Keshav Baliram Hedgewar: Patriot as Phoenix

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>[bJP News] Keshav Baliram Hedgewar: Patriot as Phoenix

>Fri, 25 Apr 2003 08:39:54 -0700 (PDT)

>

>Title: Keshav Baliram Hedgewar: Patriot as Phoenix

>Author: Balbir K. Punj

>Publication: The Pioneer

>April 25, 2003

>

>April 7 made a gala evening, in the stately auditorium of Vigyan Bhawan.

>Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was on the dais to release a

>much-awaited biography. He was flanked by Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani,

>Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarsanghchalak KS Sudarshan, I&B Minister Ravi

>Shankar Prasad and Mr Rakesh Sinha, author of the book. It was the Hindi

>biography of Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar (1889-1940), freedom fighter and

>RSS founder, published by the Publication Division, Ministry of I&B, under

>its Builders of Modern India series. The author of the book teaches

>political science in a Delhi University-affiliated college-and frequently

>contributes to several news dailies.

>

>What made the occasion significant was the very fact that

>Hedgewar-disregarded at best and maligned if recalled by the media and

>academia of this country-was finally on the centrestage. The man who

>organised and inspired millions of youth with patriotic fervour had

>himself only ignominy to suffer. Ironically, the man whom the British

>always identified as a threat, was pilloried along with his organisation,

>the RSS, as pro-British by the Leftists (who themselves were in league

>with the British with regard to Quit India). But now the pariah patriot,

>survived by a great legacy, has come to the fore-history turning

>full-circle indeed.

>

>The origin of the book, the author informed, could be traced to his MA

>dissertation on the "Political ideas of Dr KB Hedgewar" in 1988. But it

>was based on secondary sources like RSS literature. Meanwhile, Hedgewar's

>birth-centenary was celebrated nationwide by the RSS in 1989. It also

>prompted a backlash of articles in national dailies. And needless to say,

>the 'secular' media contemptuously projected Hedgewar's life and works in

>poor light, dubbing him a Hindu revivalist and pro-British or dismissing

>him outright as a rustic with no locus standi. I can't help but observe

>one contrast: 1989 was also the centenary of Jawaharal Nehru (1889-1964),

>who thought himself a Hindu by no more than an accident of birth and who

>was convinced that India could be better served by weakening and disowning

>its Hindu identity.

>

>When a Delhi University Political Science topper (1989) Rakesh Sinha

>appeared for his M Phil interview, his dissertation earned a few raised

>brows from the interviewers: "What is the difference between you and

>Nathuram Godse?"

>

>According to me, the best answer would be that Godse's submission- 'May it

>please Your Honour'-was finally declassified by an unwilling Government

>after three decades through a Supreme Court order. But Hedgewar still

>awaited 'privilege'. But fortunately, the wait is over, and the credit

>goes to Sinha and Ministry of I&B.

>

>What lends credibility to Sinha's work is the extensive use of primary

>source materials. Hedgewar had spent his entire life in pre-Independence

>India. So the author had to plod through the archival materials of the

>Home Department (Political), judicial files, newspapers (1902-1946),

>biographies and the private papers of BS Moonje, Veer Savarkar etc. He

>conducted his project without ever seeking any assistance from the ICSSR

>or the ICHR.

>

>Hedgewar gave an indelible orientation to the country and Hindu society in

>his brief lifespan. We could see sparks of patriotism in him since

>childhood. Young Keshav was just eight in 1897, when the diamond jubilee

>of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne was celebrated. Sweets were

>distributed but he threw his share away into the dustbin. "How could we

>celebrate the Queen's enthronement," said he. "Didn't the British snatch

>the throne of Bhonsle's?" Again, in 1901, when King Edward VII's

>succession to Crown was celebrated, he said it was a matter of shame for

>Indians.

>

>Hedgewar was 13 when both his parents died of the plague and three

>brothers were visited with dire poverty. He was called on to become the

>backbone of what remained of the family. But it seems amazing that concern

>for nation filled his young mind despite his bleak personal conditions.

>Shivaji was his original ideologue of patriotism. In 1905 he faced

>rustication from Neel City High School of Nagpur for shouting

>Vande-Mataram before a British Inspec-tor. Unlike others, he never

>apologised. He later joined the Rashtriya Vidyapeeth of Yoetmal, which had

>been established by some nationalist leaders to impart nationalist

>education.

>

>In 1910, Hedgewar went to study medicine in Medical College, Calcutta, at

>the end of which we find him graduating into Dr Hedgewar. But to

>everyone's surprise, he refused to open a private consultancy. The British

>Criminal Intelligence Department had compiled a list (called 'Book 1914')

>of people with active links with revolutionaries. It was for this reason,

>when Hedgewar wanted to join the British Indian Army as a doctor, he was

>denied permission. The wartime army had high presence of Indian recruits

>sent to Mesopotamia and North Africa. Hedgewar had a dangerous plan to

>preach sedition inside the army in the 1857 style. He refused to practice

>as a professional doctor and chose to remain a bachelor to better serve

>the cause of society and the country.

>The arrival of Mahatma Gandhi on the Indian political scenario weakened

>the extremist school. Like him, Hedgewar too liked the idea of a mass

>awakening rather than isolated acts of revolution. Hence, he lent every

>possible support for the success of the Non-Cooperation Movement. The

>Central Province's Administrative Report 1920-21 bears testimony to the

>intensity of the movement in the Central Province. Hedgewar was arrested

>and put to trial on charges of sedition-or waging war against His

>Majesty's Government. Later, he was sentenced to one year's rigorous

>imprisonment.

>

>When he came out of prison, the situation in the country had changed.

>Gandhi had withdrawn Non-Cooperation, following the Chauri Chaura

>incident. The Swaraj Party, broken away from the Congress, had an agenda

>of getting elected to the Legislative Assembly to incapacitate the British

>empire from within. Hedgewar preferred the Congress method of a mass

>movement. But he also felt the need for such an organisation as would

>shape the mind, heart and character of young men according to the Indian

>ethos. He felt this was the only way they could become worthy soldiers of

>India's freedom struggle as well as nation-builders.

>

>It is with this view that the RSS was formed on Vijaya Dashami Day in 1925

>in Nagpur. It targeted primarily Hindu youth. Since Hindus formed the core

>of the country, Hedgewar felt that if they could be strong, then Muslims

>would drop their separatist agenda and live together with the majority

>community as a country. Guided by a great vision of national unity, he

>built the RSS from scratch. He travelled extensively to expand and

>consolidate the organisation which was meant to inculcate sense of

>discipline and unity among Hindus as well as concern for one another. The

>Sangh continued to support the Congress when Gandhi launched the 1930

>Civil Disobedience Movement. The Government of the Central Province

>prohibited the participation of any of its employees in the RSS.

>Ironically, the Congress Governments in Himachal and elsewhere is even

>today betraying that same Raj mindset.

>

>Hedgewar tried to launch revolutionary activities at the onset of World

>War II. But due to failing health, he did not succeed. The great patriot

>passed away on June 21, 1940. But the RSS sapling which he planted has now

>grown into a vast banyan tree in the service of the nation. The

>organisation continues to engage itself in social service and has gained a

>reputation for its work. However, it is unfortunate for society that the

>RSS has been consistently branded as communal by 'secularists', some of

>whom do not even believe in democracy and coexistence. But the Sangh is

>open-minded: "If you come, with you, if you don't come, without you, if

>you oppose in spite of you, the work of Hindu consolidation will go on."

>

>

>

 

 

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