PARAM-pujaniya Sarsanghchalakji, respected Akhil Bharatiya Padadhikari, Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakarini, honorable officials and other members of the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal, all the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhis and all the special invitees, mothers, sisters and brothers, actively engaged in various fields with great pleasure, I take this opportunity to welcome you here in the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha being held at the historic Kurukshetra, where Sri Krishna revealed the immortal ‘Geeta’, which inspired the confused Arjun to achieve victory over ‘adharma’.
The agenda for this Pratinidhi Sabha is as follow :-
An overview of our works and activities till date
Assessment of various programmes and projects completed so far
Exchange of views and experiences
Discuss, examine and analyse the challenges facing the nation in the present context and the new situations that are arising because of such challenges
Explore right solutions and outline future plans accordingly
Also delineate paths for implementing such plans and programmes
However, before we proceed further, it will be very apt on this occasion to remember and pay homage to our departed colleagues. Those noble souls were always beloved and highly honoured by all of us. They had inspired us not only by their commitment, diligence and unstinted faith in the virtuous principles, but also by their very affectionate behaviour. It is through their consummate vision and exemplary contributions in all the different walks of life they have left an indelible mark particularly on the political and social canvass of our country. We sadly miss their presence today but their memories will forever remain a guiding force to all of us and as they have done before they will continue to inspire us and motivate us to take strides towards a glorious future.
Homage
The man who has served our noble purpose, our priceless close associate, Shri Nanaji Deshmukh, bid good-bye to this world after completing 93 years of a glorious life filled only with exceptional service to society and ending it by donating his body. He sacrificed a promising political career to provide all the fruits of his limitless vision, scholarship and experience to the younger generations and spent his entire energy to bring about social transformation in more than 500 villages around UP/ MP border. The projects at Gonda and Chitrakoot shall ever remain the unforgettable symbols of his memory. He truly deserves to be called a Shreshtha Karmayogi.
Dr Sripati Shastri passed away in Pune, recently. On innumerable occasion we were blessed by his guidance as he was Akhil Bharatiya Sah Boudhik Pramukh and was also Karyawah of Maharashtra Prant over a number of years. His in-depth vision, eminent scholarship, superb eloquence and unique accomplishments were solely dedicated to Sangh-Karya. He made special contributions in the fields of education and social fields. The vibrance of his selfless work was heard throughout Maharashtra but Pune was nucleus of his activities. He had innumerable friends all over and the absence of such an inspiring personality amongst us today is deeply felt.
Dr Krishnamurty, the Prant Sanghchalak of Dakshin Karnatak Prant, who impressed us all by his simple life-style, amiable nature and his soft-spoken manners. He left us very early. Cancer had him eventually but the disease could never conquer his indomitable spirit.
Shri Natwarsinghji Waghela, popularly known as ‘Bapu’ within a circle of swayamsevaks in Gujarat left us and proceeded for his heavenly abode. He not only guided but also looked after several workers. He lived with exemplary simplicity, and always emphasised on attending daily Shakhas. Age never could be a hindrance to his penchant for hard work.
Honorable Omprakashji Maigi, whose dedicated efforts resulted in expansion of Sangh-Karya in Jammu & Kashmir and gave it a glorious stature, whose guidance as Prant Sanghchalak was invaluable, also completed his life’s journey.
Dr Subhashji, who contributed to the growth of Sangh-Karya in Himachal Pradesh as Sah- Prant Karyawah, also left us.
Shri Bhimsenrao Deshpande, was Dharma Jagaran Pramukh for Andhra; he worked as co-editor of “Jagruti”, a weekly circulated in different districts of Andhra Pradesh. He along with his entire family humbly played a crucial role in Sangh-Karya. He had been assisting and guiding the Swayamsevaks in relief work during natural calamities and in development works while spreading awareness amongst scheduled castes and tribes. He established 100 Hanuman Temples in tribal villages. In spite of such labour intensive engagements, he translated and published Sixth volume of “Guruji Samagra Darshan” in Telgu. He was very soft spoken and possessed an extremely pleasant personality also left this world after suffering a sudden massive heart attack. He donated his eyes before finally leaving for his heavenly destination. His wishes were fulfilled accordingly.
Shri Brijkishoreji, Vyawastha Pramukh of Poorva-Uttarkshetra, passed away after an illness. Senior Pracharak of Tamil Nadu, Shri B Uttamrajji, who entered the service sector of Blood Donation inspired by Late Shivram Pant ji, left us just after a brief illness. An ultramodern Blood-Bank of Chennai will keep the memories of ‘Uttamraj’ alive in our hearts for years to come.
