Rss 360°

by Ratan Sharda

  The Proactive action of BJP Chief Minister Yediyurappa of inviting Karunanidhi to unveil the statue of great Tamil poet philosopher Thiruvallur in Bangalore was a landmark event that scotched an unseemly controversy hanging for 18 years. It heralded a new era of mutual respect through this effort to bridge the political and cultural divide between Kannadigas and Tamils, a consequence of mischievous politics. This resulted in Karunanidhi reciprocating and inviting his counterpart to unveil the statue of the great Kannada savant Sarvajna. One can always expect such positive action for social harmony from Sangh members.

  The RSS volunteers have arranged for all sections of society to attend social festivals like Ram Navami, Gita Jayanti and Ambedkar Jayanti etc. Examples abound in places as diverse as Gadegaon and Akola in Vidarbha, Mallapally in Tamil Nadu, Udupi in Karnataka and many more places. Many swayamsevaks have taken personal initiative to educate or guide lesser fortunate and neglected brethren toward better life. RSS has taken the lead in celebrating Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth anniversary across the country. The centenary celebrations were organised with all organisations of Sangh parivaar taking part in them enthusiastically. Other similar functions are regularly held by organisations like ABVP and Saamaajik Samarasataa Manch and local associations.

  As a part of celebration of Golden Jubilee of satyagraha in October 1982 to allow ‘harijan’ (this word had not yet been replaced with now widely used term 'Dalit') entry into Guruvayoor temple in Kerala, VHP organised a public reception of 27 surviving satyagrahis. At the same time, one hundred harijans decided to start a 200 mile march to end century old custom of not allowing harijans to have food in main meal hall of Krishna temple. Contrary to expectations of Communists and their cohorts, RSS decided to give full support to the move. The marchers were accorded warm welcome all along the way. RSS leaders also were able to persuade the temple authorities to break from the past and allow this common food partaking. They agreed. It was incredible and soul stirring to witness members of the Hindu society come together keeping aside caste lines. Many such events have taken place all over the country with many sadhus and achaaryas taking lead in breaking centuries old shackles.

  Provincial conference of VHP in Udupi, Karnataka in 1969 was attended by thousands of people and dharmacharyas from all shades of Hindu faith. They declared in the conference – “In pursuance of the objective that the entire Hindu society should be consolidated with the spirit of indivisible oneness and that there should be no disintegration in it because of tendencies and sentiments like ‘untouchability’, the Hindus all over the world should maintain the spirit of unity and equality in their mutual intercourse.” The conference gave a stirring call, “Hindavah Sodaraah Sarve” (All Hindus are brothers).

  Guruji’s silent persuasion to all saints and matham heads and swayamsevaks’ ground work led to this transformation. Saints like Swamiji of Pejawar Math went into backward colonies in Karnataka to bless them and the movement slowly picked up pace with many other math heads joining the movement.

  Sanskrit teaching was taken to the ‘harijan’ locality in Mysore. A one month long Veda Shikshana Shibir was taken in Hariharapura near Shringeri where boys from all sects and casts learned together and stayed together. And opponents of RSS call it ‘manuvadi’!

  Similar initiatives have taken place in Andhra Pradesh too. People from so called low castes were trained with the help of Tirupati Tirumala Dewaswom Board in Hindu rituals.

  Under auspices of VHP, a massive conference was conducted in which training was given to socially backward sections at Advaita Ashram in Alawaye near Ernakulam, in presence of chief priest from Ezhava community, assisted by a Namboodiri priest. This programme was personally blessed by His Holiness Swami Jayendra Saraswati, Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.

