Whenever the topic of attaining independence and the struggle for freedom is discussed, the proponents of propaganda driven by a mentality of complete authority over freedom struggle immediately raise a deceptive question, “What contribution did the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) make to the freedom struggle?” They make a vile attempt to negate the work done by the RSS in fostering intense nationalistic fervor and preserving culture, and provide baseless and unsubstantiated interpretations. In this context, it is pertinent to mention a memoir by Dr. Manmohan Vaidya, the joint general secretary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which sheds light on the matter.
Manmohan Vaidya ji writes -Some time ago a journalist came to visit me. In the talk, he asked what was the role of RSS in the freedom movement? Perhaps he too was victims of false propaganda against the Sangh. I made a counter question and asked him, who do you believe in the freedom movement? He wasn’t ready for it. He couldn’t say anything for some time. Then slowly, in a sceptical voice, he said, “That’s what Mahatma Gandhi did.” I asked whether there was any contribution of Lal, Bal, Pal Trimurti? Did Subhash Babu not have any role in the freedom movement? He was silent.
Then I asked how many “Satyagrahas” took place under the leadership of Gandhiji? He was unaware. I said that three happened – 1921, 1930 and 1942. He didn’t know. I said Sangh founder Dr. Hedgewar had participated in the Satyagraha of 1921 and 1930 and he also had to undergo imprisonment both times. He died in 1940 before third Satyagrah took place. This incident should be talked about because there is an attempt to tell half the history in a planned manner.
The people of India are being forced to believe that independence was achieved only because of the Congress and the 1942 Satyagraha. And nobody except them did anything. This is not an absolute truth. Through Satyagraha, Charkha and Khadi, Gandhiji provided a simple and easy means to all the common people to participate in the freedom movement. It is true that lakhs of people could join the freedom movement due to this. But giving all the credit to one movement or party is playing with truths of history and act of an insult to the efforts of all others.
Now if you want to talk about the Sangh, you will have to start it with Dr. Hedgewar ji..Keshav Hedgewar was born in 1889. The discussion of independence movement in Nagpur started from 1904-1905. Before that there was not much atmosphere of freedom movement against the British. Nevertheless, in 1897, when the sweets distributed in the school for the Diamond Festival of Queen Victoria’s accession, 8-year-old Keshav did not eat it and threw it in the garbage. It was his anger and irritation for being a slave to the British.
In the protest against the unjust order which was announced in 1907 to ban the public proclamation of ‘Vande Mataram’ in the name of Risley Circular, Keshav made ‘Vande Mataram’ chanted by all the students of his class in front of the government inspector at his Neil City School. Due to the anger of the school administration of the school, he bought expulsion from the school as punishment for the same. Despite Mumbai having facilities for medical studies, he preferred to go Calcutta as it was the centre of revolutionaries. There he became a trusted member of the ‘Anushilan Samiti’, the apex body of revolutionaries.
He came back to Nagpur in 1916 as a doctor. At that time all the eminent leaders of the freedom movement were married, were householders. Everyone had some means of earning and the necessary income for his household. Along with this, they were making their valuable contribution in the freedom movement. Dr Hedgewar could have thought the same. The situation at his home was similar. But he decided not to do medical practice and get married. There was such intensity and ‘urgency’ in his mind that he devoted all his strength, time and capacity to the nation, without giving any thought to his personal life, and associated himself with every kind of movement for freedom.
He had immense faith in Lokmanya Tilak. The responsibility of all the arrangements for the 1920 Congress session to be held in Nagpur under the leadership of Tilak was given to Dr. Hardikar and Dr. Hedgewar and they had recruited 1200 volunteers for the same. At that time Dr Hedgewar was the Joint Secretary of the Nagpur city unit of the Congress. To pass in that session, Dr. Hedgewar had suggested a resolution in front of the resolution committee of the Congress that the aim of the Congress should be to establish a Bharatiya republic by making Bharat completely independent and to free from the clutches of capitalism.
Although, that time His suggestion of complete independence was overlooked but it was accepted by the Congress 9 years later in the Lahore session of 1929. Delighted by this, Doctor ji had sent message for greeting the Congress in all the “Shakhas” of the Sangh on 26 January 1930 (the Sangh work had started in 1925). Nagpur was the stronghold of Tilakites. Due to the death of Lokmanya Tilak on August 1, 1920, there was despair among all the Tilakites of Nagpur. Later the independence movement of the Congress started under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.
