the concept of race and the
centrality of the leader are concerned.
Hindu Nationalists and Italian fascism
None of the works mentioned above Jaffrelot's included deals with what I
consider a most important problem namely the existence of direct contacts
between the representatives of the fascist regime including Mussolini and
Hindu nationalists. These contacts demonstrate that Hindu nationalism had
much more than an abstract interest in the ideology and practice of fascism.
The interest of Indian Hindu nationalists in fascism and Mussolini must not
be considered as dictated by an occasional curiosity confined to a few
individuals rather it should be considered as the culminating result of the
attention that Hindu nationalists especially in Maharashtra focused on
Italian dictatorship and its leader. To them fascism appeared to be an
example of conservative revolution. This concept was discussed at length by
the Marathi press right from the early phase of the Italian regime.
>From 1924 to 1935 Kesri regularly publicised editorials and articles about
>Italy, fascism and Mussolini. What impressed the Marathi journalists was
>the socialist origin of fascism and the fact that the new regime seemed to
>have transformed Italy from a backward country to a first class power.
>Indians could not know then that behind the demagogic rhetoric of the
>regime there was very little substance.
Moreover the Indian observers were convinced that fascism had restored
order in a country previously upset by political tensions. In a series of
editorials Kesri described the passage from liberal government to
dictatorship as a shift from anarchy to an orderly situation where social
struggles had no more reason to exist. The Marathi newspaper gave
considerable space to the political reforms carried out by Mussolini in
particular the substitution of the election of the members of parliament
with their nomination (ibid, January 17, 1928) and the replacement of
parliament itself with the great council of fascism. Mussolini's idea was
the opposite of that of democracy and it was expressed by the dictator's
principle according to which one man's government is more useful and more
binding for the nation than the democratic institutions (ibid, July 17,
1928).(4) Is all this not reminiscent of the principle of obedience to one
leader (ek chalak anuvartitva) followed by the RSS?
Finally a long article of August 13, 1929 Italy and the young generations
stated that the Italian young generation had succeeded the old one to lead
the country. That had resulted in the fast ascent of Italy in every field.
The article went on to describe at length the organisation of the Italian
society according to fascist models. The principal reasons of the
discipline of the Italian youths were strong religious feelings, widespread
among the population attachment to the family and the respect of
traditional values: no divorce, no singles, no right to vote for women
whose only duty was to sit at home by the fireplace. The article focused
then on the fascist youth organisations the Balilla and the Avanguardisti.
One may wonder how the Indian journalists could be so well informed about
what was going on in Italy. Very possibly among their sources there was a
pamphlet in English published by an Italian editor in 1928 entitled The
Recent laws for the defence of the state (copy in NAI foreign and political
department 647G, 1927). Emphasised right from the beginning was the
importance of the National militia defined as the bodyguard of the
revolution. The booklet continued with the description of the restrictive
measures adopted by the regime: a ban on the subversive parties limitations
to the press expulsion of disaffected persons from public posts and finally
the death sentence.
Significantly the shift from the liberal phase to fascism is described by
the pamphlet in strikingly similar terms to those employed by the
above-mentioned articles:
This step has struck a death blow to the thread-bare theories of Italian
liberalism according to which the sovereign state must observe strict
neutrality towards all political associations and parties. This theory
explains why in Italy the ship of state was drifting before the wind ready
to sink in the vortex of social dissolution or to be wrecked on the rocks
of financial disaster.
Another inspiring source of the literature published in Kesri must have
been the work by DV Tahmankar the correspondent of the Marathi newspaper
from London and admirer of the Italian dictator. In 1927 Tahmankar
published a book entitled Muslini ani Fashismo (Mussolini and Fascism) a
biography of the dictator with several references to the organisation of
the fascist state to the fascist social system to the fascist ideology and
to Italy's recent past. An entire chapter the last was devoted to
description of fascist society and its institutions especially the youth
organisations.
