Author: V Sundaram
Publication: News Today
Date: January 10, 2006
URL: http://newstodaynet.com/16jan/ss1.htm
After nearly 18 long months of illegal incarceration
with out any charge, Shri Guruji was released unconditionally from Betul Jail
on 13 July, 1949. When he arrived at the Nagpur Railway Station at noon, more
than 30,000 people gave him a tumultuous welcome. Thousands of people shed
tears as they saw Guruji's father garlanding his own son who had come out
successfully out of the fiery ordeal. Four days later, Shri Guruji went to
Madras to thank T R Venkatrama Shadtri personally for having taken the trouble
to draft a Constitution for the RSS, for having taken the initiative to meet
Patel and Nehru and strongly advice them to lift the ban on the RSS and to
release Shri Guruji from prison and finally for issuing a very strong statement
against the Government of India for having acted in such a dictatorial manner
in the first few months of independent India, which he thought was a cruel
mockery of freedom.
After several months of orchestrated fraud,
untruth and falsehood enacted with the full might of the State, the government
itself came out candidly with the truth in the Bombay Legislative Assembly
on 14 October,1949. In replies to questions raised by Lallubai Patel from
Surat, the Minister for Home and Revenue, Government of Bombay, said:
a) That the lifting of ban on RSS was unconditional.
b) Its leader Golwalkar had given no undertaking
to the government.
Thus it can be seen that the Congress cowards
in New Delhi smartly transferred the dirty responsibility of making the above
truthful but very unsavoury statements from their point of view, to the Congress
Government of Bombay. It became clear to all concerned, the whole of India
and the wider world outside that the Government of India had tried to arm-twist
Shri Guruji and to crush the RSS. The real eye-opening fact was that not even
a single Swayamsevak of the Sangh was charge-sheeted or prosecuted anywhere
in the country on any of the politically and baselessly trumpeted charges
against the Sangh, including the charge of 'assassination of Mahatma Gandhi'.
The whole dishonesty of the Government of India right from the start can be
seen from a letter sent by Sardar Patel to Pandit Nehru on 27 February, 1948,
less than a month after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination on 30 January, 1948:
'I have kept myself almost in daily touch with the progress of the investigations
regarding Bapu's assassination case. All the main accused have given long
and detailed statements of their activities. It also clearly emerges from
the statements that the RSS was not involved in it at all'. Even after sending
this letter, Government of India, which meant Nehru and Patel did not have
the grace to release Shri Guruji till August 1948.
As Shri Guruji had been out of touch with
the Swayamsevaks all over India from 1 February, 1948 till July 12, 1949 when
the ban on the RSS was removed, it became very much necessary for Shri Guruji
to undertake a nation-wide tour. Shri Guruji's 'All Bharath Tour ' began in
August 1949 and lasted till January 1950. Wherever he went, he received spontaneous
and tremendous ovations. The overwhelming public response to the function
at Delhi on 23 August, 1949 attracted world-wide attention. The BBC reported
on the radio: 'Shri Guruji is a shining star that has arisen on the Indian
firmament. The only other Indian who can draw such huge crowds is Pandit Nehru'.
The Indian Press too flashed the highlights of this function. History may
have but few examples of lakhs and lakhs of people giving a leader without
any Governmental authority, such a rousing reception wherever he went. Shri
Guruji rose to Himalayan heights of magnanimity, forbearance and statesmanship
by giving this message at all his public meetings: 'Let us close this chapter
of the ban on the Sangh. Do not let your minds be overcome with bitterness
for those who, you feel, have done injustice to you. If the teeth were to
bite the tongue do we pull out the teeth? Even those who have done injustice
to us are our own people. So we must forget and forgive'. This was Guruji's
Sanatana Dharma in action in answer to Nehru and Patel's low-level politics
marked by hatred, jealousy, prejudice and arrogance of unbridled power.
The post-independence era has witnessed many
a campaign launched by the SwayamSevaks for upholding and refurbishing aspects
of national faith and veneration in various spheres of life. Dr Hedgewar's
views of the future set-up of Bharath after the attainment of freedom was
in tune with the essence of our national ethos. The jottings that he put down
on the day the Congress adopted 'Complete Independence' as its goal in 1930
are clear and emphatic: 'The Hindu culture is the life-breath of Hindustan.
It is therefore clear that if Hindustan is to be protected, we should first
nourish the Hindu culture. If the Hindu culture perishes in Hindustan itself,
and if the Hindu society ceases to exist, it will hardly be appropriate to
refer to the mere geographical entity that remains as Hindustan. Mere geographical
lumps do not make a nation. The Sangh will cooperate with the Congress in
the efforts to secure freedom, so long as these efforts do not come in the
way of preserving our nation's culture'.
