|
SANGH - INSPIRED ORGANISATIONS
After the advent of Independence in 1947,
the centuries-long struggle for freedom gave place to the
task of nation-building precisely in a literal sense. But
the crucial question was, what should be the goal and the
means to achieve it. It was here that the men then at the
helm stumbled. They had all along been, while engaged in the
freedom struggle, equating the mere transfer of power from
the alien rulers, with real independence, and hence, to some
extent, were bewildered at the sudden turn of circumstances
in which they were empowered with authority to rule.
In fact, for them, it was a god-given historic opportunity
to shape the destiny of the nation, which was as it were taking
a new birth altogether. The real need then was to identify
the character and the time-tested basic values, which this
ancient nation stood for, for millennia, and to reshape the
nation on that basis with any modifications suited for the
changing needs of the day. But they deemed economic progress
and material welfare as the Finality of an independent nation.
They had before them two models, both from the West. While
the American one had in it the capitalist economy with all-permissive
individual freedom, which in fact was eating into the very
vitals of her social life, the Russian socialist alternative
with its ambitious five-year plans, presented a facade of
a heaven on the earth, in which actually the individual was
but a cog in the wheel. Being enamoured by both, and material
progress alone being made the touchstone, the new rulers opted
to simultaneously ape both - an exercise which ultimately
tended to make the nation a carbon copy of neither.
The thinking of the Sangh in this regard has all along been
of a very basic nature. From its inception, the goal before
the Sangh was to attain the 'Param Vaibhav' (the pinnacle
of glory) of the Hindu Rashtra, the freedom from the alien
rule being just a step in that direction. The transfer of
power can at the most be "Swaraj' (one's own rule) but
definitely not 'Swatantrya' (actualisalion of one's own potential
being). The concept of 'Param Vaibhav' has ingrained in it
the material progress too of the nation, but not with its
very identity and interests mortgaged.
The Sangh with its total commitment to the actualisalion of
'Swatantra', in other words the Hindu ethos, keeping itself
away from the powers-that-be, from 1947 onwards, began on
its own to extend its influence to varied Fields of social
life.
The Sangh "Pratijna' (pledge), which until then was for
the liberation of the Hindu Rashtra, was amended to indicate
'San'angeena Unnati' (all-round development) of the nation.
The entire gamut of social life was planned to be designed
on the rock-bed of Hindu nationalism. The swayamsevaks with
the insight and the organisational skill they acquired through
the 'samskars' on the 'sanghasthan' and with the uncompromising
urge for the national reassertion gradually began to enter
one after another field of national life. The process commenced
as early as in the end of forties, and has in these four decades
encompassed a vast number of areas that the society is composed
of.
In 1948, after the assassination of Gandhiji, when the Sangh
was unjustly banned, the exuberant student and youth force,
which until then was active in the Shakha work only, was mobilised
to contact the public with issues of national interest, particularly
the draft constitution which was then being debated in the
Constituent Assembly. This movement, the Akhil Bharateeya
Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), in course of time has grown into
a massive nation-wide student organisation, successfully harnessing
the buoyancy, time, intelligence, talent and creativity in
the students, over and above their educational responsibilities,
for nation-building activities. Today ABVP is recognised as
the front-rank student organisation with a totally nationalist
outlook.
Earlier, when most of the Sangh functionaries were unjustly
incarcerated, and baseless canards against Sangh were let
loose by the establishment, to set the record straight, apart
from the 'Organiser' weekly in English, a series of language
periodicals like 'Panchajanya', 'Yuga Dhanna' (both Hindi),
'Vlkrama' (Kannada) etc., were started. Nowadays, with regard
to this fourth estate of democracy, almost all the provinces
have their own vernacular papers all belonging to Sangh school
of thought, and command a very wide range of readership.
The educational system initiated by Macaulay with the motive
of producing an army of 'brown-skinned Englishmen', to serve
The imperial administration as 'the most obedient servants'
was another legacy of the British rule in Bharat. After Independence,
there was dire need to reshape the entire system. In 1952,
the First 'Saraswati Shishu Mandir' (nursery school) was founded
in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, as an attempt towards inculcating,
along with mandatory academic knowledge, discipline, patriotic
outlook, love for mother tongue, high moral values and Hindu
principles, the thrust of education being based upon a holistic
approach to the physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual
growth of the pupil. The small sapling of this 'Shishu Mandir'-
which it was in fifties - has now grown into a mighty banyan
tree as 'Vidya Bharati', an umbrella body for thousands of
educational institutions, ranging from nursery to post-graduation
level. The system of. education being evolved by Vidya Bharati
is based on age-old Hindu values, but having an outer structure
in consonance with present-day needs of modern education.
The systematic alienation of the tribals, inhabiting remote
forest-areas, but who form an inseparable part of the Hindu
society, through proselytisation was another grave challenge
that demanded immediate corrective measures. Far away and
hence uncontaminated by the sophisticated modernity, they
are yet, though deprived of literacy, committed to their own
rustic cultural moorings and also are very talented. They
had all along been a most exploited lot and an easy prey for
unscrupulous conversion by Christian missionaries. It is to
counter this twin menace of British legacy, that the Bharateeya
Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram (BKVA) was founded in early Fifties.
The BKVA, now spread over a hundred districts in 21 States,
has been striving for the all-round development of the vanavasis,
in their own natural surroundings, enabling all their latent
potentialities and talents to blossom. Over the decades, the
Ashram has succeeded not only in putting a stop to conversions
in all its areas of operation, but also in bringing the converts
back to the Hindu fold.
