Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh knows him as its first Sarkaryavah. Name was Balaji Huddar. Was born in 1902 in Mandla of today’s Madhya Pradesh. The name was Gopal Mukund Huddar, but communists around the world know him better as John ‘Smith’. He was once chosen as the number 2 i.e. Sarkaryavah of Sangh founder Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar. If he had remained connected with the same devotion, he would have been the second Sarsanghchalak in place of Guru Golwalkar. But today he is known as the guide of communist leaders like AB Vardhan. Vardhan of Nagpur later became the general secretary of CPI.
It is said that a widow from a wealthy industrialist family of Nagpur saved him from drowning in his childhood. Then both of them became so attached that they adopted Gopal and brought him to Nagpur. At that time he was only four years old. After graduation from Nagpur, he also started teaching in a girls mission school. Then students became active in politics. First came in contact with Dr. BS Munje, then Dr. Hedgewar. There were people who could read and write and there was influence among the youth. When three names were announced as the first office bearer of the Sangh on 9-10 November 1929, the second name among them was that of Balaji Huddar. He was made Sarkaryavah (General Secretary) and Martand Rao Jog, retired from the army, was made Sir Commander.
But the objective of establishing the Sangh, the plan of Dr. Hedgewar, was not made just like that that you can start doing anything at any time. Its first step was to create an organization of patriotic youth across the country who believed in the traditions and culture of ancient India. It was decided in the very beginning that the Sangh as an organization would not participate in any movement, but if any volunteer wanted to participate in the freedom movement or any other movement or protest, he could do so with the permission of the Sangh. Therefore, when Dr. Hedgewar himself decided to participate in the Jungle Satyagraha Movement during the Civil Disobedience Movement, he first left the post of Sarsanghchalak and gave this responsibility to Dr. Paranjape in his place. The volunteers also told him that they would march in Sangh’s uniform, but he made it clear that the Sangh would not participate in any movement. We are in the Congress movement and will go without uniform.
A similar decision was taken in the movement against Savarkar and Nizam of Hindu Mahasabha. Many senior officials of the Sangh themselves personally participated in it. Dr. Hedgewar’s nephew was even jailed, but the Sangh as an organization did not take part in that movement. The Sangh was criticized for this, yet Dr. Hedgewar remained firm. Anyway, while being associated with revolutionary organizations, he had understood that no revolutionary organization could be run for long because sooner or later, the government could target them due to their indulging in violent actions. So there is hardly any movement of the Congress in which the volunteers did not participate, but as an organization the Sangh stuck to its word and even today its volunteers participate under the banners of various organizations.
But perhaps Balaji Huddar was not ready to have enough patience to set up an organization in every corner of the country. That was going to take decades. So he left the Sangh post in less than two years. Anyway, at the age of 27, it was not easy to understand the responsibility of such a big position. Then his name came up in the Balaghat political dacoity case in 1931. He had to buy weapons for revolutionary activities and for that he along with some armed companions robbed the houses of some landlords. All were sentenced to three to five years. If he had been given this punishment while he was in office, perhaps it would have been difficult for the Sangh too. Nana Palekar has written the same thing in ‘Hedgewar Charita’.
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In 1935, Balaji Huddar was released from Nagpur jail and he started editing the newspaper ‘Savdhaan’. Suddenly Balaji felt that he should go to London to study journalism. Dr. Hedgewar also helped him in this work. But from London Balaji went to Spain. People with leftist ideology had come in contact with him and he was determined to fight for them across the world.
John Smith became Balaji
The later opened classified files of MI5, the British intelligence agency that was keeping an eye on Indian students in those days, show that he himself was swinging between ideologies. On one hand MI5 was calling him influenced by left ideology, on the other hand in a Marathi newspaper he was writing about the objective of spreading the RSS organization across Asia. He also wrote about returning and rejoining the Sangh. In those days, there was a civil war going on in Spain and the demand for a democratic government was rising. General Franco’s army captured him. Here Balaji also changed his name to ‘John Smith’. Balaji was made a member of the British battalion formed in the name of Indian communist Shapoorji Saklawala, killed in England, by the Left’s International Brigade (IB).
Look at the fate of Balaji, the son of the retired colonel who was sent to Spain to negotiate the release of prisoners of war on behalf of England was also a prisoner there, and before retirement he was posted near Nagpur. Balaji told him his truth and the Nagpur connection worked and he returned to London. But after his release, Balaji Huddar was warmly welcomed and discussed a lot in the communist world, first in London and then in Bombay. He became a hero for youth like AB Vardhan who came to Nagpur from Barisal. Later AB Vardhan reached the post of General Secretary of CPI.
