Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar was born on April 1, 1889 in Nagpur on the day of Pratipada. Varsha Pratipada is known as ‘Gudipadwa’ in Maharashtra. Rakesh Sinha, in his book Makers of Modern India: Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, has stated that ‘This day makes the Hindu mind, heart and conscience aware of the glorious events of Bharatiya history, the identity of the nation, cultural traditions and the legacy of heroic ancestors.'[1]
A man without enemies by nature, even his opponents could not criticise his character. He used to stress that the character of a karyakarta should be absolutely clean. He never showed leniency in character matters. Building national character in people was the first task of his life, but man does not learn it by hearing about it but by observing his own character. For this, Doctor sahab was a living example in front of the swayamsevaks. The specialty of his leadership was that the more you went to him, the greater he appeared to be, this increased attraction in his persona. There was a charming sweetness about him. Also, he neither showed a sense of magnanimity nor unnecessary courtesy.
The most important characteristic of Doctor Ji was his own identity, deeply rooted in Hindu Dharma. We can see this in the working methods of the Sangh. This working method is neither a copy of any western working method nor of any Bharatiya organisation or party.
It is well known that Doctor ji had organised Swatantryaveer Savarkar’s visit to Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh. Those who cannot understand the meaning of these roles of Doctorji, it is natural for them to be unable to understand the meaning of BalaSahab’s Vijayadashami speech.[2]
Acharya Atre, while describing the qualities of Doctor Sahab’s nature, mentions an incident in which he says that he had a lot of pressure on his mind that a leader like Doctor Sahab was going to come to his house. But when he arrived, his speech and behavior made that pressure go away completely and it felt as if some elder of the family was roaming in the house. Due to his simplicity, happiness, affection and habit of acquainting easily, Doctor Sahab was never unwanted anywhere. Doctor Sahab wanted to see the same qualities in the swayamsevaks also.
Dr Hedgewar: The voice of patriotic life
From childhood itself, the feeling of patriotism in the form of action remained in the life of Dr Hedgewar without any time leaving, due to which his life was always illuminated. When he was studying in Neel City High School of Nagpur, the British government issued the infamous Risley Circular. Through this order, the British government wanted to keep the students away from the freedom movement. Keshavrao had the quality of leadership since his student days. During the inspection of the school, Dr Hedgewar made the students of every class welcome the inspectors with Vande Mataram. There was a commotion in the school, the matter spread and finally he was expelled from the government-recognised school. Thereafter he studied matriculation in the Rashtriya Shala of Yavatmal, but before giving the examination, that school was also closed by the British government. Now he had to go to Amravati to give the examination. When a nation is enslaved, the patriotic hearts become very fragile emotionally.
Keshav was fearless and courageous and was ready to make any sacrifice for the country. He never desired money, respect, fame or comfort. In 1910, he enrolled in the National Medical College in Kolkata to study medicine so that he could establish contact with the revolutionaries of Bengal and do similar work in Vidarbha. There, a group of revolutionaries named ‘Anushilan Samiti’ was working under the leadership of Pulinbihari Das. Keshavrao became strongly associated with this committee by establishing a deep relationship with it.[3]
Revolutionary Life of Dr Hedgewar
After the secondary examination, Hedgewar ji started spending all his time among revolutionaries. When a revolutionary from Bengal, Madhavdas Sanyasi, came to Nagpur, Keshav was given the responsibility of keeping him underground. He stayed in Nagpur and the surrounding areas for 6 months and later went to Japan. Money was also collected in Madhya Pradesh for the rescue of revolutionaries trapped in Alipur Bomb Case. Keshav was given the responsibility for Nagpur.
Calcutta was considered like Kashi for the revolutionaries of the country. Keshav also had a desire to go to Calcutta and join the revolutionary movement. He was under constant surveillance of the CID and the police. So he used to go under the pretext of studies. Fortunately, he passed the secondary examination in second division by securing the required marks. He was interested in the field of science. After the secondary examination, Keshav earned some money by working as a teacher in a private school, but living in an expensive city like Calcutta required much more. His integrity and excellence had won the hearts of the Tilakite leaders of prant. They all started thinking about his future. Keshav had never mentioned his wishes, difficulties or sufferings to anyone in his childhood. Dr Munje and his colleagues were very well acquainted with this nature of his. Together, they arranged for him to get enrolled in the National Medical College in Calcutta to study and do the required revolutionary activities. Ramlal Vajpayee, while mentioning this incident in his biography, has written that the real purpose of sending him to Calcutta was to obtain information related to the revolutionary organisation and to act as a bridge between Madhya Pradesh and Bengal. He has written that Shri Keshav Hedgewar, the founder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was sent for revolution and organisation under the guidance of Pulin Bihari Das rather than education after getting some financial help from Shri Daji Sahab Buti. His accommodation was arranged in Shantiniketan situated on Prem Gujral Marg in Calcutta.