The trade union movement guided by the alien socialist and
Marxist philosophy, started in thirties, was gaining ground
by the time and British left the country. This philosophy,
with its faith in class conflict and its methodology of anti-production
strikes, was in fact, both in theory and practice, a negation
of labour and national interests. Bharateeya Mazdoor Sangh,
a totally new labour movement, apolitical in character, based
on Hindu tenets, was started in 1955. The BMS believes in
conciliation whenever dispute arises, and considers strike
as the last resort. It does fight against exploitation in
any form from whichever parly, and upholds the all-comprehensive
interest of the society as a whole with supreme concern. It
is now recognised as a leading labour organisation even at
the international level, and in the home-front, the second
biggest one, far ahead of other similar organisations with
socialist and Marxist leanings.
While the Sangh was by itself effective in organising the
Hindus and inculcating in them healthy 'samskars' like discipline
and social consciousness, the need for Vishwa Hindu Parishad
began to be fell in the sixties, for augmenting certain grey
areas of the activities of the former. For example, there
was need to organise overseas Hindus residing in about 150
countries and provide them with necessary arrangements for
upholding their Hindu samskars and faith in their daily lives.
There was also need to bring all sadhus, sannyasins and orthodox
mathadhipatis on a common platform, so that their combined
influence could be channelised for the common good of the
entire Hindu society. A mechanism to reconvert all those who
had been knowingly or unknowingly proselytised to alien faiths
and are now desirous of coming back to the Hindu fold was
needed. The VHP was founded in 1964, to Fill this need.
The VHP is now spearheading the movement to rebuild the temple
at Sri Ramajanmabhoomi at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. After
a four-centuries-long physical struggle fought by the Hindus,
a period in which as many as seventy-six battles were fought
to recapture the premises, where once stood a beautiful temple,
which was desecrated by the Moghul invader Baber, the VHP
has now picked up the gauntlet to rebuild the temple, yet
more magnificently, at the same spot, whatever be the price
in terms of sweat and blood. The First phase of this renewed
struggle was won in 1986, when the temple-door, which was
unlawfully locked by the government to spite the Hindus, was
thrown open to the public by a court order. Again in 1989,
the VHP could successfully accomplish the 'Shilanyas' of the
proposed temple (foundation-laying ceremony), in spite of
the numerous hurdles, legal and administrative, and in the
teeth of bitter opposition from all those opposed to the project
for their own ulterior motives. The very next year, literally
lakhs of Hindus from all over Bharat stormed Ayodhya in a
bid to start 'Kar-seva' (rendering physical service as an
expression of their devotion), braving the hurdles caused
by a hostile government, and successfully hoisted the Bhagawa
Flag atop the disputed edifice. There was unprecedented bloodbath.
The VHP is committed to undo the historical insult to the
last nuts and bolts and it is this determination of the VHP
that has instilled a spirit of righteous militancy in the
Hindu society.
With the end of the British raj, Bharat became a democratic
republic with a constitution of its own, when the need for
a strong political alternative to the ruling party with unalloyed
nationalism arose. The Sangh, though it preferred to remain
apolitical, was well aware of its commitment lo social transformation,
including in the political field, based on Hindu values. In
fact, politics was and has been wielding all-pervading influence
over each and every other field of social life; and as such
there was need to evolve a totally new political culture in
the country, It was in that context that a few senior Sangh
functionaries, driven with the uncompromising commitment to
Hindu nationalism, decided to form Bharateeya Jan Sangh in
1951, under the presidentship of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.
The party, apart from electoral battles, had been waging many
a political fight for upholding the nation's integrity and
honour. It was in the forefront of the 'Save Kashmir' movement
in 1952 and also in the movement against the formation of
Muslim-dominated Malappuram district in Kerala in 1969.
Having firmly established its foothold on the political arena
for over twenty-five years, BJS became the strongest constituent
in the Janata Party, which assumed power at the centre in
1977, on a common forum of the then existing opposition parties.
Unnerved with the growing political clout of BJS, when the
other constituents made the very membership of Sangh a bone
of contention in the Janata Party, the swayamsevaks came out
of that party and formed the Bharateeya Janata Party (BJP)
in 1980. This new party continued the legacy of the BJS, with
Integral Humanism' propounded by late Deen dayal Upadhyaya
as its philosophical base. The BJP, without bothering about
its being isolated from other political parties, has been
in the vanguard of the movement for Sri Ramajanmabhoomi and
also, as a major party, has opposed the move for transfer
of Tin Bigha over to Bangladesh. Their differences apart,
even the opponents of the BJP accept that it has initiated
a totally new political culture. After the general elections
of 1991, the party has became the main opposition at the centre
and is ruling in four States.
As early as in 1936, Srimati Lakshmibai Kelkar (Mauseeji)
ofWardha was prevailing upon Dr. Hedgewar that just as men
were being trained in Sangh, women too need to be trained
in nationalism and proper samskars. After many months of discussion,
Dr. Hedgewar in the end promised to extend all help to Mauseeji,
to found Rashtra Sevika Samiti, an exclusively women's organisation,
its goal being the same as that of Sangh but which was called
upon to operate parallel to the latter and with a different
name, prayer and independent structure.
The above is a brief, illustrative account of just a few among
the vast number of organisations inspired by the Sangh, generally
looked upon as 'Sangh Pariwar'. The 'Pariwar' in fact is very
vast, since no field of activity is beyond the reach of Sangh
swayamsevaks; and as such a description of each and every
activity is beyond the scope of the present book. The swayam
sevaks, in whichever Field they entered, with their invincible
drive to translate their dream of 'Sarvangeena Unnati', have
made it vibrant with Hindu nationalist ethos. Thus, what was
started as a humble man-making activity in the form of Sangh
Shakha, in a brief span of seven decades, especially after
the advent of Independence, has now assumed the form of a
unique and mighty nation-building instrument, with its benign
influence pervading each and every field of social life.
|