One can easily come to the conclusion that by the late 1920s the fascist
regime and Mussolini had considerable popularity in Maharashtra. The
aspects of fascism which appealed most to Hindu nationalists were of course
both the militarisation of society and what was seen as the real
transformation of society exemplified by the shift from chaos to order. The
anti-democratic system was considered as a positive alternative to
democracy which was seen as a typically British value.
Such literature made an implicit comparison between fascism and the Italian
Risorgimento. The latter's influence on Indian nationalism both moderate
and radical is well known. (5) However whereas the Risorgimento appealed to
both moderates and extremists fascism appealed only to the radicals who
considered it as the continuation of the Risorgimento and a phase of the
rational organisation of the state.
The first Hindu nationalist who came in contact with the fascist regime and
its dictator was BS Moonje a politician strictly related to the RSS. In
fact Moonje had been Hedgewar's mentor the two men were related by an
intimate friendship. Moonje's declared intention to strengthen the RSS and
to extend it as a nationwide organisation is well known. Between February
and March 1931 on his return from the round table conference Moonje made a
tour of Europe which included a long stop-over in Italy. There he visited
some important military schools and educational institutions. The highlight
of the visit was the meeting with Mussolini. An interesting account of the
trip and the meeting is given in Moonje's diary and takes 13 pages (Nehru
memorial museum and library (NMML) Moonje papers microfilm, rn 1). (6)
The Indian leader was in Rome during March 15 to 24, 1931. On March 19 in
Rome he visited among others the military college, the central military
school of physical education the fascist academy of physical education and
most important the Balilla and Avanguardisti organisations. These two
organisations which he describes in more than two pages of his diary were
the keystone of the fascist system of indoctrination rather than education
of the youths. Their structure is strikingly similar to that of the RSS.
They recruited boys from the age of six upto 18; the youths had to attend
weekly meetings where they practised physical exercises receive
paramilitary training and performed drills and parades.
According to the literature promoted by the RSS and other Hindu
fundamentalist organisations and parties the structure of the RSS was the
result of Hegdewar's vision vision and work. However Moonje played a
crucial role in moulding the RSS along Italian (fascist) lines. The deep
impression left on Moonje by the vision of the fascist organisation is
confirmed by his diary:
The Balilla institutions and the conception of the whole organisation have
appealed to me most though there is still not discipline and organisation
of high order. The whole idea is conceived by Mussolini for the military
regeneration of Italy. Italians by nature appear ease-loving and
non-martial like the Indians generally. They have cultivated like Indians
the work of peace and neglected the cultivation of the art of war.
Mussolini saw the essential weakness of his country and conceived the idea
of the Balilla organisation. Nothing better could have been conceived for
the military organisation of Italy. The idea of fascism vividly brings out
the conception of unity amongst people India and particularly Hindu. India
need some such institution for the military regeneration of the Hindus so
that the artificial distinction so much emphasised by the British of
martial and non-martial classes amongst the Hindus may disappear. Our
institution of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of Nagpur under Dr Hedgewar is
of this kind though quite independently conceived. I will spend the rest of
my life in developing and extending this institution of Dr Hedgewar all
throughout the Maharashtra and other provinces.
He continues describing drills and uniforms:
I was charmed to see boys and girls well dressed in their naval and
military uniforms undergoing simple exercises of physical training and
forms of drill.
Definitely more meaningful is the report of the meeting with Mussolini. On
the same day March 19, 1931 at 3 pm in Palazzo Venezia the headquarters of
the fascist government he met the Italian dictator. The meeting is recorded
in the diary on March 20 and it is worth reproducing the complete report.
