Balakrishna Shivram Moonje (B.S.Moonje, also B.S. Munje, 12 December 1872 – 3 March 1948) was a leader of the

Hindu Mahasabha The Hindu Mahasabha (officially Akhil Bhārat Hindū Mahāsabhā, ) is a Hindu nationalist political party in India. Founded in 1915, the Mahasabha functioned mainly as a pressure group advocating the interests of orthodox Hindus before the B ...

in India.

Career

Moonje was born into a

Deshastha Rigvedi Brahmin Deshastha Brahmin is a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra and northern area of the state of Karnataka. Other than these states, according to authors K. S. Singh, Gregory Naik and Pran Nath Chopra, Deshastha Bra ...

( DRB) family in 1872 at Bilaspur in

Central Provinces The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Its capital was Nagpur. ...

. He completed his Medical Degree from Grant Medical College in Mumbai in 1898, and was employed in Bombay Municipal Corporation as a Medical Officer. He left his job to participate in the Boer War in South Africa through the medical wing, as the King's Commissioned Officer. Following the death of Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1920, Moonje dissociated from Congress. He disagreed with the two main policies of

M. K. Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

, namely his non-violence and secularism. His association with Hindu Mahasabha increased and he was also political mentor of Hedgewar who founded RSS in 1925. Moonje was the All India President of the

from 1927 until he handed over the charge to Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1937. Until his death, he was active in the Mahasabha and toured all over India. Savarkar had his strong support. He also attended the Round Table Conferences (in London) twice, despite strong opposition from Congress leaders on his views.

Trip to Italy

In 1931, Moonje travelled to Italy, where he met with Prime Minister

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

and was shown the militarization of society through a guided tour of organizations such as Balilla, the

Accademia della Farnesina The Academia della Farnesina, also known as the Accademia fascista maschile di educazione fisica or Accademia fascista della Farnesina, was a centre for sport and political education in Fascist Italy. The Fascist School of Physical Education ...

and other military schools and educational institutions. He visited the Italian

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

youth organization the

Opera Nazionale Balilla Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB) was an Italian Fascist youth organization functioning between 1926 and 1937, when it was absorbed into the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (GIL), a youth section of the National Fascist Party. It takes its name fr ...

, which he praised. Moonje was deeply influenced by these fascist organizations, in which he saw an opportunity to militarize Hindu society in order to fight against both internal and external threats. After returning from his Italy visit, he set up

Bhonsala Military School Bhonsala Military School is a secondary school in Nasik, Maharashtra, India, specialising in military education. It was founded by Dr B. S. Moonje in 1937. Establishment Bhonsala Military School, Nasik was established by Dr. Balkrishna Shiv ...

Nasik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashik ...

. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) later appropriated this model on a larger scale, and there is an uncanny similarity between the RSS and Balilla in terms of recruitment and organizational setup. Moonje remained in constant contact with the fascist supporter

Giuseppe Tucci Giuseppe Tucci (; 5 June 1894 – 5 April 1984) was an Italian orientalist, Indologist and scholar of East Asian studies, specializing in Tibetan culture and the history of Buddhism. During its zenith, Tucci was a supporter of Italian fascism ...

through letters. Moonje died on 3 March 1948, aged 75.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moonje, B. S. 1872 births 1948 deaths 20th-century Indian politicians University of Mumbai alumni Marathi politicians Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India Hindu Mahasabha politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Chhattisgarh People from Bilaspur district, Chhattisgarh