At the time of the non-cooperation movement, in 1921, with a view to broaden the social base of the anti-imperialist movement, Mahatma Gandhi Supported and called for the Khilafat to connect the Muslim mind with the freedom movement against the British who were hurt by the abrogation of the Caliphat in Turkistan by the British. Many Congress leaders and nationalist Muslims objected to this. Therefore, the non-cooperation movement in Nagpur was not very mucheffective as it was a stronghold of the Tilakites.
But Dr. Hedgewar, Dr. Cholkar, Samimullah Khan etc. changed this environment. Despite his objection to linking the Khilafat with the national movement, he did not make it public. On the basis of this criteria, he participated in the movement whole-heartedly to oppose imperialism. He analysed the national situation at the time by moving away from personal social relations and did not worry about the surrounding political environment and the attitude of the dominant Tilakites.
He had to undergo one year’s imprisonment in the treason trial against him. He was imprisoned from August 19, 1921 to July 11, 1922. After his release, a public meeting was organized in his honour in Nagpur on 12 July. Provincial leaders as well as other national leaders of Congress, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Pandit Motilal Nehru, Rajagopalachari, Dr. Ansari, Vitthalbhai Patel etc. were present to welcome Dr. Hedgewar.
Despite understanding the importance and priority of achieving independence, a question constantly haunted Dr. Hedgewar that, how did a handful of Britishers who came to trade from 7000 miles away, started ruling this vast country? Surely, we must have some faults. It came to his notice that our society is divided into many factions like self-forgetfulness, caste-province-language-worship system etc., unorganised and full of many evils, taking advantage of which, the British could rule here.
If the society remains the same even after getting independence, tomorrow history will be repeated again. He used to say ‘Nagnath will go and Saanpnath will come back’. Therefore, it seemed to him that it is a more fundamental and necessary task to free this national society from all defects, evils and make it filled with self-pride, awakening, organizing and with national qualities and this work is to be done by staying away from politics, away from fame, with silence and continuity.
Even after the establishment of the Sangh, he had equally close and intimate relations with all political or social leaders, movements and activities. In 1930, on Gandhi’s call, the civil disobedience movement started on April 6 in Dandi (Gujarat) in the form of Salt Satyagraha. In November 1929, in the three-day meeting of the Sanghchalaks, it was decided in the Sangh to support this movement unconditionally.
As per the policy of the Sangh, Dr. Hedgewar personally decided to participate in this Satyagraha along with other volunteers. And for the Sangh work to continue uninterruptedly, he handed over the responsibility of the post of Sarsanghchalak to his old friend Dr. Paranjpe and gave the responsibility of travels and stays to the Shakhas to Babasaheb Apte and Bapu Rao Bhedi. Initially on 21st July, 3-4 thousand people were with him in this Satyagraha. On reaching Pusad via Wardha, Yavatmal, 10,000 people gathered at the site of Satyagraha. He was imprisoned for 9 months in this Satyagraha.
After getting released from there and accepting the responsibility of Sarsanghchalak again, he got involved in the Sangh work again. In 1938, against the atrocities on Hindus by the Nizam in Bhaganagar (Hyderabad), under the auspices of Hindu Mahasabha and Arya Samaj, there was a call for Satyagraha under the banner of ‘Bhaganagar Nishastra Pratikar Mandal’. The volunteers who sought permission to participate in it, doctor ji gladly allowed them. Only, those who had core responsibilities in the Sangh were asked to stay outside for continuation of organization’s work smoothly.
He had clearly said that those who want to participate in the Satyagraha must participate as individuals.
On repeated mentioning in the fame sheet by the operators of Satyagarah that the ‘Sangh’ participated in Bhagyanagar Satyagraha, the doctor ji wrote a letter asking them to not to mention the Sangh their fame department. Understanding the difference between the immediate, casual and struggling nature of the state movement and the routine, continuous (unbroken) and creative nature of the Sangh-the movement should be successful but the eternal Sangh work remain uninterrupted even at that time, with this vision doctor ji adopted this policy.
That is why even at the time of Jungle Satyagraha, by handing over the responsibility of Sarsanghchalak to Dr. Paranjpe, as a person, he along with many volunteers participated in the Satyagraha.
