samvad
1July2018
1. FESTIVALS: TRADITIONAL KASADA FESTIVAL MARKED IN INDONESIA: Yadnya
Kasada function is a famous festival held in Bromo, East Java. Yadnya Kasada is
an offering sesajen service for Sang Hyang Widhi by Hindu Tengger individuals
on the 14th day of Kasada month in Javanese calendar. Yadnya Kasada is held at
Pura Luhur Poten at the lower region of Bromo, beginning at midnight until
sunrise. On the fourteenth day, admirers go to Mount Bromo to make
contributions to the mountain divine beings. The cause of the celebration dates
back to the fifteenth century when a princess began the realm of Tengger with
her significant other, and the childless couple approached the divine beings
for help in bearing youngsters. The legend says the divine beings conceded them
25 youngsters, however on the arrangement that the most youthful tyke be
yielded in the hole of the volcano. These contributions are given to look for
the endowments from the divinity of Mount Bromo, Hyang Widi Wasa and Mahadeva,
the God of the mountain. The celebration's is accepted to have started amid the
Majapahit kingdom.
2.
Yogis in UAE, Saudi, US perform Asanas with great enthusiasm on Fourth
International Yoga Day: Thousands
of Yogis across the world laid down their mats and performed various ‘Yoga
Aasanas’ on June 21. Not only Bharatiya community but all the other communities
with different religions including men, women, children in 177 countries including
The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, United States of America etc. celebrated
fourth International Yoga Day with great enthusiasm. In the United States of
America, Washington, Houston, New York, Geneva and several other cities
organized mega-events on Yoga Day in which thousands of people performed Yoga
together. On 17th June, Sunday, hundreds of yoga enthusiasts gathered to
exercise various asanas at historic monuments of the US, including the Capitol
Hill, kick-starting a host of events planned to mark the fourth anniversary of
the International Day of Yoga. People from various backgrounds, accompanied
with their families, participated in the yoga sessions, performing the Surya
Namaskar, Pranayama, various yoga asanas and breathing exercises.
Bharat’s ambassador and permanent
representative to the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin, posted a picture of the
UN headquarters which have been decorated to mark fourth International Yoga
Day. He in a tweet said, “Yoga lights up UN Headquarters. Multiple events @UN
to celebrate the 4th International Day of Yoga.” This year’s theme is #Yoga4Peace!
3. RASHTRAPATI KOVIND PERFORMS
YOGA IN SURINAME: Visiting
Rashtrapati Maha Mahim Ram Nath Kovind participated in the fourth International
Yoga Day celebrations in Paramaribo along with his Suriname counterpart Desire
Delano Bouterse, Vice President Michael Ashwin Adhin and others. Addressing the
gathering, Kovind said yoga is an ancient Bharatiya tradition, but it does not
belong to Bharat alone.
4. Yoga a unifying force, says
Modi: Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi on June 21 heralded this year's
main event of the International Yoga Day at the sprawling campus of the Forest
Research Institute (FRI) in Dehradun where he performed yoga asanas for almost
45 minutes along with an estimated gathering of around 50,000 people. Before
starting the yoga session, the PM in his address termed yoga as “one of the
most powerful unifying forces in the world” and “a path from illness to
wellness which is linking people from Dehradun to Dublin, and Shanghai to
Chicago”. The yoga session was conducted by four students, two each from
Patanjali Vidyapeeth in Haridwar and the Morarji Desai National Institute of
Yoga in New Delhi.
5. SCO headquarters in Beijing
holds first Yoga Day event: For the first time, a Yoga event was organized
at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) headquarters on June 16, kicking
off this year’s UN International Day of Yoga celebrations in China. Besides SCO
Secretary General Rashid Alimova, Bharatiya ambassador to China Gautam
Bambawale, his wife Amita Bambawale, and diplomats from several countries as
well as Chinese yoga enthusiasts took part in the event.
