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  Activists who attend these one month camps or workshops remember them long after passing out of them. The duration of one month is not easy for the members of a family as one has to manage vacations and sacrifice holiday fun. The very fact that not many people go beyond first year underlines this difficulty in making time for it. People who come for third year are, ofcourse, very well seasoned. The third year being centrally held, meeting people of all regions right from Kerala to Bengal to Jammu to Gujarat is an experience itself. People who reach this stage cherish this experience through life. For people who come from outside Nagpur, it is like a pilgrimage to visit the place of its birth and place of birth of its founder.

  Thus, the image that blind critics of Sangh create – that of lumpen elements, riotous mobs and blood thirsty fanatics – is far removed from the reality of enlightened, highly trained, dedicated, selfless activists who sacrifice their most loved interests to work for the society, their motherland. By virtue of this kind of training over years, they can never be irresponsible street fighters or ruffians.

  I have already explained the working of shakha. It is through these activities that the future managers and activists are trained in all aspects of organisation, management, creating and sustaining networks; and also trained in personal values of integrity, patriotism, spirit of sacrifice, selfless service to the society and burning urge to be ever ready to offer one’s service to the nation in any capacity.

  RSS is a self-propelled movement, powered by selfless citizens; and is a power house for all the activities of nation building.

  XI

  Institution of Prachaarak

  Prachaarak system is a unique institution within the RSS. A prachaarak is a full time volunteer of the RSS. He receives no salary or honorarium. So, he is different from the full-time paid workers of other social or political organisations. He stays in the RSS offices (called kaaryaalay in RSS terminology) or sometimes at sympathisers’ homes. He lives within very simple and bare necessities of life and leads the life of a celibate or brahmachaari. Though he lives amongst families and in the society as a normal worldly being (grihasthi), he is a sanyasi or monk for all practical purposes. There are some exceptional cases where a person returned to family and professional life but, went on to work full time for Sangh like any other prachaarak again.

  This system of offering oneself for some years or for entire life for the nation was initiated during the times of Dr Hedgewar, the founder of RSS, and subsequently nurtured with care and love by Guruji who, more or less, created its institutional norms. The first batch of foot soldiers of Dr Hedgewar comprised of students who had passed school and were about to join college. He asked each of his talented students to go to different colleges in different states to study and work for Sangh there. Some went out of Nagpur as professionals, teachers etc. Though they were not designated prachaaraks officially at that time, most of them became prachaaraks subsequently, after completing their studies. and created the foundation of this system. Credit of initiating the second RSS chief Guruji into shakha goes to one such student of Banaras Hindu University whom Guruji used to teach.

  The RSS work is mostly carried out by members of society who carry out their normal duties of a student, a worker, a professional, an artisan or a farmer and a family man. They give their time and dedicate their efforts voluntarily to strengthen the organisation and spread its message. But, prachaarak is the soul of the organisation. He is respected by every volunteer. He has a moral authority over and above the authority he is given officially. His sacrifice of the prime years of his life puts him up on a higher pedestal above the other normal volunteers and citizens. This is in keeping with hoary Indian tradition wherein a rishi or a sage commands more respect than a king or a businessman.

  A prachaarak starts out with a commitment of minimum three to four years but many prachaaraks give their life time for this work. There is no compulsion to stay a prachaarak for life. But, once the soul is enlightened with this sacrifice he perhaps, feels more fulfilled in this role than any other. He may extend his commitment upto any period as he wishes. Thus, thousands of such noble souls have surrendered their lives for the upliftment of the society and motherland. There are a few stories of some prachaaraks who have actually turned sanyasis. May be, they become so spiritual through regular practice of yoga, meditation and service to the society that it leads them to this path. But, primarily a prachaarak is a karmayogi who firmly believes that serving the motherland and the society is the best way to spiritual salvation. For example, there is an ordained sanyasi like Dr Vigyananand of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), IIT alumni, a Sanskrit scholar with multiple research degrees, who is a VHP prachaarak. Guruji had taken ‘diksha’ to become a sanyasi through Ramakrishna Mission under Swami Akhandaananand but the emotional call from Dr Hedgewar to serve the society rather than look for his own ‘nirvana’ in Himalayas pulled him back into active social life. This aura of a spiritual personality may have rubbed off on other prachaaraks, and they too developed a spiritual outlook in life. This is the environment in which the first and subsequent generations of prachaaraks were moulded.

