What is the full form of ABHM ?

Introduction

ABHM stands for Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha. This party grew from the Hindu Sabha which was formed to protect and promote the Hindu ideology. The party has played a leading role in being a voice for the Hindus during the independence movement of India and as a counter organisation to the Muslim League. The party is mainly known for its radical secularism and other radical demands and visions which aim to protect the Hindus and the Hindu ideology.

Hindu Mahasabha

Hindu Mahasabha is a non-secular party dedicated to the protection and promotion of Hindus. It was established in 1915 and was called the Hindu Sabha. Later in 1921, its name was changed to Hindu mahasabha. Apart from this, the birth of this organisation could be traced to 1906 as a counter organisation to the Muslim League. During the Indian nationalist movement, the Mahasabha presented itself as the only political voice that represented the Hindus in the country. It also popularised the agendas of reconversion (shuddhi) and unity of hindus (sangathan) through their propaganda. Some important campaigns of this party included cow-protection, increasing the popularity of hindu festivals, demand of maximum use of Hindi and Devanagari and many more similar demands.

Some of its members like Madan Mohan Malaviya, Lala Lajpat Rai, Kelkar were drawn from Congress but some of them were strictly anti-congress. Two such members were Savarkar and Bai Pramanand. Some other eminent members of the Mahasabha were Ramanand Chatterjee, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Raja Narendranath, Swami Sharadhanand, Dr. B.s. Moonje, Prof. V.G.Deshpande and many more. The party had its presence in many parts of India during pre independence like Bengal, Sindh, Punjab, Central Province and Uttar Pradesh. Post independence the party lost its enigma to some extent due to the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Statue of Political leader Veer Savarkar

Mission of Hindu Mahasabha

The Mission and Vision for the Hindu Mahasabha were adopted in the 1949 December session of the Hindu Mahasabha in Calcutta. The chairman of the session was Shri Ashutosh Lahiri, who with 4 other members adopted the ideologies and objectives of the Sabha.

Akhand Hindustan

They aim to merge the States currently known as "Bharat" and "Pakistan," into a consolidated one and term it as "Akhand Hindustan,". They wish to achieve through peaceful negotiations on an interstate level and with the use of international strategies. In order to gain the moral and material support the Hindu Mahasabha would mobilise popular opinion in India, abroad, and most importantly in Pakistan.

Hindu-Rashtra

The ABHM or the Hindu Mahasabha claims that they stand for ‘Hindu-Rashtra’ or a ‘National Home for the Hindus’. They disregard the invasion and capture of this national home by non-hindus. From their love for this homeland they wish to take all measures to protect their homeland and create a world where all Hindus in the world can claim this land’s assets and live peacefully to create a hindu outlook towards life.

In this homeland for the Hindus, the non-Hindus will enjoy most of the rights like the Hindus, but will never become the legal citizens of the Hindu homeland. The Mahasabha claims that the non-Hindus can never have a legal claim on any asset of the Hindu-rashtra.

In case of refugees, they wish to apply ‘preventive’ and ‘curative’ measures to prevent all the refugee problems. Among the ‘preventive’ measures are those strict actions that should be taken against Pakistan like retaliation, negotiations among many. These measures will boost the morale of the Hindus and end the exodus of Hindus from Pakistan. ‘Curative’ measures would mainly deal with the rehabilitation of the refugees, by providing them with land, employment and many other.

Educational Reconstruction

The ABHM wishes to bring about radical changes in education. Right from the school level they aim to teach children Sanskrit, Ayurveda, Hindu culture, art, tradition and the medium for the instruction would be Hindi. Along with these subjects, they wish to teach modern science, maths, provisional languages, geography, history and arithmetic. They also aim to provide compulsory free education to all primary level children.

An example of an Ayurveda book in Sanskrit.

Conclusion

The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha which was initially the Hindu Mahasabha wants to bring unity among the Hindus of the world by creating a space for them called the Hindu-Rashtra. This homeland for the Hindus will not create a safe space for them but also help in building a powerful territory where Hindus all over the world will have legal obligations and claims. Lastly, one of their important aims is also to preserve the lost Hindu traditions and utilise them to create a powerful nation.

FAQs

Q1. What does Hindu Mahasabha mean by their mission of ‘Radical Democracy’?

Ans. The Hindu Mahasabha believes in lifting the liberty of the people. They aim to form a decentralised government which would provide maximum powers to the provisional states. It also wishes to form an executive who will be provided with maximum responsibilities and very few powers.

Q2. Describe the ‘defence policy’ of Hindu Mahasabha.

Ans. According to their defence policy the Hindu Mahasabha, aims for peaceful territorial expansion. They aim to militarise various sections of the population mostly near the border areas of Assam, Punjab and Assam. They also wish to reduce the restrictions on possessing arms by civilians. They want to keep the civilians, especially the Hindu youths, prepared by giving them proper training in modern warfare.

Q3. What do the ANHM aim for through their vision of secularism?

Ans. Through their vision for secularism, the ABHM wishes to create a world where peace can be attained through toleration towards different opinions and ideologies. They aim for ‘radical secularism’