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1. FESTIVALS:
Ganeshotsav, the ten day festival, starts on the birthday of Lord Ganesha,
the son of Shiva
and Parvati,
the Bhaadrapad Shukla Chaturthi, corresponding to September 19 this year and
culminates on Anant Chaturdashi, the 29th September this year. The
festival is celebrated all over Bharat and also outside Bharat.
In USA Milwaukee,
Columbus in Ohio, Krishnadevrai
shakha at Irvine CA observed Ganesh pooja programs where
children were taught to make Ganesh moorthi of clay, paint and decorate it and
perform pooja etc. At places Lezim processions were taken out and Prasad
distributed. Joyful celebrations were also reported from Delhi, Bhagyanagar (Hyderabad),
Tamilnadu and Karachi where over 1000 people participated in the Ganesh pooja
at local Swaminarayan temple, Gitananda Ashram temple in Italy, Bharatiya
Embassy at Tokyo etc.
2. FORMER RSS SARSANGHCHALAK
KUPPAHALLI SITARAMAIYA SUDARSHAN, polularly known as Sudarshanji, passed away in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on September 15. He was
81. He was cremated in Nagpur
the next day.
Born
on June 18, 1931 in Raipur, Sudarshanji did his
Bachelor of Engineering in Telecommunications (honours) from Sagar University.
He joined the Sangh shakha at the age of 9 years and become a Pracharak in
1954. His first posting as Pracharak was in Raigarh district. In 1964, he was
made Prant Pracharak of Madhya Bharat at a fairly young age.
He
became the fifth Sarsanghchalak on March 10, 2000 succeeding Prof. Rajendra
Singh who was popularly known as Rajju Bhaiya. Due to ill health, he stepped
down as RSS chief in 2009 and handed
over the charge to Shri Mohan Bhagwat.
|
We offer our heartfelt Shradhhanjali at
the sudden demise of Pu Shri Sudarshan ji on September 15 and pray at the feet
of SriParmeshwar to bestow sadgati to the departed soul.
|
He
was known for doing new experiments in the Sangh. It was during his tenure of
Sharirik Pramukh that the training of kharag, shool, chhurika etc. was replaced
with niyuddha, yogasan, and sports. Similarly, the bauddhik activities at the
shakha also got new dimension during his tenure as Akhil Bharatiya Bauddhik
Pramukh.
He was in Raipur on his routine
pravas. After morning walk he started doing pranayam and in that position he
suddenly passed away. As per his wish, his eyes were donated to Madhav Netra
Pedhi.
His body was then taken
to Nagpur in
the evening by a special aircraft provided by the Chhattisgarh Government. With
the waves of emotions, senior RSS, BJP and leaders offered their tribute at
Reshimbagh. Prominent among them were Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat,
Sarkaryavah Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi, Pramukh Sanchalika of Rashtra Sevika Samiti
Shantakka, Swami Akhileshwarananda,
veteran VHP leader Shri Ashok Singhal, senior BJP leaders Shri LK Advani, Smt
Sushma Swaraj, Shri Arun Jaitley, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Chief Ministers of
different states including Shri Narendra Modi , Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan ,
Shri Jagdish Shettar , Dr Raman Singh who offered tributes and remembered his contributions.
Many religious leaders
from Muslim, Christian and Buddhist sects were also present to pay tribute.
Jamat Ulema-e-Hind’s President Maulana Kazmi and Minority Commission’s Shri
Siddiqui made a point to visit Reshimbagh to pay homage. Many dignitaries from
Tibetan Government in Exile were present, as Sudarshanji was active in
gathering support to the Tibetan independence struggle.
Shraddhanjali programs
and messages
Condolence meeting in
Nagpur was held at Reshimbag on Sept 26th.
“Late Sudarshanji was a perfect confluence of knowledge, devotion and duty. He
guided and let not only we swyamsevaks but also the entire society by example”,
said Dr. Mohan Bhagwat. Stating that his
death was a personal loss to him, the RSS chief confessed that he used to
approach Sudarshanji whenever he wanted some clarification or guidance. He said
he took the reins of this biggest organization from Sudarshanji and he was
assured that he would get the necessary guidance in times of crises. Now his
demise has created a big void in my life. Condolence messages from Dr Pranav
Pandya of Gayatri Parivar and Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, Jain
Muni Vijay Ratnasundar Surishwar Maharaj of Sakal Jain Samaj, Swami Dayanand Saraswati and Bhadant Sadanand
Mahasthvir Sanghnushasak were read out on the occasion.