  The tradition of a prachaarak being a brahmachaari is more rooted in practicality of working full time for the society without any worldly responsibilities of his family rather than any spiritual or organisational dogma. We see simple family people give so much of time and resources to Sangh work that many times, families suffer and resent this focus on social work rather than family. This is true even for other dedicated people in social life outside the Sangh fold. Though, the passion for serving the motherland is fine, it is not practically possible for everybody to be as ‘impractical’ about his or her other duties to family. Thus, there is a need of a fully dedicated person without any family obligations. This simple ascetic like celibate life also makes him immune to any kind of corruption.

  There is a shorter period version of prachaarak called vistaarak. Here the commitment is for a shorter period of a few months to a year. The duties and style of work is same as that of a prachaarak, but duration is lesser with clear understanding of the duration As the word ‘vistaarak’ suggests, he is a person who takes up the task of expanding the work of the organisation. in a new area to help the organisation grow there. There is an anecdote of an activist whose family was opposing his move to become a vistaarak. A senior Prachaarak told him, “You should tell your family that you are going on probation as a trainee manager in a company called Hindusthan Construction Company. The company provides lodging, boarding, free travel and clothes but does not offer any remuneration. They will surely agree!” Though, said in a lighter vein, how true! We would happily allow our dear one to take up such a chance but recoil at the thought of giving away our family member for an abstract idea of nation building even for a short duration.

  One of the outstanding traits of the RSS prachaarak is his utter simplicity and humility. An interaction with an evolved prachaarak is a humbling experience in itself. For me, meeting Late Chamanlal ji, a very senior prachaarak who used to stay in the Delhi office of the RSS was a pleasure for the aura that this ever smiling pure personality with a spiritual aura he exuded. It also used to be a humbling experience. He was very well known through his vast network and painstaking correspondence to keep in touch with hundreds of people when there was no Internet, and post cards and inland letters were the way of life. But, as in case of all prachaaraks, he was not a known ‘public’ face. Once, some industrialist with a reference letter from an RSS worker was to come to Delhi to meet Chamanlal ji and the message was received in Delhi. On reaching Delhi station, this gentleman found a thin pyjama kurta clad simple looking man waiting to receive him. He was greeted with a warm smile and folded hand, and this simple man picked up his bag to take him to the kaaryaalay. The guest did not talk on way and kept busy with his own thoughts. On reaching the office, he asked Chamanlal ji, “where is Mr. Chamanlal.” Our humble man, said with a smile, “Shrimanji, I am Chamanlal!” This Chamanlal j
i had come from a very well to do family in Punjab, was a person who could walk into Mr Vajpayee’s or any other leader’s home unannounced, whose call would be answered with respect by one and all. He was a keen student of international affairs. He would never take anybody else’s chair without permission, would stand up and offer water or tea to a visitor himself. He was an inspiration, beyond words.

  Generally, all the prachaaraks are notable achievers in their field before they choose to give it up all. Many of the prachaaraks are gold medalists and university toppers. Most of them would have been great achievers in the field they chose because of their skills and academic qualifications. I am aware of a case where young activist wished to become a prachaarak but he was not given permission as he hadn’t finished his graduation at that time.

  I cannot name current generation of prachaaraks. As an unwritten code of conduct they shun any kind of publicity about self. An attempt to do so will become, literally, a long calling list! But, I cannot resist giving a few examples to expand on this point.

