Gopal Mukund Huddar

Gopal Mukund Huddar (17 June 1902 – c. 1981), also known as Balaji Huddar,^[1][2] was an Indian anti-colonial activist and soldier. A founding member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindutva paramilitary organisation, Huddar served as its first sarkaryavah (transl. General Secretary). Upon travelling to London to study journalism, exposure to left-wing and anti-fascist circles led him to volunteer for the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Due to his shift towards communism and his calls for the RSS to engage in the Indian independence movement, the leadership of the organisation, particularly its sarsanghchalak (transl. Chief) K. B. Hedgewar, increasingly estranged themselves from him.

Gopal Mukund Huddar was born on 17 June 1902 in Mandla, Central Provinces, British India.^[3] He had a brother named Shridhar Narayan Huddar.^[4] When he was four years old, Gopal was brought to Nagpur and adopted by a Brahmin widow named Udhoji. In 1920, he assumed leadership in a students' union.^[3] He graduated from Morris College in 1924 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.^[5][3] Huddar's wife was named Manorama. He died in c. 1981.^[6]

A founding member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindutva paramilitary organisation established in 1925,^[7] Huddar was one of the 26 individuals involved in choosing its name.^[8] He was also actively involved in the activities of the Hindu Mahasabha, a far-right Hindutva political party, and was viewed highly favourably by B. S. Moonje.^[7] The protégé of K. B. Hedgewar, the founder and first sarsanghchalak (transl. Chief) of the RSS, Huddar was appointed by his mentor as the organisation's first sarkaryavah (transl. General Secretary) in c. 1926, when he was 23 years old.^[9][3] Hedgewar originally intended for Huddar to succeed him as the next sarsanghchalak.^[2]

Noted to have a "radiant energy", Huddar was known for delivering speeches which "awoke enthusiasm and delight in the listener". His speeches were particularly admired by Hedgewar, who made a point of attending them whenever possible. After missing one such speech in August 1929, Hedgewar wrote to his associates expressing his regret, adding, "No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again."^[7]

Dissatisfied with the lack of engagement of the RSS with the Indian independence movement, Huddar decided to pursue clandestine revolutionary activities independent of the organisation.^[3] To fund such activities,^[10] he conducted an armed robbery in Balaghat, Central Provinces and Berar, in 1931.^[11] The act was condemned by Hedgewar;^[10] Huddar resigned as sarkaryavah in protest.^[12] Huddar was tried and imprisoned for five years, resulting in the loss of his job as a teacher at a girls' school. He was released on 1 November 1935.^[7] Following a brief period of unemployment, he began working for Sawadhan (transl. Warning), a journal edited by his friend Ramchandra Balaji Maokar, a local leader of the Hindu Mahasabha.^[13] Huddar sought to build a militant anti-imperial mass movement.^[3]

In September 1936, encouraged and financially supported by his friends, he travelled to London to study journalism.^[14] While in London, he became increasingly influenced by the international solidarity shown towards the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War and its struggle against the fascist forces led by Francisco Franco. He attended rallies and meetings addressed by progressive and communist speakers; the latter were particularly influential to Huddar. As a result, he decided to volunteer to fight against fascism in Spain. By 5 October 1937, he had departed from London.^[14]

Huddar arrived in Albacete, Spain, on 17 October 1937, where he enlisted in the International Brigades.^[16] To conceal his Indian identity, he adopted the nom de guerre "John Smith", presenting himself as British.^[6][b] He joined the XV International Brigade, commonly referred to as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade,^[6] and was assigned to its British contingent, formally named the Saklatvala Battalion in honour of Indian communist Shapurji Saklatvala.^[19][20] On 11 February 1938, Huddar went to Tarazona for military training and subsequently served as an infantry instructor.^[6][3] On 3 April 1938, while taking part in the Battle of Gandesa, Huddar, alongside other Brigade members involved in the battle, were captured by Franco's forces and imprisoned in San Pedro de Cardeña,^[19][21] which was used as a concentration camp during the civil war.^[22][23] During his imprisonment, Huddar often engaged in palm reading with his fellow inmates. By late 1938, amid public pressure on the British government to secure the release of British citizens held by Franco's forces, a team was dispatched to arrange a prisoner of war swap, leading to Huddar's release.^[6][19]

In the period leading up to his departure for the Spanish Civil War, Huddar remained in regular correspondence with Hedgewar.^[19][c] On 1 October 1937, five days before leaving London, Huddar wrote to the new editor of Sawadhan, W. W. Fadnavis, detailing his plan to resume working for the RSS upon his eventual return to India. Alongside this letter, he enclosed a message addressed to RSS members, urging them to extend the organisation's political movement across Asia.^[15] According to scholar Dhirendra K. Jha, "Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in."^[14] Jha further states, "Huddar's association with communists in London had influenced him but it had not shaped him yet."^[15]

Following his release from San Pedro de Cardeña, Huddar had now abandoned many of his earlier views and had come to espouse a worldview entirely different from that of the RSS. Nevertheless, he remained deferential towards Hedgewar.^[15]

Huddar returned to India on 18 December 1938.^[15] Arriving in Bombay, Bombay Province, he addressed a public meeting organised by several Bombay trade unions and the Bombay Congress Socialist Party, where he spoke:

The honour you have done me is really the honour to the cause of democracy and freedom which Spanish workers and peasants are defending with their lives. [...] The fight for democracy is in India just as it is in Spain. The very same British Imperialism which helps Franco and Mussolini in their attempt to destroy Spain is holding us down. We have to fight against it. We have to build the unity of the workers, peasants and the middle classes just as the Spanish people have done.^[25]

A few days after his return to India, Huddar had a meeting with Hedgewar. By then, Huddar was, as Jha states, "no longer blind to the motivations that fuelled the RSS or naïve about the mechanisms by which it sought to achieve its objectives." However, he remained convinced that he could persuade Hedgewar to align the RSS,^[26] an organisation which actively collaborated with the British Raj and played no role in the Indian independence movement,^[27][28] with the anti-colonial cause.^[26] Hedgewar, who had become increasingly obedient to the colonial government during Huddar's absence, grew alienated by his suggestions. According to Huddar, "My words fell on deaf ears and all my efforts to woo the Sarsanghchalak came to a naught." Following the meeting, the two became increasingly distant.^[29] Huddar's shift in perspective led Hedgewar to develop a growing interest in M. S. Golwalkar.^[30]

On 7 July 1939, Huddar visited Hedgewar in Nasik as an emissary of Subhas Chandra Bose, who had contacted him in an effort to involve the RSS in the anti-colonial movement. Accompanied by Shah, an associate of Bose, Huddar found Hedgewar in high spirits with young RSS members. After they departed, Huddar conveyed Bose's wish to meet him, as Shah waited outside. Hedgewar declined, stating that he was ill with "some unknown malady". Huddar suggested that he inform Shah of his illness, fearing that Bose might suspect sabotage. According to Huddar, Hedgewar then stretched himself out on the bed, remarking, "Balaji, I am really very ill and cannot stand even the strain of a short interview." Huddar later recalled that as he left, the RSS members returned and laughter resumed.^[31][32][d]

Huddar became a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in December 1938.^[11][6] During his time as a member of the CPI, he developed associations with figures such as A. B. Bardhan. He regularly conducted lectures on dialectical and historical materialism.^[3] Following his departure from the party in 1952,^[11][6] he gradually distanced himself from political activities. According to Bardhan, this retreat was due to his declining health as well as a move towards spiritualism. Nevertheless, Huddar remained a sympathiser of communist movements.^[3]