Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and the formation of the RSS

          

 

The RSS was formed much before the establishment of Bhartiya Janta Party or the Jansangh. It was formed by the Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar. In this article we are going to see the life and the mission of Dr. Hedgewar.

Dr. Hedgewar has created an organization which is not only a biggest organization in the world but also created a thought process which is now dominating all the political and social life of India.

Dr.Hedgwar’s family was originally from Kantikurti village of Andhra Pradesh but later they shifted to Nagpur in Maharashtra. Dr.Hedgewar was born on 1^st April 1889. His family was very poor and there was no educational backward in his family.

 In this situation Dr.Hedgewar obtains higher education and created a world largest network of Swayamsevak( Members of RSS calls themselves Swayamsevak).

Once there was a sweet distribution program in school on the occasion of 60 years completion of Queen Victoria’s coronation. He decided to oppose this and threw away the sweets.

So Dr.Hedgewar was patriotic from his childhood. He never missed any opportunity to show dissent with the British colonial government. He also boycotted the coronation ceremony King Edward 7.

During his childhood he came in contact with Loknayak Ane and Babasaheb Pranjape. He considered Dr Munje and Lokmanya Tilak as his Gurus. He was greatly influence by the works and the writing of Swami Vivekananda, V.D. Sawarkar and Yogi Arwind.

Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was a inspiration. He took inspiration from the Shivaji Maharaj while forming his army of Swayamsevak.

While he was in school he was greatly affected by the all this things happening around him like the oppressive policies of British Colonial Government in India, Lokmanya Tilak’s aggressive and explosive writings from his newspapers, Activities carried out by the revolutionary terrorists and the non cooperation movement.

In his school days he came in contact with the revolutionaries . He was also the part of the meeting which was held for learning the process of bomb making.

 During that time Bengal was the centre of the freedom movement .So Hedgewar went to Culcutta to pursue his medical education and also to contribute to the freedom movement which was that time led by many intellectual minded peoples from the Culcutta.

He was also in the inner circle of the revolutionary organization called Anushilan Samiti. In Anushilan Samiti he learned many things like use of weapon, how to collects funds for carrying out revolutionary activities etc.

 He also participated in the Rowlett Act satyagraha movement. He was at forefront during the burning of foreign cloths and the boycott of British made goods.

The Indian National Congress was found in 1885 as a collective opposition to the British Colonial Government. But during the initial years it was dominated by moderates who believed in the constitutional and peaceful ways of opposition.

Dr. Hedgewar was not happy with the conduct of the Indian National Congress.

He later joined Indian National Congress but he became the supporter of the Extremist ideology within the Congress.

In 1914 when Tilak was released from the Jail of Mandalaya , Dr. Hedgewar went to see him and discussed the ongoing political movement with him.

The young Hedgewar was very determinant in his goals and ambitions. His patriotic nature always kept him working for the nation.

He also got jailed for participation in the Non-Cooperation movement. Today when lot of people asks about the contribution of RSS in the freedom struggle it is to note that the founded of RSS was got jailed for his participation in freedom movement.

But Hedgewar’s relation with the Congress was not that long. After the death of Tilak the extremist phase of congress also came to end.

Gandhiji and other moderate leader took over the steering of freedom movement.

Gandhiji always on the side of unity among the fellow citizens. He started talking about the Hindu-Muslims unity. And Congress also took up the issue of Khilafat.

Dr.Hedgewar thinks that it is not the time to think about the outside issue  which have no relevance with our country.

During the 1920 Annual Session of Congress in Nagpur some leaders demanded that the issue of  ban of cow slaughter should also be taken along with the Khilafat agitation.

Gandhiji did not like this as he thinks this will cause a danger to the Hindu-Muslim unity. At last his demand got rejected at the Nagpur session.

Hedgewar did not like this politics of Muslim appeasement. Congress took up the issue of Khilafat to attract Muslims to the freedom movement. Congress had everything to appease Muslims like not banning the cow slaughter.

But all this did not result in any kind of unity. Very few Muslims took participation in the movement. But on the other hand the mindset of Hindus changed as they it is not right to think only about Hindu religion. To unite as a Hindu seems to be an antinational work.

Dr.Hedgewar became frustrated with all this and decided to leave the Congress. And he decided to form the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha.

Once he got jailed for one year for giving a violent speech. He was charged with sedition. After releasing after a year he got so much support from the Hindus.

On the other hand there was a British colonial government and on the other there a growing extremism among the Muslims. This all led him to establishment of separate organization.

Dr.Hedgewar thinks that RSS in nothing but the united voice of Hindus. India is a country of Hindus so Hindus must decided its future.

The term of “Hindutva” came into existence after VD Savarkar’ book named “Hindutva” which was published in 1922. So there was not a concept of it during the formation of RSS.

Actually the idea of forming such organization for Hindus was in minds of many people. But no one posses the organizational skill as Dr.Hedgewar. He had participated in many freedom movements and also in revolutionary activities.

Dr. Hedgewar founded Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1925 on the auspicious occasion of Vijayadashmi.

Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation) was the central ideal behind the formation of the organization. Slowly it got the support of the nationalist minded youth and it became the largest social organization in the world.