  There are instances of happy inter-caste marriages between a swayamsevak’s sister or daughter and a SC/ST colleague, adoption of children of slums by senior swayamsevaks to look after all their needs from food to studies, going out of way to invite such community members for marriage. Though there are many examples in this regard, most people would recall the marriage of Pramod Mahajan’s sister ( a ‘brahmin’) to Gopinath Munde (a member of ‘Scheduled Tribe’). Even in rigid caste-based society like Haryana, swayamsevaks have attended weddings of their SC colleague and helped in every way as if they were part of the family. I know of an ABVP prachaarak who married a Muslim girl about 25 years back and he was blessed by his senior leaders. All his friends from RSS and ABVP attended the marriage in full force. Such examples also tell us that the Sangh members are as human as you and me, and they too fall in love and have love marriages. But, they believe this to be sacred and profound emotion that should not be commercialised and trivialised.

  To promote social brotherhood and sense of equality and self-respect for all sections of Hindu society, RSS volunteers in Delhi organised ‘devi poojan’ of nearly 10,000 girls of which 5000 were from slums. Bimal Kedia in Mumbai has been celebrating Diwali continuously for nearly twenty years with the young boys of a local orphanage by offering them dinner at home with his family and friends. Knowing about compassionate social consciousness of the RSS members, examples of such individuals could be in thousands.

  About 2500 years ago, Bhagwan Gautam Buddha was denied entry into Kashi. To current days, there was an atmosphere of confrontation. However during the VHP World Conference in January 1979, His Holiness Dalai Lama was invited for the conference and accorded welcome by the mantra chanting Vedic scholars. It was a moving experience for His Holiness Dalai Lama and a historic moment for Hindus and Buddhists.

  Similarly, in Tamil Nadu, swayamsevaks have celebrated Rakshaa Bandhan festival in a Christian schools too. The principal was present for it and said emotionally, “I too am a Hindu - a Christian Hindu.” Christian scholars have been called to be part of some the RSS festivals and programmes in Kerala.

  Seva Bharati runs sanskaar kendras in hundreds of slums all over India to impart good values to children who don’t get a chance to have such an education. The effect on them and their family is electrifying and gives them an entirely new dimension in life. There are cases where fathers have given up drinking because their sons or daughters would come and touch their feet in the evening while they were drunk. It sparked an emotional upheaval in them Rashtriya Seva Bharati has recently launched its website, called ‘SewaGatha’ and also an MobileApp in which such experiences are being shared.

  Bhatke Vimukta Samaaj Parishad is an organisation which works with the most neglected and sidelined brethren who are condemned to lead worst life with a stamp of criminals put on them since the time of British. Known as Pardhis and similar other communities, they are social outcasts eking out a living somehow in the dark periphery of this civilised society – unseen, unheard. They are scared of so called normal society generally tend to maintain their distance from them. Girish Prabhune, a prachaarak, started work amongst them in a village, Yamgarwadi near Solapur. Members of these communities, most of whom are hinterland people, suffer broken families, runaway members, some in jail for some crime, or others only on suspicion. Given the legacy that their tribes have been awarded, they are the first choice for the police for questioning. Undoubtedly an easy prey! Children in these communities are forced to do odd jobs and not encouraged to study. Breaking all such internalised habits, this organisation has persuaded them to look forward for a better tomorrow. Today, a number of facilities have been created for their schooling, including a school where they can study with flexi-timings because of their odd jobs. After years of efforts, the first batch of Senior Secondary Certificate (SSC) passed students graduated the school in 2016. In last elections in Maharashtra, one lady from this group, Rajashri Kale, was elected a corporator in Pune Municipal Corporation.

  In Tamil Nadu, Dravid Kazhagam (DK) had picked up the now largely discredited theory of Aryan-Dravidian/North South divide and racial disharmony floated by the British, and ran campaigns in the name of reforms to ru
n down Hinduism under the guise of anti-Brahminism. RSS did not have a large base like in Karnataka or Kerala till 1970s in Tamil Nadu, so the DMK cadre (political arm of DK) didn’t have any real exposure to RSS and its swayamsevaks. However, when they were thrown behind prisons during emergency, they got to know RSS closely and it changed the view of their cadres. DMK followers were surprised with the warmth with which they were met by RSS volunteers in jail and the way they maintained ties with their families keeping their morale high during imprisonment.