Sudarshanji’s ashes
were immersed in Ganga
at Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar on September 25 in the presence of huge gathering of
swyamsevaks.
Baba Ramdev:
Sudarshanji was a father figure to me. He dedicated himself to the nation till
he breathed his last.
Swami Satyamitrananda Giri:
Sudarshanji was a modern saint who thought only for the nation and welfare of
the humanity.
Shri Bani Deshpande and Roza Deshpande -daughter of the late communist ideologue Sripad Amrit Dange: Our
friendship was not for political reason. Sudarshanji used to discuss with us
the issues of science and Vedant for hours.
PCLM president RL Francis: Sudarshanji always
advocated for social justice. He was a strong supporter of maintaining peace
and harmony among all religions.
Arch Bishop
Mar Aprem at Trichur, Kerala : ’Sudarsanji is the person who was the model for all
the leaders who realizes the value of Communal harmony.
Vaikunt Samaroh
was held at Mysore
on September 26 where RSS sarkaryavaha Bhayyaji Joshi, K.Suryanarayan Rao ji and
swayamsevaks, family members were present.
3. 9TH WORLD HINDI CONFERENCE CONCLUDES IN SOUTH AFRICA: The three day long 9th
World Hindi Conference concluded in Johannesburg
city of South Africa.
Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur felicitated several Hindi
scholars, writers and laureates, who had gathered from different parts of the
world for their contribution towards the language. The conference was jointly
inaugurated on September 22 by Kaur and the Finance Minister of South Africa,
Pravin Gordhan. According to M. Ganapathi, Secretary West (Ministry of External
Affairs), "The main aim of the ninth World Hindi Conference is to promote
Hindi language and widen its reach. Other than this were , use of Hindi in
information technology; making Hindi as a language of knowledge; science and employment and to attract and
encourage the youth to learn Hindi language."Ganpathi further said,
"We would want Hindi to be the seventh official language in the United
Nations. “
The programme of the three-day conference included
nine academic sessions, cultural programmes and exhibitions on various aspects
of Hindi including IT applications in the field of Hindi.
4. 'DHARMA,
DHAMMA HAVE SIMILAR ROOTS' – DR MM JOSHI: Former Union minister
Murli Manohar Joshi has said that Dharma and Dhamma have similar roots.
"Dialogue between Sanatan Dharma and Buddhism is the need of the hour. It
will pave way for a balanced global development," said Dr. Joshi while
addressing the concluding session of the two-day International Dharma-Dhamma
Convention organized at Vidhan Sabha building Bhopal on September 23.
Joshi said the convention should send a message of
controlling desires as unending desires are the root cause of man's miseries.
He said that all the religions including Sanatan Dharma, Buddhism and Jainism
call for unity, harmony and service.
Vedacharya Dr David Frawley (Vamdev Shastri) said that
ancient knowledge will be taught in modern context at Sanchi Buddhist
University. Dr Rammohan
informed about Sanchi Declaration and research papers presented during the
plenary session.
About 235 delegates from 19 countries participated in
the convention jointly organized by Madhya Pradesh government, Center for study
of religion and Society, SriLanka Mahabodhi society and India Foundation, New Delhi.
On September 22, at Sanchi, Sri Lankan President
Mahinda Rajapaksa laid the foundation stone of Sanchi University of Buddhist
and Indic Studies. He said at this occasion that there was a need to revive the
Buddhist and Indic value systems which paved way to modern concepts of human rights
and fundamental freedom.
Bhutanese Prime Minister
Jigme Y Thinley, Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh
Chouhan, BR Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar and 12 countries’ saints and
scholars were present on the occasion.
Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigme Y Thinley described the
occasion of Sanchi
University’s foundation
laying ceremony as a moment of happiness and pride for him. Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan said a grand temple
of Sita should be built at a place
where Sita underwent agnipariksha (trial by fire) in Sri Lanka and that his government
was ready to extend assistance
5.
