It has become a habit with the secular political leaders, left-oriented academicians and west influenced intellectuals to drub Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on occasions that came so handy to them. Be it a political event or elections or debate in the legislatures, they seldom let go the organization without being questioned for its alleged non-participation in the freedom struggle of Bharat.

It is most ironical that an organization like RSS which is always “Ready for Selfless Service” with its commitment to the all round development of Bharat and Bharatiya society getting such extreme condemnation and criticism from its distracters. Attempts were made to completely ‘wipe out’ and ‘destroy’ the RSS in the past. But they did not succeed. Still the RSS continues to be a favourite whipping boy of these so-called secular, progressive intellectuals and politicos. If there is communal riot they blame it on RSS; if there is an attack on a church or a mosque they hold the RSS responsible for it. Any election speech would not be complete unless the secular speaker made blistering attack on RSS.
Perhaps no other organization other than the RSS has been a victim of calumny and slander. The anti-RSS secular camp tried its best to besmear the RSS and its affiliates professing the ideology of all-encompassing Hindutva by spreading canards, rumors, insinuations and innuendo. Their oft-repeated allegation was: “Where was the RSS when the country was struggling for freedom from the foreign yoke?” “Why did the RSS not participate in the 1942 Quit India movement?” They even branded the RSS as ‘stooge’ of the British rulers!

The RSS Baitors:
Who are these detractors of RSS? What are their own records and credentials vis-à-vis Bharat’s freedom struggle? Who authorized them to malign the RSS and tarnish its image?

The Communists as expected top the list of RSS-baiters. They always blame the Sangh and its ideology as obscurantist, conservative, and chauvinistic. These Leftists are followed by the secular Congressmen and their various faces. The third category of RSS traducers includes some sections of Muslims and Christians who are influenced by the adverse malicious propaganda machine of earlier mentioned two classes of RSS opponents. The fourth and the most influential class of opinion makers to oppose RSS and question its role in the freedom struggle is the western educated intelligentsia who are drenched in the western cultural values and look down at everything that is Hindu or Bharatiya. They feel ashamed of identifying themselves with the culture and life values and ethos of this land.

Dr. Mohan Bhagwat saluting the national flag  at RSS Mahal Karyalaya

If RSS did not participate in the freedom struggle, what were these Communists and others were doing? It will be interesting to take dip into the pages of history and find out the truth. The RSS and Communist party of India came in existence almost at the same time. While the RSS busied itself in organizing the Hindu society to achieve freedom, the Communists continued to support the British and defame leaders like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. It is on record that during the World War II so long as the Russians were not cooperating with the Allied forces, the Communists in Bharat were against them. For them, the British and Americans were ‘imperialist forces’. But the moment Stalin joined hands with the Allies; the same Commies shamelessly started singing praises for the British.

When Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose went out of Bharat and launched anti-British movement of Azad Hind Fauz, these communists made a volte face and abused Netaji as “agent of Hitler” and “Lapdog of Tojo”. They even opposed the 1942 movement and spied on the freedom fighters by providing information to the British rulers. And now they question the role of RSS in the freedom struggle?

The late Jay Prakash Narayan (JP) who led the second freedom struggle against the Emergency and who remained a strong adversary of RSS till he came in contact of Jan Sangh leaders like Nanaji Deshmukh and others, had said about the RSS: “The RSS has assumed massive dimensions and has become the most potent and idealstic instrument for total transformation in our country”.

The country witnessed this massive strength of the Sangh in just concluded 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Dr Hedewar a born patriot :
The founder of RSS Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar was a born patriot. When he was a primary student in the Neil City School, he refused to accept the sweets distributed in the schools on the 60th coronation day of Queen Victoria and when his elder brother asked he replied: “Our Bhonsla dynasty was liquidated by these Britishers. How can we participate in these imperial celebrations?” This instinctive patriotism was in his personality blossomed further with full radiance and formed the bedrock of the RSS.

Dr Hedgewar was very closely associated with the revolutionaries when he was at Kolkata for his degree in medical education. His deep contacts with the members of the Anusheelan Samiti were well described by one of his colleague Ramlal Vajpayee in his autobiography: “With the financial help from Sri Dajisaheb Buty, Keshavrao Hedgewar, founder of RSS, was sent to Calcutta more with the object of receiving training for revolutionary work under the supervision of Sri Pulin Bihari Das, rather than prosecuting higher studies”.

Young Keshavrao was introduced to Anusheelan Samiti and soon he became one of its inner circle members. When he came back to Nagpur after obtaining a degree in medicine in 1917, he plunged himself into organizing the revolutionary activities in the Central Indian region with his close associates like Bhauji Kawre and Appaji Joshi of Wardha.

However, the eventual collapse of the revolutionary movement Dr Hedgewar was forced to take recourse to other means of achieving freedom and since the Indian National Congress was the most powerful public movement, he joined it. Within the Congress he along with his friends formed Nagpur National Union. During the 1921 AICC session at Nagpur he was in charge of the volunteer force. The Nagpur National Union submitted a resolution to the subjects committee which besides demanding the Congress to declare “complete independence as it sole objective” said: “It is the aim of the Congress to strive to establish democracy in India and to liberate all nations from the grip of capitalist countries”.

That the steering committee that deliberated on the resolution did not find it worthy of presenting to the AICC and eventually rejected the same. But theModern Review of Calcutta in its March 21 issue commented on this resolution: “This resolution merited greater attention in the steering committee”.

Dr Hedgewar actively participated in the non-cooperation movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1921 along with his friends and suffered incarceration for the same. His defense in the court of Judge Smelly was described as the ‘most seditious than his earlier speeches’.