  Hindu Munnani and others have been organising various programmes and marches to bring harmony between various caste groups within Hindu society. Soon it had to join battle with DMK and DK for revival of Hindu religion and fight against divisive and hate politics of these groups. Nearly all Hindu saints and missionaries in Tamil Nadu, and various temple committees joined in these efforts. There was a time when DK would take out a procession of Lord Rama, Sita and Laxman with chappals and shoes around their necks in Tamil Nadu. But, with challenge thrown by Hindu Munnani by announcing that people should not vote for those who insult Hindu gods, DMK had to eat a humble pie. Now, the scenario is that the biggest processions are seen at the time of Ganapati visarjan in Chennai. With the rise of the RSS through its shakhas, many disillusioned DK and DMK members have also joined RSS. Their efforts to drive a wedge between the supposedly higher and lower castes failed to cut ice when they realised that that the Sangh members give same loving treatment to all children irrespective of their caste or faith.

  A senior colleague of E V Ramaswami Naicker, founder of DK and referred to as EVR; quit DMK disillusioned to join RSS. He disclosed that EVR had written to Dr Ambedkar when he was thinking of forsaking the Hindu fold, but was advised against it and instead was advised to fight for dignity and rights within the religion.

  Thus, RSS has been striving silently and selflessly for social harmony in a political atmosphere where people very often follow divisive tactics to fragment society with an agenda to create separate vote banks.

  Duty Towards Society- Seva

  Doctor Hedgewar, the founder of RSS had responded to a question, “What will RSS do in future just by building up its organisation?” by saying, “Sangh will not do anything, but swayamsevak will do everything.” When he said this, people did not understand what exactly he meant. But, as Sangh work spread and grew beyond the mandatory shakhas, the nature of work and methodology of such work also changed or evolved. New organisations inspired by Sangh philosophy of unity, discipline, nation building and service to the society came into being as activists branched out into new areas and activities.

  The founder’s instructions were clear. RSS was to work as a part of the society, taking society along, and not stand as a separate organisation, whenever taking up any task. Therefore, as far as possible, RSS does not take up any work outside its own day to day activities in its name, nor is a volunteer or swayamsevak supposed to publicise his name for any work he has done. So, though many volunteers were working in many fields, they did so as common people or as a part of some other organisation. In today’s language, they were already social activists, but did not publicise themselves as per RSS code of conduct. Many of its self-motivated activists in social service were working, before the Sangh officially added ‘seva’ as one of the activities at shakha level.

  These social service activities are called ‘seva karya’. Definition of Seva in Sangh philosophy is different from charity. Seva is giving back to society, in whatever little way, something in return for what society gave you. It is not a favour you do to others, but a return for the favour the society has done unto you by giving you all that made you what you are. To quote Swami Vivekanand, “Look upon every man, woman, and everyone as God You cannot help anyone, you can only serve: serve the children of the Lord, serve the Lord Himself, if you have the privilege.”

  During subsequent years, many inspired activists started work in various segments of the society for social upliftment. They multiplied in hundreds and thousands. All these people were inspired by Swami Vivekananda’s exhortation to serve the downtrodden, as each was an image of god (Daridra Narayan). Soon it was needed to create a better frame work that could organise the social service activities.

  H V Sheshadri was the Sarkaryavaah (Secretary General) when this framework was given a structured shape. Central leadership exhorted each shakha, specially the shakhas which are attended by adults or senior people to adopt atleast one social service project in its area. This focus on social service became a source of social reforms that the RSS envisaged. The seriousness with which this subject is taken is shown by the fact that a member of the central committee, a senior prachaarak is given charge of the ‘seva karya’ for monitoring and supporting the seva activities.