Judge of Appeal in Singapore:
A
Bharat-origin judge has been named as the new chief justice of Singapore,
making him the first from the community to head the courts. Sundaresh Menon,
presently Singapore's
Judge of Appeal, will assume the office of the chief justice from November 6.
He would take over from Justice Chan Sek Keong, (Anderson School, Ipoh) who
retires at the age of 75 Justice Menon said: "I am greatly honoured and
privileged to be entrusted with this awesome responsibility; and humbled by the
calibre of those who have been so entrusted before me". Menon, 50,
obtained his Master of Laws from Harvard
University, after
graduating with First Class Honours in Law from the National University of
Singapore.
6. NUCLEAR-CAPABLE AGNI-III TEST-FIRED: Two days after the
successful trial of highly advanced Agni-IV ballistic missile with a strike
range of about 4000 km , Bharat testfired
its nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile with a strike range of 3000 km
on September 20.The indigenously developed surface-to-air missile, which can
carry a warhead of 1.5 tonne protected by a carbon all composite heat shield,
took off at 1315 hours from a mobile launcher at launch complex-4 of Integrated
Test Range at Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast, defence sources said.
"It was the fifth
test in the Agni-III series carried out to establish the 'repeatability' of the
state-of-the-art missile's performance," a DRDO scientist said.
The missile is equipped
with hybrid navigation, guidance and control systems along with advanced
on-board computers. The electronic systems are hardened for higher vibration,
thermal and acoustic effects, a DRDO official said.
7.
Kashmiri Pandits observe Balidan Divas: Various functions were
organized by Kashmiri Pandits at different places in Jammu on September 19 in connection with
observance of Martyrs' Day.
This day is being
observed by the Kashmiri Pandit community as the Balidan Divas since 1990 in
commemoration of the martyrdom of Pandit Tikalal Ji Taploo and also the
persecution that was inflicted upon the Kashmiri Pandit community in the valley of Kashmir. The Kashmiri Pandit community
was made the selected victim of terror and terrorism, murder and mayhem on a
large scale resulting in their mass exodus from the valley.
The Joint Forum of KP
Organizations organized a protest demonstration at outside the Raj Bhawan, Jammu. The protesters
carrying placards and posters raised slogans against terrorism and apathy of
the government towards the Kashmiri Pandits.
8. IAF CHIEF INSPECTS 1ST INDIGENOUS AEW&C
JET: “ The success of this program will put our country into the elite
group which can develop and deliver such complex state of the art
systems," said Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, DG DRDO. He was speaking at a
function organised to commemorate the formal receipt of the AEW&C Bharat aircraft
by Centre for Airborne System (CABS). Dr Saraswat congratulated the AEW&C
team from DRDO, IAF, CEMILAC, DGAQA, and the EMBRAER team for this significant
achievement.
The
indigenous AEW&C System based on projections by the IAF and built on the
EMB-145I by DRDO has incorporated more operational capabilities than
contemporary systems of its class."
Air
Chief Marshal NAK Browne PVSM AVSM VM ADC, Chief of Air Staff, Indian Air Force
was the chief guest in the function in which the aircraft was formally received
in CABS. Speaking on the occasion, he said he was personally very satisfied
with this significant milestone in the programme which was not, and still is
not, an easy programme.
9. Hindu SANGAM SACRAMENTO, CA: First ever Hindu Sangam in Sacramento
under the banner of “Annapoorna” was organized,
in which 15 Hindu organizations, including 3 temples, of greater Sacramento area
participated. Annapoorna is an initiative of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), USA and was
started in 2005. This was the whole day
event on Sep 15th 2012 at Shree Laxmi Narayan Mandir. More than 400 people
participated in the event exceeding the expectation; the estimate was for 250
to 300 people.
In his keynote address US HSS Sanghchalak Ved Nanda
spoke about the “need of organized
Hindu Society and how to achieve that”. He also said we were the first one to
say Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah & did add all not only ecology but whole
universe in our thoughts.
10. NOW JAPANESE ARE WALKING UP TO JAIPUR FOOT: After the amputees from war-ravaged nations and the
handicapped from poor countries, now the technically advanced Japanese too are
coming in to fit on the simple and user-friendly Jaipur Foot.