As soon as I was announced at the door he got up and walked up to receive
me. I shook hands with him saying that I am Dr Moonje. He knew everything
about me and appeared to be closely following the events of the Indian
struggle for freedom. He seemed to have great respect for Gandhi. He sat
down in front of me on another chair in front of his table and was
conversing with me for quite half an hour. He asked me about Gandhi and his
movement and pointedly asked me a question if the Round table conference
will bring about peace between India and England. I said that if the
British would honestly desire to give us equal status with other dominions
of the empire we shall have no objection to remain peacefully and loyally
within the empire otherwise the struggle will be renewed and continued.
Britain will gain and be able to maintain her premier position amongst the
European nation (sic) if India is friendly and peaceful towards her and
India cannot be so unless she is given Dominion status on equal terms with
other Dominions. Signor Mussolini appeared impressed by this remark of
mine. Then he asked me if I have visited the university. I said I am
interested in the military training of boys and have been visiting the
military schools of England, France and Germany. I have now come to Italy
for the same purpose and I am very grateful to say that the foreign office
and the war office have made good arrangements for my visiting these
schools. I just saw this morning and afternoon the Balilla and the Fascist
organisations and I was much impressed. Italy needs them for her
development and prosperity. I do not see anything objectionable though I
have been frequently reading in the newspapers not very friendly criticisms
about them and about your Excellency also. Signor Mussolini: What is your
opinion about them?
Dr Moonje: Your excellency I am much impressed. Every aspiring and growing
nation needs such organisations. India needs them most for her military
regeneration. During the British domination of the last 150 years Indians
have been waved away from the military profession but India now desires to
prepare herself for undertaking the responsibility for her own defence and
I am working for it. I have already started an organisation of my own
conceived independently with similar objectives. I shall have no hesitation
to raise my voice from the public platform both in India and England when
occasion may arise in praise of your Balilla and Fascist organisations. I
wish them good luck and every success. Signor Mussolini who appeared very
pleased said thanks but yours is an uphill task. However I wish you every
success in return. Saying this he got up and I also got up to take his
leave.
The description of the Italian journey includes information regarding
fascism, its history the fascist revolution etc and continues for two more
pages.
One can wonder at the association between BS Moonje and the RSS but if we
think that Moonje and the RSS but if we think that Moonje had been
Hedgewar's mentor the association will be much clearer. The intimate
friendship between Moonje and Hedgewar and the former's declared intention
to strengthen the RSS and to extend it as a nationwide organisation prove a
strict connection between Moonje and the RSS. Moreover it makes sense to
think that the entire circle of militant Hinduism must have been influenced
by Moonje's Italian experience.
Moonje's plans for militarising Hindus
Once Moonje was back in India he kept the promise made in his diary and
started immediately to work for the foundation of his military school and
for the militant reorganisation of Hindu society in Maharashtra. He really
did not waste time for as soon as he reached Pune he gave an interview to
the Mahratta. (8) Regarding the military reorganisation of the Hindu
community he stressed the necessity to Indianise the army and expressed the
hope that conscription would become compulsory and an Indian would be put
in charge of the defence ministry. He finally made a clear reference to the
Italian and German examples:
In fact leaders should imitate the youth movement of Germany and the
Balilla and Fascist organisations of Italy. I think they are eminently
suited for introduction in India adapting them to suit the special
conditions. I have been very much impressed by these movements and I have
seen their activities with my own eyes in all details.
Soon fascism became a subject of public debate and Hedgewar himself was
among the promoters of a campaign in favour of the militarisation of
society according to fascist patterns. On January 31, 1934 Hedgewar
presided over a conference about fascism and Mussolini organised by Kavde
Shastri, Moonje made the concluding speech (NMML, Moonje papers microfilm
Diary rn 2, 1932-36).
A few months later on March 31, 1934 Moonje, Hedgewar and Laloo Gokhale had
a meeting the subject of which was again the military organisation of the
Hindus along Italian and German lines:
Laloo well you are the president of the Hindu Sabha and you are preaching
Sanghathan of Hindus. It is ever possible for Hindus to be organised? I
said you have asked me a question of which exactly I was thinking of late.
