A Tribute to Guruji
– Madhu Deolekar, ex -MLC
Prof. M. S. Golwalkar the second Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was a professor at the Banaras Hindu University and was popular among the students as Guruji. He was born in Nagpur on 19 February 1906 and died on 5 June 1973. He became the RSS Sarsanghchalak in the year 1940, when the RSS was just a sapling. When he passed away it had already grown into a mighty banyan tree with its branches spread in the nook and corner of our great country.
The RSS was formed in the year 1925 by Dr. K. B. Hedgewar, who was a revolutionary and the follower of Lokmanya Tilak in the Congress. He had participated in various Satyagrahas sponsored by Mahatma Gandhi. Dr. Hedgewar picked up Prof. Golwalkar from the campus of BHU. Golwalkar was of a spiritual bent of mind and had taken Diksha for being a Sanyasi in the order of Ramakrishna Mission. However, Dr. Hedgewar persuaded Golwalkar to take up the nation building work of the RSS rather than being a Sanyasi.
Guruji became the Chief of RSS after the death of Dr. Hedgewar in the year 1940 when he was 33 years old. He was a scholar, well-read person and a powerful orator in Hindi and English besides his mother tongue Marathi. Golwalkar dedicated himself to the RSS work. His goal was to transform this ancient society into a vibrant, integrated, harmonious, disciplined and forward looking entity committed to eternal values ingrained in our national psyche.
Guruji spearheaded a silent revolution to lift the Hindu samaj from an abyss of disunity, despair and degradation. In order to organize the Hindu youths and awaken Hindu samaj from the torpor of slavery, sloth and disunity, Guruji undertook hectic travels from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Kutch to Kamrup, addressing thousands of public gatherings. His orations awakened the patriotic fervor among Hindus and stirred up spirit of national service, adventure and sacrifice among youths. Hearing the clarion call of the great master for the emancipation of the motherland from the clutches of firangis and to take “(our) nation to the pinnacle of glory once again”. Hundreds of thousands of youths left the comforts of their hearths and homes to be Pracharaks and dedicated their lives to fulfill the mission of national resurgence. In the wake of freedom the RSS rendered a great humanitarian service to rescue and relocate lacs of men, women and children uprooted by Partition.
Detractors of the RSS have tried to create great confusion in the minds of people, especially the minorities about the concept of Hindu Rashtra propounded by Guruji. He had never used the word Hindu to mean Hindu Religion. For him Hindu means people who live in Hindustan irrespective of their way of worship.
Elaborating his concept of Hindu Rashtra Guruji said, “Our concept of Hindu Rashtra is not a mere bundle of political and economic rights. It is essentially cultural. Our ancient and sublime cultural values of life form its life breath. And it is only an intense rejuvenation of the spirit of our culture that can give us the true vision of our national life and a fruitful direction to all our efforts in solving the innumerable problems confronting our nation today.”
In order to strengthen his efforts to bring about cohesion among various disparate sections of Hindus, Guruji created various organizations like
(1) Bharatiya Jana Sangh (2) Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, (3) Vishwa Hindu Parishad (4) Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and (5) Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. These organizations were led by eminent Sangh Pracharaks with the exception of Jana Sangh founder, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee.
When Dr Mookerjee approached Guruji for setting up a political party, Guruji told him that he was an apolitical person and had no interest in party politics. However, on Dr Mookerjee’ s pleading for support, Guruji agreed to give him some trusted Pracharaks for the party’s work with a rider that Sangh, being a non-political organization, would like to keep away from political parties. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, ably led by Dattopant Thengadi, created niche in the labour movement of the country dominated by the leftist. The BMS became number one labour organization in the country, extending the RSS hegemony in the area hitherto dominated by the communists (AITUC) and the Congress (INTUC).
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, led by Ashok Singhal and various sadhus and saints became a real amalgam of Hindus from India and abroad belonging to various castes, sub-castes, panths, uppanths, Jains, Buddhists, Vanvasis and dalits.
Manjari Katju, in her book Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Indian Politics, narrating the development of VHP writes: “The main role in the formation of the VHP was played by the RSS, especially by its Sarsanghachalak, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (1906-1973), who led the RSS from 1940 to 1973.
Golwalkar’s austere lifestyle and his attempt to keep the RSS and the VHP at a low profile partially explain the latter’s negligible political activism in its early years. He was able to draw a number of religious leaders towards the VHP on an appeal that the sadhus and saints should work for the unity of Hindu society.
Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, yet another organization set up by the Sangh to bring the Vanvasis and the Girijan in the mainstream. The Ashram was founded by Balasaheb Deshpande in 1952. The Shabri Kumbh in the Dangs, Gujarat, where nearly 5 lakh Vanvasis, janjatis, girijans participated, was the culmination of the movement to assimilate Vanvasis, Girijans and Janjatis in the mainstream Hindu samaj. The excellent showing of the BJP in the recent elections is the result of silent missionary work of the RSS cadre.
In an interview with a veteran Muslim journalist Saifuddin Jeelani at Calcutta, Guruji said that, “The answer to the so-called problem of ‘religious minorities’ can be found only in the historically correct, rational and positive approach of Hindu Rashtra. Otherwise, the so-called minorities are bound to become more and more hardened in their separate shells of religion and turn into a dreadful source of disruption of our body-politic.”
He added, “all that is expected of our Muslim and Christian co-citizens is the shedding of the notions of their being ‘religious minorities and merging themselves in the common national stream of this soil. As far as the national tradition of this land is concerned, it never considers that with a change in the method of worship, an individual ceases to be the son of the soil and should be treated as an alien.”
Guruji said that, in this land there can be no objection to God being called by any name whatever. Ingrained in this soil is love and respect for all faiths and religious beliefs. He cannot be a son of this soil at all who is intolerant of other faiths. ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, whole world is a family and ‘Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti’, the truth is one, wise call it by different names are our cardinal values.
Though Jawaharlal Nehru had put a ban on the RSS after the unfortunate assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, he showed sagacity to invite uniformed RSS cadres to take part in the Republic Day Parade. Lal Bahudar Shastri also had specially invited Guruji for consultation in the wake of Indo-Pak war in 1965.
The RSS from its very inception has faced vicious criticism from its detractors. It has been falsely accused of inciting violence and hatred against the minorities. It was banned twice by the Congress Government and treated as an outcast in the political sphere by the pseudo-secularist and the Congressmen. When diehard opponents of the RSS heard of Narendra Modi’s victory in the recent Lok Sabha elections, many eyebrows were raised. In an election speech Rahul Gandhi even declared that if Mody wins 22,000 people will be killed the next day. No other organization in the country, not even that which brought about India’s partition or those like Communists and Naxalites, who openly advocate class struggle, violence, hatred and rebellion, are ever hounded by such vehement criticism. With the catapulting of RSS Pracharak Narendra Mody, as the Prime Minister of the country, the RSS has covered itself with glory.
(The writer is an RSS Swayamsevak and exMLC) * * *
4 June 2014
Madhu Deolekar 201 Shivraj Classic, 12th Road, Khar (W.), Mumbai 400 052.
Tel: 2646 5656, E-mail: mydeolekar@yahoo.com
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