Inspired since childhood by virtuous values such as patriotism, Indian culture and its hoary history, Dr Keshavrao Baliram Hedgewar always longed to unshackle Mother India from the British yoke and drive away the alien usurpers. He was closely associated with revolutionaries and their activities during his Kolkata sojourn. But he strongly believed that there should be no place for violence in the struggle for Indian emancipation.

It was in 1963, in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese war, when the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru invited a voluntary organisation to join the Republic Day celebrations. The organisation was none other than the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). However, to those unversed with contemporary history, this may appear a bit odd and a tad difficult to believe. But Nehru did this in recognition of the tremendous role that the RSS had played in evacuating the injured soldiers of the 1962 war and providing immediate medical help to them. Not just that, this act of Nehru was meant to acknowledge the extraordinary contribution of the RSS in removing the mounds of ice that ensheathed the runway at the Srinagar airport and other similar acts of dedicated and valorous service.

It was the very same RSS that came to provided succour to the hapless and helpless lot during the Covid pandemic. Be it the 1997 catastrophic cyclone in Diviseema region of Andhra Pradesh or the devastating earthquakes at Kutch and Latur or the deadly gas leak in Bhopal or the all-marooning floods of Assam and Kerala, the RSS has always been in the forefront through its self-driven, publicity-abjuring and utterly dedicated service.

The RSS that became a byword for service, will turn 100 this Vijayadashami.

Founded by Dr Keshavrao Baliram Hedgewar, the RSS began its journey with a measly five members. Dr Hedgewar’s ancestors hailed from Kandakurti, which is ensconced at the confluence of Godavari, Haridra and Manjeera in Renjal mandal of Nizamabad district. The Hedgewars migrated to Nagpur in search of greener pastures and to escape from the brutalities of the Nizamshahi. Despite being mired in penury, Keshav managed to obtain a degree in medical studies from Kolkata.

Inspired since childhood by virtuous values such as patriotism, Indian culture and its hoary history, Dr Hedgewar always longed to unshackle Mother India from the British yoke and drive away the alien usurpers. He was closely associated with revolutionaries and their activities during his Koltaka sojourn. But he strongly believed that there should be no place for violence in the struggle for Indian emancipation.

Soon after returning to Nagpur, he began motivating youth to join the freedom struggle and set up gymnasiums and Akhadas to train them. He soon grew into a formidable young leader of calibre through his active association with the stalwarts of India’s freedom struggle, including Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Dr B R Ambedkar and Dr Balakrishna Shivaram Moonje.

He moulded Nagpur youth into disciplined volunteers of the Congress Seva Dal (CSD). He had to endure harsh jail terms for his role in the freedom movement.

It was during this period of incarceration that he began to seriously ruminate over the plight of the country and what had caused these privations. While it was perfectly right to fight off the marauding Britishers, he asked himself as to why and how the British had enslaved this mighty country. Was India an independent country before the advent of the white men? If so, how and why did we lose our independence in the first place? Why was India enslaved for over 700 years? These questions dominated his thought process for quite some time.

One thing that emerged from this deep meditation over the country’s plight and his search for answers was that the nature-worshipping Bharat was riven by dissensions based on caste, creed, community, region, religion and tradition. It was this disunity that led to our defeats at the hands of foreign invaders. This finally caused us to come under the yoke of the Britishers.

Dr Hedgewar strongly felt that localised movements and agitations cannot help bring back the lost glory of the country. He resolved that there is a dire and pressing need to create a band of dedicated, determined, committed youths who would work for the country, its dharma and for the society at large. It is this band of youth that would work to restore Bharat back to its old glory. Out of this idea was born the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which kept the Hindutva as enunciated by our rishis, spiritual leaders and philosophers par excellence as its credo and an organised society as its basis. He led a celibate life towards this end.

Man-making

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh seeks to rekindle the inherent and innate strength in every Bharatiya and turn him into a disciplined, country-loving and nationalist volunteer. To make such men he began the process of shakhas just as a sculptor fine-chisels a well-sculpted figurine with utmost care. He also sought to build a vast network of shakhas across the length and breadth of the country. This was the raison d’tre of the RSS. For the Sangh, religion did not matter; it was only nationalism that mattered.

The belief that Bharat was the mother and the resolve that he would sacrifice everything for the motherland were paramount. If need be, a swayamsevak (volunteer) would be ready to make the supreme sacrifice at the altar of Mother Bharat. Hence the first line of the Sangh Prarthana terms India as the ever-loving mother country. Sangh makes Swayamsevaks, who fan out into every section of the society and transform it on the basis of this ideology. Sangh has created several such worthy swayamsevaks, who influenced their chosen area of work such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani, Bhairon Singh Shekhavat, Nanaji Deshmukh, Murali Manohar Joshi, Bangaru Laxman, Ramnath Kovind, Venkaiah Naidu, Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and many more in the political arena, and countless such fame-abjuring leaders of the finest quality in fields such as labour, industry, religious, farmers, tribal, service and social equality

Pleasant surprise for Gandhiji:

Around 1932, Mahatma Gandhi chanced upon an RSS Shakha during his stay at Wardha. He found disciplined swayamsevaks doing the drills, suryanamaskars and yogasanas. All this impressed the Mahatma. He spoke to the organisers of the camp and enquired about the aims, objectives and programmes of the RSS. He sought to know if there were harijans among the participants. While the organisers answered in the affirmative, they clarified that Sangh does not ask the swayamsevaks their caste and that no one knows the caste of the other. They train together and work together, they told Gandhiji, who was pleasantly surprised and was impressed that swayamsevaks work together with dedication towards their cause.