I have thought out a scheme based on Hindu Dharm Shastra which provides for
standardisation of Hinduism throughout India. But the point is that this
ideal cannot be brought to effect unless we have out own Swaraj with a
Hindu as a dictator like Shivaji of old or Mussolini or Hitler of the
present day in Italy and Germany. But this does not mean that we have to
sit with folded hands until (sic) some such dictator arises in India. We
should formulate a scientific scheme and carry on propaganda for it (NMML,
ibid).
The intimate connection between Moonje and the RSS and the fascist
character of the latter is confirmed by British sources. An intelligence
report published in 1933 and entitled note on the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak
Sangh ascribed to Moonje the responsibility of the reorganisation of the
Sangh in the Marathi speaking districts and in the central provinces in
1927. The report describing the activity and the character of the RSS
warned that it is perhaps no exaggeration to assert that the Sangh hopes to
be in future India what the Fascisti are to Italy and the Nazis to Germany
(NAI, home poll department, 88/33, 1933).
Summing up contrary to Jaffrelot's interpretation it is clear that the
Hindu nationalists were very much attracted by the figure of a strong
leader. Moreover they were keen to give their organisation a strongly
centralised structure.
Moonje's trip to Italy contrary to what happened in the case of Subhas
Chandra Bose and other nationalists did not give place to any further
cooperation between Hindu nationalism and the fascist regime. However these
contacts were important at the ideological and organisational levels. In
fact Moonje kept his promise to improve military education in India and as
soon as he came back from his European trip he started to contact all those
who could support his idea of militarising Hindu society. In 1934 Moonje
started to work for the foundation of his own institution the Bhonsla
military school. (9) For this purpose in the same year he began to work as
the foundation of the Central Hindu military education society whose aim
was to bring about military regeneration of the Hindus and to fit Hindu
youths for undertaking the entire responsibility for the defence of their
motherland to educate them in the Sanatan Dharma and to train them in the
science and art of personal and national defence (NMML, Moonje papers
subject files n 24, 1932-36 the central military education society undated
probably written in 1935). Moonje's programme was therefore entirely
devoted to Hindu society and not to Indian society as a whole.
It is possible that the other function of the society was that of
facilitating the diffusion of military education and supporting the
foundation of new schools. During the preliminary work for the foundation
of both the school and society, Moonje publicly admitted that his idea of
militarily reorganising Hindu society was inspired by the military training
schools of England, France, Germany and Italy (NMML, Moonje papers, subject
files, n 23, 1934-36, report of the progress of the work of the society
from January 1, 1935 Preface to the scheme of the central Hindu military
society and its military school). It said at the outset:
This training is meant for qualifying and fitting our boys for the game of
killing masses of men with the ambition of winning victory with the best
possible casualties (sic) of dead and wounded while causing the utmost
possible to the adversary.
Moonje does not give any clear-cut indication regarding this adversary
whether it was the external enemy the Muslims. The document continues with
a long dissertation on the relation between violence and non-violence. In
it are drawn many examples from Indian history and Hindu holy books all in
favour of organised violence. In the form of militarism. On the contrary
non-violence is considered a form of renunciation and cowardice.
Moonje's views correspond almost perfectly with Mussolini's opinions: The
same thought is repeated though in a more forceful and direct language by
Signor Mussolini the maker of modern Italy. When he says: Our desire for
peace and collaboration with Europe is based on millions of steel bayonets.
And again from Mussolini's doctrine of fascism.
I absolutely disbelieve in perpetual peace which is detrimental and
negative to the fundamental virtues of man which only by struggle reveal
themselves in the light of the sun.
War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the
stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to meet it. Fascism
believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It
thus repudiates the doctrine of pacifism which is born of renunciation of
the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice.
