History
Although it remained a relatively small political party, the Mahasabha's members at various times included pre-eminent Indian political leaders such as famous Indian freedom fighter Dr. B. S. Moonje, who was the All India President of the Hindu Mahasabha in 1927 and was one of the patriarchs of the organization, Narasimha Chintaman Kelkar, who was president of Hindu Mahasabha held at Jabalpur in 1928 and at Delhi in 1932, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, founder of the Benaras Hindu University; Dr. K. B. Hedgewar, founder of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the former chief minister of the Central Provinces and Berar; Syama Prasad Mookerjee of Bengal, who served as Central Minister in Nehru's cabinet; and Narayan Bhaskar Khare, who served as the Mahasabha's president from 1949 to 1951. The Mahasabha's influence was hindered by its opposition to the widely-popular civil disobedience campaigns led by the Congress Party to achieve Indian independence from British rule. The restrictions imposed by the British authorities on the political activities of its leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar also impaired its development.
Due to the rise of the Muslim League's campaign for a separate Muslim state of Pakistan and growing acrimony between Hindus and Muslims, the Mahasabha increasingly became home to radical Hindu activists. With the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan in 1947, Savarkar and the Mahasabha laid blame on the Congress leaders, especially Mahatma Gandhi, for appeasing the Muslims and making too many concessions it considered detrimental to Hindu interests.
On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse. Subsequent police investigations revealed that Godse and his confederates were members of the Hindu Mahasabha, and close confidants of Savarkar. Although Savarkar himself was acquitted of involvement by the courts, the conviction of the rest led to a major popular backlash against the Hindu Mahasabha.
A good number of Hindu Mahasabhaites joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, founded in 1951 under the leadership of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, who had joined with the RSS. Mookerjee had left Mahasabha after his proposal to allow Muslims to gain membership was turned down by Savarkar. In 1980, the BJS transformed into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is today India's largest party aside from the Congress.
The Hindu Mahasabha continued to survive on the fringes of Indian politics. Bishan Chandra Seth of Shahjahanpur was elected twice to the Indian Parliament from Etah and was one of the longest serving parliamentarians from Hindu Mahasabha. Another long-serving parliamentarian from Sabha was Mahant Avaindnath.
Read more about this topic: Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha
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