Veteran Sangh Pracharak Vishnu Kumar who practically materialised the service concept of RSS in Delhi, passed away on May 25. He was 76. He was unwell for the last a few months. He was undergoing treatment at Agrasen Hospital of Delhi. He returned Keshav Kunj in the morning and breathed his last at the Sangh Sthan. He performed the Sangh Prarthana and breathed his last at 6.55 am. Senior Pracharaks Shri Indresh Kumar, veteran Pracharak Shri Sohan Singh, Sah Prant Sanghachalak Shri Shyam Sunder Agrawal and joint secretary general of VHP Shri Champat Rai were also present at the shakha at that time.
Hundreds of swayamsevaks reached Keshav Kunj to pay their last respect to the departed soul. Prominent among those who paid tribute at Keshav Kunj included senior Pracharak Shri Indresh Kumar, former Governor of Goa Shri Kidarnath Sahani, Prant Pracharak Shri Prem Kuamr, Prant Karyavah Shri Vijay Kumar, Shri Deepak Rathi of Sewa Bharati. He was cremated at Nigam Bodh Ghat, Delhi where hundreds of prominent personalities belonging to various organisations including VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal, VHP leader Shri Omkar Bhave, BJP national general secretary (organisation) Shri Ramlal, BJP leader Dr Harsh Vardhan, state BJP president Prof. Omprakash Kohli, etc paid their tribute.
Born on May 5, 1933 at Chikvallapuram Nagar, near Bengaluru, in Karanataka, Vishnuji was the youngest among his six siblings. He became a swayamsevak in his childhood and became a Pracharak after completing his BE mechanical education in 1962. He mostly worked in Aligarh, Pilibhit, Lakhimpur, Kashi, Kanpur, Delhi and Bhopal. He worked with Shri Ashok Singhal during the Emergency. He was popular as ‘Masterji’ during the Emergency in Kanpur. He also played a key role in the satyagraha. He came to Delhi in 1978 to look after the responsibility of Praudh Shakhas. But later he fully devoted himself to the cause of service activities, carried out under the banner of Sewa Bharati after the call of the then Sarsanghachalak Shri Bala Saheb Deoras. He was shifted to Bhopal in 1995 where too he expanded the Sewa Bharati work even in the remote areas of the region. Today, there are six Matrichhaya Kendras, 21 hostels and thousands of Ekal Vidyalas in Madhya Kshetra alone and all this has been possible due to the tireless efforts of Vishnuji.
Vishnuji had developed a live and close contact with the workers, teachers and students joining the sewa projects. There are more than 1000 youth in Delhi alone who had been moulded by Vishnuji as their guardian. These youth are now working in different professional groups and companies as successful professionals.
Sewa Bharati today runs more than 2200 service projects in Delhi alone. Vishnuji had formally founded the organisation in May 1979 with the inauguration of a Samskar Kendra by Bala Saheb Deoras. Though, Vishnuji had already started several projects in a few Sewa Bastis of Delhi in 1978 itself, the formal constitution of the Sewa Bharati was done in 1980. Vishnuji became its founder organising secretary. He had also founded series of coaching centres, reading rooms, libraries, Samskar Kendras, Balwadis, cutting tailoring centres for women and computer training centres. Today the network of thousands of Sewa Bharati activists, donors, hostels, dispensaries and other projects that we see in Delhi and Madhya Kshetra is the result of the tireless efforts and dedication of Vishnuji. He dedicated every iota of his life to the service activities and the Sangh.
A condolence meeting to pay tribute to Vishnuji will be held by Delhi Prant of RSS on May 31 at Keshav Kunj, Jhandewalan.