Moonje added that these considerations did not aim at the legitimation of a
climate of civil war. Contrary to the Indian situation where the British
were responsible for the maintenance of public order, peace should rise
from the self-defence of a militarily organised nation. Italy and Germany
could offer a further example:
His Majesty the king of Italy says: Italy wants the longest possible period
of peace but the greatest guarantee for a peace is the efficiency of the
Italian armed forces. The government was striving to augment the efficiency
of forces which depends upon the cadres, materials and the unity of
command. Efforts must be made to improve the physique of the Italian youths
and their preliminary training in order to raise the level of soldierly
efficiency.
As far as Germany was concerned Moonje quoted a booklet entitled
Wehrwissenschaft (military Science) written by Ewald Banse a professor at
the Brunswick technical high school:
The starting point of the book is that war is inevitable to know as much
about it and to be as efficient as possible the mind of the nation from
childhood on must be impregnated and familiarised with the idea of war
because the professor says: The dying warrior dies more easily when he
knows that his blood is ebbing for his national god.
The spirit of the last sentence is surprisingly coincident with the essence
of the Hindu nationalism.
When Moonje had to indicate practical ways of militarising Hindu society he
returned again to the example of Italy and its military and paramilitary
organisations and reported what he had seen. He described in detail the
structure of the She wolf's children the Balilla and the Avanguardisti. He
asserted that these organisations could provide paramilitary training to
the male population from the age of 8 upto 18 when the youth became young
fascists. Italy was therefore in a position of having command of 6,000,000
trained and disciplined men ready to face any emergency.
The result was that the Balillas are taught to build up moral character and
take the first steps towards becoming soldiers. As a consequence there will
thus be no longer any distinction between the citizen and the soldier
between the civilian and the man in uniform.
Of course nowadays we know that in spite of this remarkable number of
militarily trained citizens Italy lost the war: Moonje did not know that
the level of the training was low the cohesion between people poor and the
fascist faith of the people skin-deep.
Fascist ideas were widespread among Hindu nationalists at least in
Maharashtra. The above-mentioned script had been printed in the form of a
pamphlet (copy in NAI, Jayakar papers, microfilm, fn6, rn2) and distributed
not only among the people Moonje tried to involve in his project but most
probably to an even wider public. Fascism therefore had a certain
popularity which unfortunately is at present difficult to measure.
Eve of second World War
After Moonje's trip to Italy there was no further direct contact between
exponents of the main Hindu organisations and the Italian government.
However by the end of the 1930s Italian representatives in India
established some connections with the extremist fringes of Hindu
nationalism. The Italian consulate in Bombay was very active in seeking
contacts with the local political milieu. The Italian diplomatic mission in
Bombay was part of a network linking the Italian consulates in Bombay and
Calcutta with the radical movements of Maharashtra and Bengal (author's PhD
thesis, pp 276-79).
>From June 1938 the consulate in Bombay started to recruit as many Indian
>students as possible for Italian language courses with the purpose of
>indoctrinating them with propaganda in favour of Italy and fascism. The
>person in charge of this activity was Mario Carelli sent from Rome with
>the specific purpose of organising and managing the Italian activities in
>Bombay. Mario Carelli was secretary and librarian at the Institute for
>Middle and Far East (ISMEO) founded in Rome in 1933 under the auspices of
>the Italian government and presided by Giovanni Gentile. (10)
Among the students one Madhav Kashinath Damley was particularly promising.
Following Carelli's suggestion Damley translated into Marathi Mussolini's
Doctrine of fascism and in summer 1939 published it as a series of articles
in a weekly he founded in June of the same year. The name of the magazine
was Lokhandi Morcha (Iron Front). It published also as a five parts article
a booklet by Antonio Pagliaro entitled II Fascismo contro il comunismo
(Fascism against communalism) and an article by Mario Carelli entitled the
Institution of the house of the Fasci and Corporations. (11)
In the autumn of 1939 a particularly radical article published in the
Lokhandi Morcha attracted the attention of the police. The result was that
Damley who had already been noticed by the agents was forced to suspend the
magazine and pay a fine. The refusal to pay determined the cessation of the
publication of the Lokhandi Morcha, Damley was a chitpavan brahmin from
Pune resident in Bombay. His father owned the printing house where the
magazine was printed. According to the police he (Damley) holds extreme
political views and believes himself to be a follower of BG Tilak he openly
says that he is enamoured of the history of Italy and Nazi Germany (MSA,
Home special department, 830(I)1939, note dated July 11, 1939).