Then we lost Shri Kaushalanandji Sinha, former Baudhik Pramukh for Eastern UP, who was regional organising secretary of the National Education Board. Shri Raghumani Sharma, one of the first Swayamsevaks from Manipur, an Ex-MP and ex-president of the Bharatiya Jana-Sangh (Manipur) passed away just after offering his last salute Parampujniya Sarasanghachalakji.
Past Zonal Co-ordinator of Itihas Sankalan Yojana, Shri Mithileshji Srivastava; Shri Ganesh Duttji Saraswat, ex- president of Sahakar Bharati, Awadh Prant; Shri Cittaranjanji Kolhatkar, president Sanskar Bharati, Maharashtra Prant, and well known personality in the field of Marathi drama, Shri Viraduraju Ramaraju, ex-president of VHP and eminent Littérateur – honored with many prestigious awards including Gyanpad award; Shri Purnam Lakshmi Narayanan, ex-president of Bharatiya Vichar Kendram, Vidya Bharati Andhra Pradesh and many other senior colleagues have been lost to us.
Shri Udyam ji, organising secretary of Vidya Bharati (Bihar- Jharkhand) ever smiling and spreading happiness around, could not survive a serious heart attack. His absence amongst us is difficult to believe.
Shri Manmohan Rai was inspired to become a swayamsevak in his youth after reading magazine Swastika published from Bengal. As a Pracharak he continued his work diligently in a most challenging environment and remained wholeheartedly committed to Sangh principles. It was a sad coincidence that his younger brother too became his co passenger on his heavenly journey.
The well known industrialist and social worker of Pune, Shri Purshottambhai Shroff passed away after leading a meritorious life of 84 years. He had completed his 3-year Sangh Shiksha Varg of Pune in 1941 and was a founding pillar of the “Swarupwardhini”. Around that time we also lost Shri Bramhanandji Panda of Cuttak (Orissa), who graced many of our programmes as the chief guest and was a strong pillar for “Vidya Bharati”. Shri Suryakant Acharyaji, a swayamsevak of Junagarh (Gujarat) since childhood and a long time political activist of Janasangh. Former Pracharak Shri Divvel Krishnamurtiji of Prakasham district (Andhra Pradesh); Shri Ramavatar Mahana ji, one time district and mahanagar Sanghchalak for Kanpur; prominent businessman Shri Pramod Mehrotra ji of Kannauj (brother of Late Shri Sharad Mehrotra ji Ex- Prantpracharak of Madhya Bharat); very senior Pracharak, Shri Babulaji Namdev who was in charge of our Jabalpur karyalaya for many years; Shri Gandhiram Timangu ji of Karbiyanglang in Assam and Shri Kamlesh Kumar (jilla Pracharak Singroli) who got killed in a road accident and Shri Vipin Namdeo (Tahsil Pracharak); all left us. Shri Narendrabhai Shah, who had earned a place of profound respect in the social life of Kenya, who was a central pillar of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh of Kenya, also left us.
Shri Jyoti Basu, ex-Chief Minister of West Bengal ever engaged during his memorably long political career; Shri Janeshwar Mishra, a pillar of socialist ideology also known as ‘Lohiya-Junior’; Shri Ashwathji well known for his achievements in the field of music; Shri Shantilalji Somayya who considered inculcation of moral values and virtuous teachings as basic aim in education-who established many prestigious educational institutions and arranged for inclusion of religion, philosophy and culture as recognised aspects of education in these institutions was himself wholehearted participant in all such activities initiated by Sangh swayamsevaks. Shri Arun Kamble, even while treading a different path dedicating his life and vision to the growth of awareness and development work amongst the dalit samaj, allowed his son to follow the path of the RSS. This great man continued his work till the very end of his life. Shri Vishnuvardhan ji of Karnataka cine world, 92-year old Shree Govind Vinayak alias Vinda Karandikar ji, a novelist sage, Dyanpeeth Award winner, is no more.
Thus, recently we have lost many renowned personalities who were revered and respected for their accomplishments in the fields of Art and Culture.
By observing a silence for a few minutes we will pay our humble homage with a deep sense of gratitude to great personalities who sacrificed their all serving the mankind but who continue to light our paths with the brilliance of their noble and gallant acts and to all those selfless workers and martyrs in the country and to those who laid down their lives in natural as well as manmade disasters and accidents all over the world, to those who had been victims of violent and senseless acts of terrorism. We express our deepest sympathies and share the grief of all the family members, relatives, friends and colleagues.
An overview of annual accomplishments
The annual training camps were conducted in the months of May and June 2009 at 68 centers throughout the country. The camps for the first year trainees were planned by the respective prants where as the camps for the second year trainees were conducted and planned by the kshetriya units. Appreciating the constraints of language in regions such as South-Central and Eastern special language based camps were organised.
