With the historic mission of Hindu unity…..

Desinganadu, a region that once gave out the clarion call for Hindu unity through Hindu Mahamandalam, is yet again blowing out the tone of a historic mission – this time to make the RSS Mahasanghik a grand festival. The Mahasanghik is scheduled to be on February 24 at Asramam grounds, the centre of Kollam town. The Mahasanghik, to be attended by 1 lakh RSS volunteers in uniform and about 50,000 patriotic sympathizers, would not only find a place in the pages of the Guinness book, but add a new chapter in the history of Desingandu.

The fact that the state meet, first proposed to be held in Ernakulam district, was later shifted to Kollam itself can be described as quirky destiny or historic mission. Anyhow the soil of Kollam, replete with the memories of Hindu renaissance movements, is very much appropriate for the grand event.

Though the Hindu Mahamandalam, which caused an big cultural upheaval in Travancore region those days, was formed jointly by Mannathu Padmanabhan and R.Sankar in a Hindu meeting held at Changanacherry, the steps that gave a great impetus to the movement were taken at Kollam. With the rise of the Hindu Mahamandalam, the SNDP Yogam annual meet at Kollam in May 1950 passed a resolution seeking the union of NSS and SNDP. This was acclaimed as a great measure that highlighted the relevance of Hindu unity. It is quite significant that the RSS Mahasanghik is going to be held on the 60th anniversary of the aforesaid historic meeting.

In his biography of R.Sankar, M.K.Kumaran noted, “The SNDP Union annual meet expressed full support to the aims and action plan of the Hindu Mahamandalam, which has been formed to put into practice Gurudev’s message, ‘one caste, one religion and one God for all’ and create a classless and creedless Hindu society, and to propagate a Hindu culture with a universal appeal”. The Union meet happily welcomed the decision that all religious and social associations of Hindus should merge with the Hindu Mahamandalam along with their assets and institutions. The resolution, in fact, authorized the Director Board to take appropriate measures to the above effect. NSS leaders, N. Govinda Menon and Sastri Damodara Menon, who attended the meeting spoke on the occasion congratulating the resolution. The Union also appointed Govinda Menon as its board member. The General Secretary’s report of the 47th annual meeting of the SNDP Union held on 18th July 1951 opined that as long as Hindus remained as different sections, their weaknesses and backwardness would continue and therefore, Hindu unity was an unavoidably important matter. At that point, asset details of SNDP Union branches had begun to be ascertained.
NSS also took similar measures. With a view to bring about uniformity in administration of colleges controlled by NSS and SNDP, two nominees each from both organizations were nominated to the managing committees.

Even though the merger issue progressed this far, it could not meet the desired objective. Sixty years have passed and yet SNDP Union’s merger resolution remains as an unrealized idea. According to M.K.Kumaran, though R.Sankar used the merger issue as an attempt to get a foothold for himself on his return from his 3-year break, away from active politics, Sankar was sincere on the issue of Hindu unity. In one of his articles in 1946, R.Sankar said that the Christians enjoyed excess influence in Kerala politics and they were trying to bring the state Congress itself under their control. Every action of the TK Government was to be viewed in this perspective. His opponents argue, citing forest land grabbing, that T.K.Narayana Pillai’s rule was only in favour of that particular religion. In a similar fashion, in 1818 when Colonel Monroe was the Divan, all the temples of Travancore along with their assets were taken over by the government. Though this step was said to have been taken to avoid misrule of temples, understandably Colonel Monroe’s action was influenced by another consideration. It is quite clear from the actions of Monroe, aimed at amassing assets for the Church, that he was interested in weakening the interests and assets of Hindus. In those days, Hindu temples enjoyed vast assets. Monroe also realized that the income of temples was much more than the income of the government.

Monroe’s action weakened the temples. It is at this orphaned time that the Travancore Devaswom Board was formed. The first board was formed in July 1949. Mannathu Padamanbhan as representative of Hindu ministers, and R.Sankar as representative of Hindu MLAs, were elected and R.Sankara Narayana Iyer was appointed as representative of the King. Mannam and Sankar were members of the legislative assembly at that time. The moves of Mannam and Sankar made the Congressmen anxious. They were afraid that a parallel power center was in the making and that could become a threat to the Congress.

The Hindu Mahamandalam and Democratic Congress Party gave opportunity for Sankar to again consolidate his position in politics. Sankar, who was made to take back seat by the Congressmen, emerged as Democratic Congress leader and became leader of the opposition.

Meanwhile, when elections were declared in Tirukochi from 1951 to 1952, panic began to grip the Congress camp.

The view that a compromise, a compromise with Mannam and Sankar, must be worked out with Democratic Congress Party gained momentum in Congress. It was the setback in Neyyattinkara and Nedumangadu that forced the Congress to rethink. Thereafter the very leaders, who boycotted Mannam and Sankar from Devaswom Board and Congress, came forward to embrace them with open arms. With that curtains fell on the resolution that Hindus needed to unite. It is hoped that the spirit of Hindu unity that emerged against minority appeasement and communal discrimination would rise up again with the RSS Mahasanghik in Kollam.

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