The SCO comprises of China, Russia,
Bharat, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Bharat and
Pakistan were last year admitted as full member of the organization.
6. International Yoga Day:
Rajasthan creates Guinness record: Rajasthan created a world record on
June 21 by bringing more than a lakh people together at a yoga session. Two
representatives from Guinness World Records watched as yoga guru Baba Ramdev
put the gathering, which included Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje,
through a series of asanas. The international private organization then handed
over a certificate to Ms. Raje and Baba Ramdev, saying it had been the largest
gathering worldwide of people performing yoga.
7. We must serve the society
selflessly and egolessly – dr Bhagwat: Sanatan
Dharma is defined by the concepts of rebirth and fruit of actions, said RSS Sarsanghchalak
Dr. Mohan Bhagwat on June 12 while laying the foundation stone of Seva Sadhana
and Gram Vikas Kendra being built by the Shri Madhav Jan Seva Trust in
Pattikalyana village, near Samalakha in Haryana. Along with Jain muni
Upadhayaya Gupti Sagar Ji, Dr Bhagwat performed “bhumi pooja” by planting a sapling.
The prosperous well-to-do people should come forward to help the deprived and
the needy ones. It would help spread equality in the society and help remove
discrimination, added Dr Bhagwat.
He said that the idea of setting up
a seva sadhana and gram vikas centre in Pattikalyana village has been there for
quite some time, but today it has formally started.
Besides Union minister of state Rao
Inderjit, Gyanananadji Maharaj, Ravi Shahji Maharaj, Gannaur ashram, Swami
Molar Nath Madlauda Ashram and Shri Madhav Jan Seva Trust president Pawan
Jindal were also present on the occasion.
8. A VETERAN PASSED AWAY:
Shri Naresh Arora, a very active and talented Sangh Karyakarta, formerly
from Bharat and then of UK, passed away on 21st June at Chatham, a suburb in
London due to cancer related ailment. He was 78 and is survived by his wife
Virender Sindhu and a grown up son Siddhesh.
While in UK, he played a very
significant role in various Sangh inspired activities such as Friends of India
Society and Oversees Friends of BJP and other socio cultural activities
involving the local Bharatiyas.'
He was a well known figure in the
Hindi Literary field and was a recipient of several awards such as "Vishwa
Hindi Samman " Hindi Sewa Samman".
He was a regular contributor to
Panchjanya and was a correspondent for Hindusthan Samachar during 1969-75. He
was a regular Hindi news reader at BBC London from 1968 for more than a decade.
Shri Nareshji was born in Firozpur,
Punjab in 1940 in a middle class family. He worked as a Sangh pracharak at
Palampur in Himachal Pradesh for two years during 1960 – 62. In Nareshji's
passing away, Sangh has lost not only a veteran karyakarta but also a very
lovable and pleasing elder. (Written by
Dr Shankarrao Tatwawadi)
9. “Dr Hedgewar was an Unsung
Freedom Fighter”: Senior RSS worker Narendra Sehgal, who recently
authored a book, “Yugpravartak Swatantrata Senani Dr Hedgewar ka Antim Lakshya:
Bharatvarsh Ki Sarvang Swatantrata” (The Complete Freedom of Bharat: The Final
Goal of Epoch Maker Freedom Fighter Dr Hedgewar) explained the role of
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its founder Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in
freedom movement to the media persons on June 5. Shri Sehgal said the RSS
founder Dr Hedgewar was an unsung freedom fighter, who neither wrote his
autobiography nor rallied to get published in the newspapers. Since day one the
RSS workers have been convinced of the motto – nahin chahiye pad-yash-garima… (We
don’t want post, fame and name…) and dedicated their life for complete
Independence of Bharat.