Four
Japanese, three of them women, flew into the Pink City
recently to get equipped with the artificial limb at Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang
Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) here. There was neither any waiting period nor the
long-winded processes. Saki Tabaku (20), Fumiko Takado (38) and Hitomi Onishi
(35) could walk in a few minutes after they were fitted with Jaipur Foot and
Jaipur Knee.
The
Japanese were inspired to try out the Jaipur Foot by the Japanese researcher
Ken Endo who holds a doctorate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Mr. Endo is presently working as a research associate with Japanese
multinational Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Tokyo. MIT has collaborated with BMVSS on
developing prosthesis and Mr. Endo has been part of the project. “They were
surprised at the speed with which the artificial limbs could be fitted on them
as the process would have taken about a month in Japan,” Mr. Endo said. A similar
prosthesis in Japan
would have cost Rs.6 lakh, while the Jaipur prosthesis cost Rs.2,200 only, he
observed. However it was news for Mr. Endo as well that the prosthesis is given
free of cost to the poor patients.
BMVSS
founder and chief patron D.R .Mehta hailed the visit of the Japanese as
recognition for Bharatiya technology from a much advanced nation like Japan.
11. HINDRAF
LEADER'S TRAVEL BAN LIFTED: Hindraf Makkal Sakthi Chairman P. Waythamoorthy has
been struck off the Immigration Department's blacklist.
"This means he is now free to travel around the
world," Immigration director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad said yesterday.
He said the travel ban had been lifted following a
request by the police. Three days after the Hindraf protest in November 2007,
Waythamoorthy left the country for the United Kingdom. His passport was
revoked in March 2008 and he applied for political asylum in Britain.
Waythamoorthy remained in self-imposed exile there
until last month, returning to Malaysia
by crossing the border from Singapore.
12. MUSLIMS WELCOME
RSS PRACHARAK’S BHARAT PARIKRAMA YATRA: RSS Pracharak Sitaram
Kedilaya’s Bharat Parikrama Yatra received a warm welcome at a Muslim Institute
in Netoor panchayat -the rural side of Kochi
city in Kerala. RSS Pracharak 'The heart of the Bharat is lying at our village,
where all the culture of mankind is deep rooted. I think every religion teach us
to love the nature” this was the message by RSS Pracharak Sitaram Kedilaya to
the Villagers of Netoor in Kerala.
In reply the Yathim Khana
(a Muslim Institute) administrator Hamsa said clearly that the Holy book Khuran
says those people who look to other religious temple or worshipping place with
a cruel eye or with a bad intention, he is not Islam..”
13. CHICAGO BHARATIYA GIRL GROOMS ORPHANS AND KIDS OF SEX WORKERS IN INDIA: Grooming of children to respect parents, guests, teachers and volunteering in society is essentially an Indian tradition with parents. Most Indian parents do it whether they live in India or abroad. The first lesson they give to their children is – Matru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava, Acharya Devo Bhava, and Atithi Devo Bhava.
But there are less fortunate children, who are
orphaned, or abandoned by their parents in India because of poverty.
Many of these children live in squalor on streets. There are also
children of sex workers, who are not lucky enough to have enough motherly care.
All these children are neglected and left to fend for themselves.
Priyanka Bhargav, a young college student from South Barrington, IL,
is sensitive to the travails of these neglected children and abandoned women.
Priyanka was born in India,
but immigrated to the US
as a baby. She feels that she is lucky, to be groomed by her parents in
the traditional way of Indian values. She particularly attributes her
sensitivity to poor children, to her father Yogesh Bhargav. While she has
absorbed the essence of the first lessons she has received from her parents,
she has taken volunteering very seriously.
She attributes her strong sense of volunteerism to her
exposure to Hindu Swayam Sevaksangh (HSS)-USA. As a child, she was
introduced to HSS by her parents.
Priyanka has just returned from Pune, India,
where she volunteered to take care of less fortunate orphaned slum children,
children of sex workers and even the abandoned women. She participated in
a 10-week summer Yuva for Seva project of Sewa International-USA.
Speaking to India Tribune, Priyanka pours out her
heart having worked with these hapless orphaned children, children of sex
workers and abandoned women. She says: “I was in Pune for my project. I
worked with an organization called Chaitanya Mahila Mandal, which works with
women, who have gone through terrible things. They include the women, who are
forced into flesh industry, the women, who have gotten pregnant and then
abandoned, the women, who have been abused physically, mentally, emotionally or
sexually, and even the women, who have been abandoned by their parents.”
