“Samanvaya Baithak (coordination meeting) is not convened to decide on any common policy. The Samanvaya Baithak is held from time to time to facilitate those who are active in different fields and facing adverse influences in their respective fields, to recollect their culture and spend some time in the Sangh atmosphere. There they talk, discuss and exchange ideas. However, there is no compulsion for them to follow those ideas”. – Sarsanghachalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat, Future Bharat – An RSS Perspective (Compilation of lectures held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 17-18-19 Sept., 2018), Vimarsh Parakashan, New Delhi, 2022, p. 36
There were rounds of speculations and guess work about the Akhil Bharatiya Samanvaya Baithak’s agenda, the moment it was announced that the coordination meeting of RSS-inspired organisations would be held at Palakkad in Kerala from August 31 to September 2, 2024. Naturally, when the press conference took place on the last day, and the Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh (in-charge of Media relations) Shri Sunil Ambekar briefed about the issues and proceedings of the Samanvaya Baithak, media and political parties preferred to make news out of nothing. The Congress party virtually prepared a narrative even before the press conference and peddled fake news of ‘RSS-BJP opposition to the caste census’, which is now a standard template for the grand old party. Other media houses also focussed on the ‘caste-census’ story, which was just a reply to the probing questions by journalists. The real story of the coordination meeting of RSS-inspired organisations goes beyond this, which requires a deeper understanding of the process.
More than 35 organisations started by the Swayamsevaks take inspiration from the core values and principles enshrined in the time-tested methodology of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. From its inception, Sangh has been committed to eradicating caste-based discrimination in society and has successfully developed a model that has shattered the shackles of the caste system. Playing together in Shakhas, working together in different service projects, starting a new organisational activity to spread the national values in different walks of national life, bringing all sects on one platform and making them resolve to denounce the scriptural sanctions to the untouchability and caste-discrimination, declaring caste as an outdated system and need to throw it lock, stock and barrel, galvanising entire society for the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi movement breaking all barriers etc. were efforts meant to refine and organise the Hindu society. Ironically, the most extensive and extended reform movement in the society is stereotyped as ‘casteist’ and ‘Brahminical’ by vested political interests. They have done the same since 1925 and still cannot stop the progressive unfoldment of the most significant voluntary movement in the world. As the influence and acceptance of the Sangh is increasing in society, the attacks have become all the more vicious.
Out of 296 expected participants, 270 actually participated in the coordination meeting. Besides the Sangh office bearers, 32 different organisations working for education, social, intellectual, economic, strategic and service activities in the society came together for three days, discussed the prevailing challenges before the nation and shared their priorities for the coming year, a miracle that needs to be studied. Each of these organisations has a separate constitution; they are working in separate fields, and their decision-making apparatus is independent of each, and still, they decided to make environmental protection, familial values, social harmony, nurturing indigenous systems based on selfhood and promoting civic responsibilities their priority for the coming year. This Panch Parivartan (five-fold programme for social transformation) should have been the talking point for every person concerned with society instead of finding political angles. Each of these organisations has created a legacy of its own as their memberships are much beyond the core membership of Swayamsevaks, and their impact in the respective fields is much bigger than any prevalent organisation. Though Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), being the political outfit with the presence of Swayamsevaks, is generally a reference point, organisations like Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) or Vidya Bharati have created their own space in national life, which many analysts miss out. Each organisation has success stories and lessons learnt to share with fellow Swayamsevaks. Samanvaya Baithak is an excellent opportunity to do the same.
As elaborated in the press conference, women’s dignity and security were deliberated on in detail. Of course, the KG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape and murder case of Kolkata and blatant attempts of cover-up by the Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal was the immediate reference points. The discussion was not limited to the same. From inculcating values of respecting women and their dignity at the family and school education level to gender safety audits at workplaces and punitive actions in the legal system, various dimensions and remedies for the crime against women were discussed. Five levels of action points, such as a fast-track justice delivery system, social sensitisation and family values, values to education, self-defence programme for girls, and control over content served through digital media and OTT platforms, were proposed in the meeting. These should have been the issues of debate and discussion, which did not happen in a politically obsessed media atmosphere. Collective celebrations of the tri-centenary year of Lokmata Ahilyabai Holkar and the 500th birth anniversary of the valorous Queen Durgavati were also discussed, along with the contemporary messages of these great women freedom fighters, reformers, and administrators. More than 472 women’s conferences have taken place in the last year, with the participation of 5, 75, 740 women. The same momentum will continue with a more constructive role for women in the national reconstruction process. Paradoxically, RSS has been branded as a patriarchal organisation by the dynastic parties.
The atrocities against Hindus and other minorities and their impact on the bordering States of Bharat, the security situation in Punjab, rampant anti-Sanatan policies in Tamil Nadu and growing conversion activities due to the same and assessment of the situation in Manipur, natural calamities like Wayanad landslide, its causes and role of the Swayamsevaks in relief and reconstruction etc. were the other contemporary issues that were delved upon. The need for coordination among various organisations in dealing with these challenges should be our common concern. RSS-inspired organisations did precisely the same. Instead of appreciating the same, leaders convicted of corruption charges used rowdy language, and generally, media prefers to give it prominence.
Despite working in a specific field for decades, with an independent organisational structure, these organisations come together to churn on the prevailing national scenario, which is an important exercise. Samanvaya or coordination is not based on compulsion or giving directions by somebody but on taking inspiration, sharing experiences and working with the same spirit of ‘nation first’ separately. RSS seeks to expand this circle of coordination until the entire society is part of it. As Sarsanghachalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat, in the historic three-day lecture series on ‘Future Bharat – An RSS Perspective’, explained, “Sangh does not propose to form a separate organisation but the purpose is to organise the entire society”. A society – where every individual is free and still works in coordination with other members with familial values, diversity is not used as faultlines and no discrimination exists based on birth. Such coordination is possible only when there is a conviction about who we are and what we want to be as a nation. Sangh has evolved a philosophy and methodology that allows everyone to be independent, with different priorities and opinions, and still work together for the common cause. Continuous enlargement of the coordination circle is the process called Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Instead of reducing it to elections or wishful allegations, it is nothing but the insecurity and frustration of the political pygmies who try to find self-interest in everything. RSS functioning is meant to overcome such a selfish and adverse mindset that does not allow us to realise our potential. We all need to learn and emulate this grand coordination exercise to collectively define and realise national goals while achieving our individual or familial objectives.