All together, 10,623 trainees from 7078 different villages/ districts/towns/cities attended the ‘First Year’ camps conducted at 47 centers while camps for the ‘Second Year’ at 13 centers were attended by 2581 trainees from 2116 different villages/ districts/ towns/ cities. The training camp for the third year at Nagpur had a net strength of 923 and the participants were from 859 different places. A special camp for ‘First Year’ conducted at seven centres participating 346 trainees from 279 places. A special camp for the ‘Third Year’ was additionally organised in December 2009 in which 310 trainees from 251 places participated.
Special additional shiksha varga for ‘Second Year’ were not conducted last year. However, in the current year (2010), special vargas for the ‘Second Year’ are going to be organised during May – June at selected centers across the country. As per information available on date a total of 39, 823 Shakhas are being run at 27,089 places. Saptahik Milan is held at 7356 centers and Sanghamandali is organised at 6949 places.
This statistical data gives us an idea of our work. We have observed in the last three to four years that the fluctuation in numbers is a usual phenomenon and forms a sort of pattern. These variations need not be considered as aberrations or glaring instances. What is genuinely immediate is to concentrate on qualitative improvement. Attention must be drawn to the fact that the interest of our workers towards Shakha Tolis, and Upkramshilta etc is increasing.
The achievements of various programmes conducted over the last year are clear pointers that we are step by step progressing towards quality improvement and consolidating our work. However, it must be admitted that time has now come to focus our energies on amplification of numbers by way of increasing number of the Shakhas and the locations.
Though, the numbers have not substantially soared up in the past years it is highly endearing that the process of visualising new policies for achieving organisational growth, in terms of its spread and strength, is gaining momentum through the visits of all Adhikaris to different prants under the all India plan. The programmes conducted in different regions are ample pointers of speeding up activities in this direction at all levels.
Nationwide tour of parampujaniya Sarsanghchalakji
The visits of Shri Mohanji Bhagwat to prime locations across the country were planned as per our tradition soon after he took over the responsibilities of Parampujaniya Sarsanghchalak. In order to strengthen the organisation through these visits, three programmes were particularly organised at each place – Sarsanghchalak Pranam, Samajik Sadbhava Baithaks and Open Press Conference at select places. These programmes were conducted. Every local volunteer worked hard for their success at each place. Especially the programmes in Delhi, Mahakaushal and Kerala were extraordinarily impressive. The function in Kerala was perhaps the largest till date. A congregation of almost 92000 uniformed Swayamsevaks at one place is unique just by itself. All the print and electronics media channels gave ample coverage acknowledging the strength of the Sangh.
The reports and information available confirm that the programmes all over the country were attended by 2,60,731 uniformed Swayamsevaks and citizens including women and children attended in good number.
Samajik Sadbhavana Meetings
Number of meetings with prominent leaders and spokespersons of different communities, religious groups, sects and castes were organised at various places. More than 3000 prominent persons attended these meetings.
Mumbai, as we all know is a multilingual city. Therefore, a special meeting was convened with leading and influential personalities from the affluent sections of society. Considering the peculiar situation prevailing in Jammu & Kashmir, a special meeting of a different nature was arranged. More than 1000 prominent citizens participated in that meeting. Hundred and fifty venerated saints participated in group meetings organised at nine different places.
These efforts had a dual aim: one was to establish communication where it was lacking and the other was to keep it alive where it was already in place.
The general refrain that came out was of fraternity and brotherhood (‘We are sons of the same mother-We are brothers’). We should be wary of those trying to divide and disintegrate our society into fragments. We should be prepared to protect our society from the nefarious and destructive plans of such elements-This sentiment was at the forefront in all the community meetings.
We all need to introspect on how to counter the effect of the various ill-conceived notions and practices that have crept into our daily lives over the years and protect our society from plaguing problems. The need of raising awareness by each person in one’s own circle of influence was also discussed. Free entry into temples, elimination of untouchability and discrimination, inter-caste marriages, visits by saints and sages to deprived/Harijan localities to deliver discourses, allowing a graceful and honorable way for anyone who wants to return to Hinduism (irrespective of the reason for earlier conversion)-were some issues that essentially called for a community approach. The many representatives of the different communities and sects had participated in these meetings with lot of faith and affection and expressed their high expectations from us. We therefore, need to put in well planned efforts in future at different places in this direction.
The public programmes highlighted the serious concerns related to border security, large scale infiltration, rising terrorism, spreading naxal menace and a growing sense of insecurity, distrust and infighting due to intensified regional chauvinism in the political sphere.
There is a clear need to be vigilant about hegemonic outlook of the USA and expansionist attitude China. The world has been largely under the influence of capitalist and materialist ideology. The long term pitfalls of this approach must be clearly understood as we aim for a policy based on our traditional village oriented de-centralised structure which alone can give boost to employment. It is our firm conviction that in the present context this is the only alternative.
