Mission & Vision

ANTIDOTE TO SELF-OBLIVION

The idea of founding the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was conceived at a time when self-oblivion had overtaken the society. The struggle for potilical independence occupied the minds of people; this was but natural. However, what was askew was the tacit assumption that the advent of freedom would automatically usher in a revival of genuine nationalist values which had perforce receded during foreign rule. Looking to the West as the pinnacle of civilization, irrationally perpetuating the Britishers' self- serving theories of the 'White Man's burden'; that the Hindus were 'a nation-in-the-making', that the Hindus had achieved nothing of significance in the past, that Westernisation was the only hope for 'the dying race' that were the Hindus; unquestioning acceptance of myths floated by Westerners even in the name of history (e.g., that the Aryans came from outside), that life in Bharat was and had always been at a near-primitive state; - acceptance of such numerous myths had virtually become mandatory for anyone with the slightest pretensions to education or intellectuality.
That this breed still claims adherents even four and a half decades after Independence bespeaks the intensity of the overarching colonial legacy.
All the father-figures of national renaissance from Swami Vivekananda to Lokmanya Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi had laid great stress on the fact that releasing the society from such mental thraldom was as necessary as throwing out the imperialist rulers.
While efforts to hasten political independence were being pursued in 'various forms, there were few or no sustained efforts for restoration of the Hindu psyche to its pristine form. Indeed, it is the latter which should constitute the content or core of freedom.
Such was the backdrop for envisioning a country-wide movement such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Is it not the lack of social cohesion which enabled a handful of traders and shop-keepers (who were no match to us either in intellectual brilliance or physical prowess) to establish their empire here? It was the native chieftains who facilitated the repeated destruction of the sacred Somnath shrine. Wasn't it Raja Mansingh who, by becoming a kingpin of Akbar's regime, betrayed the interests of the Hindus?
As if testifying to the sagacity of the proverb The more things change, the more they remain the same' - considerable sections of the so-called academia and the elite even today display a singular lack of national consciousness even after witnessing such horrendous insult to nationhood as partition of the country.
The fact that such a breed continues to exist even after so much historical and recent experience provides the strongest reason det're for intense and continuous propagation of the ideal of nationalism and the recognition of the Hindu national identity as a fundamental fact transcending corroboration and discussion. Any compromise in this regard is bound to cause peril to hard earned freedom; and without freedom there will be no prospect of progress for all either.
Equally, it is a fact of history that national consciousness should not merely remain an idea or concept, but should be reflected in every single activity of life.
A burning devotion to the Motherland, a feeling of fraternity among all citizens, intense awareness of a common national life derived from a common culture and shared history and heritage - these, in brief, may be said to constitute the life-springs of a nation.
It is these sentiments which have to be instilled in each child. Obviously, this task is beyond the capabilities of political institutions. This is basically a social task.
The mechanism Dr. Hedgewar evolved for fulfilment of this all-important task is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Dr. Hedgewar not only had the foresight to anticipate this need, but also the skills of organisation needed to give a concrete shape to that concept.

SANGH : A DYNAMIC POWER-HOUSE

Great oaks from little acorns grow. What started as a tiny stream in an obscure corner of Nagpur in Maharashtra 68 years ago has now swollen into a mighty river engulfing the remotest villages of the country. That the number of Sangh Shakhas has crossed 25,000 is one indicator of the expanding reach of the Sangh.

It redounds to the foresight of Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar (1889 - 1940) that he anticipated the need for strengthening the foundations of the Hindu society and for preparing it for challenges on social, economic, cultural, religious, philosophical and political planes. A galaxy of savants such as Dayananda and Vivekananda, Aurobindo and Tilak, had sown the seeds of the most recent phase of national renaissance. What was needed was a sufficiently strong instrumentality for carrying that process onward.