  One of the earliest prachaarak of RSS, late Yadavrao Joshi was an accomplished classical singer. Dr Hedgewar once heard him in a concert where he had won ‘Bal Gandharva’ citation. He called him later and told him that he would teach him (Yadavrao) a patriotic song. Yadavrao used to say, “That song later became the song of my life”, and that is, he offered his whole life to the service of the nation. He was instrumental in establishing a robust RSS network in South India. Such was his magnetic pull that out of 13 young people who went to a forest trek with him 8 became prachaaraks, Ram Madhav disclosed once. Late Nana Palkar and Shivrai Telang were great writers. Nana Palkar wrote the popular autobiographies of the first and second RSS chiefs, as also one of the earliest books on Israel in India in late 1950s. Atal Behari Vajpayee was writing poetry since his prachaarak days and his name as a poet came to light only when he entered politics. He has written some of the most soul stirring patriotic poems. One of such poem is, “Hindu tan man, Hindu jeevan, shat shat Hindu meraa parichay” (Hindu body and soul, Hindu life, cent per cent Hindu – this is my identity.) This is not the opportunity to quote the full poem, but it is the best exposition about what being a Hindu means and Hinduism is all about – an affirmative statement extolling the non-aggressive and enlightening role Hinduism has played in the world. Bachcharaj Vyas, a prachaarak for two years, later on President of the then Jan Sangh was another great poet and many of his poems find place in RSS songs. Shri H V Sheshadri was a Karnataka state literary award winner. Most of the prachaaraks, generally, become great linguists as a part of their job when they work in different states and regions. The prachaarak in my area in Mumbai, now posted in Delhi, is a Gold Medalist, M. Sc. (Tech) from IIT. Late Shri Rajendra Singh, erstwhile RSS chief was a great teacher of physics. A renowned nuclear physicist once complained that RSS had taken away a promising nuclear physicist of India. He used to go straight from his RSS related tours to his class room to take his lectures in dhoti-kurta with his trade mark RSS prachaarak jhola.

  A prachaarak cannot choose his place of work or field of work. He may be deputed to any area in India. He may even be assigned to another sister organisation if there is a request from there. Many people are aware of Deendayal Upadhyay, Nanaji Deshmukh, Sunder Singh Bhandari and Atal Behari Vajpayee etc. being deputed to the then Jan Sangh on request of Dr Shyama Prasad Mukerjee, founder of Jan Sangh. Eknath Ranade was relieved of his very important duties as Sarkaaryavaah (Secretary General) of RSS to take up the work of Vivekanand Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari. It is a national monument now. Dadasaheb Apte was released to organise the fledgling Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Shyam Gupt who pioneered the Ekal movement of one teacher one school is another example. There are hundreds of such inspiring individuals.

  A prachaarak is supposed to adopt to the local environment and become one amongst the people with whom he works. There are cases of pure vegetarian prachaaraks turning non-vegetarians when they started work in North East region of India as that is the way of life there.

  In early days, prachaaraks used to be sent to a totally new area with an introductory letter from Dr Hedgewar to a friend or contact there. Doctorji commanded such respect that this prachaarak would atleast get a place to rest his back on reaching there. He had to adjust to whatever kind of support he could get, even sleep in the open sometimes. Prachaaraks would travel by foot or in better circumstances, by cycle for miles and could end up with sparse and irregular food or no food at all. I suspect that the reason why many first generation prachaaraks have serious health problems is that many a times they had to live on raw grams, skip food and lead a very tough life till some sort of network was raised in their area of operation. The travelling that this group does is beyond imagination. Guruji, the top leader of RSS used to say, “Railway bogey is my second home”. He had toured the entire country from East to West, from North to South 66 times in his 33 year tenure, including the last two years of his life when he was terminally ill with cancer.

