RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat described the life of the late Ramshankar Agnihotri as ‘a life full of inspiration for all’. Agnihotriji had passed away in Raipur on July 7. In his tribute Shri Bhagwat said, “Some people leave deep impression on mind in just first meeting and their memories always remain alive. The passing away of such people also causes unbearable pain. Ramshankar Agnihotriji was among such people. Wherever he was active he influenced others with his deeds and humourous nature.”
In his tribute former RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri KS Sudarshan said: “Ramshankarji came as a Sangh Pracharak in Mandala where I studied from 6th to 10th from 1942-46. Since there was a gap of just one year in our age, we came very close. Man. Eknath Ranade was then Mahakoshal Prant Pracharak. The first Akhil Bharatiya Sangh adhikari whom we met was Man. Baba Saheb Apte. It was at that time that we learnt from him that the Sangh is not just an organisation doing exercise in shakhas daily, it is working for greater objective of uniting the entire Hindu society. When I reached Jabalpur in 1947 and joined the then Robertson College for higher education Ramshankarji also went there for study. Meanwhile, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on January 30 and the Sangh was banned due to political reasons alleging its involvement in that assassination. I was in jail for three months for participating in the Satyagraha and Ramshankarji worked remaining underground. When I became a Pracharak in 1954, he was our Prant Pracharak and I worked as a Zilla Pracharak in Raigarh, Nagar Pracharak in Sagar and Vibhag Pracharak in Vindhya under his guidance. Later, he worked with Yugdharma, Rashtradharma and some other daily, weekly and monthly newspapers. He also looked after the work of Hindusthan Samachar and Vishwa Samvad Kendra.”
A condolence meeting was held in Lucknow on July 8 to pay tribute to Agnihotriji. Noted Hindi journalist and columnist Shri Rajnath Singh Surya, Awadh Prant Bauddhik Pramukh Shri Sanjay, Shri Ashok Kedia from Sima Jagran Manch, Shri Ramlakhan of Dharma Jagran Manch, Shri Ashok Sinha of Lucknow Institute of Journalism and Mass Communication and others paid tribute to Agnihotriji at the meeting.
(FOC)
