Himani Savarkar - The Nationalist and daughter of Godse

Born on March 31, 1947, in Pune, Himani Savarkar was the leader of the Hindu Mahasabha party. Himani Savarkar was also the President of Abhinav Bharat. Himani is the niece of Nathuram Godse. She was only 10 months old when her father Gopal Godse went to prison for conspiring for Gandi’s assassination.

Married to V. D. Savarkar’s nephew, Himani started her career as an architect. In 2000, she joined the Hindu Mahasabha. Since then she has had active participation and association with RSS as well. In 2004, Himani Savarkar contested for Lok Sabha elections Kashba Peth in Pune district, but she couldn’t win. Later in 2008, she was elected as the President of the Hindu Mahasabha. In the same year, she was appointed as the President of Abhinav Bharat.

Abhinav Bharat was convicted for the Malegaon bomb blast in 2008. The group leader, Himani Savarkar then said, ” If we can have a bullet for a bullet then why not blast for a blast”, justifying the attacks carried out by the Abhinav Bharat.

Himani passed away on 11 October 2015 after battling a brain tumour. Satyaki Savarkar, her son who is a software engineer said,” Right from providing lawyers, keeping updates of court trials, providing help for their families, she was working hard till the end. It was not easy. But she was used to sufferings since her childhood. She was often neglected for being the daughter of Gopal Godse. But she fought all odds to get a degree BE (Architecture), ran her own business for 25 years and was an active leader of Hindu Mahasabha. She quit her business in 2000 and then devoted her time for the Hindutva movement.”

She was 10 months old when her father, Gopal Godse, was jailed for conspiracy to murder. Himani Savarkar, the known pro-Hindu leader Nathuram Godse, niece and former president of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha played an active role in the organization of Hindu MahaSabha and Abhinav Bharat formed by freedom fighter Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. She was the daughter of Gopal godse and the niece of Gandhi assassin Narayan Godse; daughter of Narayan savarkar, younger brother of Hindu nationalist pioneer V. D. Her mother was born as Asilata Godse in 1947 and was murdered by her father Gopal Godsse who was going to prison for taking part in a conspiracy to assassinate him.

Himani was less than a year old when Gopal godse, was taken from her residence in Pune and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Born in the Indian city Pune on 31 March 1947, Himani Savarkar is the leader of Hindu group Abhinav Bharat and daughter-in-law of Narayan Savarkars, brother of the freedom fighter and the Veer Savarkar. She is 68 years old and has been hospitalized for the past six months after being linked to the right-wing Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, led by Swatatryaveer Savarksar, a radical Bharat member who was caught by police for his alleged involvement in the 2008 explosion in Malegaon.

Himani, daughter of Gopal and Godse, was the younger brother of Nathuram Godse, the Hindu fanatic who hung Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, 1948 and killed his accomplice Narayan Apte on November 15, 1949. Both Godse and Savarkar were arrested and tried in the Gandhi murder case.

Himani Savarkar, 67, daughter of Gopal Godse’s and niece Nathuram Godse, said the controversy over the statue was caused by people who had treated her father disrespectfully.

He is not the only AB leader with strong ties to Sangh Parivar. Retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, a prominent Abhinav Bharat leader indicted in the Malegaon case, joined the party and is currently president of the Mumbai unit of the former Bharatiya Janata Party soldier cell. Due to ideological differences, Nathuram separated from the Sangh in the 1940s and founded the Hindu Rashtra Dal. But he never left the RSS nor did he expel.

Savarkar is the Supreme Leader of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, the origin of Hindutva ideology. Himani Savarkar, President of Abhinav Bharat, is the daughter of Gopal Godse, who was married to the Hindu ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. In September 2007 Sharma told that Amritananda Dev Tirtha, when talking about his idea of Akhanda Bharat, was talking about the ABHINAV Bharat organisation.

The last rites of Himani Savarkar, a leader of the Hindu group Abhinav Bharat, were held in the presence of several Hindutva activists on Monday at the Vaikunth crematorium. “For the last three years I have spent every day in Pune with the Savarkar and Godse families. And I have heard numerous accounts of the last few surviving people who knew the Savarkars.