Shri Guruji in his penetrating and perceptive
analysis of the directions in which the post-independence Bharath was being
led by her Congress and other rulers said: 'Today we find everywhere attempts
to recast our life pattern in the mould of an American, English or Russian
way of life. How can we call it swantatra (freedom) which has no 'Swa' (our
national genius) in it? Then it is only para-tantra. If Lenin is kept as the
ideal, it becomes Lenin-tantra and Swatantra. In fact preservation and propagation
of our national life values ie our Sanatana Dharma and Samskriti, have always
been held in our historical traditions as the raison d'etre of Swatantra'.
Taking these as our firm guidelines, the Swayamsevaks
have been trying to manifest the nation's pristine genius in diverse fields
of national endeavour for the last 58 years of our independence. They have
always kept before them the following message of Dr Hedgewar and Shri Guruji:
'Wherever and in whatever position you are, do not forget that you are a Swayamsevak.
Always and everywhere consider yourself as a Sangh Pracharak devoted to carrying
the message of Sangh'.
On 2 August, 1954, 100 Sangh Swayamsevaks
stormed the Portuguese enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The attack was
led by Vinyak Rao Apte, Pune Sanghchalak. They attacked the main police headquarters
at Selvassa and forced the 175 soldiers there to surrender unconditionally.
The national tri-colour flag was hoisted and the region handed over to the
Central Government on the same day. Like-wise the first to unfurl the national
flag over the Panaji Secretariat in Goa in 1955 was a Swayamsevak working
as a teacher in Goa. He was put in prison in a Lisbon jail for full 17 years
till 1972 well after Goa was liberated in 1961. I cannot help surmising that
Government of India was not interested in his earlier release only because
he was a Swayamsevak!
Shri Guruji was the first public leader to
give out the news of illegal occupation by Chinese Government of large chunks
of our strategic Himalayan borders in 1960. In 1960 when Pandit Nehru and
Chou-En-lai were jointly touring our country singing the lullaby of 'Hindi-Cheeni-Bhai-Bhai',
Shri Guruji's was the lone voice laying bare the dragon's teeth hidden behind
that enchanting slogan. Nehru had romantic love for Chou-En-lai and ignored
the timely warning of Shri Guruji.
When Pakistan attacked Bharath in 1965, Lal
Bahdur Shastri, the then Prime Minister, personally rang up Shri Guruji who
was then touring Maharashtra and requested him to be in New Delhi for the
All Leaders Conference the following day. Shri Guruji placed the entire RSS
at the disposal of the Government of India to fight the invaders and to safeguard
the integrity of our motherland. In Delhi, for the entire period of 22 days
of war, police duties like traffic control and patrolling were transferred
to Swayamsevaks to free the police for more pressing tasks. Right from the
beginning of the war, everyday hundreds of Swayamsevaks daily reported at
the General Military Hospital, Delhi to offer blood. The military looked upon
the Sangh as a friend in need. Likewise during the BanglaDesh War in 1971,
the Swayamsevaks of the Sangh played a vital role in assisting the Government
of India in their war efforts against Pakistan.
During the Emergency in 1975-77 imposed by
Indira Gandhi, like a dictator in the line of Hitler and Mussolini, our country
was plunged in dark internal slavery and every single cherished value of free
and democratic life was smothered. Indira Gandhi repeated the mistake of Nehru
and Patel and imposed a ban on the RSS. In those dark days, the Swayamsevaks
rose as one man in the cause of the people. Winston Churchill's heroic words
can be applied to the Swayamsevaks and the RSS: 'Let us therefore brace ourselves
to our duties and so bear ourselves that if Bharath Matha and Sanatana Dharma
last for a thousand years, men will still say this was their finest hour'.
Shri Guruji had a clear vision of the ideal
conditions in every sphere of national life. Bharath could never be strong
to fulfill its destiny unless every aspect of the nation's life was informed
with the pure and inspiring ideology of the Sangh. Shri Guruji pioneered the
creation of many fields of such constructive activity. Through his tremendous
drive and initiative, he created several powerful nation-wide organisations
like Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi
Parishad, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram and the Shishu Mandir
educational institutions. To the political field Shri Guruji gave two priceless
jewels like Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.
On 5 June, 1973 Shri Guruji passed away peacefully
in Nagpur after a lifetime of ceaseless activity for the advancement of Sanatana
Dharma, the glory of Bharath Mata and victory of Bharath without losing sight
of the ultimate ideal of achieving Akhand Bharath. Like Swami Vivekananda,
he embodied the spirit of India. In my view he was amongst the greatest of
our nationalists. The best tribute to him was paid by R K Karanjia of 'Blitz'
of Bombay: 'He had no axe to grind, and in the pursuit of his ideals languor
was not in his heart, weakness was not in his word, weariness was not on his
brow. It would be good if other political leaders emulate his example of dedicated
life and win the respect and confidence of his followers'.
(Concluded)
(The writer is a retired IAS officer - vsundaram@newstodaynet.com)
