Talk:Gopal Mukund Huddar

Successor as the sarkaryavah

@Wikiman2230 I have removed H. V. Seshadri as the successor from the infobox. The RSS has always been pretty secretive about its structure, especially in its early years, when it basically functioned as a secret society. This, combined with the relative lack of scholarly research on the Indian right wing and far right, at least in comparison to studies on the same subject in Europe or America, is also the reason why the article does not provide exact dates for when Huddar became or stepped down as sarkaryavah; I tried my best to find reliable sources for the dates, but couldn't. H. V. Seshadri assumed the role in 1987, but many others held the position between 1931 and 1987. They are absent from the List of leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh article for the reasons noted above. Reliable sources on major general secretaries from that period probably do exist, but compiling a full list of every RSS general secretary from the office's founding to the present would be extremely difficult. Long story short, it'd be incorrect to have Seshadri as the successor in the infobox. However, I would greatly appreciate if you managed to find reliable sources on who succeeded Huddar in the post. — EarthDude (Talk) 08:48, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for letting me know. I originally followed the list of leaders because he was noted as the successor. I can try and find a source for this, but for now good job on the article. This is a promising future article. Wikiman (talk) 20:13, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for the kind words :) — EarthDude (Talk) 23:18, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

@EarthDude No problem! Wikiman (talk) 23:58, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

GA review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Gopal Mukund Huddar/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: EarthDude (talk · contribs)

Reviewer: Joko2468 (talk · contribs) 15:29, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

General comments

Taking this up, great work on the article. It's well written and comprehensive— the only thing I feel it's potentially missing is more context on his personal situation e.g. his occupation after returning to India, but the sources don't seem to allow for that. I'm happy with the copyright rationale for the lede image, though less confident on the invitation— this would be scrutinised further if you take the article to FA. Joko2468 (talk) 15:29, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

Minor neutrality concern

I appreciate this is what the source says but I'm concerned about stating in Wikivoice that Franco's forces were "fascist", at Francoist Spain#Fascism and authoritarianism this is a matter of dispute— could we change it to "Nationalist forces"? I'm happy with the rest of it. Joko2468 (talk) 15:29, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

Alright, I've changed it to "Nationalist forces". — EarthDude (Talk) 16:25, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

Randomised spot check of citations

21, 23, 31, 11, 17

• 21: just page 67 is sufficient for this
• 11: would you be able to quote the source for these two citations?

Joko2468 (talk) 15:29, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

I've changed the page for 21. For 11, p. 37 states, Hedgewar in 1931 condemned the RSS General Secretary, G. M. Huddar, for participating in an armed robbery, even though the money was intended to fund anti-British activities. Huddar drifted away from the RSS after his release from prison. — EarthDude (Talk) 16:30, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

Great thank you, well deserved pass. Joko2468 (talk) 16:32, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

Checklist

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose, spelling, grammar, and understandability): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable, as shown by a source spot-check.

   a (reference section): b (inline citations to reliable sources): c (OR): d (copyvio and plagiarism):

3. It is broad in its coverage.

   a (major aspects): b (focused):

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars, etc.:

6. It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free content have non-free use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail:

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. Track your hook after promotion. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by RandomEditsForWhenIRemember (talk) 19:04, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

(

• Comment or view
• Article history

)

Gopal Mukund Huddar

• ... that Indian anti-colonial activist and anti-fascist soldier Gopal Mukund Huddar (pictured) engaged in palm reading with his fellow inmates, while imprisoned in a Francoist concentration camp?

• Source: Kasturi: He also picked up a reputation as a palm reader. In Prisoners of the Good Fight, Carl Geiser, an American cellmate of Huddar's, described how the Indian inmate had studied his hand and correctly guessed he had one brother and four sisters.

• • ALT1: ... that Indian volunteer Gopal Mukund Huddar (pictured) fought in the Spanish Civil War under the nom de guerre "John Smith Irakian" to distinguish himself from other John Smiths in his battalion? Source: Ortiz, p. 452: To distinguish himself from other John Smiths in the battalion, Huddar went by the name John Smith Irakian, despite never having been to Iraq.
  • Reviewed:
  • Comment: This is my first DYK nomination, so I'm happy to take any suggestions or notes here.

Improved to Good Article status by EarthDude (talk). Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has fewer than 5 past nominations.

— EarthDude (Talk) 20:55, 13 May 2026 (UTC).