This instrumentality was created and bequeathed to the nation by Dr. Hedgewar in the form of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which he, after years of deliberate and patient preparation, founded at Nagpur on 27th Septem- ber, Vijayadashami Day of 1925.
One of the hazards of organisation-building is allowing one's vision to be clouded with immediate concerns, resulting in dilution of perception of the ultimate goal. Dr. Hedgewar's especial strength was that he never allowed demands of the immediate present to veer him away from the ultimate mission he set to himself.
Keeping aflame the spirit of freedom and endeavouring simul- taneously to strengthen the cultural roots of the nation marked the twin features of the character of the Sangh from the beginning; and that has to this day remained its main plank. Every passing day has confirmed the validity of this basic philosophy. Erosion of the nation's integrity in the name of secularism, economic and moral bankruptcy, incessant conversions from the Hindu fold through money-power, ever-increasing trends of secession, thought-patterns and education dissonant with the native character of the people, and State-sponsored denigration of anything that goes by the name of Hindu or Hindutwa: these pervasive tendencies provide ample proof of the soundness of the philosophical foundation of the Sangh as conceived by Dr. Hedgewar and its continued relevance for the survival and health of the Hindu society and of the nation as a whole. It is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh alone which has consistently been sounding the alarm against all these wrong tendencies in the body-politic of Bharat.
Dr. Hedgewar said often, "Even if the British leave, unless the Hindus are organised as a powerful nation, where is the guarantee that we shall be able to protect our freedom?" His words have proved to be prophetic. Conjointly with Independence, parts of Punjab, Bengal, Sindh and the frontier-areas were sundered from Bharat; and, four and a half decades after the nation's attaining freedom, Kashmir remains a thorn in the flesh.
Continuous efforts have been there to make Assam a Muslim- majority province. Likewise, no-holds-barred efforts to proselytize by Christian missions continue unabated. Even armed revolt has been engineered (e.g., in Nagaland) to carve out independent Christian provinces. Such activities receive ready support and unlimited funds from foreign countries and agencies keenly interested in destabilizing Bharat for their own ends.
Sangh's alone has been the voice of genuine patriotic concern amidst the cacophanous, politically inspired shibboleths of undefined secularism, etc.
Even at the inception, the Sangh was viewed by its founder not as a sectoral activity or movement, but as a dynamic power-house energising every field of national activity.