Dr. Hedgewar called for speech in Sangh camp
Not a single statement of Dr. Hedgewar is found against Huddar. The great thinker of the Sangh, H.V. Seshadri, writes that, “By the end of December 1938, Balaji Huddar, a close friend and associate of Doctorji in former days, returned from Spain. Doctorji had taken great pains to send him to England, from where he had gone to Spain. When, however, he returned to Bharat, he had turned a leftist. But it made no difference so far as Doctorji’s friendly attitude towards him was concerned.”
Nana Palekar also writes that when Balaji Huddar returned to Nagpur on 24 December 1938, Dr. Hedgewar himself reached the railway station to receive him. Even after that both of them met many times. But Dr. Hedgewar realized that Balaji’s views had completely changed over the years. Dr. Hedgewar had also said that although our views are different now, Balaji had never thought of breaking this friendship.
Dr. Hedgewar went a step further and invited Balaji Huddar to a volunteer camp in Nagpur district so that he could share his experiences of so many years abroad with the volunteers. Balaji discussed the unions of workers and farmers and their movements in the camp. Later, in an informal conversation with Balaji, the Sangh chief simply said that the topic of prosperity of workers and farmers is a suitable topic for discussion in the Sangh, but our language should not be of conflict between the rich and the poor.
Huddar had created controversy regarding Netaji Bose
39 years after the death of Dr. Hedgewar, in the article ‘RSS and Netaji’ published in the Illustrated Weekly of India on 7 October 1979, a sensational allegation was made against Dr. Hedgewar quoting Balaji Huddar. Balaji had said that on behalf of Netaji Bose, I had asked Dr. Hedgewar to meet me, but Dr. Hedgewar refused saying that I was so ill that I could not even get up from the bed. Quoting Balaji, it was claimed in this news that Hedgewar was not interested in meeting Netaji Bose. He even wrote that when we came out of the room and Sangh workers entered inside and started laughing.
On the basis of this statement of Balaji, the leftists say that after resigning from the Congress, Subhash Azad was engaged in setting up an organization like Hind Fauj and wanted to take the help of the Sangh in this work but the Sangh refused. But in Hedgewar Charita, Nana Palekar has told how Dr. Hedgewar was very ill in those days in Devlali. Even Guru Golwalkar was constantly serving him like a nurse. He would stay awake the whole night giving them medicines. In such a situation, Dr. Vasant Ramrao came to Sanjgiri along with Balaji and started asking Netaji Bose for an appointment with Dr. Hedgewar. He said that the second world war has started and the British government is busy in it. This is the right time to revolt against the British government and overthrow it.
Despite being seriously ill, Dr. Hedgewar listened to him and said, it is true that the environment is very favorable. But are we ready to fight for freedom? To start, we must be at least 50 percent ready. How much ability did Subhash Chandra Bose have? If we are not even partially prepared, we cannot depend on the support of others.” There is no denial in this statement, but there is a possibility and the capability of Netaji Bose is because he was no longer the President of Congress and till then the leadership of Azad Hind Fauj had not been handed over to him by Rash Behari Bose.
Dr. Hedgewar had told him while leaving, “Come to Nagpur, then we can discuss this without any interruption. This incident happened on 8th or 9th July, 1939. Except Balaji, perhaps everyone took it as an invitation. When these people came to Bombay and discussed with Netaji Bose about going to Nagpur, on his request, Dr. Sanjgiri wrote a letter to Dr. Hedgewar on 12th July and thanked him for calling him to Nagpur. And said to come to Nagpur Due to some reason it is not possible for Netaji to come to Bombay right now, it would be better if Dr. Saheb can come to Bombay on 20th July. Netaji will leave Bombay on the night of 20th. But Dr. Hedgewar received this letter after 6 days on 18th and his health was not so good that he could travel far.
Balaji came to Nagpur in 1938 and joined the Communist Party, then became disillusioned with it in 1949 and resigned from it in 1952, then started indulging in spirituality. He definitely died in 1983, but he was not active. The Sangh has never hidden the name of Balaji Huddar in all the records related to its history, nor has anyone ever said anything wrong about Balaji.
Back story: First case against Hedgewar, one year in jail and received respect from Congress stalwarts on release
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