[2][17][18] Founded in 1915 by Madan Mohan Malviya, the Mahasabha functioned mainly as a pressure group advocating the interests of Orthodox Hindus before the British Raj from within the Indian National Congress.

[20] Local forerunners of the Hindu Mahasabha emerged in connection with the disputes after the partition of Bengal in 1905 in British India.

[23] The Sabha stated that it was not a sectarian organisation, but an "all-embracing movement" that aimed to safeguard the interests of "the entire Hindu community".

[25] A formal move to establish an umbrella All-India Hindu Sabha was made at the Allahabad session of Congress in 1910.

Under Malaviya, the Mahasabha campaigned for Hindu political unity, for the education and economic development of Hindus as well as for the conversion of Muslims to Hinduism.

[30] Under Savarkar's leadership, the party organised Hindu Militarization Boards which recruited for the British Indian armed forces in World War 2.

However, in 1939, the Congress ministries resigned in protest against Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's action of declaring India to be a belligerent in the Second World War without consulting the Indian people.

This led to the Hindu Mahasabha joining hands with the Muslim League and other parties to form governments, in certain provinces.

In Sindh, Hindu Mahasabha members joined Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah's Muslim League government.

[36] In the North West Frontier Province, Hindu Mahasabha members joined hands with Sardar Aurang Zeb Khan of the Muslim League to form a government in 1943.

[37][38] In Bengal, Hindu Mahasabha joined the Krishak Praja Party led Progressive Coalition ministry of Fazlul Haq in December 1941.

[30] Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the president of the Hindu Mahasabha at that time, even went to the extent of writing a letter titled "Stick to your Posts", in which he instructed Hindu Sabhaites who happened to be "members of municipalities, local bodies, legislatures or those serving in the army...to stick to their posts" across the country, and not to join the Quit India Movement at any cost.

Following the Hindu Mahasabha's official decision to boycott the Quit India movement,[30] Syama Prasad Mukherjee, leader of the Hindu Mahasabha in Bengal (which was a part of the ruling coalition in Bengal led by Krishak Praja Party of Fazlul Haq), wrote a letter to the British Government as to how they should respond, if the Congress gave a call to the British rulers to Quit India.

In this letter, dated July 26, 1942, he wrote: Let me now refer to the situation that may be created in the province as a result of any widespread movement launched by the Congress.

Anybody, who during the war, plans to stir up mass feeling, resulting in internal disturbances or insecurity, must be resisted by any Government that may function for the time being.

Majumdar noted this fact and states: Syama Prasad ended the letter with a discussion of the mass movement organised by the Congress.

[49] In 2014, following the Bharatiya Janata Party's rise to power, the Hindu Mahasabha continued attempts to rehabilitate and portray him as a patriot.

To rein in this, Union will have to impose emergency, and Muslims and Christians will have to be forced to undergo sterilization so that they can't increase their numbers".

[55][56] In April 2015, the general secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha Munna Kumar Shukla claimed that it is not illegal to attack a church and it does not violate any law.

Shukla also promised the Mahasabha would give protection and awards to those who marry Muslim girls and attack churches.