Savarkar, BJP's most revered freedom fighter, "recruited" soldiers for British, when Netaji's INA fought Raj rule

By Jag Jivan*  
A recent journalistic investigation into the life of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883-1966), whom BJP politicians revere more than any other freedom fighter, has claimed that at the time when Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was raising his Indian National Army (INA) to confront the British in India, Savarkar "helped the colonial government recruit lakhs of Indians into its armed forces."
Carried out by independent journalist Pavan Kulkarni, the investigation quotes the report sent by then viceroy Lord Linlithgow about a meeting he had with Savarkar to the secretary of state, which said, “The situation, he [Savarkar] said, was that His Majesty’s government must now turn to the Hindus and work with their support…. Our interests were now the same and we must therefore work together…"
Linghthow is also quoted as saying, "Our interests are so closely bound together, the essential thing is for Hinduism and Great Britain to be friends and the old antagonism was no longer necessary. The Hindu Mahasabha he (Savarkar) went on to say favoured an unambiguous undertaking of Dominion status at the end of the war.”
"Two months later", according to Kulkarni, "Addressing the Mahasabha’s Calcutta session, Savarkar urged all universities, colleges and schools to 'secure entry into military forces for youths in any and every way'. When Gandhi had launched his individual satyagraha the following year, Savarkar, at the Mahasabha session held in December 1940 in Madura, encouraged Hindu men to enlist in 'various branches of British armed forces en masse'.”
This happened at a time when, says Kulkarni, "In 1941, taking advantage of the World War, Bose had begun raising an army to fight the British by recruiting Indian prisoners of war from the British army held by the Axis powers – efforts which eventually culminated in his invasion of British India with the help of the Japanese military."
"During this period", "Addressing the Hindu Mahasabha session at Bhagalpur in 1941, Savarkar told his followers:
'...it must be noted that Japan’s entry into the war has exposed us directly and immediately to the attack by Britain’s enemies… Hindu Mahasabhaites must, therefore, rouse Hindus especially in the provinces of Bengal and Assam as effectively as possible to enter the military forces of all arms without losing a single minute'.”
"In reciprocation, the British commander-in-chief, 'expressed his grateful appreciation of the lead given by Barrister Savarkar in exhorting the Hindus to join the forces of the land with a view to defend India from enemy attacks,' according to Hindu Mahasabha archives perused by Shamsul Islam", adds Kulkarni.
Kulkarni further says, "In response to the Quit India Movement launched in August 1942, Savarkar instructed Hindu Sabhaites who were 'members of municipalities, local bodies, legislatures or those serving in the army… to stick to their posts', across the country."
This happened when, points out Kulkarni, "Japan had conquered many Southeast Asian countries in India’s vicinity", and "Bose was making arrangements to go from Germany to Japan – from whose occupied territories the INA’s assault on British forces was launched in October the following year."
Comments Kulkarni, "Even though the British Army, with which Savarkar and the Hindu Mahasabha were collaborating, managed to defeat Bose’s INA, the subsequent public trials of INA officers at the Red Fort roused in the Indian soldiers of the British armed forces a political conscience, which played a crucial role in triggering the Royal Indian Naval Mutiny in 1946, after which the decision was made by the British to leave India."

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*Freelance writer