Report
Third Year Sangh Shiksha Varga to conclude on June 6
Virag Pachpore in Nagpur
Nagpur is famous for its scorching summers. This year’s summer was very special because since the beginning of May the temperatures began to sore and remained almost constant at around 47 degrees and above for a week’s period. That was when the RSS camp had just begun. But oblivious to this skin burning heat, the day begins at the camp as usual at 5 am before the sun rise and ends at 10 pm.
The swayamsevaks go through the rigors of physical training in the morning and evening; in the afternoon there are ‘Bouddhik varg’ in which prominent RSS leaders including Sarkaryavah Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi, Sah-Sarkaryavah Shri Suresh Soni, Dr Krishna Gopal, Shri KC Kannan who is also the ‘Palak Adhikari’ (guardian) of the camp, Shri Arun Kumar, Shri Indresh Kumar et al. delivered lectures relating to ideology, philosophy and activities of the RSS. Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bahgwat will spend almost a week interacting with the trainees and guiding them on various issues.
Unlike other years, this year the camp is special on two counts. The duration is slashed from the usual 30 days to 25 days. When the summer training camp started in the RSS during the time of its founder Dr K B Hedgewar the duration used to be of 40 days with a weekly holiday. Later the period was reduced to 30 days for all the three years. Again after some time the policy was reviewed and except for the Third Year training camp the period for rest of two years was reduced to 15 and 21 days respectively. Now from this year the Third Year training camp will be of 25 days.
Likewise certain selection criteria were fixed and applied strictly for those aspiring for this training aimed at creating the activists. Only those who have been active in daily shakha work for the last two years at nagar, tehsil and district levels were given admission. As such this year the stre-ngth of the camp is 612 to be precise as compared to yesteryears strengths dwindling between 850 to 1,100.
According to the kshetras the Madhya Kshetra i.e Malwa, Madhya Bharat, Mahakoshal and Chhattisgarh the number of participants is highest i.e. 131 followed by 117 from four southern states, 134 from West and North-west kshetra, 181 from northern states and 49 from east and north-eastern states. Besides, there are 82 trainers and 40 prant pramukhs (state incharges).
According to the age group those in their early youth i.e. 18-20 are 42; between 21-25 are 143; 26-30 are 152; 31-35 are 150, and 36 to 40 age group is represented by 125 swayamsevaks. Profession wise, the swayamsevaks are classifided as:
Doctors – 11; Engineers – 13; Pleaders – 19; Teachers – 133; Self-employed – 72; Service – 81; Farmers – 51; Journalists – 6; Workers – 31; Professors – 17; Pracharaks – 64; Vistaraks – 43; Students – 71.
As per academic qualifications the classification is Pre-matric – 51, SSC – 85; Graduates – 291; Post-graduates – 173; Ph D – 12.
The participants come from different states speaking different languages such as Assamiya, Bangali, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Kannad, Rajasthani, Marwadi, Malyalam, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi. But hardly there are any ill-feeling or animosity towards each other which are usually visible otherwise in the society. All of them live in a very peaceful and cordial environment trying to learn each other’s languages and also trying to learn Hindi which is the ‘lingua franca’ of the Sangh Shiksha Varg. Of course, there is a special arrangement for translating the ‘Bouddhik Varg’ in languages where swayamsevakas find it difficult to understand the Hindi discourses.
That the RSS is a university where training is imparted to swayasmevaks on how to win the hearts of the people is visible in this camp. The RSS founder used to say “there are many colleges of arts, but there is no college of heart. RSS will be that college of heart.” The camps of RSS have translated his dreams into reality.
The Varga will conclude on June 6 in the presence of Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat. Head of Bengaluru’s Chunchugiri Mutt Swami Nirmalanand is expected to grace the valedictory function. Giving this information at a press conference at Reshambag premises where the 600-odd trainees drawn from all over India are undergoing the rigorous training in physical, intellectual and service activities of RSS, Vitthal Kamble, the Karyavah (CEO in modern terminology) of the camp said that through these activities the RSS spreads its message of homogeneity of the society in a most natural way. The swayamsevaks speaking different tongues, coming from varied cultural background and food habits, live here in perfect harmony, he said. This is because the RSS inculcates the feeling of Hinduness amongst all of them, Kamble added.