Even more meaningful is Damley's description by the Italian consul:
Holding fascist ideas he founded an organisation called Iron guards
modelled on ours but adapted to Indian peculiar conditions:
He and his friends wore the black shirt: India's first black shirts.
The development of this organisation was compromised by the outbreak of the
war. (12)
The influence of fascist ideology and practice must have gone far beyond
the limits of the main organisations of Hindu militant nationalism and must
have extended to the wide and intricate net of secondary militant groups
and centres of physical education or paramilitary training. This is shown
by the example of the Swastik league founded on March 10, 1929 by MR
Jayakar who became its president and by other local personalities. In
organising the Swastik league Jayakar who had a prominent position within
the Hindu Mahasabha drew some inspiration from the fascist paramilitary
organisations. In his own words in the near future our GOC intends to form
a cadet corps consisting of boys between the age of 15 and 18 years. The
training which these cadets will receive will ultimately enable them to
join the league's volunteer corps. This reminds us of a picture published
in the Sunday Chronicle on the 28th instant showing two of Sgr Mussolini's
Baby soldiers remaining on sentry duty at the entrance of their annual
encampment of Camp Dux where the young members of the Avan Guardista (sic)
a youth organisation of Italy for boys from 14 to 18 years of age get first
hand acquaintance with the tools of war. Neither we nor our cadets can
expect to be able to get such a direct training but all the same the
efforts to train a boy in military discipline will never be wasted and will
in course of time make that boy an ideal volunteer (NAI, Jayakar papers,
microfilm, rn 13, Swastik Herald of November 7, 1934).
In 1940 when nazism manifested its real nature and the swastika became an
inauspicious symbol the organisation felt obliged to dissociate from nazism:
Hitler discriminates between Aryans and non-Aryans between Germans and
Jews. The League though it is a purely Hindu organisation does not make a
difference between the Hindus and the non-Hindus. Hitler has many enemies
the League cannot have any. He is revengeful the League is forgiving and
tolerant. He is violent and wild the League is not. He thinks and acts in
terms of destruction. He has destroyed many families many nations nay the
peace of the world. Armed to teeth he is running amuck. The League stands
for construction. He is an enemy of humanity. The League is a saviour of
humanity. It has saved thousands of human lives. Its ambulance is most
efficient (NAI, ibid, Article entitled Hitler and the Swastik League in
Swastik Herald, July- August 1940).
Savarkar and Nazism
At this point we have to dwell on the crucial problem of Savarkar's
position vis-a-vis the European radical right.
With Savarkar's coming on the political scene from the late 1930s to the
second world war there was the attempt even if timid and successful to
search for new contacts with the totalitarian regimes. At the same time
there was an intensification of cries in favour or in defence of Italian
and German policy even if the preference for Germany increased
progressively.
Savarkar was declared president of the Hindu Mahasabha as soon as he was
released in 1937 and he held that office until 1942. His presidentship
covered the most sensitive period of both Indian and international history
in this century. According to the commonly accepted opinion supported by
the organisations of militant Hinduism the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha have
never been particularly close and during Savarkar's presidentship they
severed their links. Reality however seems to be different. In fact the
available documentation shows not only that such a split never happened but
that the two organisations always had close connections. We should not
forget that Hedgewar had been secretary to the Hindu Mahasabha from 1926 to
1931 (NAI, Home poll department, August 28, 1942 intelligence report
Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh dated March 7, 1942). (13) The RSS seems to
have provided support to the Hindu Mahasabha as shown by the fact that
groups of RSS militants used to gather at the public meetings organised to
celebrate Savarkar's release. (14)
Two of the main topics of the speeches Savarkar gave the gatherings
organised in his honour and at any other public function of his party were
the international level. He returned to freedom and entered into politics
at the time of the formation of the Rome-Berlin Axis and Japan's adhesion
to the pact. Such an outcome was favourably assessed by Hindu Mahasabha.
