RSS’ Vision of #FutureBharath

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh does not believe in its own domination, but in strengthening  and  enabling the society  to take the nation  forward,”  RSS  sarsanghchalak  Dr  Mohan  Bhagwat said  today  while  addressing  a  gathering  of prominent  personalities  on  the  first  day of  the  three-day  lecture series on topic ‘Future of Bharat: An RSS Vision’ at the Vigyan Bhawan.

The program started with a short introduction by well-known economist Dr. Bajranglal Gupt (RSS Sanghchalak, north zone). “People have been wondering at the need and the timing of this event,” he began. “The Sangh work basically comprises of communicating with people from different walks of life, and we regularly organize such events, small and big, across the nation. This is just the first time that the Sarsanghchalak is addressing such a galaxy of prominent personalities here.”

“As  for  the  timing  of  the  event,  question  would  have  cropped  up  at  any  other  time  also.  We  have  to understand that the Sarsanghchalak’s calendar of events is decided  a year in advance. Even I was thinking it would  have  been  more  convenient  to  invite  people  on  weekend  dates.  But  since  Dr  Bhagwat  was  only available on these dates (17, 18 and 19), this event was planned accordingly,” Dr Bajranglal explained.

“There is immense curiosity among the people as to the working and objectives of the RSS. This lecture series has been organized in an effort to satisfy all questions in the public mind regarding Sangh’s working and views. The  Sarshanghchalak  is  our  designated  head,  hence  Dr  Mohan  Bhagwat  will  present  the  Sangh’s  way  of working  and  its  views. He will  also answer all questions  emanating  from  the  audience  on  the  third  day,”  he said.

Dr Mohan Bhagwat began his address by saying that the Sangh’s work is so unique that comparing it with any other organization is not possible. “I will explain the working of the Sangh. My intention is not to convince you. Your judgement  is your  own  prerogative. If  you  want to check out the facts that I  give you, you must come closer to the Sangh and check for yourself,” he said. “To  understand  the  Sangh,  one  must  understand  who  its  founder  Dr  Keshav  Baliram  Hedgewar  was,”  Dr Bhagwat  said  and  went  on  to  relate  the  life  and  experiences  that  shaped  Dr.  Hedgewar.  He  related  various anecdotes  about  Dr  Hedgewar’s  life,  his  participation  in  the  independence  struggle  and  how  he  became convinced about the imperative need to train the people to create a strong and united society. He  quoted  many  leaders  and  thinkers  such  as  Rabindranath  Tagore,  communist  thinker  MN  Roy,  former President Dr Abdul Kalam who came to believe that the society needs to be awakened to realize the strengths of  its  traditional  values.  Dr  Hedgewar,  he  said,  interacted  copiously  with  different  ideologists  and  came  to believe that all ideologies must come together to form a strong nation. He felt the need to train people to work towards positively transforming the society and the nation. “It  was with this objective that he announced the formation of the Sangh on Vijayadashmi day in  1925,” he said.

“RSS is  a methodology. It’s only  work is  “vyakti nirman”  (making good human beings). There should be good swayamsevaks in every village and mohalla,” Dr Bhagwat said.. “Dr  Hedgewar said the Sangh  would work towards  uniting the entire Hindu  society  –  nothing else. So much diversity  in  languages,  cultures,  religious  practices,  food  habits  etc.  How  to  take  everybody  along?  The traditional  value  system  that  has  the  strength  to  connect  and  unite  everyone  in  Hindusthan  is  Hinduness (Hindutva). There is no other word that can describe this unifying factor across Bharat,” Dr Bhagwat said. “RSS is the methodology to bring all these diversities together. We have to be a deserving society,” he said.

Since generations Bharatiya society has traditionally taught us how to live together. Whenever we have forgotten our own values, we have suffered,” he said. “Desh ka patan hamare patan se hua hai,” he said. “People get the impression that RSS is a very dictatorial organization. They think that the ‘chief’ of RSS decides everything and everyone has to follow. In reality, RSS is very different. If you want to see the largest democratic organization in the world, you have to see and understand the RSS. But don’t believe me, come close to Sangh to check out the truth,” he said. “Every swayamsevak has the right to question, share his thoughts and there is a system how swayamsevaks’ thoughts are taken into consideration at each level, till the Pratinidhi Sabha (the highest decision making body of the Sangh).”

“Sangh is a self-sustaining organization. We organize all funds for our activities and do not take even a penny from any other organization. Swayamsevaks look at the saffron flag as their ‘guru’ and an annual exercise of ‘gurudakshina’ raises funds for the yearlong activities of the RSS,” Dr Bhagwat explained.

“Various social service projects are run by swayamsevaks – funds for these projects are taken from outside through various organisations runs as per rules and laws of the nation.” “We do not want Sangh domination. Our viewpoint is quite the opposite actually. Our vision is to strengthen the society, which will take the nation forward. Community feeling is the basis of Sangh ideology.

Our swayamsevaks do a lot of good work, but we do not propagate their names. Every citizen must work for the nation selflessly, because it is the duty of all of us to give back to the nation in whatever way possible.” “Our objective is simply to motivate and train every swayamsevak to bring about a positive change in the society,” he said. On the question of women participation in the RSS, Dr Bhagwat made it clear that Rashtra Sevika Samiti works on the same lines as the Sangh and women participate in a big way in all social service projects run by swayamsevaks. “Most of our swayamsevaks are family men, and their families’ contribution is vital,” he said.

Prominent personalities who attended the lecture series were Metro man E. Sreedharan, Manisha Koirala, Malini Awasthi, Anu Malik Anu Kapur, Manoj Tiwari, Chetan Chauhan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Amar Singh, Swapandas Gupta, Madhur Bhandarkar, Hansraj Hans, Gajendra, Sanjay Gupta (Jagran group editor). BJP leaders Ram Madhav, Ram Lal and Subramaniam Swamy were present. Union Ministers Dr Harshvardhan, Vijay Goel, Arjunram Meghwal and Alphons Kananthanam also attended the event