Jungle Satyagraha :
Dr Hedgewar founded the RSS on Vijayadashami Day in 1925 with an objective of injecting the spirit of nationalism, patriotism and creating a strong, vibrant organized Bharat that would lead the world community once again. Freeing the motherland from the foreign yoke was reflected in the oath of RSS members. But he did not dissociate himself from the freedom movement. When Gandhiji launched ‘Salt Satyagraha’ or Dandi March on April 6, 1930, the RSS also did not stay aloof from it. By then Dr Hedgewar was unanimously named as ‘Sarsanghchalak” of RSS. He volunteered to participate in this movement and before taking a plunge into it he delegated his authority to Dr L V Paranjape.

In the Central Provinces it was decided to break the forest laws to voice opposition to the British rule. A batch of RSS activists and Congress workers under the leadership of Dr Hedgewar proceeded towards the jungles of Yavatmal, some 150 km from Nagpur. On way at Pusad he gave a speech stating his philosophy of freedom. He said: “From polishing the boots of the Englishmen to hitting them hard on their heads with the same boots till they leave this country, all ways are equally logical in my view”. Later he offered ‘Jungle Satyagraha’ and sentenced to nine month jail term in Akola Jail.

On December 31, 1928 on the banks of Ravi River the Congress at its historical Lahore session adopted a resolution demanding “Total Independence” and decided to observe January 26, 1930 as Independence Day. Dr Hedgewar had expected the same a decade ago from the Congress. He was naturally very happy and directed all the RSS shakhas to celebrate this day by hoisting the national flag and spreading the message of freedom.

The Government in Central Provinces issued a circular prohibiting the government and local self government bodies servants to take part in RSS activities. The circular was based on the report of the intelligence department. Dr Hedgewar with his communicating and influencing skills created a mass opinion against the government move. Editorials were published in ‘Kesri’ of Pune, ‘Maharashtra’ and ‘The Hitavada’ of Nagpur criticizing the government. In the Assembly, this issue was discussed during the budget session and the government was defeated on the floor. Members of all political parties, including a Muslim Member M S Rehman, defended the RSS.

RSS & 1942 Movement :
Unfortunately Dr Hedgewar passed away in June 1940 handing over the baton of leadership to a relatively young M S Golwalkar, popularly known as Sri Guruji. It was during his tenure that the RSS was face to face with the famous 1942 “Quit India” movement and the later day events that led to the partition of the country and finally independence. Allegations are even now hurled at RSS for “assuming a passive role” or not participating in the 1942 movement. But the reality is altogether different and the detractors of RSS either do not know it or they don’t want to understand it.

The Congress under the Mahatma’s leadership announced the launch of 1942 Quit India movement on August 9 without making enough preparations for the same. The British knew of it and arrested all the top Congress leaders in one place before the agitation could be launched. Naturally, the absence of any leadership took the wind out of the sails of this movement. Still, following the footsteps of RSS founder in regards to such mass movements, many RSS swayamsevaks plunged into the agitation. To cite an example, some of the swayamsevaks succeeded in establishing a parallel government at Chimur-Ashti in Vidarbha region. Some of them later faced the gallows for this rebellion. Some RSS workers damaged the Delhi-Muzafarnagar railway line while some faced bullets trying to unfurl the tricolor atop the tehsil office in Mewan in Meerut district in UP.

Many of the prominent underground leaders of the 1942 movement were provided safe shelters by the RSS activists. Aruna Asaf Ali, Jay Prakash Narayan were housed in Delhi Sanghchalak Lala Hansraj Gupta; Achyut Patwardhan and Sane Guruji were closeted at the residence of Pune Sanghchalak Bhausaheb Deshmukh. Krantiveer Nana Patil was sheltered at Aundh Sanghchalak Pt. S D Satvalekar’s house.

The 1943 report of the intelligence department on RSS said in most clear terms: “The ulterior objective of the RSS is to drive away the British from India and free the country”.

Dr Bhagwan Das’ Observation :
It is surprising that a foreign power was able to assess and understand the objective of RSS and the role it played towards its fulfillment clearly. But our secular leaders and their leftist co-passengers failed to do so. I cannot resist myself from quoting Bharat Ratna Dr Bhawan Das who wrote about the role of RSS swayamsevaks in thwarting the plan of the Muslim League. The League planned to annihilate all the prominent Congress leaders in one go. Dr Bhagwan Das wrote on October 1, 1948: “I know for sure that RSS volunteers have informed Jawahar Lal Nehru and Sardar Patel well in advance about the plan of Muslim League under which the League had planned for armed rebellion and annihilating the Ministers of the Government of India and the senior officers, unfurl the Pakistani flag atop Lal Quilla, and establish their government in India.

“Had these patriotic and sincere youths not informed Nehru and Patel in time, the entire country today would have become Pakistan; lakhs of Hindus would have been butchered and more than that would have been converted to Islam forcibly and India would have become slave once again. What does it indicate? Clearly, it suggests that our government must utilize the nationalist power of lakhs of RSS swayamsevaks instead of subordinating it”.

It was again irony of fate that Dr Bhagwandas wrote these words at a time when thousands of RSS workers were languishing in jails of independent Bharat for the crime they never dreamt of committing in their wildest ever dreams—the assassination of the Mahatma. The charge was never proved any court of law, and by any of the enquiry commission set up by the government. But it is still used widely by these seculars, leftists and their likes to malign the RSS. We have witnessed this in the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign.

The common people of this country cannot be fooled any more. The election results have proved this. No attempt to malign the RSS will ever succeed because the truth will shine in its full luminousness.

Written By Virag Pachpore,
Source: News Bharati English