For the Sake of the Nation

IT WAS IN SEPTEMBER 2018 that Dr Mohan Rao Bhagwat, the Sarsanghchalak or head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), gave a series of public lectures at Vigyan Bhavan in the national capital. Called ‘The Future of Bharat: An RSS Perspective’, that series was not only well-attended but widely appreciated. Present then as an invitee, I wrote a column on how the series not only removed several common misconceptions but also succeeded in mainstreaming the Sangh as nothing in living memory had.

No surprise then that I was looking forward to the centenary lecture series by Bhagwat at the same venue, commencing on August 26, seven years later. As I observed recently (‘The RSS Century’, August 10, Open), the Sangh’s 100-year journey has been nothing short of spectacular both in the obstacles it has overcome and in its undeniable achievements.

The current lecture series is to be conducted not exclusively in New Delhi but in four locations all over the country. This has led to speculation in some circles about whether this is Bhagwat’s swansong. Let me state at the outset that there was no hint of such a transition, especially in this centenary year of the Sangh.

Looking around the spacious auditorium, I noticed the expected significant presence of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) echelons, barring the senior members of the Cabinet. But important members of civil society from different walks of life, besides members of the press, and a fairly substantial presence of foreign diplomats, think-tanks, and India experts actually made up the bulk of the audience. Direct contact and outreach that cut through the negative propaganda and prejudice was clearly a key objective. RSS was enlarging its footprint not only in India but in multiple arenas and areas across the world.

One of the key takeaways on August 26 was that the Sangh’s mandate and purpose were much wider and deeper than most people were given to understand. BJP, the political wing of the Sangh, was not only a separate entity with a different agenda but the Sangh itself could not be reduced only to the quest for power or the daily grind of politics. Instead, as its founder, the deceptively ordinary and seemingly uncharismatic Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar had envisioned, the Sangh would venture to do what no one else dreamed or dared to. To unite and transform Hindu society and the nation.

But how? Simply by building men and women of noble and selfless character who were willing to sacrifice everything for this higher calling. Swami Vivekananda had famously said, “No more weeping, but stand on your feet and be men. It is a man-making religion that we want.” Hedgewar, or Doctorji as he was called, decided to do just that. Using not religion but cultural and social cohesion as a vehicle. These specially trained men could then take up whatever task was at hand to uplift society or build the nation.

The underlying realisation was that the only bulwark against future subjugation or colonisation was unity. And unity could only come through a shared reverence for the motherland and a sense of responsibility for the well-being of all its denizens. But for this a nationwide awakening was a prerequisite. It was this awakening through personal example that the Sangh wanted to ignite in all walks of society. Social and national transformation, said Bhagwat, was the core, even the sole, mission of the Sangh. Everything would—and did—follow as a matter of course.

National unity, as Mahatma Gandhi said in Hind Swaraj, pre-existed in India, long before the two major waves of colonialism, Islamic and British. Indeed, the conspicuously visible diversity of India was actually the best proof and manifestation of its underlying unity. Unity, Bhagwat reminded his audience, was very different from an artificial uniformity imposed from above. Among the other stalwarts of the freedom struggle, Bhagwat also mentioned Rabindranath Tagore, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Veer Savarkar, and Subhas Chandra Bose, all of whom Hedgewar had learned from.

Now, one thing that seemed to bother those who wanted to understand the Sangh better was why this emphasis on ‘Hindu’. Bhagwat said there are many misapprehensions about what RSS means by this word. Ethnically, the people who inhabit this land have a shared DNA for 40,000 years. But that alone is not what the Sangh understands by Hindu.

Those who have lived here, in this subcontinent, learned long ago the art of coexistence, of respecting different paths to Divinity. Hindus were those who had accepted the law of live and let live, not the survival of the fittest and the struggle to dominate if not decimate the adversary. Regardless of religious affiliation, beliefs, or the deities they worship, all those who accept and respect diversity, who wish to live in peace and harmony with their fellow countrymen, and who have reverence for and loyalty to the nation are, in the eyes of the Sangh, Hindus. It matters little whether you call them Sanatanis, Hindus, Hindavis, Bharatiyas, or Indians.

On the basis of this idea of India and Hindu society, the Sangh was committed to making India great again. Why? Because, as Swami Vivekananda observed, “Each nation has a message to deliver, a mission to fulfil, a destiny to reach.” Again, echoing Swamiji, Bhagwat said it was India’s mission to be the Visvaguru. In what respect? Basically, to show how to respect difference, how to live in harmony within oneself, with one’s fellow human beings, and with all planetary existence. There was no limit to how wide the ambit of one’s consciousness could extend, nor how limitless one’s empathy. The extension from one to infinity was India’s message to the world.

Indeed, reaching the venue of the lecture itself became symbolic, in more ways than one, not only of Bhagwat’s message but also of the state of the nation itself. All of you, Bhagwat observed, have come from different places and paths to this venue. Similarly, Hindus accept that all roads that lead to a common destination are valid.

Only the urban chaos, bordering on collapse, outside, in the very heart of the nation’s capital, presented a grim and grimy contrast to the order and courtesy inside the venue. We have a long way to go before we can become great again, but at least we are, more or less, on the right track.

I felt sure that the self-sufficiency, strength of character, persistence against all odds, undreamed of success in its loftiest endeavours, and, above all, service to society and the nation—hallmarks of RSS’ 100-year journey—would serve as guiding lights to many who also wish that India regain its pre-eminence in the comity of nations.

centenaryHindusIndian societyMohan Bhagwatreligious affiliationRSSSangh