  Since a prachaarak is like a sanyasi, he is not supposed to have any attachment to any organisation or area. So, you find a prachaarak from deep South becoming almost an UP-wala or a prachaarak from Maharashtra becoming a Tamil over years. Since, the Sangh initially grew up in Maharashtra, the first batch of prachaaraks and workers were Marathi speaking but some adopted Tamil, some Punjabi and some Gujarati as their preferred language. In early days, Dadarao Paramarth was sent to Madras Province, Tamil Nadu of today. Later Datta ji Didolkar and Shivram Joglekar were sent there. These three laid the foundation of Sangh work there. They not only became one with the local population but also mastered the language and were proficient in writing books and essays, not just reading and speaking. Similarly, Madhavrao Muley practically becoming a Punjabi and Laxmanrao Inamdar, the mentor of current Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi settled down in Gujarat since his young days. This, again, is only a glimpse of a prachaarak’s life style.

  Some of the prachaaraks, who were deputed to political field, have also become mass leaders and hold political power with élan. Shri Narendra Modi is a recent example. Shri Atal Behari and L K Advani reached the pinnacle of power and simply said, “I am a swayamsevak.”

  This institution of prachaarak has also been adopted by other RSS related organisations like ABVP, VHP and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) etc. Sangh is generally requested to loan a prachaarak by any new Sangh inspired organisation that starts work in a new field. Later that organisation is expected to create its own band of workers, volunteers and even prachaaraks. Thus, there are thousands of these quality people all over India spreading the good word about Hindu heritage, national unity, equality, social amity, dedication to society, its upliftment and citizen’s duty in nation building. In general, helping India become a better place for all its citizens.

  No wonder that inspite of virulent propaganda and campaigns of calumny against the Sangh school of thought the critics cannot stop its growth. The silent work by these virtual monks cannot be matched by hysteric outbursts of its critics. Positivity will always win over negativity.

  PART III

  THE MANIFESTATION

  Shalabh ban jalna saral hai sneh ki jalti shikha par,

  Swayam ko til til jalaa kar deep bananaa hee kathin hai,

  Sadhana ka path kathin hai.

  It is easy to be a moth and burn oneself over the glowing flame of love, but it is very difficult to be a lamp which burns itself, atom by atom to give light to others. Path to dedicated service is, indeed, tough.

  – From a Sangh song

  “All religions and sects are mine, all castes are mine, people living in hills and forests are mine. If they are unhappy then it is only because of our weaknesses. Our tribal society, lying neglected because of a big section of Hindu society that considers itself clever, is my inalienable part. I will do whatever is necessary to correct the wrongs perpetrated over years, awakening within all this kind of strong resolve; Hindu society will rise in a unified way; a strong s
ociety that would stand in its place of birth, in its own land from Himalayas to Oceans with its head held high in the world.”

  – M S Golwalkar (Guruji), 1966

  XII

  Off Shoots

  Sister/Associate Organisations

  I have mentioned earlier about the gradual evolution of the Sangh in its working and its organisation over years as the situations emerged that demanded something more from RSS and its members. Interestingly, the term Sangh parivaar is a media invention. The Sangh leaders judiciously labelled the organisations inspired by the Sangh as sister or associate organisations. They didn’t deal with them in terms of parent-child relationship, hence this term ‘Sangh parivaar’ was eschewed consciously. But, somehow by the grace of the media this term of Sangh parivaar has struck roots. I will attempt to give a better idea of the major organisations of this family or ‘parivaar’ in this chapter.

  Late D B Thengdi described this evolution in the organisation as ‘gradual unfoldment’ of Sangh work. This unfoldment began with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), followed by Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA). Bharatiya Jan Sangh was not actually an off-shoot of RSS. It was loaned some of the best talents at request of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukerjee by loaning him his best talents for Bharatiya Jan Sangh. Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) was born next, followed by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Saraswati Shishu Mandirs (schools) for providing high quality value based education were started much earlier in 1952, though a formal structure of working under a parent body of Vidya Bharati took form much later. All these organisations grew up to become the number one organisations in their respective fields. These are mass all India level organisations with their own networks, autonomous working structure, constitution and even, full time volunteers.