India foreign policy was the subject of a speech Savarkar gave to about
20,000 people in Pune on August 1, 1938. The following are the most
meaningful parts of the speech according to a press note issued by the
Bombay office at the Hindu Mahasabha. (15)
He observed India's foreign policy must not depend on isms. Germany has
every right to resort to Nazism and Italy to Fascism and events have
justified that those isms and forms of governments were imperative and
beneficial to them under the conditions that obtained there. Bolshevism
might have suited Russia and democracy as it is obtained in Briton (sic) to
the British people.
Political systems correspond then to the nature of the respective
population. This theory was clearly inspired by a deterministic conception
of race similar to the conception of race then dominant in Europe.
Starting a controversy with Nehru, Savarkar openly defended the
authoritarian powers of the day particularly Italy and even more so Germany:
Who are we to dictate to Germany, Japan or Russia or Italy to choose a
particular form of policy of government simply because we woo it out of
academical attraction? Surely Hitler knows better than Pandit Nehru does
what suits Germany best. The very fact that Germany or Italy has so
wonderfully recovered and grown so powerful as never before at the touch of
Nazi or Fascist magical wand is enough to prove that those political isms
were the most congenial tonics their health demanded.
India may choose or reject particular form of government in accordance with
her political requirements. But Pandit went out of his way when he took
sides in the name of all Indians against Germany or Italy. pandit Nehru
might claim to express the Congress section in India at the most. But it
should be made clear to the German, Italian or Japanese public that crores
of Hindu Sanghatanists in India whom neither Pandit Nehru nor the Congress
represents cherish no ill-will towards Germany or Italy or Japan or any
other country in the world simply because they had chosen a form of
government or constitutional policy which they though (sic) suited best and
contributed most to their national solidarity and strength.
Savarkar went on to defend Germany's position regarding the Sudeten problem:
as far as the Czechoslovakia question was concerned the Hindu Sanghatanists
in India hold that Germany was perfectly justified in uniting the Austrian
and Sudeten Germans under the German flag. Democracy itself demanded that
the will of the people must prevail in choosing their own government.
Germany demanded plebiscite the Germans under the Czechs wanted to join
their kith and kin in Germany. It was the Czechs who were acting against
the principle of democracy in holding the Germans under a foreign sway
against their will. Now that Germany is strong why should she not strike to
unite all Germans and consolidate them into a Pan-German state and realise
the political dream which generations of German people cherished.
When the outbreak of the second World war was imminent Savarkar openly
declared the attitude of Hindu Mahasabha should adopt towards the other
nations:
Any nation who helps India or is friendly towards her struggle for freedom
is our friend. Any nation which opposes us or pursues a policy inimical to
us is our foe. Towards those who do neither India must maintain an attitude
of perfect neutrality refusing to poke her nose unnecessarily into their
internal or external policy.
This document summarises Savarkar's view regarding international problems
and at the same time it contains the future lines of the Hindu Mahasabha
foreign policy. This party elaborated its foreign policy only with
Savarkar's presidentship imitating in a certain sense what Nehru did within
the Congress but choosing different allies among the foreign powers.
Given the content of the above-mentioned speech it is no wonder that it was
published on November 30, 1938 by a famous German daily the Volkischer
Beobachter (NMML, Savarkar papers, microfilm, m 1 part 2, March 1937-may
1938).
[Continued....]