National Medical College had students from all over the country and it had a pan-Bharat character. Many Maratha students along with Keshav had gone there to study. Narayanrao Savarkar and Athavale etc. were among his friends.
When Doctor Sahab reached Calcutta, the British were going through a period of repression on revolutionaries. The government was punishing, banning and prosecuting revolutionary newspapers, organisations and individuals through the Seditious Assembly Act, 1907, the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1908 and the Indian Press Act, 1910. The government was engaged in arresting the directors and workers of the revolutionary organisations, of which Bandhav Barti, Anushilan Sadhna Samiti and Atmonnati Samiti were prominent, by declaring them illegal. The number of such banned organisations was around 50. Anushilan Samiti, founded in 1901 by P. Mitra, was considered the most popular and organised revolutionary organisation in Bengal. All the famous revolutionaries of Bengal were associated with it. The names of Arvind Ghosh, Bipin Chandra Pal, Trailokya Nath Chakraborty, Nalini Kishore Guha, Pratul Ganguly, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee etc. are notable.
Hedgewar joined the Anushilan Samiti as soon as he reached Calcutta. Chakravarty has written that “When Hedgewar was a student at the National Medical College, Nalinikishore Guha, the author of the famous book Banglar Viplavavaad written on Bengal, was also studying there. It was he who got Hedgewar, Narayanrao Savarkar and other students admitted into the committee.”[4]
Hedgewar soon made his place of trust in the committee. His lodge gradually became the center of revolutionary activities. During the underground phase, Shyam Sundar Chakravarty used to come here occasionally, and many revolutionaries including Nalinikishore Guha used to stay here. The hideout also became a place to keep weapons safe.
Throwing light on the role of Doctor Sahab, Guha has written that ‘Hedgewar was an ideal revolutionary in the true sense. He was known for his creative thinking and work among the members of the committee.’ Hedgewar’s pseudonym among the revolutionaries was ‘Cocaine’ and he used the word Anatomy for weapons. The committee had pledged that its members would never reveal the insider’s details to anyone. Strict secrecy was the basis of such work. There is a lack of concrete material on what role Hedgewar played in the committee, but all the major revolutionaries associated with this committee have described his role as respectable and of high standard. Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, who spent 24 years in jail, has also acknowledged his important role in his book. During his 5-year stay in Calcutta, Hedgewar emerged as a popular figure among the nationalist leaders and revolutionaries there.
Shyamsundar Chakravarti had immense affinity for Doctor Sahab. Doctor Hedgewar used to visit his house frequently. Like other revolutionaries, Chakravarti ji’s financial condition was pathetic. Hedgewar ji had shown great promptness in solving the financial crisis arising in the marriage of his daughter. He had collected money and presented it to him. Hedgewar would definitely go to the meetings, Prabhat Pheris organised by another prominent nationalist Maulvi Liaquat Hussain. It was the result of the closeness between the two that on Hedgewar’s request, Hussain stopped wearing the ‘Faiz cap’ and started wearing the Gandhi topi.
Hedgewar ji was close to people like Motilal Ghosh, Dr. Ashutosh Mukherjee and he also had a deep acquaintance with Rasbihari Bose and Bipinchandra Pal. Throwing light on his character, Hardaas has written that “Hedgewar had won the hearts of the young revolutionaries with his satvik character, commitment and ordinary organisation skills and there was a large group of patriots who had devotion towards him.”[5]
Hedgewar was working as a link between the revolutionary activities of Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. Between 1910 and 1915, a large quantity of pistols and other weapons were sent from Bengal to Madhya Pradesh. Whenever Hedgewar ji came to Nagpur, he used to bring weapons with him hidden.
