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VSK Karnataka
On March 28, Kuphalli (at Krishnarajpet taluk in Mandya district of Karnataka) was in festive mood, for on that day Shri K.S. Sudarshan, the RSS Sarsanghachalak, was to visit his native village. The entire hamlet decorated with festoons and rangavalli adorning the fa?ade of every house was eager to welcome Shri Sudarshan. When after about three hours? drive Sudarshanji reached Kuphalli at noon, the elders of the village were present at the outskirts to welcome him. He was profusely garlanded and accorded poornakumbha swagat by kalashadhari sumangalis.
Shri Sudarshan had to walk a distance of about half a km in the village along with the people in a procession with drum-beating and other such traditional rural paraphernalia accompanying. On the way, special pooja was performed in two temples. Sudarshanji, though drenched with sweat, was in high spirits with the touching reception accorded to him in his native village. After the procession, he had his dinner and a short siesta at his cousin'sresidence.
Shri Seetharamaiah, Sudarshanji'sfather and sibling of Shri Venkataramaiah, had migrated to Madhya Pradesh long back in 1920, as an officer in the forest department and settled in that very region since then. As such Sudarshanji'scontact with Kuphalli used to be during the vacations only. His paternal cousins, Ramanna and Krishnamurthy, still reside in Kuphalli.
Shri Sudarshan met a non-stop stream of cousins and other visitors coming from surrounding villages on that day. In the evening there was a felicitation at the local Ram Mandir. In this function, while replying to the felicitation, Sudarshanji expressed his desire to see Kuphalli as a role model village. He appealed to the village elders to constitute gram vikas samitis, through which a five-point programme could be implemented for a social transformation.
The five points included: samajik shikshana (literacy drive and inculcation of proper samskars), samajik samarasta (for restoring social harmony), samajik suraksha (security measure against external evil elements, including Naxals), samajik swasthya (the health of villagers), and finally samajik samriddhi (incorporating water conservation and rain-harvesting programmes, organic manure-based agriculture, protection of cow-progeny and agro-based industry).
After the function, Shri Sudarshan visited the local Sangh shakha. The shakha in Kuphalli is just a couple of months old. The enthusiasm of the Swayamsevaks was to be seen to believe. ?Aressessina all India leaderu namma Kuphalli avarante. Avaru bandavre,? they said in their own rustic manner (It is said that the all India leader of RSS is from Kuphalli. He has come). They had passed on this information to all the local people. The villagers were all agog on sanghastan before time. In the shakha, Sudarshanji explained to them in simple 8-10 sentences how the Sangh was started, how it grew and what its mission is.
After the shakha, Shri Sudarshan was accorded a civic reception by the village Panchayat. Shri Timme Gowda, former chief of the Panchayat, Shri Sannamanje Gowda, a senior citizen of the village, Dr Krishnamurthy, a medical practitioner, were present on the dais.
Hedgewar Samman
The function to present Dr Hedgewar Pragya Samman to Shri Manikchand Vajpayee, which was scheduled to be held on April 24, has been postponed following the death of Acharya Vishnukant Shastri. Our report, Dr Hedgewar Pragya Sammant to Mamaji (Organiser, May 1, 2005) had mentioned that the award was presented to Mamaji on April 24. The error is regretted.?Ed.
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