On August 8, 1942, at the Govalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai, at the Congress session, Mahatma Gandhi made historic announcement ‘British! Quit India’. From the second day itself, the movement gained momentum in the country and the arrest of the leaders of the movement started from place to place. In Vidarbha, there were special movements in Baoli (Amravati), Ashti (Wardha) and Chimur (Chandrapur). News of Chimur also aired on Berlin Radio.
The movement here was led by Uddhavrao Korekar of Congress and Sangh officials Dada Naik, Baburao Begde, Annaji Siras. In this movement, the only death by the bullet of the British was of Balaji Raipurkar, a Sangh Swayamseva. Sri Gurudev Seva Mandal founded by Sri Tukado Maharaj of Congress and Sangh volunteers together organized the Chimur movement and Satyagraha of 1943. In this struggle 125 Satyagrahis were prosecuted and innumerable volunteers were imprisoned.
In this movement that went on across India, from place to place, senior Sangh workers, campaigners jumped on their own motivation. Some of the names of his workers who took part in this movement along with other volunteers from place to place are as follows – Pracharak Jaidevji Pathak in Rajasthan, who was later active in Vidya Bharati. Dr. Annasaheb Deshpande at Arvi (Vidarbha). Ramakant Keshav (Balasaheb) Deshpande in Jashpur (Chhattisgarh), who later founded the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram.
In Delhi, Shri Vasantrao Oak who was later the Prant Pracharak of Delhi. In Bihar (Patna), there was a famous lawyer Krishna Vallabhprasad Narayan Singh (Babuaji) who later became the Sanghchalak of Bihar. In Delhi itself, Shri Chandrakant Bhardwaj, who faced bullet hit his leg and which could not be removed. Later he became a famous poet and composer of many Sangh songs. In eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhavrao Deode, who later became a state pracharak, and in Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) there is a contribution of Dattatreya Gangadhar (Bhaiyaji) Kasture, who later became a Sangh Pracharak.
Along with the suppression of the British, Satyagraha was going on one side and on the other hand many agitators were working to give momentum and direction to the movement by staying underground. At such a time, sheltering underground workers in their homes was not free from any danger. During the 1942 movement, underground agitator Aruna Asaf Ali had lived in the house of Delhi’s provincial Sanghchalak Lala Hansraj Gupta and Nana Patil, a fierce agitator from Satara in Maharashtra, was given shelter in his house by Pandit Satavalekar, the Sanghchalak of Aundh, in an underground situation. There can be many more such names. At that time, it was not even possible to imagine documenting (recording) all these things.
Studying the life of Dr Hedgewar it comes to notice that from his childhood to last breath, his life was devoted only and only for his country and its independence. He had chosen the path of organizing the society by awakening it with fault-free, virtuous and nationalist ideas. Even in the pledge of the Sangh, the aim of the Sangh work till 1947 was to make the ‘Hindu Rashtra’ independent.
Dr Hedgewar / Sangh’s vision
Bharatiya national life seemed to take ‘extreme positions’. Even during the time of Doctor ji, the society was entangled in such conflicts as Congress-Revolutionary, Tilak-Gandhi, Violence-Non-Violence, Hindu Mahasabha-Congress. There was an environment to beat each other. Many times, due to mutual differences, they used to oppose in such a mindless way that instead of fighting the British against imperialism, they were seen fighting among themselves. In the provincial meeting of the Central Provinces Congress in 1921, under the chairmanship of Loknayak Ane, a proposal to condemn the revolutionaries was about to come.
Dr. Hedgewar explained to them that you may not have faith in the path of revolutionaries but their patriotism should not be doubted. In such a situation, Doctor ji’s life was not determined on the basis of Tilak-Gandhi, Gandhi-non-violence, Congress-revolutionary kind of narrow choices, political outlook, philosophy and policies. Much more important than the individual or the specific path was the original goal of achieving independence.
A section, which considers Bharat as a mere political unit, seems bent on throwing every kind of credit in its own pocket. Others have not done anything to get freedom, all the credit for the whole effort is ours, he seems bent on spreading such unilateral propaganda. This is not right. From armed revolution to non-violent satyagraha, rebellion in the army, the efforts of Azad’s Hind Fauj, all these efforts have resulted in attainment of independence. Even after winning the Second World War the role of England’s poor condition and its inability and unwillingness to rule all its colonies cannot be denied. There was not a long struggle for independence like Bharat in many British colonies, even such colonies had also been gradually made independent by the British.