The Central Province government recognised the fact in 1912 that the Nagpur agitators were connected with the Bengal revolutionaries. Gopal Vasudev Ketkar, a government spy, was sent to Calcutta from Central Province to keep a close watch on Hedgewar.
Doctor sahab used to come forward to oppose others on many occasions of tension. He used to say that a living society is that in which mothers, sisters and dignity are protected naturally. RSS workers are working to bring such liveliness in the society. As Hindu society becomes awakened and stands with self-respect, more opportunities for struggle will come because others are not used to seeing the brilliance of Hindus. Till now, on occasions of struggle, they had seen only cowardly leaders and people who enter their homes and close the doors, but now the picture has changed. RSS karyakartas, being the conscious components of the society, awaken its courage. This is in accordance with their ‘Veervrat’.
Doctor sahab became a doctor after completing his studies for 5 years in Kolkata’s medical college. Whatever he did in these five years, he never spoke about it but it is well known that Doctor sahab received affinity from leaders working in different fields. His friendship with revolutionaries grew in different places and he worked very carefully, patiently and in a planned manner to silently transport their weapons from one place to another. While doing so, he never faced any obstacle in the form of region and language. He had learnt the Bengali language well and had also made friends with many people. During disasters like floods and epidemics, he took his young companions along and served the victims. When Keshavrao returned to Nagpur with a doctor’s degree, the country was facing the threat of the First World War. He felt that this was the right time to challenge the British government by organising a revolutionary movement. He took part in the movement by taking many risks, but he soon realised that the foreigners cannot be uprooted by bringing about a revolution with arms in a large country like Bharat. Hence, he had spread this work gradually, with as much caution as he could. It took many years. He did not get disappointed or disheartened in times of failures. It was his nature to keep working with a feeling of patriotism and selflessness.[6]
While staying in Nagpur from 1915 to 1920, Doctor Sahab worked a lot in the national movement. He used to travel around and hold meetings and sit-ins. But he paid special attention to igniting the fire of complete independence among the youth. Due to his quality of doing his work wholeheartedly, selflessly and involving colleagues, the leaders started considering his cooperation very important. Whatever Doctor Sahab understood, he would put it in front of the big leaders without any hesitation. In the convention of 1920, everyone’s attention was drawn to his personality and despite his different views, everyone got to see his special quality of following the discipline of the organisation.
In Nagpur, the police searched the houses of Hedgewar and Dr Munje twice but found nothing. Thus, the government felt powerless to do anything despite knowing everything about Hedgewar.
Along with his role in the revolutionary movement, Doctor Sahab also actively participated in two mass movements of Bengal. In 1911, he participated in the boycott movement of Delhi Durbar, while in 1914, he also led a movement by creating a strong public opinion against the government’s refusal to accept the degree of National Medical College.
The revolutionary attitude of the students of National Medical College was the main reason behind the government’s decision. Anand Bazar Patrika wrote an editorial on 16 November 1915 opposing this law. Motilal Ghosh, the editor of the magazine, gave a strong form to the movement by giving all kinds of help to Hedgewar. Surendranath Banerjee was also giving a strong form to the movement. Surendranath Banerjee also joined the movement and a huge public meeting was organised in Calcutta, Hedgewar reached Nagpur and organised a meeting in support of this movement and a resolution was passed against the bill. Ultimately the government had to withdraw this black law in 1916 itself.
‘At present, many forces are working to weaken and destroy our Hindu society and nation. One of their efforts is to create conflict within the Hindu society and they deliberately incite the sentiments of a group by spreading false and distorted propaganda. For this, they receive a lot of money from abroad. There is no need to tell separately that there are political motives behind this.'[7] Our brothers living in slums and forest areas are being provoked to be discontent about their neglected condition, unequal treatment meted out to them and the extreme poverty and unemployment prevalent in the society. On the other hand, there is a systematic effort to cut them off from the mainstream of the nation by luring them with money. Muslims are also forming a political party by luring this section of Hindu society with them. Under this guise, there is an attempt to create separatism and mutual hatred. To counter this, the Sangh is making nationwide efforts to infuse harmony and intimacy in national life with the help of religious leaders, scholars and selfless social workers. It is an experience that the efforts to build mutual trust on the basis of Hindutva are succeeding and the society also is fully cooperating in this task.
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