SANGH'S MARCH : SOME THRUST-AREAS

The Sangh has often been misrepresented by its detractors, political or ideological, as having political motives or as a paramilitary organisation. The seven-decades-long growth of the Sangh and its ever-growing influence over the society are also sometimes attempted to be evaluated in political terms. But the Sangh, it must be remembered, is for attaining the 'Saravangeena Unnati' (all-round development) of Bharat, and for this end only the swayamsevaks pledge to dedicate themselves. They do desire that the political field too needs to be cleansed and reformed, based on Hindu values and ethos, but politics is just one among the many facets of social life. As such, to cast political aspersion on Sangh is, to say the least, baseless, since the concept of all-round development encompasses the entire spectrum of life, including politics.
The Sangh has to its credit a few thousands of service projects, covering varied fields of social life. Apart from the projects, the swayam sevaks on their own are rendering service to the society, individually and collectively too, wherever needed, whatever the cause. In fact, a Sarvodaya leader, in appreciation of the service rendered by the swayamsevaks for the cyclone-hit victims of Andhra Pradesh in 1977, meaningfully said that 'RSS' stood for 'Ready for Selfless Service'. Obviously, the real purpose of the Sangh is rightly understood by the unbiased and discerning analyst only.
The thrust of all samskars in the Shakha, though it outwardly appears to be for military-like discipline, which in any case is essential for any nation-building exercise, is for imbibing the noblest qualities of head and heart. Admittedly, a swayamsevak attending a Shakha is a common man, with exposure to unhealthy and corrupt practices now rampant in the society outside the Sanghasthan. Yet, by involving himself in all the wholesome physical and intellectual programmes, both formal and informal, in the Shakha, he in course of time becomes broadminded and service-oriented, ready to serve the society. In the Shakha, because of his interaction with the other members of society, his angularities become rounded off, the tastes and the outlook get moulded for a purer plane where, in place of self-aggran- disement, the dedication for the service of the society becomes his fervent preoccupation. With these samskars rooted deep in his mind, while he considers participating in daily Shakha, a must in his routine - for that alone provides him the driving-force for all his social work - he gets real satisfaction in applying all his energies for the amelioration of social maladies.
The Shakha, in fact, is not an end in itself, but just a means to achieve the end, which in brief is social transformation. The programmes in the Shakha are so structured that while they develop a proper insight and make one aware of the deficiencies and drawbacks in the society, it also instils a sense of pride and intense love for its glorious cultural heritage and, simultaneously, awakens his commitment to work for its emancipation.
Thus, through the instrumentality of the Shakha, men are moulded, and they in turn enter varied social fields to ennoble them with Hindu fervour. Just as the pure blood flows out of the heart, to reach each and every body-cell, taking along with it oxygen and nourishment, purging it of its dross, making it function properly and then returning back to the heart to get itself once more energised, the swayamsevaks also imbibe proper samskars in the Shakha, and then propel themselves into diverse social activities.
The aim of the Sangh is to organise the entire Hindu society, and not just to have a Hindu organisation within the ambit of this society. Had it been the latter, then the Sangh too would have added one more number to the already existing thousands of creeds. Though started as an institution, the aim of the Sangh is to expand so extensively that each and every individual and traditional social institutions like family, caste, profession, educational and religious institutions etc., are all to be ultimately engulfed into its system. The goal before the Sangh is to have an organised Hindu society in which all its constituents and institutions function in harmony and co-ordination, just as in the body organs. While this is easily perceived at the conceptual level, the institutional outer form of the Sangh is also necessary for internalisation of this habit of organised living, but without making it a creed.
The swayamsevak considers the Hindu society itself as 'Janata Janardana'-god incarnate. Any service rendered to this society, accepting nothing in return, is for him the worship of his god, the 'Samajaroopee Parameshwar' (the god in the form of the society). To him, who feels intensely for the good of the society, it provides any number of opportunities of service. The abject poverty, illiteracy, caste barriers, false sense of high and low, untouchability, exploitation, lack of medical facilities, etc., are, to name just a few, the social maladies which call for immediate corrective steps. The prime concern of the swayamsevaks all over the country is now for such service activities. At the Shakha level, a strong orientation is now given for this purpose.
It is but natural that in a self-oblivious society like ours the innate oneness and the fraternal bonds are the First casualty. As such, the poor, the illiterate and the weaker sections in the society become an easy prey for exploitation and conversion to other faiths. While the unsympathetic rich try to suck the blood of the poor, the crafty intelligent exploit the gullible. So, apart from rendering positive service, the swayamsevaks consider it equally important to combat such injustices, on behalf of the weaker sections. Militancy and intolerance become good traits when they are put to use for helping the innocent and the weak in the society. The Bharateeya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram, the Grahak Panchayat, the BMS, the BKS (Bharateeya Kisan Sangh) etc., are all spearheading such movements for social justice whenever the need arises.