Priyanka says that Aashray is a rehabilitation and
counseling center for these women where they can stay free of cost up to three
years. The aim of the Aashray is to make these women self-dependent and
to rehabilitate them. She says “I worked with these women, teaching them
yoga, games, bhajans and English. They also participated in discussions
on various topics.”
She says she was touched by the children, whose
mothers were being forced into the flesh industry. “There is a night
crèche for these kids, who would otherwise be drugged and put to sleep or be
forced to watch their mothers. In the night crèche, I taught the children
songs, slokas, bhajans, English alphabets and numbers. I even taught them
some games. For them, I created ‘alphabet flashcards’ with a letter on one side
and two words with pictures that start with that letter. I also made
motivational posters to be displayed on the walls of the crèche,” she adds.
She has created various fundraising documents for
Chaitanya Mahila Mandal, which will be uploaded on to their Web site www.cmmpune.org and a
volunteering document that would enable one to donate money, resources, time or
all the three.
Priyanka says that she has been trying to volunteer
with Yuva for Sewa for the past two years and was finally able to do so this
summer. “I have always been passionate about helping out my community in India, my
motherland. I wanted to volunteer in India. Visiting India with my family as a tourist has been fun,
but I wanted to see a different side of India, the side I often hear about
a lot, but never had a chance. Therefore, when I got a chance, I made full use
of it,” she says with conviction.
She says her experience in India in helping the women, who
have been abused, trafficked or abandoned by their husbands and families, had
been very painful and life-changing. “Navigating a city that I had never
been in before, communicating in the languages I did not know well, and
adapting to living conditions in an Indian hostel had been very challenging.
This experience had broadened my view about the world,” she says.
Asked how she felt working with women who were in
flesh trade, Priyanka says: “I feel sorry for them. Given an
opportunity they would all like to get out of it. But it is a vicious circle.
Some women are bought by brothel-keepers. To win freedom, these women
have to pay back these brothel-keepers. To pay back the money, these
women have to keep on selling their bodies. When they sell their bodies,
they get sick. To get treated they have to spend money. Therefore,
the debt never gets reduced. Often it gets mounted. So they live in
perennial debt and die in debt.”
Priyanka condemns the system and pities these women
and their children for being trapped in the vicious circle for no fault of
theirs. The social organizations like Chaitanya Mahila Mandal and Aashray
are helping them. But they are very few and the need is more.
Priyanka says that she was one of the six girls and
three boys chosen by HSS-USA to volunteer with Yuva for Sewa in various Indian
cities. One of the volunteers was an American girl. Priyanka says that their
experience has been no different from hers. Given an opportunity, she
wants to go to India
once again and work for the upliftment of these neglected children and
unfortunate women.- J.V.
Lakshmana Rao (IndiaTribune Oct 1, 2012)
14. SUNITA WILLIAMS
TAKES OVER COMMAND AT INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: Just after the Soyuz
spacecraft separated from the space station on September 16, NASA astronaut
Sunita Williams took over command of Expedition 33 at the station from
Commander Gennady Padalka, becoming the second woman in history to do so.
Williams will be sharing
the Space Station with veteran Russia
cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide until
mid-October, when three more astronauts, including NASA astronaut Kevin Ford,
will arrive and round out the full crew of Expedition 33.
"I would like to
thank our (Expedition) 32 crew mates here who have taught us how to live and
work in space, and of course to have a lot of fun up in space," Williams
told Padalka during a change of command ceremony.
15. DELHI UNIVERSITY'S
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT AMONG WORLD'S BEST: The QS World University
Rankings has ranked Delhi
University among the 100
best places to study English. Even as Bharatiya institutions of higher
education have drawn flak for failing to make the top 200 in overall university
rankings, DU's English department features in the 51-100 group in QS' annual
survey.
English (or language)
departments of three other Bharatiya universities have made QS' list by subject
Jawaharlal Nehru
University, University
of Calcutta and University of Hyderabad.
But unlike DU's department, they are in the 151-200 ranks group.
