SANGH & FREEDOM STRUGGLE

FROM REVOLUTIONARIES TO SATYAGRAHIS EVERYBODY CONTRIBUTED TO THE FREEDOM STRUGGLE. AFTER PARTICIPATING ALL MOVEMENTS, DR HEDGEWAR FOUNDED RSS TO ORGANISE THE SOCIETY BASED ON INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER AND NATIONAL THOUGHT

- DR MANMOHAN VAIDYA

Some time ago, a journalist came to visit me. During the conversation, he asked me, “What role did the RSS play in the Independence struggle?” Perhaps he too was a victim of the propaganda against RSS. I asked him back what he meant by the 'Independence struggle'? He was not prepared for this. He could not speak anything. Then he replied in a low and hesitant voice, “The one which Mahatma Gandhi did”. I asked, “So nothing happened before Gandhiji? Did the trinity of Lal-Bal-Pal have no contribution? Did the revolutionary movement and Subhash Chandra Bose have no role in the independence struggle?” He was silent. Then I asked how many Satyagrahas happened under Gandhiji's leadership? He was unsure of that. I said there were three, in 1921, 1930 and 1942. He did not know it. I said the founder of RSS Dr Hedgewarji (who passed away in 1940) had participated in the Satyagraha before (1921) and after (1930). He founded the RSS for which he had to suffer imprisonment also.

I narrated this incident because a very systematic attempt is being made to tell us a partial history. The people of Bharat are forced to believe that Independence was gained only because of the Congress and the Satyagraha in 1942; no one else did anything. This is not the complete truth. Yes, the Satyagraha provided a simple and effortless means to the common people to participate in the Independence struggle through charkha and khadi. However, to give credit to a particular movement or a party is playing with history and an insult to the efforts of all others.