In a society divided on caste, class and language lines, the greatest service from a social worker to his community will be to keep intact the very social fabric. The oneness of the society being an article of faith with the swayamsevak, it becomes all the more important for him to strive for social consolidation, especially when the self-seeking politicians try to drive a wedge between diverse groups for their own selfish ends, and anti-social elements take advantage of such sensitive situations. The unifying Hindu appeal generated by Sangh has always acted as a powerful antidote to the disintegrating pulls exercised by separatist elements, in many a trying situation of conflicts born out of casteism, untouchability and sectarianism. The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, the Samajik Samarasata Manch of Maharashtra, the 'Speak Samskrif movement of Karnataka, and the like have been rendering yeoman service in this direction.
While founding the Sangh, Dr. Hedgewar - himself a freedom fighter had before him the goal not only of independence, but also of 'swatantrya' in its literal sense, i.e., the blossoming of 'swatantra' - the national identity - in every walk of our social life. As such, it has always been the supreme concern of the swayamsevaks, to uphold and seek re-assertion of the national honour wherever it is at stake.
The State of Jammu & Kashmir, with its oppressive Muslim-majority character, has been a headache for our country ever since Independence. The forces inimical to Bharat never wanted Kashmir to integrate itself with Bharat, and in October 1947, immediately after Independence, when Pakistan's forces invaded Kashmir, these elements conspired with the enemy to defeat every move to save the situation from our side. However, thanks to the timely collaboration of the entire Sangh force then present at Jammu with the Armed Forces of Bharat, Kashmir was saved. Had it not been for the premature and insensible cease-fire declared unilaterally by our own government, even while a large chunk of our territory was still under the siege of the enemy, our Armed Forces would then itself have driven out the latter completely beyond the borders and there would not have been this problem of 'Pakistan-occupied Kashmir' (POK), which even now continues to be a scourge undermining the sovereignty of Bharat.
The problem of Kashmir, in fact, is one of our own making, since, keeping in mind its unique demographic character, unlike other States, it has been conferred a special status under Article 370 of the Constitution, even after its total accession with Bharat. In 1952, Bharateeya Jan Sangh and Praja Parishat, in those days the political front of the Sangh in Jammu & Kashmir State, jointly agitated against this special status; and the BJS had to pay a heavy price in the death of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the founder-presi- dent of the party, in Srinagar jail. He died under dubious circumstances, after being incarcerated there for having led a batch of satyagrahis defying the ban on his entry into the State. However, because of this agitation, the game-plan of the conspirators with Sheikh Abdullah as the kingpin, after being exposed, was thwarted and Kashmir was once more saved, for the time being.
The endless appeasement of the Muslim population, especially in Kashmir, practised by the successive governments at Delhi, has been the bane of our government's Kashmir policy. Just as too much mollycoddling and lack of discipline spoil the child, so has been Kashmir, a problem created out of our own folly. With about one-third of the State territory illegally occupied by Pakistan, a hostile neighbour, the alienated area has virtually become a haven for subversives. Knowing fully well that an open war with Bharat may prove too costly and also withchances of winning unpredictable, Pakistan is waging a cold war, abetting the militants, supplying them with arms, training them for armed revolt from within. The militants are taking advantage of the government's weakness, being sure that government dares not take ruthless action against them because of their privileged 'minority' tag. They have resorted to all types of inhuman measures to evacuate the minuscule Hindu population from the Valley. They went to the extent of o openly burning the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on an Independence Day. It was the ABVP which first accepted the challenge from the Kashmir militants, and took a massive 10,000 - strong contingent of students from all over the country to Lal Chowk to hoist the tri-colour there. The attempt, however, was foiled by the then government under V.P. Singh. Two years later, the BJP picked up the cue and a historic 'Ekta Yatra' (Unity March) from Kanyakumari to Srinagar, with Dr. Murii Manohar Joshi the party president himself as the leader, was organised. This 25,000 km-long Yatra successfully culminated at Lal Chowk, exactly on the decided day, braving all the challenges, political as well as others, and did hoist the national tri-colour there, thus proclaiming to the enemy within and without that a competent party had arrived to settle the account.
Apart from the Kashmir issue, the Sangh has all along been in the forefront in each and every national campaign, be it 'Ban Cow-slaughter' campaign of 1952 or the mass collection drive for the Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari in 1963. The Ekatmata Rath Yatra of Ganga Jal and Bharatmata in 1983 and the later issue of Ramajanmabhoomi temple, sponsored by the Sangh Pariwar, have irrefutably established that the Hindu society would respond like a 'Virat Purush' (one corporate body), when the innate chord of Hindusthan is stimulated to pulsate in every Hindu heart.
Thus the thrust of the Sangh and its methodology is not restricted to its outward institutional form only, but is multi-dimensional, extending beyond the boundaries of 'sanghasthan'. The aim is to activise the dormant Hindu society, to make it come out of its self-oblivion and realise its past mistakes, to instil in it a firm determination to set them right, and finally to make it bestir itself to reassert its honour and self-respect so that no power on earth dares challenge it in the days to come.