Swadeshi Jagaran Manch asked the Union Government to explain its failure to anticipate the collapse of US financial system resulting in global meltdown. The demand was raised in a resolution passed at its seventh Rashtriya Sabha held in Bengaluru from December 26 to 28, 2008. The Rashtriya Sabha was inaugurated by RSS Sahsarkaryavah Shri Madan Das. Former Governor and former Justice Rama Jois was also present on the occasion.
Over 800 SJM activists including about 150 women activists from different parts of the country participated in the three-day Rashtriya Sabha. All national co-conveners Shri Saroj Mitra, Shri S. Gurumurthy, Prof. Kumarswamy, Prof. Bhagwati Prasad Sharma, Shri Ravi Wig and national Samanvayak Shri Arun Ojha were also present. All the members of steering committee and national working council including those from allied organisations like BMS, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and Sanskar Bharati also attended the meet.
Former Justice Rama Jois recalled his association with SJM from its first convention held in New Delhi, which he had attended along with Justice Krishna Aiyer. He expressed his pleasure to witness SJM emerging as a powerful movement in a short span of 15 years. Reminding participants the mutually complimentary role of Swadeshi and freedom movements former Justice Rama Jois said the economic freedom and Swadeshi feeling were the motto of our nation then. But unfortunately after the British left love for foreign goods and foreign brands increased so much so that people continue to ask for education in English language even after 61 years of Independence. ?We are our friends as well as enemies. No one from outside is going to solve our problems. We the people of India will have to develop our country,? he opined.
He emphasised the need to develop a duty-based society instead of trying to imitate blindly the western concept of rights-based society. Terming the absence of duty-related chapters in the original Constitution a serious flaw, former Justice Jois asked for a change in attitudes that will ultimately lead to self-sufficiency in every field of national activity. This was the bottom line of Swadeshi Movement, he emphasised.
Shri Murlidhar Rao, former national convener of SJM, held that under the deteriorating security scenario in view of Mumbai attacks, the stand espoused by SJM from its very inception is being accepted by the people all over the globe now. He invited the attention of the audience towards the inability of the government to find out the source of money coming to India through participatory notes. He accused the Finance Minister of failure to detect the collapse of US financial system. ?SJM has to be a path developer. We will have to find new ways for the world going through crisis,? he declared.
Shri Arun Ojha said the SJM activists throughout the country spread awareness in the society about the uplift of women, welfare of farmers. He also presented the account of Azadi Bachao Yatra taken out in different parts of the country. Three books were also released on the occasion. These include the World Beyond Marx and Market by Shri S Gurumurthy. The other two books are based on the lectures delivered by Shri Jagmohan and Dr. Bhagwati Prakash Sharma. Vaishvik Aarthik Sankat; Karan ya Samadhan by Dr BP Sharma has been published by Swadeshi Jagaran Manch; The Crisis of Environment & Climate Change by Shri Jagmohan was published by Allied Publishers.
Bengaluru was also witness to a change of guard in the SJM. Now Shri Muralidhar Rao who led SJM from a protesting fringe to important voice during his tenure, handed over the charge to Shri Arun Ojha. This decision was announced by Shri Madan Das in Working Committee. Introducing Shri Arun Ojha, Shri Gurumurthy anticipated elevation of Swadeshi Movement to a newer and higher pedestal. Shift from South to Bihar, the heartthrob of socio-political movements of India, he hoped, will usher in a new era not only in the life of SJM but that of the country as well. Dr. Mahesh Chander Sharma also spoke on the occasion.
Shri Arun Ojha refused to accept any change in SJM activities. He said it is a continuous flow that is going on and the chapter has yet to close. The writing of the chapter that started in 1925 will close only after several left-over pages are written and we will have to do that together, he emphasised.
Shri Ojha was born on June 20, 1958 in Jehanabad, Bihar. After completing Masters Degree in Botany, he became the head of youth wing of VHP in Bihar and held that position from 1976 to 1980. From 1980 to 1991 he was the state secretary of BMS and was associated with several trade unions in Bihar.
On December 28, Shri Kashmirilalji declared programmes to be taken up by SJM in the coming year. He asked the delegates to prepare the five-year appraisal report of UPA government and highlight the same at district level in seminars, group discussions and in any other way they feel better. Declaring the year 2009 to be the Public Awareness Campaign he said Swadeshi message will be taken to every household in the country.
Shri Kashmirilalji who till now was looking after the SJM activities in north India as the Sangathak will now be the Akhil Bharatiya Sangathak responsible to take care of the activities throughout the country. All the co-conveners have been given specific areas to focus on. Besides, Shri Annada Shankar Panigrahi will now be the Kshetra Sangathak of Orissa and West Bengal. Shri K Biju will be zonal co-convener of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Shri Apala Prasad will be convener of cultural cell at national level and Shri Deepak Sharma Pardeep will be incharge of central office and will also hold the additional charge of National Prabandh Pramukh.
(FOC)
