Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

1. In 1903, in Nasik, 20-year-old Vinayak Damodar Savarkar co-founded the secret revolutionary society Mitra Mela, marking his early plunge into militant nationalism.

2. 🚢 While studying law in London, Savarkar connected with India House and published The Indian War of Independence (1909), a history of the 1857 rebellion banned by the British for its fiery call to revolution.

3. In 1910, British authorities arrested Savarkar for his revolutionary activities, sentencing him to 50 years in the Cellular Jail at the Andaman Islands, a remote prison known for brutal conditions.

4. ✍️ Confined at Ratnagiri in 1922, Savarkar penned the political doctrine of Hindutva, coining Hindu nationalism as a response to colonial rule and communal tensions.

5. After his 1924 release, Savarkar shifted tactics: he ceased openly criticizing British rule and instead focused on Hindu unity, later endorsing the idea of India as a Hindu Rashtra during his leadership of the Hindu Mahasabha.

6. 🗣️ In 1939, when Congress resigned over WWII involvement, Savarkar’s Hindu Mahasabha allied with the Muslim League to form governments, and he famously urged Indians to "Stick to your Posts" and support the British war effort, opposing the Quit India Movement.

7. ❓ What motivated Savarkar’s controversial shift from revolutionary to collaborator, and how did his ideology influence post-independence Hindu political movements?