In English teaching, DU
is in the same league as Pennsylvania State University,
St Andrew's University and University
of Sussex — all in the
51-100 category. DU's English is better than that of Purdue
University, Nottingham
University and University of Liverpool.
16. BANGLADESH PARLIAMENT PASSES HINDU MARRIAGE
LAW: Bangladesh’s parliament has passed
a landmark bill aimed at protecting the rights of the Hindu community members,
especially women from marriage-related cheating.
The law would authorise
the government and the local government authorities to appoint a marriage
registrar to be known as Hindu Marriage Registrar at every ward of the City
Corporation and municipality. The bride would have to be minimum 18 years old
and the groom 21 years, the report said.
17. DEFINE US BY
ETHNICITY, NOT RELIGION: ASSAM
MUSLIMS: After the violence in Bodoland
Territorial Areas District (BTAD), heated discourses on the Muslim community
have become common in the state. Sadou Asom Goria Moria Deshi Jatiya Parishad
(SAGMDJP), an organisation representing indigenous Assamese Muslims, on Sunday
said that their community members wanted to be identified by their ethnicity
and not by their religion.We belong to the Goria, Moria and Deshi ethnic groups
of the Assamese Muslims. It is another fact that our religion is Islam, but we
have our own ethnic identities.These communities have evolved distinct
identities because of their ethnicity.We want these communities to be
identified and referred to by their ethnic identities and not by religion,
SAGMDJP president Sahiruddin Ali Ahmed said in a public meeting on September
16. (Times of India, Sept 16.2012 )
18. ALUMNI
OPEN PURSE TO HELP IIT-D BUILD RESEARCH SCHOOLS: The highly successful
alumni of IIT-Delhi are helping the institute look beyond government funding
for several ambitious research projects.
Currently, two complexes are being built in IIT-Delhi
with 100 per cent alumni funding. The first is Amarnath and Shashi Khosla
School of Information Technology, named after parents of US-based venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.
Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, funded by
alumnus Anurag Dikshit through the UK-based Kusuma Trust, named after his
mother, is another project coming up on the campus.
Patanjali Keswani, managing director of Lemon Tree
Hotels and an alumnus, recently announced Rs 20 crore for GH Keswani Research
Centre at the institute.
19. SHRI
VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas: Dr.Sadanand
Sapre, sah samyojak Vishwa Vibhag returned from his tour to Singapore, Malaysia
and Myanmar.
Visitors:
FOOD FOR
THOUGHT: All who have actually
attained any real religious experience never wrangle over the form in which the
different religions are expressed. They know that the soul of all religions is
the same and so they have no quarrel with anybody just because he or she does
not speak in the same tongue. – Swami Vivekananda
JAI SHREE
RAM
SUDARSHAN: A LEADER
WHO BROKE BARRIERS
Tarun Vijay
Former Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh chief KS Sudarshan, who passed away on Saturday, broke the
barriers of past burdens, dogmas and ritualism and often faced severe criticism
from various quarters. But once he took a stand, no one could make him go back
on it.
Sudarshanji was like a
family member. Sharing the good times and bad, standing with us like a father
figure and trying to help. For him scholarship, organisational burden and
national policies came after human relations. An emotional person, he would
often engage visitors in long chats, and it was a great experience to listen to
his words of wisdom on science, spiritualism, metaphysics, environmental issues
and almost anything under the sun.
Even when he was the
global chief of the world's largest Hindu organisation, he remained the most
accessible person on earth with whom we could discuss, criticise, vehemently
oppose organisational decisions, even express disagreement on what he said or
wrote, and yet be without the fear of
any 'disciplinary action'.
He was, after all, a
father figure to us. A mentor who never got angry but who tried to shape us
through love and persuasion.
He was us.
Yet he never trod the
beaten path.
His first address to the
nation, a press conference in Nagpur after assuming charge as Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh chief, was on the economic situation and the need to
assertively follow a policy that would help indigenous industry grow, provide
more employment to the skilled and unskilled labourers and blue collar workers.
Contact Raman Singh (chief minister of Chhattisgarh) and get information on
what he has done to produce bio-fuel and publish a detailed report, he would
say.
His long discussions with
the then petroleum minister Ram Naik resulted in the central government's
policy on bio-fuel.