10. HOW MY VIEWS ON SANGH AND SWAYAMSEVAKS CHANGED OVERNIGHT:
Zafar Irshad, a Lucknow-based
journalist narrates that how his views on Sangh and Swayamsevaks changed
overnight
As a journalist, I’ve covered many
events of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). However, I never knew about their
ideology and activities much. After the visit of the former President Pranab
Mukherjee, as we witness a media storm now, I find it surprising that people do
not know about the social works and selfless service of the Sangh at all. I
didn’t know about that as well. But, I am a witness to the same and the story
must be told.
In those days, I was with a
newspaper agency and was posted in Kanpur as their principal correspondent.
On July 10, 2011, my phone rang and
my editor informed me that a serious train accident has taken place at Malwa
near Fatehpur. I called my sources, got confirmed and left for the ground to
report the mishap.
What I Saw, Changed my Views
Forever
When I reached the spot, I was taken aback by
the horror of that accident. I was trying to calm me down before I start
reporting, and then I saw something. Men dressed in white shirts and khaki
shorts were volunteering in taking the corpses out of the train and then
covering the dead bodies by a white sheet- the kafan. It took me a while to
figure out that who these men were? I went ahead and inquired. They didn’t
reply and continued with their work.
After a while, the same men started
serving tea and biscuits to the passengers and the families of those who were
killed and injured. The same was also offered to me. While busy in my
reporting, I took a sip. Now, I was fixed! I so wanted to find out about these
men who were endlessly serving without doing much talking.
I chased one of the volunteers. I
asked him about his identity. With a very calm face, he turned towards me and
said, “If you need more tea, please come near that peepal tree.” I didn’t need
more tea. I needed to find out about these selfless volunteers. I went near the
tree to find a kurta-pyjama clad old man who was giving directions to men and
women under the tree. I asked him about the volunteers. He smiled, didn’t reply
and got busy with his work.
I left without my answers and
started reporting again. At dusk, the same old man appeared from somewhere and
he handed a plastic bag to me. I asked him about its contents. He calmly
replied, “It has some four chapattis and vegetables. You are reporting for a
long time. Eat your food first.” This time I became adamant. I replied that
until he doesn’t share his identity with me, I won’t eat the food. I introduced
myself as Zafar Irshad. The man said they were Swayamsevaks of the Sangh (RSS).
I was taken aback. I had never realised that those who are affiliated with
Sangh can have such humanely faces as well. It was new for me!
I requested the elderly person to
tell me more about their work so that their social service can become a part of
my news story. He sternly said no. When I insisted he told me about their
arrangements but on the condition that I won’t ever tell people about it. He
informed me that women who were making tea and who cooked food are from their
families only. And the kafan which was taken here for the dead bodies was
contributed by a Swayamsevak who owns a cloth shop. He reminded me of the
promise again that I must not report it, and he left.
After almost seven years, I
remember that incident which showed the human and loving face of the
Swayamsevaks, not as a report but as another human being. Yes! Selfless service
is what the Swayamsevaks do. (Organiser
Weekly, 12th June 2018)
11. CULTURAL UNITY IS THE HALLMARK OF OUR NATION – NIRMALA SITARAMAN Cultural oneness plays a crucial role in the country’s progress and there is need to recognize the unifying
factor that maintains the country’s unity in diversity, said Nirmala Sitaraman
Ji, Union Minister for Defense while speaking at a discussion forum on
‘Re-emergence of India that is Bharat – Role of Fifth Estate,’ organized by
Samskruti Foundation in Hyderabad. Delivering the principle talk, RSS Sah
Sarkaryavah Sureshji Soni said that only good practices and models can help to
counter the threat to the culture of India. Noted industrialist B.V.R. Mohan
Reddy and other dignitaries were present for the program.