• I will review this DYK nomination, within the next day or two. Marshelec (talk) 01:42, 19 May 2026 (UTC)
• Newness - the article was promoted to GA within 7 days of the date of DYK nomination
• Presentable, well-sourced, neutral, BLP-compliant, and copyvio-free - the article meets all of these requirements
• For the first hook, the DYK guidelines require that "The hook fact should be cited in the article, no later than the end of the sentence it appears in." This needs to be done.
• For ALT1, I was initially confused when I did not find the hook fact in the main body of the article and had to read down to the Explanatory notes to find the hook fact. This is not ideal. I suggest either (a) moving the Explanatory note that includes the hook fact into the body of the article, and adding the source citation at the end of the sentence, or (b) changing the hook to "... fought in the Spanish Civil War under the nom de guerre "John Smith" and changing the cited source if required, so that the reader can find the hook fact in the body of the article.
• QPQ is not required because it is the first nomination

• I will put the review on hold pending a response._Marshelec (talk) 05:41, 19 May 2026 (UTC)

• Thanks! I've made the changes in the article. — EarthDude (Talk) 12:22, 20 May 2026 (UTC)

• images and captions are OK
• Both hooks are now cited in the article at the end of the relevant sentence. The hooks are short enough and interesting. No other issues.

I prefer the main hook. This is now good to go._Marshelec (talk) 21:37, 20 May 2026 (UTC)

Peer review

Gopal Mukund Huddar

This article is about an Indian anti-colonial activist and anti-fascist soldier; though quite a fascinating figure, he's largely been forgotten by the mainstream and the available reliable sources I could find have not allowed me to piece together his full story. Nevertheless, it is currently a good article. I am requesting editor input here for suggestions on improvements, as I seek to eventually nominate it for featured article status.

Thanks, — EarthDude (Talk) 11:47, 23 July 2026 (UTC)

• @EarthDude: It has been over a month since this has been opened. Are you still interested in receiving feedback? Z1720 (talk) 01:51, 27 August 2026 (UTC)

  Yes, I'm still open to feedback on this. — EarthDude (Talk) 13:56, 27 August 2026 (UTC)

Prezbo

Sounds like an interesting figure!

• Intro could be expanded

  I've tried to expand the lead but since this is the first article I'm trying to get to FA status to and the subject is a pretty obscure figure, I'm not fully sure what the ideal lead length should be here. Hopefully, the new version of the lead is better but I'm open to more suggestions on this. — EarthDude (Talk) 18:09, 12 September 2026 (UTC)

• What was his college major? When did he get married?
• Imho it's better for the sake of telling a chronological narrative to have "early life" and "personal life" as separate sections but afaik this isn't a Manual of Style requirement, just my opinion.

  I've shifted some of it to a new "Death and legacy" section. — EarthDude (Talk) 18:09, 12 September 2026 (UTC)

• "My words fell on deaf ears and all my efforts to woo the Sarsanghchalak came to a naught." -- is this a typo?

  Yes. The "a" in "came to a naught" is grammatically inaccurate. Since it was part of the original quote, I've added a sic tag to it. — EarthDude (Talk) 18:09, 12 September 2026 (UTC)

• I would be interested in learning more about his relationship with Bose. It seems like he was immediately able to ascend to a high level in Congress/left wing circles on his return to India, that might be worth a little more explanation.
• What did he do between his departure from the Communist Party and his death? I would be interested in learning more about his spiritual beliefs/activities.
• What's his legacy in India? Would the average present day Indian communist know who he was?
• In general there's probably room for expansion though maybe this is all you can do with the existing sources.

Thanks for your work on this article.Prezbo (talk) 11:56, 7 September 2026 (UTC)

@Prezbo I'm sorry for the late reply. I've added some details on his spiritual thought and some information on how he has been largely forgotten from some sources that were present in the article. I couldn't find any other reliable sourcing on him, either on Google News or in any major journals and scholarly repositories. The amount of information in the article currently seems to be about as much there is about him in reliable sources. — EarthDude (Talk) 18:14, 12 September 2026 (UTC)

RoySmith

Regarding the question about lead length, the standard advice is at MOS:LEADLENGTH. My personal advice is that the lead should summarize the most important information in the article and it should be as long as it takes to do that well. One good rule of thumb is one or two sentences from each major section. Don't obsess over any particular word count. I think what you've got now is pretty good, but I'd probably add a mention of his lectures on on materialism and move towards spiritualism. I might also mention that his political views evolved from para-military/far-right to communism over his lifetime. I'd certainly also add a mention of his robbery conviction and incarceration.