The solution to all the maladies of our country’s lies only in ‘Hindutva’ and so another crucial option that is left before us is to rejuvenate the sense of self-belief and create national consciousness in our Hindu Samaj. This is the agenda of the Sangh. And this in short is the message of all the programmes of the Sarsanghchalak.
The interaction with the media persons during the press conferences was fruitful. The press conference at Delhi was particularly impressive and boasted the largest attendance. All the media cooperated wholeheartedly. “Meet the Press” programmes at Nagpur, Chandigarh and Thiruvanantapuram were arranged by the journalists.
The world is slowly beginning to recognise and acknowledge the approach and work of the Sangh. Representatives of a few countries had meetings with Parampujaniya Sarsanghchalakji. The positive approach exhibited in these interactions is a welcome sight.
Akhil Bharatiya meeting of ‘Mahavidyalay in Vibhag’ and ‘Bal Vibhag’: Bhopal
The Akhil Bharatiya meeting of ‘Prant Mahavidyalayin Pramukh’s’ and ‘Prant Bal vibhag Pramukh’s’ was held at Bhopal on August 8, 9, 2009. 49 Swayamsevaks of ‘mahavidyalayin Vibhag’ from 38 Prant and 33 Swayamsevaks of ‘Bal vibhag’ from 23 Prant attended the meeting. According to the report at that time, there were 440 Shakhas of ‘Mahavidyalayin Tarun’ (96 more than last year), 728 Saptahik Milan (225 more than last year), and 191 Sangh Mandali (26 more than last year). The outline of programmes for ‘Bal’ and ‘Tarun’ was chalked out in the meeting. According to it, Shibir’s (camps) and other programmes for Bal Swayamsevaks share to be held. For college students, four programmes were chalked out, namely, birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand, ‘Akhand Bharat samkalp din’, annual function of Shakha with emphasis on physical demonstrtations, and such programmes so as to test and develop the daring spirit of youth. It was also decided to arrange to visit and study various social service projects (Seva Karya), to arrange special meetings for students of 10th class as well as their parents.
Vishesh Sampark Yojna
An Akhil Bharatiya meeting was held at Mumbai on 5-6 September, 2009 under the “Vishesh Sampark Yojana” for determining the methodology and process for fruitful interaction with prominent citizens of National and International stature. 36 Swayamsevaks from 22 prants participated in the meeting. This two day meeting involved detailed discussions and along with in-house training programme focused on the topic ‘Contacting and Interacting with the Special Group of People’. The next meeting under this plan was held in Delhi from 19 to 20 March 2010 and was attended by 66 Swayamsevaks from 22 Prants.
Meeting to increase Sangh Karya in college students
The work among college students is on the increase day by day all over the country. Activists from major educational Institutions like IIMs, IITs and central universities held a meeting at Mumbai December 29-30, 2009 in furtherance of this cause. 54 activists from 22 different institutions participated. Discussions and workshops were held on the subject of increasing Sangh Karya amongst students of these illustrious institutions.
Samajik Samarasata Abhyas Varg were planned in Jaipur, Gaya and Bhagyanagar. Karyakartas those who are involved in studies of social subjects while working in various sectors were expected to participate.
It was organised to have discussion forum on various subjects like analysis of efforts towards samarasata; reservations; constitutional status and today’s reality; conspiracies of anti-national forces; efforts for samarasata from a family and within a family; a village and samarasata etc. Karyakartas from Sangh and public organisations were present in these varga. Karyakartas from all prants other than eastern states have participated. Keeping in mind the special circumstances of eastern states, separate vargas are being organised.
Special programmes organised in different Prants (Regions)
Meeting with Prospective Students: (Bhagyanagar)
In the last few years we have started efforts towards increasing awareness about our work amongst the college students. Programmes were arranged in Paschim Andhra Prant at Zilla and Vibhag level by compiling a list of students undergoing graduation. A two-day study seminar of such students was conducted during the month of January 2010. A total of 107 students participated out of which 30 students were in the final year of graduation.
Gathering of Retired and about to Retire Swayamsevaks:
A list of 200 such Swayamsevaks was prepared in Paschim Andhra Pradesh. The last meeting held in January was attended by 120 Swayamsevaks. The result has been encouraging. Eight-Swaya msevaks volunteered for full time work where as many expressed their commitment to devote 8-10 hrs every day for Sangh work.
AntiTerrorismDay : (Bhagyanagar):
Anti-Terrorism Day was organised on September 17, 2009 at Bhagyanagar in association with ‘Hindu Vahini’. 5000 youths participated in the rally Most of them had their first exposure to the Sangh.
(To be concluded)
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