Vinayak Damodar Savarkar  known among followers by the honorific prefix Veer, was an Indian politician, activist, and writer. 

 

Contribution

Nationalism

• Along with his brother Ganesh Damodar Savarkar, he founded the Abhinav Bharat Society.
  • Initially founded as "Mitra Mela", Abhinav Bharat Society comprised of hundreds of revolutionaries and political activists.
• He was associated with Swadeshi Movement. He was against foreign goods and propagated the idea of Swadeshi. He burnt all the foreign goods in a bonfire during Swadeshi Movement.
• Later, he joined Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s Swaraj Party.
• In 1906, he went to the United Kingdom, where he involved himself with organizations such as India House and the Free India Society.
• He advocated complete Indian independence by revolutionary means.

Social Reform

• He worked on abolishment of untouchability in Ratnagiri.
• Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar also compared his work to Lord Buddha.

Political Party

• He formed the Hindu Mahasabha political party & served as its President.

Opposition to Quit India Movement

• Under Savarkar, the Hindu Mahasabha openly opposed the call for the Quit India Movement and boycotted it officially.

Alliance with Muslim League and others

• The Indian National Congress won a massive victory in the 1937 Indian provincial elections, decimating the Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha.
• However, in 1939, the Congress ministries resigned in protest. Reason - Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's declared India to be a belligerent in the Second World War without consulting the Indian people.
• This led to the Hindu Mahasabha, under Savarkar's presidency, joining hands with the Muslim League and other parties to form government.
• Such coalition governments were formed in Sindh, NWFP, and Bengal.

Two-nation Theory

• He founded the two-nation theory in his book ‘Hindutva’ calling Hindus and Muslims two separate nations. In 1937, Hindu Mahasabha passed it as a resolution.

Literary Works

• He was the first to call the Indian Rebellion of 1857 as the First War of Independence. He authored the book ‘The History of the War of Indian Independence’.
• While the book was banned by Britishers, Madama Bhikaji Cama published it in Netherlands, Germany and France, which eventually reached many Indian revolutionaries.
• Other Books : ‘Hindutva: who is hindu?’; Moplah Rebellion and the Transportation etc

India House was a student residence that existed between 1905 and 1910 in North London. With the patronage of lawyer Shyamji Krishna Varma, it was opened to promote nationalist views among Indian students in Britain. It granted scholarships to Indian youths for higher studies in England. The building rapidly became a hub for political activism, one of the most prominent for overseas revolutionary Indian nationalism. The Free India Society was a political organization of Indian students in England, committed to obtaining the independence of India from British rule. Initially an intellectual group, it became a revolutionary outfit under its founding leader, Madam Bhikaji Cama.