Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Net Worth

Background and career

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966) was an Indian politician and ideologue. He developed the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva in his 1923 pamphlet entitled Essentials of Hindutva, published while he was incarcerated at Ratnagiri.

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.

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. According to historian A. Devare, Savarkar “virtually ceased” his criticism of British rule in India after his release from the Cellular Jail in 1924. He remained restricted to Ratnagiri district and prohibited from political activity until 1937. Savarkar started travelling widely, becoming a prominent orator and writer who advocated for Hindu political and social unity. In his 1937 Ahmedabad presidential address, Savarkar described Hindus and Muslims as “two nations in the main” in India, a position that has been interpreted by scholars as an expression of 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 after Britain declared 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 tried for his alleged involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi but was acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence.