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Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha
Preparatory sessions of the All India Hindu Sabha were held at Haridwar (13 February 1915), Lucknow (17 February 1915) and Delhi (27 February 1915). In April 1915, Sarvadeshak (All India) Hindu Sabha was formed as an umbrella organisation of regional Hindu Sabhas, at the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar.
Gandhi and Swami Shraddhanand were also present at the conference and were supportive of the formation of All India Hindu Sabha. The Sabha emphasised Hindu solidarity and the need for social reform.
At its sixth session in April 1921, the Sarvadeshak Hindu Sabha formally changed its name to Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha on the model of the Indian National Congress. Presided over by Manindra Chandra Nandi, it amended its constitution to remove the clause about loyalty to the British and added a clause committing the organisation to a “united and self-governing” Indian nation.
Amongst the Mahasabha’s early leaders were the prominent nationalists, educationalists and four-time Indian National Congress president Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, who founded the Benaras Hindu University, the Punjabi populist Lala Lajpat Rai and Lajpat Rai’s mentor Navin Chandra Rai of the Hindu Samaj who chaired the special Congress session of 1920 held at Lahore which gave the call for non-cooperation.
Under Malaviya, the Mahasabha campaigned for Hindu political unity, for the education and economic development of Hindus as well as for the conversion of Muslims to Hinduism.
Indian Independence Movement
The Hindu Mahasabha did not unconditionally support the Indian independence movement against British rule in India. However, it became part of the movement on its conditions and with regards to protecting the interests of the Hindus.
For example, it boycotted the Simon Commission. In the aftermath, it was part of the all-party committee, which came out with the Nehru Report. However, it did not accept the Report as according to Mahasabha, it gave too many concessions to Muslims.
Similarly, when Mahatma Gandhi observed a fast against the Communal Award, Mahasabha worked with Gandhi and other parties to ensure Poona Pact was signed and Depressed Classes were given a fair representation.
The Hindu Mahasabha opposed the Quit India Movement. Under Savarkar’s leadership, the party organised Hindu Militarisation Boards which recruited for the British Indian armed forces in World War 2.
Civil Disobedience Movement
Under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress led several nationwide campaigns of non-violent civil disobedience. The Mahasabha officially abstained from participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930.
Alliance with Muslim League and Others
The Indian National Congress won a massive victory in the 1937 Indian provincial elections, decimating the Hindu Mahasabha. However, in 1939, the Congress ministries resigned in protest against Viceroy Lord Linlithgow’s action of declaring India to be a belligerent in the Second World War without consulting the Indian people.
This led to the Hindu Mahasabha joining hands with the Muslim League and other parties to form governments, in certain provinces. Such coalition governments were formed in Sindh, NWFP, and Bengal.
In Sindh, Hindu Mahasabha members joined Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah’s Muslim League government.
In March 1943, Sindh Government became the first Provincial Assembly of the sub-continent to pass an official resolution in favour of the creation of Pakistan.
In the North West Frontier Province, Hindu Mahasabha members joined hands with Sardar Aurang Zeb Khan of the Muslim League to form a government in 1943.
In Bengal, Hindu Mahasabha joined the Krishak Praja Party led Progressive Coalition ministry of A. K. Fazlul Huq in December 1941.
Quit India Movement
The Hindu Mahasabha openly opposed the call for the Quit India Movement and boycotted it officially.
Vinayak, the president of the Hindu Mahasabha at that time, even went to the extent of writing a letter titled “Stick to your Posts”, in which he instructed Hindu Sabhaites who happened to be “members of municipalities, local bodies, legislatures or those serving in the army…to stick to their posts” across the country, and not to join the Quit India Movement at any cost.
Following the Hindu Mahasabha’s official decision to boycott the Quit India movement, Syama Prasad Mukherjee, leader of the Hindu Mahasabha in Bengal, wrote a letter to the British Government as to how they should respond if the Congress gave a call to the British rulers to Quit India.
Syama Prasad ended the letter with a discussion of the mass movement organised by the Congress. He expressed the apprehension that the movement would create internal disorder and endanger internal security during the war by exciting popular feeling.
