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April 10, 2026
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"Than Shwe can be very charming and friendly when he wants to be. He speaks English quite well and they try to be hospitable when you are there; but they don't like intrusiveness. They don't like you asking about things that they consider to be their internal affairs."
"In Burma, Than Shwe heads a military dictatorship that has been in power since 1962. His regime stands out from those of other dictatorships for its use of forced labor in support of both infrastructure projects and for military actions that the Burmese government is taking against ethnic minorities. Than Shwe is the commander-in-chief of an army that is different from the armies of most nations in that it exists as a nation within a nation. The Burmese military, known as the Tatmadaw, runs its own health care system, its own educational system, its own businesses and firms, and its own banks. It is no longer possible to rise in Burmese society without being a senior member of the military."
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.