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

Hindu Mahasabha Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha (), simply known as Hindu Mahasabha, is a Hindu nationalism, Hindu nationalist political party in India. Founded in 1915 by Madan Mohan Malviya, the Mahasabha functioned mainly as a pressure group advocating th ...

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 North Karnataka. Other than these states, according to authors K. S. Singh, Gregory Naik and Pran Nath Chopra, Deshastha Brahmins are also concentr ...

( 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. Nagpur was the primary ...

. He completed his

Medical Degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

from

Grant Medical College The Grant Government Medical College is a public university, public medical school, medical college located in Mumbai, India. It is affiliated to the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences. Founded in 1845, it is one of the oldest medical co ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

in 1898, and was employed in

Bombay Municipal Corporation The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), or the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) is the governing civic body of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra. Salman Khan Is Now Brand Ambassador of BMC from 2016. The BMC is India ...

as a Medical Officer. Following the death of

Bal Gangadhar Tilak Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokamānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence ...

in 1920, Moonje dissociated from Congress. He disagreed with the two main policies of M. K. Gandhi, 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 Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966 ), was an Indian politician, activist and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva while confined at Ratnagiri in 1922. The prefix "Veer" (mea ...

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

During March 15 to 24, 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, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

and was shown the militarization of society through a guided tour of organizations such as Balilla, the Accademia della Farnesina and other military schools and educational institutions. He visited the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

youth organization The following is a list of youth organizations. A youth organization is a type of organization with a focus upon providing activities and socialization for Minor (law), minors. In this list, most organizations are international unless noted othe ...

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, formerly Nasik, is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra situated on the banks of the river Godavari River, Godavari, about northeast of the state capital Mumbai. Nashik is one of the Hindu pilgrimage sit ...

. The

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,, ) is an Indian right-wing politics, right-wing, Hindutva, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar ( ...

(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