• Following his return to India, his shift towards communism and his repeated calls for the RSS to engage in the Indian independence movement, the leadership of the organisation, particularly its sarsanghchalak (transl. Chief) K. B. Hedgewar, increasingly estranged themselves from him. That's rather a long and complicated sentence. I'd split it up somehow.

  Done. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• He graduated from Morris College in 1924 I'd also mention the school's modern name.

  Done. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• Huddar's wife was named Manorama.[4] Do we know the date of the marriage? What is Manorama's full name? Did they have any children?

  I haven't found any source which gives much information about her, and only one which even names her, that being this article from The Wire (India), which gives an image of Huddar with his wife, with the caption, "Gopal Mukund Huddar and his wife, Manorama. Photo: Shailendra Vaidya". This is about as much information I saw of her in all the reliable sources I've read on Huddar. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• Huddar was one of the 26 individuals involved in choosing its name.[6] You've already told us that he was a founding member. I would assume all the founding members had some say in the name?

  Well, we don't know if all founding members also had a say in naming the organisation. The RSS functions like a secret society and has always been pretty closed when it comes to internal matters. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• Huddar was known for delivering speeches which "awoke enthusiasm and delight in the listener". Quotations containing opinions should be attributed in-line per MOS:QUOTEPOV.

  Done. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• He was released on 1 November 1935.[5] I'm assuming he was released before his full sentence was completed?

  I guess you could say that, given the fact he conducted the robbery in 1931 and was sentenced for five years, meaning he should have been released in 1936, but he was released in 1935. Though no source I found specified a date for the robbery and the given date of his release is the only thing we have. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• In September 1936, encouraged and financially supported by his friends, he travelled to London This may just be my personal style, but the first time I mention somebody in a new section, I prefer to identify them by name. After that, you can use pronouns for the rest of the section.

  Alright, I've added his name to the sentence. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• the latter were particularly influential to Huddar I think "influential for Huddar" works better. Or maybe, "Huddar found the latter particularly influential"

  Done. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• To distinguish himself from other soldiers also named John Smith. Reminds me of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCjGhxIoTwY

  Hahaha. John Smith really is such a common name. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• Huddar, alongside other Brigade members involved in the battle No need to say that the others were "involved in the battle"; that should be obvious from the fact that they were alongside John Smith.

  Done. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• The events in the "Relationship with the RSS" section happened beore those of the section before it. Why not put this all in chronological order?

  Done. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• Arriving in Bombay, Bombay Province. You can leave off the 'Bombay Province'. But I would add that this is modern-day Mumbai.

  Done. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• By then, Huddar was, as Jha states, "no longer blind to the motivations that fuelled the RSS or naïve about the mechanisms by which it sought to achieve its objectives." I can't tell without the source, but I suspect you want the period outside of the closing quote. See WP:LQ for the details of the rule.

  In the source, the sentence ends at "objectives", so it's in line with MS:LQ. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• my efforts to woo the Sarsanghchalak came to a [sic] naught You might want to just silently correct the quote without the [sic]. See MOS:SIC for guidance.

  Done. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• he developed associations with figures such as A. B. Bardhan. You should introduce Bardhan as (for example) "Secretary General A. B. Bardhan".

  Bardhan was a student at the time who only joined the party in 1940. He became the general secretary in the 90s. I added a line on him becoming a general secretary in the future though. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• Following his departure from the party in 1952,[11][4] I would turn this around: "He departed the party in 1952, after which he ..."

  Done. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• Instead of {{Use British English}}, you might prefer {{Use Indian English}}, although I am not sure how they actually differ.

  I chose to use the British English template since most reliable sources document Huddar during the first half of his life, when India was under British rule. As such, I thought the British English template would be more appropriate. As for differences between the two, there's no spelling variation but there are some style variations, stemming from Indian languages influencing Indian English (for instance, Indian students "give an exam" rather than "take an exam", which is pretty generalized still and there's also variations in Indian English based on different regions of India). — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

• According to scholar Govind Purushottam Deshpande That's how I would write it, but I believe in British usage, you want "the scholar ..."

  Done. — EarthDude (Talk) 23:57, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

That's it for me. Overall, this looks pretty good. Once you've worked through this batch of suggestions, I think it's ready to bring to WP:FAC. RoySmith (talk) 22:53, 14 September 2026 (UTC)

@RoySmith I've expanded the lead to incorporate major aspects of his life that were previously missing from it, as you suggested. — EarthDude (Talk) 00:50, 16 September 2026 (UTC)