मेरा आजीवन कारावास / माझी जन्मठेप (स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकर - काले पानी का ऐतिहासिक संस्मरण)

CHAPTER II
The "Shuddhi" movement in the Andamans
I was sent to the Andamans in 1911, and I soon found out that some Hindu
prisoners had been converted to Islam and assumed Muslim names after their transporta-
tion to the Andamans. And when I traced the genesis of this change, I found that the
Hindus in that place never found it worth while to think of, and took it as a matter of
course. What was there in it, they felt, that one should look into its origin or trace it to its
cause? The Andamans were in fact under the supreme authority of the British people, and
if at all Hindus were to be converted under that rule to any faith, that faith was
Christianity and not Islam. Till 1857, both in prisons and in the armies, the ruling
authorities had encouraged the spread of Christianity. But after the terrible catastrophe of
that war of Independence,. the British authorities seldom interfered with religion and did
not encourage conversion. However, even today the Christian missionaries try to convert
the so-called criminal tribes in India to their own faith. At least, they exert considerable
influence over their lives and social habits. But I dare say, with all my knowledge and
experience about it, that prisons are never utilised by the authorities to convert Hindu
prisoners into Christians by propaganda or by any other similar influence. Sometime a
Christian missionary comes there to offer a prayer. But none of the prisoners are
compelled to attend that prayer. With very rare exceptions, no concealed or open effort,
either official or non-official, is made throughout the Andamans to convert Hindus to
Christianity. And no officer was found to use his influence in that direction. The
exception was brought home to me in a strange manner. And I shall mention it in its due
place. But I can bear out, by my fourteen years' experience, the fact that not even four
examples can be quoted of forcible conversion of Hindus by Christian missionaries of
that place. Nor was any temptation or bribe used by them for that purpose, How strange is
it, then, that under such a power and in the prison and the islands under its suzerainty, the
Pathan and other Mussulman warders, petty officers and jamadars of that prison could
convert the Hindu prisoners to Islam, by methods of conversion and coercion. Leave
alone the prisoners who knew by their age what they were doing. But what of lads of
tender age who were so forcibly converted to Islam by their Muslim warders? Is it not the
duty of the British officers to care for their spiritual welfare as it is their care to look after
their physical and moral well-being? Is it not, at least, their charge to guard them from
such conversion till they come of age? It is as sacred as to protect the property of a minor
from spoliation and misuse. But in the prison of the Andamans, this is a duty totally
neglected by its officers. And I go further and say that in all the prisons of India such
conversion to Islam is going on systematically under the very nose of the jailors
themselves. And it is the Mussulman warder, jamadar and petty officer who are doing it
without let or hindrance. Fourteen years of prison experience made me assert, without
fear and favour, that prison-mosque converts in one year more Hindus to Islam than the
Jumma Masjid of Delhi or Bombay is found to do it. The organised efforts of Hassan
Nizami to catch Hindus in the net of Islam are not so dangerous as the insidious and
wicked way of conversion practised in this jail-masjid of India and the Andamans.