WHEN the last rites of Sudarshanji were being performed in Nagpur at 3 pm on September 16, floral tribute was paid and condolence meetings were held across the country at the same time. Lakhs of people paid tribute to the great leader.
The condolence meeting in New Delhi was organised at Keshav Kunj, the RSS Delhi headquarters. Prominent among those who paid floral tribute included former Deputy Chariperson of Rajya Sabha Dr Najma Heptullah, former cricketer Shri Chetan Chauhan, veteran VHP leader Acharya Giriraj Kishor, VHP vice president Shri Omprakash Singhal, Kshetra Pracharak Shri Rameshwar, Kshetra Pracharak Pramukh Dr Shrikrishna Baweja, Delhi Prant Pracharak Shri Anil Kant, Delhi Prant Sanghachalak Shri Kulbhushan Ahuja, former Prant Sanghachalak Shri Ramesh Prakash, senior Pracharak Shri Sohan Joshi, Shri Mohan Joshi of VHP, BMS vice president Shri Surendran, general secretary Shri Baijnath Rai, founder of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat Sardar Chiranjiv Singh, BJP leaders Shri OP Kohli, Prof Jagdish Mukhi, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Shri Prithviraj Sawhny, Prof. VK Malhotra, Shri Vijendra Gupta, Smt Maya Singh, Mayor of North Delhi Smt Mira Agrawal, Mayor of East Delhi Smt Annapurna Mishra, etc.
In Bangalore, the condolence meeting was held at Rashtrotthan Parishat office, in which hundreds of swayamsevaks, well-wishers paid tributes. In his tribute Shri Raghaveshwara Bharati Swamiji of Sri Ramchandrapura Mutt, said, “Sudarshanji was known for his simple and disciplined life, but he was highly intellectual at the same time. Typically, people who are knowledgeable and well respected are not near to the people and vice a versa. But, Sudarshanji had both qualities. Such people are useful to the society and he was one such person.”
Senior Pracharak Shri Mai Cha Jayadev said, “Though Sudarshanji never said something that was illogical, he used to study and understand a subject thoroughly and speak. He used to say that swadeshi is not limited to dress, language and commodities only, but it should be in our thinking also.” He said Sudarshanji had observed that Bharat’s share in the total bamboo production of the world is 51 per cent and the share in total business of bamboo products is 2.4 per cent. He analysed the data and said that we could increase the income of the people who make bamboo products by four folds if we focus on bamboo products and marketing them well. Shri Jayadev said such was the deep thinking he used to have in any field. Sudarshanji was opposed to the use of the word ‘minority’ because everyone of us in this country is brothers and sisters and all are children of Bharatmata. Sudarshanji used to question, how can one belong to majority and another to minority?
BJP organising secretary Shri BL Santhosh said Sudarshanji had an extremely good capability to mingle with any kind of persons, it may be children, ladies, businessmen, politicians or scientists. Pracharika Pramukh of Rashtra Sevika Samiti Rukmini Akka, Shri Abbas Ali Bohra of Rashtriya Muslim Manch, national convenor of Prajna Pravah and MLC Shri PV Krishna Bhat, Prant Karyavaha Shri Tippeswamy and many other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.
In their tribute, Bani Deshpande and Roza Deshpande, the daughters of the late communist ideologue Sripad Amrit Dange, said they lost a good friend. In a condolence message sent to Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat they said, “Our friendship was not for political reason. Sudarshanji used to discuss with us the issues of science and Vedant for hours. He had good commanand over all these issues.”
There are reports of organising condolence meetings in different regions.
(With inputs from Rajesh Padmar in Bengaluru)
Condolence meeting in Delhi on September 30 at Talkatora Stadium
from 8.30 to 10.30 am
