Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and the making of modern Indian nationalism

V. D. Savarkar was immensely influenced and inspired by the ideas and philosophy of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. He actively supported the Swadeshi Movement and propagated his anti-British views through his speeches and writings, which led to the British Government withdrawing his graduation degree. In 1906, he went to England for higher studies and made London the centre of his Indian freedom movement activities. He was determined to free his motherland from the curse of British rule by any means necessary. He even supported the use of armed resistance to overthrow what he considered the oppressive British regime. He organised a group of armed revolutionaries to fight against British rule. Savarkar envisioned an India that would have unbounded faith in a World Commonwealth. His political philosophy conceived the Earth as the common motherland of humanity, and he regarded humanism as the highest form of patriotism. However, he maintained that India should not lose its national identity in the process of forging humanity into a World Commonwealth. In international politics, Savarkar believed that India would contribute to building world peace and prosperity. According to him, nationalism was an inevitable step towards the larger goal of humanity and the establishment of a Pan-Human State.