How UK intelligence tracked this Nagpur scribe
LONDON:BRITISH intelligence service MI5 closely tracked Gopal Mukund Huddar, a journalist from Nagpur studying in London in the 1930s, intercepting and transcribing his letters back home and recording his activities in London, Spain and colonial India.
Born in 1902 in Mandla in today’s Madhya Pradesh, Huddar made the transformation from being one of the first functionaries of the RSS before travelling to London to study journalism, to joining the Communist Party of India on his return to India.
The file on Huddar is mostly based on records of the erstwhile Indian Political Intelligence unit of the India Office within MI5. It was released by National Archives on Tuesday along with others recording the activities of intelligence operatives such as Kim Philby.
Huddar, who died in 1981, is described as a left-wing student in British records. He was among several Indians working for India’s independence through associations in London. Before arriving in London, he edited the journal Savdhan in Nagpur.
The file has several assessments of his activities, including his joining the Spanish Civil War in 1937, fighting in the Belchite region, being arrested by Gen Franco’s forces and being released under a prisoner swap arranged by Britain.
Calling himself ‘John Smith’ at the time to conceal his Indian origin, Huddar was said to be the only Indian member of the International Brigade that fought for a republic government in Spain.
In an intelligence report on the activities of Indian students in London, Huddar is said to have supported a plan to gain the trust of soldiers in the British Indian army and on a given date launch attacks on cantonments all over India.