Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966) was an Indian politician and ideologue. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva while confined at Ratnagiri in 1922. He was a leading figure in the Hindu Mahasabha. Savarkar began his political activities as a high school student and continued at Fergusson College in Pune. He and his brother founded a secret society called Abhinav Bharat Society. When Savarkar travelled to England for his law studies, he involved himself with organisations such as India House and the Free India Society. He also published books advocating complete Indian independence by revolutionary means. One of the books he published called The Indian War of Independence about the Indian Rebellion of 1857 was banned in British India. In 1910, Savarkar was arrested by British authorities and deported back to India as a result of his involvement with India House. Upon returning to India, Savarkar was sentenced to 50 years of imprisonment in the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He was released in 1924 after writing a series of mercy petitions to the British colonial government. Savarkar virtually ceased his criticism of British rule in India after he was released from jail. After being released from his restriction to Ratnagiri district in 1937, Savarkar started traveling widely, becoming a prominent orator and writer who advocated for Hindu political and social unity. In his Ahmedabad speech, he supported the two-nation theory. The Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar's leadership endorsed the idea of India as a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation). In 1939, the ruling Indian National Congress (INC) resigned en masse over Britain declaring India a belligerent in World War II. The Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar formed alliances with the All-India Muslim League and other non-INC parties to form government in many states. Subsequently, the INC, under Gandhi's leadership, launched the Quit India Movement; Savarkar boycotted the movement, writing a letter titled "Stick to your Posts" and recruiting Indians for the British war effort. In 1948, Savarkar was charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi; he was acquitted by the court for lack of evidence.