He felt that his idea of the emancipation of the harijans would be achieved through Sangh. He also made enquiries about Dr Hedgewar. On knowing this, Dr Hedgewar met Gandhiji at Wardha and held discussions on a wide range of issues for well over two hours.

Guruji’s leadership:

Sri Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (guruji) took over as the second Sarsanghchalak of the RSS in 1940 following the tragic demise of Dr Hedgewar. He toured the whole country for over 33 years till 1973 and helped build the RSS into a formidable force for nation-building. Meanwhile, the Sangh expanded beyond Maharashtra and extended to various parts of the country. He had built the Pracharak system with revolutionary zeal and sent them into all conceivable walks of life. Sri Guruji left his mortal coil in 1973.

Social harmony:

Madhukar Dattatreya Deoras, more popularly known as Balasaheb Deoras took over the reins of the RSS after Guruji’s passing away. His clarion call for eradication of social evils such as untouchability, ban on temple entry and opposition to inter-caste marriage spurred countless swayamsevaks to fan out into the seva bastis to organise and serve dalits and bahujans in a big way. Thousands of service activities were initiated in the seva bastis. Seva Bharathi was launched to impart training and capacity building in the fields of education, health and skill development.

Today, Seva Bharathi is active with 35560 service projects in 373 districts of the country. Several other Sangh-inspired organisations and institutions have been imparting selfless service to dalits, girijans, deprived sections and others in far-flung and inaccessible areas. Social Harmony or Samajik Samarasata is a massive national movement today.

RSS role in fighting Emergency tyranny:

Significantly, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had banned the RSS a day before imposing draconian internal emergency in the country on June 25, 1975. It was a time when democracy was sought to be stifled, media freedom curbed and judicial activism shattered. There was darkness all around. It was during this time that the RSS had launched a brave fight against Indra Gandhi’s dictatorship. It brought all the democratic elements and political parties together to wage a relentless battle for the restoration of democracy.

Thousands of swayamsevaks organised protests and satyagraha against the emergency and countless karyakartas suffered incarceration. Sangh Swayamsevaks had not only consoled the families of those arrested but also provided help and relief to them.

A massive pro-democracy movement was launched under the aegis of the Lok Sangharsh Samiti, in association with socialist leaders like Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan and towering personalities like Morarji Desai. This verily was the second freedom struggle and countless swayamsevaks staked everything and put their lives to risk to fight against tyranny and despotism. Sangh’s role had come in for great praise by the likes of George Fernandes, Madhu Limaye and Chandrasekhar.

RSS ready for selfless service:

During the trauma of partition, lakhs of Swayamsevaks provided succour and security to the millions of refugees streaming in from Pakistan. They ran many refugee camps. During the devastating cyclone of 1977, which virtually wiped out several Diviseema villages and left a trail of death and destruction, Sangh Swayamsevaks swung into action. They organised cyclone relief committees and trooped to inaccessible villages to take up service activities. They formed themselves into Shava Senas to perform last rites of dead persons. The RSS had rebuilt totally decimated Moolapalem and christened it Deendayalpuram. Pucca houses were constructed for every affected family. These houses were dedicated to the victim families by the then external affairs minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the then AP chief minister Marri Chenna Reddy. Both the leaders showered praises on the services rendered by the RSS. It was during these service activities that eminent Gandhian Prabhakar ji termed the RSS as ‘Ready for Selfless Service’.

Critics should know:

Shakhas promote physical activity through regular exercises, games and Surya Namaskaras. Stories from our history are recounted to the swayamsevaks to inculcate patriotic spirit. The Sangh neither preaches nor promotes violence. In fact, Sangh was at the receiving end of brutal physical assaults in Kerala and Northeastern States. Many Sangh workers paid with their lives to uphold their beliefs and their spirit of sacrifice and service.

Yet, Sangh did not retaliate as it believes in constructive and organised activities that are devoid of any form of violence. Hence it has emerged as an undefeatable organisation. Sangh swayamsevaks believe in rushing to provide succour and help whenever and wherever there is a calamity. Every swayamsevak is imbued with this spirit of service. The Sangh was built on foundations that rise about narrow considerations of caste, creed, colour, region and religion. It is for this reason that it has grown into an indestructible force. It is this force that enabled the RSS gift two highly efficient and incorruptible prime ministers to the nation.

To mark the centenary, the RSS, which began with just five youth and has grown into a mighty organisation with crores of Swayamsevaks, is rededicating itself to the cause of Mother Bharat.

(The writer is a former Governor of Haryana)