The Satyagraha of 1942 was the last Satyagraha done by Mahatma Gandhi and after that the country became independent in 1947, this is true. But claiming that independence came only because of the 1942 movement, and to say that India became independent due to the efforts of those who were imprisoned in that movement, it is ridiculous, unfair and untrue.
There is an allegorical story. A farmer was very hungry. The wife was serving food and he was eating continuously. But, there was no satisfaction, after eating ten rotis, when he ate the eleventh roti, he felt the feeling of satiety. Angered by this, he started scolding his wife as to why she had not given this eleventh roti, which made him satisfied. The effort of eating so many rotis would have been prevented and satiety would have been felt quickly. It is ridiculous to say this.
Similarly, to say that India got independence only because of the 1942 movement, is a ridiculous thing. Take a look at what other historians say about it – British Prime Minister Clement Attlee said at the time of India’s independence, “Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence movement has had zero impact on the British government.” In the words of Chief Justice of Kolkata High Court and acting governor of Bengal, P.M. Chakraborty ” “When I was acting Governor, Lord Attlee, who had given us independence by withdrawing British rule from India, spent two days in the Governor’s palace at Calcutta during his tour of India. At that time, I had a prolonged discussion with him regarding the real factors that had led the British to quit India.”
My direct question to Attlee was that since Gandhi’s Quit India movement had tapered off quite some time ago and in 1947 no such new compelling situation had arisen that would necessitate a hasty British departure, why did they had to leave?”
“In his reply Attlee cited several reasons, the principal among them being the erosion of loyalty to the British crown among the Indian army and Navy personnel as a result of the military activities of Netaji
At the end of our conversation, I asked Attlee how much influence Gandhiji had in the British government leaving India. Atlee’s lips folded with a sarcastic smile upon hearing the question, and he spoke softly—Minimal.” (Ranjan Bora, Subhas Chandra Bose, The Indian National Army, The War of India’s Liberation. Journal of Historical Review, Vol. 20) ,(2001),
In his book ‘The India’s Struggle’, Netaji wrote, “The Congress and the Mahatma did not have any clarity on the plan laid out by him and no clarity regarding the orderly phases of the campaign to take India to the priceless goal of her independence. Didn’t even think about it.”
Ramesh Chandra Majumdar says, “It was the united influence of the three that liberated India. In this too, especially the facts revealed during the INA trial and the reaction in India due to this, which made it clear to the British government, which had already broken into war, that it could not depend on the loyalty of the sepoys to rule India. This was probably the biggest reason for his decision to leave India. ’’
(Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra, – Three Phases of India’s Struggle for Freedom, BVN Bombay, India 1967, pp. 58-59)
After reading this entire account, it is untrue to think that the ‘Quit India’ movement of 1942 contributed in nothing to the attainment of independence. It is not true. It is also not right to believe that going to jail only is a sign of being patriot. In the freedom movement, the people who were active , those who were imprisoned during the movement, those who took care of their families, the underground agitators, those who gave shelter to such underground movements in their homes, those who instilled a sense of patriotism in the students through schools, through Swadeshi, the contribution of all those who made the economic blockade of the British, gave a strong Indian synonym through indigenous industry, awakened the nation through folk art, journalism, fiction novels, drama etc. have a significant role.
Bharat is not just a political entity. It is a cultural entity based on an eternal, holistic, integral life vision built on the basis of thousands of years of contemplation. This life vision, culture is what gives deep sea to high mountain unique identity by tying this diverse society together. Therefore, whenever successful political changes have taken place in the history of Bharat, a cultural awakening is seen before and along with the spiritual power of Bharat.
Whenever the more dire/grim the situation appears to be, the more powerful spiritual power seems to have become active in Bharat. That is why with the rule of the Mughals, the Bhakti movement seems to have erupted simultaneously all over Bharat from the 12th century to the 16th century. From Swami Ramanand in the north to Ramanujacharya in the far south, it seems that a monolithic tradition of spiritual great men like sadhus, saints, sanyasis has started in every state.
Along with the slavery of the British, the tradition of spiritual leadership like Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda seems to have started. No political change has been successful and permanent in the history of Bharat without cultural awakening. Therefore, the work of cultural awakening should not be evaluated by the criteria of politics. The importance of spiritual, cultural awakening going on in a silent, quiet manner is more important for a country like Bharat, it should be underlined.
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