In RSS karyalayas (office
cum residence), he made it an unwritten rule followed by all to only fill as
much water in the glass as one is sure to drink. 'Don't waste water, don't fill
up the glass only to throw it into the washbasin. Water is sacred and scarce,'
he would urge.
He tried to persuade
everyone he met to stop ostentatious marriages. Don't go in for such
celebrations, it's a mockery of India's
poor millions and a blot on Hindu society. And so was his mission to fight
female foeticide. We worship Lakshmi, Durga and Saraswati as stone idols but
kill them in the womb, he said in a speech.
He praised Indira Gandhi
for her role in the 1971 war and invited a huge load of criticism from those
who thought we ought to be hateful and hard-hitting on the Congress. He hated
the hate element in Indian politics and tried to reach out to everyone as an
Indian.
The business of
enlisting, de-listing and blacklisting is a Communist preserve, he would tell
us, why should a Hindu fall into that abyss and still hypocritically keep on
chanting the story of Charvak, the atheist who was given an exalted position of
rishi in spite of being an exponent of a philosophy that negated Vedic
principles.
Very often, whenever he
happened to be in Delhi
], he would come to the offices of
Panchjanya and Organiser and discuss several contemporary issues with the
editors. His knowledge of global affairs and their likely impact on India was
awesome. His friends' circle included diplomats, scientists, Vedic scholars,
environmentalists and economists espousing the cause of Swadeshi.
He was fond of Atal
Bihari Vajpayee’s poems and would recite many of them verbatim at several
meetings. So when a daily newspaper published his interview that created
awkwardness between him and Vajpayeeji, he felt sad about it. And it goes to
the credit of both leaders' maturity that the bad blood was removed and
relations normalised.
His knowledge of Islam
was so astounding and correct that he surprised the Islamic ulema and maulanas,
whom he loved to engage in conversations. He wanted to reach out to Indian
Muslims and inspired many such organisations and efforts. Perhaps he was the
only Hindu leader of his stature who never forgot to send Eid greetings to his
Muslim friends every year.
He would often come to
our home, chat with the kids as if he was of their age and watch some
interesting programmes, essentially non-political, on television. He was very
happy when our daughter was born and came home to name her and be a part of the
annaprashan ceremony.
At a later stage, when he
relinquished the post of RSS chief, he would often feel sad and lonely and
recite Atalji's poems -- on the resolve to face odd situations with firmness.
About his failing health, he would say: 'I forget the names of my close
associates, it's a terrible thing.' And would often go back in time, recalling
his Jabalpur
days, his roots in Tamil Nadu, and the plight of Hindus due to their own
mistakes.
Once he told us that a
great astrologer in Tirupati (now no more) had divined his past and said he was
a Sri Lankan Tamil in his previous birth. We all laughed.
Sudarshanji wanted to
restore the glory of Hindus the world over and would often say, 'The time is
very near when Hindu society will unshackle the colonial mindset and acquire
its destined place in the comity of nations. No one can keep Hindus subjugated
and a slave of political expediency for long.'
An ardent devotee of Sri
Aurobindo, he would declare with a great confidence -- a new India will
rise, and soon. Happier, mightier and wealthier. Hindus are born with the
divine gift of science and mathematics; no one can beat them in scientific
pursuits. It's in our genes.
He would get enraged on
seeing the plight of Hindus in Pakistan,
Bangladesh and even in India due to
political vote-banks and sham secularism. The leaders are spineless, they do
not feel the pains and sorrows of Hindus, he would lament. Every party has a
Hindu leadership, why don't they feel anguish on seeing how Hindus are being
persecuted all over South Asia, he would ask.
We must work with the Hindus of other political groups and shouldn't be
confined to the Bharatiya Janata Party
alone, but are other groups willing to receive us, he would question.
He broke the barriers of
past burdens, dogmas and ritualism and often faced severe criticism from
various quarters. But once he took a stand, no one could make him go back on
it.
He was like a family
member to us. And to many, many Swayamsevaks all over the nation. I regret not
being able to have his best speeches and interviews published in his lifetime,
although a publisher had made such an offer years before. But his memory will
always keep us moving towards building a greater and happier Bharatvarsh that
is India.( www.rediff.com September 17,
2012 ) --Tarun Vijay is a Bharatiya Janata Party member of the
Rajya Sabha
