Veer Savarkar- A profile in courage

In the Den of the British Lion

London, one of the world's greatest cities, the den of the British lion, the very hub of the empire that controlled close to 2/3rd of the world. It was also a refuge for revolutionaries across the world, the Irish, the Russians, the Anarchists and now the Indian rebels. It was into this very nerve center of the British empire, that Savarkar stepped into in the last week of June, 1906. Over the next four years, he would be prove to be a thorn in the side for the British, as they tracked every move of his, considered him one of the most dangerous of the freedom fighters.

True to his name, Shyamji was the Krishna to Savarkar's Arjun, guiding him in the battlefield. The Kurukshetra here was London itself, the den of the British lion, where Savarkar began his battle. Continuing from where he had left off in India, Savarkar established the Free India Society in 1906 in London. It was not an easy task, he had to deal with an entire generation of Indian students, who were more English than the British themselves. Decades of colonial education, had brainwashed the average Indian into believing that British rule was a blessing, and that they indeed bought civilization to a backward nation. Savarkar began to change that, holding weekly meetings explaining the ill effects of British rule. He also organized the anniversaries of great heroes like Shivaji, Guru Gobind Singh, and grand celebrations of Dussehra, Dipavali. 

And soon they began to flock to him, from all corners of India, drawn by a single purpose the freedom of India. From the city of Mumbai, came Madame Bhikaji Cama and Senapati Bapat. From the South came V.V.S. Aiyar and P.T.Acharya. From the plains of Punjab, came Lala Hardayal and Bhai Parmanand. From the North there was Gyanchand Verma, while from Nizam occupied Hyderabad, came Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, the brother of Sarojini Naidu. Men and women from different cultures, regions, backgrounds, but all united by one single desire, an independent India. However the Muslim students from India in London kept away from India House. When Abdulla Suharwardy wanted to join, Sir Ziauddin Ahmed warned him with the following words

"You know that we have a definite political policy at Aligarh, i.e. the policy of Sir Syed. Do you really believe that the Muslims will be profited if Home Rule is granted to India? What I call the Muslim policy is really the policy of all the Muslims generally – of those of Upper India particularly."

And so did Asaf Zaki who wrote to Pandit Shaymji that he did not want to antagonize his Muslim friends unnecessarily, by associating with the nationalist. The fact is Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and later the Muslim League had successfully brainwashed Muslims into believing, that freedom would mean a Hindu dominated India, where they would have no space. Barring a few like Ashfaqullah, most Muslims deliberately kept aloof from the freedom movement, and tacitly supported the British too.

Primarily Savarkar's time in London was divided into three major tasks-his own writing, organizing public meetings and conducting the secret revolutionary activities. After he settled down in London, Savarkar began to send a series of newsletters to India, that started on August 1906, and ended somewhere in November 1909.  He also began a work on Mazinni and Garibaldi, the great leaders of the Italian unification and liberation movement, and his heroes.  He had already read about Mazinni in a Marathi biography of his, which was an inspiration to him. Also the articles by his mentor Paranjpe in Kal magazine, about the nationalist movements in Europe, the revolutionary wars and secret societies influenced him to the extent, that he felt only a similiar armed revolution could liberate India from the British rule. By the end of September he completed his biography on Mazinni that also had a close look at his politics. He also wrote a highly explosive 25 page preface to his work, while attending the meetings, conducting the revolutionary activities and carrying out his regular studies too.

Savarkar dedicated his biography on Mazinni to Tilak and his brother Babarao, however the former deemed it too dangerous to publish, so explosive was that 25 page preface.  Babarao however went ahead and published the book in June 1907, and within a month 2000 copies of it were sold. That preface became a guideline of sorts for the youth, fired up now by Savarkar's revolutionary zeal, and it also helped others to understand his strategy better.