  The Centenary celebrations of Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar were conducted with great enthusiasm in 1989. This occasion was used to create funds for seva karya and projects were initiated in several parts of India in thousands. Today over 170,000 social work projects are underway across India – from low profile ones like libraries, cheap rented medical equipment to poor and needy, to path breaking ones like Ekal Vidyalay and Arogya Rakshak in remote areas of the nation; to hospitals, blood banks, orphanages, schools, hostels, environment, projects for fishermen, and rural development projects and small local level programmes.

  There is no segment where people inspired by the RSS are not serving the society. Seva projects cover education, healthcare covering medical, child welfare, social harmony, tribal welfare, environment, rural development and disaster management. In terms of geographical spread, these activities are operational in all corners of Bharat, from Kutch to Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu to Kanyakumari, with hardly any district untouched by them.

  It would surprise many to know that except for a few rare exceptions, these seva projects do not draw any government grant. They are entirely supported by the society at large. It strengthens one’s belief that that if the work is genuine, society is always willing to lend its helping hand.

  It is a telling commentary on the state of affairs of our country that inspite of so much of work being done by thousands of NGOs, apart from the work done by the RSS affiliated organisations, the effect on ground seems to be minimal, a mere drop of elixir in the ocean of despair. I feel the major reason for this is that the governments run by petty politicians have abdicated their responsibilities and have been playing only politics for short term gains. Thus, these activities which should have been a supplementary service to the society have taken up RSS and other socially conscious voluntary organisations.

  The numbers of seva projects run by the RSS and RSS inspired people are huge. It is a herculean task to explain the working of all of them, so here are few I could do some justice to. For this task I have taken the help of ‘RSS – Vision in Action’; and Dr. Shantaram Hari Ketkar ‘Seva – Amrit Kumbh’ in Hindi details more projects which he collated travelling to several places where these were being run. Now many of the organisations have their own websites. Since last few years the RSS started compiling data of various activities, and releases a summary of it in its annual conference (Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha).

  Frankly, record-keeping and data collection and documentation has not been the strong point of RSS, much like our Hindu society. However, RSS and RSS affiliates have come recognize this weakness and are working constructively fill this gap in information dissemination, I recall the comments of a young swayamsevak in Gujarat where I had gone with a team to study disaster management work done after the Gujarat Earthquakes of year 2002. As the group showed us some photographs of rescue and relief including clearing debris, carrying the dead bodies out of it, providing relief in relief camps etc, this young teenager smilingly remarked “we have learnt some lessons. Now we take photographs to record our work, because we know press will not give coverage to work done by Sangh.” It pains my heart that even in noble work, press plays a partisan role.

  Sewa Work – Summary Numbers
as on 15 February 2017

  Organization Rashtra Seva Bharati Affiliate Organisations Total

  Year 2017 2017 2017

  Seva Sthan 28137 80901 109038

  Education 15178 71520 86698

  Health 19857 6970 26827

  Social Service 19804 10783 30587

  Self Reliance 21975 4613 26588

  Totals 76814 93886 170700

  This summary table does not include 1225 village development projects and other 170 projects like regular support and visits to jails, children correction homes, hostels for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe.

  *Figures presented in Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) of RSS held in March 2017.

  Total projects in 2016 were 164138, showing a continuous upward trend over years.

  I have not quoted state-wise figures as it would become too cumbersome to read.

  This summary table does not include 1225 village development projects and other 170 projects like regular support and visits to jails, children correction homes, hostels for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe etc.

  Highest number of Sewa projects are in Kerala – 16,911, followed by Tamil Nadu with 11,854 projects.

  Worth noting that Kerala is in the news for sustained persecution and killings of RSS swayamsevaks since decades, but it has the highest concentration of Shakhas compared to other states in India and also maximum seva projects. Tamil Nadu is relatively weak in Conventional RSS organization work (shakhas) but has shown big growth in sewa projects. It has largest network of Women’s’ Self Help Groups.