12. At 12 yrs 10 mths, Chennai
boy is world’s 2nd-youngest Grand-master: Bharatiya chess legend
Viswanathan Anand was 18 when he became a Grandmaster. Magnus Carlsen, the man
who toppled Anand as world champion in 2013 and has been reigning since then,
became a GM at 13 years and 4 months. On June 13, R Praggnanandhaa from Chennai
became the world’s second-youngest GM ever at 12 years, 10 months and 13 days. Praggu,
as he’s affectionately known, achieved the feat when he defeated GM Moroni Luca
Jr in round 8 of the 4th Gredine Open in Italy. Praggu became the youngest
International Master in the world in May 2017 and bagged his maiden GM norm at
the World Junior Championships in November last year. If he had two more GM
norms before March 10 this year, he would have beaten Sergey Karjakin's record
of becoming the youngest ever GM (at 12 years and 7 months).
13. Bharat to handhold nations
into space: Bharat has decided to train space scientists of
countries that lack satellite building capability. The country announced this
initiative during the UNISPACE+50 meeting in Vienna recently. ISRO chairman K
Sivan, who led the Bharatiya delegation at the four-day summit from June 18,
said, “Bharat has taken the initiative to train scientists of countries like
UAE and African nations that lack the technical knowhow and capability to build
a satellite. Bharat won’t charge for this capacity-building programme but will
play a role in shortlisting scientists for training.”
14. Canada speeds up student
visa process for bharatiyas: Canada has introduced a faster and
simpler visa processing mechanism for students from Bharat and three other
countries. The number of Bharatiya students opting for studies in Canada is on
the rise and this new program cuts down the processing time for study permits
to within 45 days as opposed to within 60 days.
15. Monkeys Live Like Kings in
Thailand's Lopburi: Monkeys, said to be descendants of the Hindu God
Hanuman, continued to live a life fit for kings on June 2 in the Thai city of
Lopburi, where local authorities give them food twice a day by and allow them
to roam freely in the streets and around temples. An estimated 3,000 macaques -
Macacafascicularis - live in the city, situated around 93 miles north of
Bangkok, although their biggest colonies are found in the Khmer-style Prang Sam
Yot temple and the Phra Kan shrine dedicated to Lord Vishnu.
"We have lived together for a
long time. I have spent 40 years here, and there have always been monkeys.
However, their number has grown in recent years. When I arrived, there were
less of them," Taveesak Srisangnan, a 74-year resident, said. The reason
why the primates are tolerated and even cared for is related to a legend which
says they are descendents of Hanuman, who helped the prince Rama - an
incarnation of Vishnu - kill a giant, Thotsakan, according to the epic poem
Ramakien, the Thai version of Bharat's Hindu epic Ramayana. Lopburi's name is
also inspired by a character in the Ramakien, a reflection of the eclectic
religious atmosphere in Thailand, where the majority practices a form of
Buddhism mixed with Hindu and animistic beliefs.
16. 179TH DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF MAHARAJA RANJEET SINGH OBSERVED IN PAK: For
the first time in the history of Pakistan, the 179th death anniversary of
Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, the leader of the Sikh Empire, was observed at the
historic Balahisar Fort on 27th June. The anniversary was largely
attended by the members of the Sikh community at the fort, which now serves as
the headquarters of Frontier Corps (FC) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Ranjit Singh was
born in Gujranwala, undivided Bharat, on November 13, 1780 and died on June 27,
1839 in Lahore.
17. BHARAT NO LONGER HOME TO THE
LARGEST NUMBER OF POOR: In the time that it takes you to read this article,
several Bharatiyas will have escaped the clutches of extreme poverty. In fact,
about 44 Bharatiyas come out of extreme poverty every minute, one of the
fastest rates of poverty reduction in the world. As a result, Bharat has
finally shed the dubious distinction of being home to the largest number of
poor, with Nigeria taking that position this May.
If present trends continue, Bharat
could drop to No. 3 later this year, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo
taking the number 2 spot. Defining extreme poverty as living on less than $1.9
a day, a recent study published in a Brookings blog says that by 2022, less
than 3% of Bharatiyas will be poor.
18. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas:
Visitors: Dr Manoj Motwani -
HongKong
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Chaah miti Chinta miti manwa Beparwah. Jisko
kuch nahi chahiye Wo Shahenshah. – When Desire disappears so do worries, The mind
left free from trouble. He who doesn’t want anything is a true king. – Sant Kabir
JAI
SHREE RAM
THANK
YOU, PRANAB DA, FOR THE CONVERSATION
Former President Pranab
Mukherjee’s visit to the RSS headquarters reflects the Bharatiya tradition of acceptance;
neither imposition nor appropriation
Despite the staunch protest by his
own party, Dr Pranab Mukherjee remained resolute in his decision to participate
in the closing ceremony of the Tritiya Varsh Sangh Shiksha Varg of
RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS). His conviction in the democratic principle of
open engagement is worth acknowledging with gratitude. During his visit to
Nagpur, the former President visited Dr KB Hedgewar’s ancestral home and
offered homage to a man he considered “a great son of India”.
He also paid his respects at Smriti
Mandir, dedicated to the memory and service of Dr Hedgewar and Shri Guruji
Golwalkar at the RSS headquarters and went on to place his thoughts before the
gathered audience with unflinching honesty. Before the program and away from
the camera lens there was a meet-and-greet program with senior RSS
functionaries and special invitees, in which he participated with endearing
simplicity. At the time of personal introductions, he suggested all present
introduce themselves and, leading by example, offered: “I am Pranab Mukherjee.”
For a man who needs no introduction, his simplicity was heart-warming.
Pranab da had come with a written
speech in English whilst RSS Sarsanghachalak Dr Mohan Rao Bhagwat spoke in
Hindi. Both speeches, however, met at the confluence of — Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha
Vadanti or That which exists is ONE, sages call it by various names.
Furthermore, Pranab Da explained very clearly that the Bharatiya concept of the
nation based on a unique, integral view is entirely different from the
state-nation concept in the West. He emphasised our 5000-year old
civilisational history with eloquence, highlighting the beliefs embedded in our
view of life — Vasudhaiva Kutumbhakam and Sarve Bhavantu Sukhina which are
values of diversity, secularism and tolerance that are further enshrined in our
Constitution. Dr Bhagwat also expressed the same views in different words.
Instead of ‘tolerance’ he used acceptance of all. He emphasised that no
Bharatiya can be treated as ‘other’ or alien as we all come from the same
ancestors. Both stalwarts emphasised in their speeches that the national life
of Bharat did not flourish on the basis of one religion, language or race but
on the basis of a spirituality-based integral, holistic view of life and the
values that stemmed out from it. Dr Bhagwat also clearly articulated that the
“Sangh would remain the Sangh and Pranab da, Pranab da” as this is the
Bharatiya tradition of acceptance; neither imposition nor appropriation but
acceptance.
This very view of life and value
system is reflected in our Constitution. This humane worldview is also our
greatest inheritance. Our neighbour Pakistan (which was once a part of Bharat)
also gave itself its Constitution at the same time as us. However, its
Constitution does not speak of these values that are inclusive; it neither
takes note of inherent diversity nor celebrates it. Now the obvious question
that arises is that when both were one country and one people, then why did
this distinction emerge going forward?
The answer lies in the very
spirituality-based, integral and holistic view of life which we have inherited.
Former President Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan and Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore
have described it as the “Hindu View of Life”. Pakistan rejected it and Bharat
accepted it. Actually, our Constitution is not the reason for our liberal and
inclusive values enshrined in it but the result of our age-old integral and
holistic view of life. These liberal, plural values have not come to us from our
Constitution but through our Constitution. As Kahlil Gibran writes in his poem
Children — Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters
of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. And
though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
Similarly, we are traditionally
liberal, secular and inclusive not because of our Constitution but our
Constitution has enshrined these values because we have been like this since
ages, for at least 5,000 years. Hence, it is our duty to honour and follow the
Constitution. The RSS has stayed steadfast in this pursuit. Despite the unfair,
unjust ban on the RSS imposed by the then regimes twice, the satyagraha carried
out in protest on both occasions was countrywide, disciplined and peaceful; an
unparalleled example of protest in the history of independent Bharat, and one
that was absolutely Constitutional. No other organisation or party can claim
such a history. But consider the dissonance — those who violate every tenet of
the Constitution, take the path of violence, attack our own armed forces, and
those who support divisive, unconstitutional activities are the ones who preach
the virtues of the Constitution to the RSS.
