A giant in every sense, Suruji had mastered the art of
man-making and had motivated karyakartas in thousands
It was in 1983 during Sangh Shiksha Varga in Hyderabad when for the first time I listened to this giant called ‘Man. Suryanarayana Raoji’. He was then Prant Pracharak of Tamil Nadu. He delivered two bauddhiks and elaborated the Meenaxipuram episode where whole of the country rose against the mass religious conversions. It was such a powerful social rising that even the then Prime Minister Smt Indira Gandhi had to criticise the fraudulent conversions. Years after that lecture, I came to know that Suruji played a major role in highlighting the issue so much so that the national media had to publicise it. Otherwise, media in Bharat generally banish the news pertaining to Hindu society to the bottom of most unread pages. Meenakshipuram conversions attempt not only put brake on the religions conversions, but roused the whole Hindu society.
Suruji had mastered the art of man-making and motivated karyakartas in thousands and Pracharaks in hundreds. He was a giant in every sense of the word. He was physically giant, standing six feet and heavily built, and was intellectually outstanding, a giant at building men and organisation, and the most precious being a giant at heart showering boundless affection and love on swayamsevaks and beyond. Despite being a giant, his appearance used to be full of joy that he spread with his smile and the bhasmam on his forehead. When he laughed, he laughed heartful. That used to be his way to win over hearts.
In early 1950s Yadavraoji was Prant Pracharak and Suruji was Zilla/Vibhag Pracharak, there being just three Zilla Pracharaks in the State. The three including Suruji were more than enthusiastic at young age and without any consultation with Prant Pracharak or other seniors, decided to divide the State into three parts, three of them heading each part for faster growth of Shakhas. They embarked on this activity and then informed Yadavraoji about their ambitious plan. The senior’s response was just a smile. At the end of the year, Suruji and his compatriots met Yadavraoji again to inform him that number of Shakhas has essentially reduced instead of growing and their expansion plan is not working. Yadavraoji said he expected this result as they tried to chew more than what they can digest. The plan had to be reverted and Suruji had an open mind to accept the mistake.
Meetings with Suruji became more frequent in course of time and then he became Akhil Bharatiya Sewa Pramukh. We heard him on Sangh founder Dr Hedgewar during the birth centenary of Doctorji. Every lecture that he delivered provided us all the motivation and filled us with confidence and energy for growth of the Sangh mission.
Suruji was a lighthouse for all the younger generation Pracharaks, engaged in the Sewa activities then. Sewa was a domain of the seniors till he attracted, influenced and motivated the youth to take up Sewa as their life mission. It was during the centenary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda’s most famous address at the World Congress of Religions in Chicago that we could realise, how deep Suruji had absorbed Swami Vivekananda’s life. Suruji utilised his time in the jail which he was one of the arrestees after the first ban on Sangh in 1948 by doing in-depth study on Swami Vivekananda’s life and literature.
I accompanied Suruji on his travel to all the Districts of Western part of Andhra Pradesh, present day Telangana and some districts of Rayalaseema that are part of Andhra Pradesh. All the karyakartas were enthusiastic to attend his meetings and discuss various aspects of Sewa, social problems and challenges. It used to be like a treat to listen to him on Sewa–always stomach-full and soul-full. His humility outscored everything else when I saw him interacting with everyone in the meeting.
Suruji led discussions about global activity of Sewa during the Vishwa Sangh Shibir 1995 in Vadodara. Though a smaller group of some 30-35 karyakartas from various countries participated in this Baithak, the agenda covered a whole lot of related issues. Everyone present had only one concern and that was sending the money into Bharat legally, and for Sewa organisations, none else. However, Suruji brought out various aspects of the activity into the discussion that looked beyond and a consensus was built that every country can have Sewa International nomenclature essentially. However, the unit will have to be registered under local rules and a broad relationship be generated among these units to work effectively. I had the privilege of attending this meeting as an invitee and could see an idea being provided a shape to a global mission.
Suruji’s place in Sangh was one of the family elder. He used to be large hearted and open minded to absorb whatever came to him. He also spoke his mind without any inhibition. During a Pratinidhi Sabha Seshadriji, while relinquishing the responsibility of Sarkaryavah stated that Suruji has suggested that it is his time to hand over the reins to younger karyakarta.
It will be still interesting to share another such incident where people who have been accusing the Sangh of dictatorship and all the nonsense, need to understand. Man. Sudarshanji travelled to Chennai to consult Suruji when he wished to step down from the responsibility of Sarsanghachalak. Suruji was not travelling much those days for health reasons and Sarsanghachalakji wanted to consult someone worth. Sudarshanji disclosed the fact that he consulted Suruji to all the delegates in the Pratinidhi Sabha before he handed over the responsibility to Mohan Bhagwatji. Such was the prominence of Suruji while he did not hold any responsibility.
(The writer is international coordinator of Sewa International)
