Pages: 368
To a question, Shri Guruji once said with a smile, “After having worked in Sangh for nearly 30 years, I can now say that I have begun to understand Sangh a little.” He was Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for 33 years; he had circumambulated Bharat 60 times during this period, travelling in second or third class train bogies, State transport buses, nearly every kind of transport vehicle except human driven rickshaw because he could not bear to be carried by a fellow human being. Shri Guruji stayed in thousands of homes in villages, forests and cities. Thus, he had seen the Hindu society and RSS from closest quarters and guided RSS from infancy to adulthood. Still, he said, he had understood Sangh a little.
Having been in RSS from my childhood, worked closely with first and second generation of RSS workers and pracharaks across Bharat to meet and converse with them, translated two books about the same iconic figure, Shri Guruji, and written many books on RSS, I believed that I now know enough about RSS. However, I have been humbled again about my limited understanding after reading the book Swayamsevak by Malini Bhattacharjee.
Swayamsevak has a very simple premise. The academician author chose 10 swayamsevaks including one swayamsevika from diverse backgrounds and geographies. In my experience, when you try to explain RSS through the stories of dedicated karyakartas to new seekers, it creates more impact than complex theories and history.
Fortunately, I have known two of the ten protagonists in this book personally for years. Their stories assured me that there was no manipulation. Some of the stories reflected what I had experienced over years and had impacted me. With this sense of familiarity, there was a curiosity about “What’s new?”
Then, I was hit with the story of Pankajavalli. I have worked with Rashtra Sevika Samiti workers many times, during camps and workshops. But her courage, dedication and spirit of bold selfless work among the most difficult people in the most trying times at the peak of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir left me deeply moved. Her equanimity is enlightening. A Tamil, born and brought up in Andhra Pradesh, decides not to marry and dedicate her life to the motherland; becomes full time pracharika and lands finally in Jammu at the peak of terrorism in 1990s. She makes it her home, working in diverse fields, not just Samiti shakha. She finds innovative ways to serve women and children. When asked if she misses her birthplace, she smiles and simply says, “Ab aadat ho gayi… idhar hi aa gayi.” (Now I have become used to it… I have come here only.)
In the same vein is the story of Joydev Dada – a Bengali who organised shakhas in violent Communist times in West Bengal, worked in Naxal infested areas, and defied deadly attacks. He decided to become pracharak after facing atrocities during the Emergency. After 10 years in Bengal, he was sent to Punjab with a batch of 23 pracharaks during the Khalistani separatist movement, escaped death by a whisker many times, but kept on working fearlessly. Then, he is asked to move to Jammu & Kashmir and work in Kashmir, ‘because, you have to believe ‘yeh dharti apni hai …If dharti is not yours, nation is also not yours.’ He finds himself in terrorist infested areas, in disastrous situations of natural calamities. Every time, he finds new ways, makes friends, creates relations based on unalloyed love for the motherland and her people. You will be deeply touched by his heart to heart relations that led to acceptance of a Bengali Hindu by Kashmiri Muslims and separatists.
There is Shantaram Siddi, now an MLC in Karnataka Legislative Council, who comes from the Afro-Indian tribal community of Siddis, a micro-minority even among Vanvasis and Janajatis. His story gives us a peep into RSS workers’ commitment to find talented individuals and give them rightful space in society. He did not discover RSS, senior RSS workers discovered him and nurtured him for the leadership role, giving him a bigger canvas to work on.
In short, every story is a learning session about what makes individuals rise above self and how RSS is able to spark their imagination that turns ordinary people into extraordinary swayamsevaks and achievers. The only thing driving all of them is selfless love and the urge to serve their people without any discrimination of caste, creed, territory and religion. A sense of self-abnegation pervades their lives. Every swayamsevak and sevika drops pearls of wisdom effortlessly and unconsciously, born out of a life of sacrifice and dedication that will touch you deeply.
You wonder, how is it that swayamsevaks across geographies and different backgrounds have similar responses to different situations and in diverse local cultures? What is that one hour of RSS shakha training that looks so simple to the onlooker, stupid to critics, but produces such gems in thousands year after year?
The way swayamsevaks become one with the people in their operational areas and go to any region of Bharat without second thoughts as this entire nation is their matribhoomi (motherland) shows exceptional emotional quotient and social quotient that is a must for any individual who wishes to serve the people. The spirit of seva comes from this emotion, not theorising.
Their stories tell us about their problem solving ability, finding innovative solutions within limited means, not looking up to governments to provide resources, their understanding of the society, communities with different faith systems and ability to take them along. It will be a revelation for many, especially critics.
The ability of RSS seniors to nurture talent, guide a swayamsevak to do better and be a leader is a lesson for the human resource managers. Their open mind gives them the ability to resist putting people into preconceived boxes, and that is a unique quality for a cadre based organisation run by ordinary people trained by the organisational genius of RSS. The decentralised model of RSS is a strength which the people who wish to crush it do not understand or rather refuse to understand because of ideological myopia. These are stories about them though they are not the protagonists.
Lastly, about the author. Malini presents a person as he or she is. She doesn’t judge anyone. She has her opinions, but she is not opinionated.
This book should be read by critics and curious onlookers trying to decipher RSS. They might get some inkling about what makes RSS tick. RSS is what swayamsevak does. Swayamsevak is nurtured by RSS shakhas, by ordinary looking average citizens of Bharat. He or she is moulded by the simple process of shakha, blended with unbound love for the fellow citizens, motherland. Then the individual is on her/his own. More importantly, this book is also for shallow critics who claim to know more about Hindutva and our society than RSS and its swayamsevaks. The way swayamsevaks have been bringing positive changes to society with selfless seva, one step at a time, sacrificing themselves willingly, happily and expecting nothing in return comes out well. Nations are built on the strength of such people. I am sure, you will feel ennobled by the time you finish this book.