On April 2 this year, the “Bharat
Bandh” called only in six BJP-ruled States which witnessed despairing scenes of
unprovoked violence was actively supported by Rahul Gandhi and the
“secular-liberal” lobby, without any consideration for the Constitutional and
democratic values propounded by Dr BR ‘Babasaheb’ Ambedkar and enshrined
in our Constitution. After Pranab da’s speech, those who had been anxious about
what this engagement might reveal were quick to come up with sanctimonious
summations that explained away this engagement. These reactions confirmed that the
Left still has influence over the political and intellectual space of our
country. This very Left ideology lacks space for dissent, liberty and tolerance
— and being non-Bharatiya does have something to do with it. Left intellectuals
discarded analysis and commented with farcical haste that Pranab da had shown
the RSS “a mirror” by speaking of secularism and Jawaharlal Nehru from an RSS
platform et.al.
It is important to note, however,
that critics of Pranab da’s visit to Nagpur had nothing to say of Dr Bhagwat’s
speech. It’s possible that they didn’t hear his speech; maybe it wasn’t worth
their time. After all, that would be in sync with their elitist definition of
‘free speech’ which prescribes that all they say is correct and all else is
falsehood. Essentially, they were saying ‘We are right and you are wrong’, on
the lines of “Four legs good, two legs bad”, the famous analogy used by George
Orwell in Animal Farm to expose the authoritarian tenets and hypocrisy of the
communists. Hence, listening to “two legs” would obviously be blasphemy. The
inclusiveness of Vasundhara Parivar Hamara (the song recited before the
speeches in Nagpur) includes everybody, even those who practice intolerance.
But those who believe “four legs only are good” would prefer to reside in the
darkness of their ignorance.
In all those negative articles that
followed the Nagpur visit, not one writer spoke of his/her own experience of
interaction with the RSS as to be in conversation with the RSS is considered
blasphemous and results in instant ostracisation by the “liberal left”, an
oxymoron if there ever was one. Under such pressure, paying heed to what the
RSS Sarsanghachalak says is not even an option.
MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL: RSS-HATERS ALL
You can say Bharatiya and we can
say Hindu. Some others may say Indic. We would understand that we are all
speaking of one and the same thing
A few months ago, I met with a
Christian family from Agra and they asked a lot of straightforward questions about
the RSS. I answered every one of those queries. They attended some RSS programs
and had a first-hand experience of the Sangh. Now, when they meet a
co-religionist who claims that RSS is anti-Christian, they pose three questions
to them:
Is your opinion based on your own
experience?
Have you ever met with a Sangh
functionary?
Have you read any literature from
the RSS?
Invariably, the answers they get
are in the negative. During a subsequent routine tour, when I was in Agra, this
family insisted I should stay with them. They also arranged my meeting with the
Bishop there. We went to the Bishop’s office and the meeting went well. But we
can’t expect such openness from the Left-inspired RSS haters.
There is a Marathi poem, roughly
translated, which goes: Those who are habituated to say “Yes” do not want to
hear any “No”. And those who are habituated to say “No” have no place for a
“Yes”. In the same vein:
In our "inclusion” of all we
also include these “intolerants”.
But in their (intolerant) tolerance
they cannot tolerate us, the “inclusive”.
During his travels, the RSS
Sarsanghchalak often meets influential people from all walks of life. During
one such interaction, he met with a well-known industrialist who suggested that
in place of using the word “Hindu” the Sangh should use the word “Bharatiya”.
To this Dr Mohan Bhagwat replied, “For us, there isn't much difference between
the two terms. However, the term Bharat has a territorial connotation while the
term Hindu has value-based resonance.” This is the reason why Pakistan-born
academic Tarek Fateh refers to himself as Hindu. Hence, you can say Bharatiya
and we can say Hindu. Some others may say Indic. We would understand that we
are all speaking of one and the same thing. This is what is meant by Ekam Sat Vipra
Bahudha Vadanti.
But in the dogmatic worldview of
communists these values, so Bharatiya in their essence, hold no significance.
Their tribe insists that in the so-called “secularist” lingua franca Hindutva
is a pejorative. Should you deviate from this language, then even the right to
live is denied. You are not even worthy of being tolerated, let alone be
engaged with. In Kerala, the bastion of communist intolerance and a Stalinist
enclave, from March 1965 till May 2017, over 233 RSS workers have been killed
for the only reason that they were working for the Sangh. Significantly, 60 per
cent of them were former communists.
As many times as one may try and
explain the idea of a Hindu Rashtra in conceptual terms and its true meaning,
communists and left-leaning “intellectuals” — sans engagement or debate — will
define it only as narrow, divisive and exclusive. They will quote some old
letters or an article and copy, paste and reproduce it without any allusion to
historical context or deliberation. They will never pay heed to what RSS
leaders have been saying during these years and continue to say till today. The
reason is simple — it’s their Orwellian response of “two legs bad”!
However, just because they choose
to look away and obfuscate at every given opportunity, the irrefutable fact
remains that there are Muslims and Christians in the RSS. As Hindus, we do not
believe in conversions, hence these Swayamevaks keep following their religious
practices freely. In 1998, there was a three-day camp of the Vidharbha Prant
(in Maharashtra) where 30,000 Swayamsevanks participated in full uniform,
staying in tents. These camps normally take place only over the weekend and a
headcount in undertaken of participants to make special food arrangements for
those who observe a fast on Saturdays.
During the headcount, it emerged
that as it was the holy month of Ramzan and there were 122 Swayamsevaks who
were keeping rozas, they needed to break their fast after sundown. Accordingly,
arrangements were immediately made to facilitate this. Had it not been the
month of Ramzan, no one would have noted that there were Muslims among
Swayamsevaks in the camp.
These are stories drawn from real-
life experience which do not usually make it to the hallowed pages of
mainstream publications. However, if you observe carefully and eschew the
rhetoric that is peddled therein, their stark intolerance and fascist approach
to heterogeneity of ideas is clearly visible and increasingly stands exposed.
A recurring theme of their
commentary in recent days has been that Pranab da has shown the RSS a mirror;
well, the Sangh is quite open to looking into the mirror and does so every year
at Chintan Shivirs and the Pratinidhi Sabha! In these meetings, a careful
examination of the activities undertaken and course correction if necessary is
deliberated upon. Such a meeting took place as recently as in the month of
April in Pune.
But when will ‘left-liberals’ who
stake claim to the progressive values of inclusiveness but display every aspect
of intolerance in their actions look in the mirror as see beyond their hatred
of the RSS? Whether or not they choose to look into the mirror, their truth is
reflected in their actions and the public continues to take note of the rampant
hypocrisy, between words and actions.
On a lighter note, one must express
one’s gratitude. Had it not been for their shrill display of intolerance, the
media would not have turned the lens on a program that is an annual RSS event
and always has distinguished guests invited to speak.
Thanks to the intolerance of
communists and those inspired by their hollow rhetoric, the general public got
to witness live transmission of the programme.
From June 1 to June 6 the official
RSS website received an average of 378 hits/requests each day; on the day of
the program attended by Dr Pranab Mukherjee we got 1,779 hits/requests. Need
one say more?
(The two articles appeared in Daily Pioneer on 27-28 June 2018, The
writer is Sah Sarkaryavah, RSS)
