The first day of the three-day Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh conclave here became a moment for the Sangh to reach out to a diverse audience, with the organisation’s chief Mohan Bhagwat seeking to introduce it as the “most democratic organisation” with a past in the freedom struggle and a desire to work for society while shunning all publicity.
He put it in such a manner so as to make it sound like a primer to the Sangh for the uninitiated, but sought to use it as an occasion to address some of the charges made against the organisation.
“People think we are a dictatorial organisation and the Sarsanghchalak , often translated as chief, can do anything. It is not so. Please come to the RSS and see,” Mr. Bhagwat said. “We are the most democratic organisation.”
He said that even the name of the Sangh was chosen after a vote and that decisions later were taken through “consensus.” Once there was consensus, it became the view of all in the organisation. But one person expressed it, for clarity.
Freedom struggle
Mr. Bhagwat sought to tacitly answer charges of RSS aloofness from the freedom struggle by asserting that its founder K.B. Hedgewar was associated with the Anushilan Samiti and the Indian National Congress, and had even been charged with sedition for his speeches and jailed.
He underlined that Mr. Hedgewar had come in contact with Motilal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose, among others, and even claimed that it was a Swayamsevak Kishan Singh Rajput who had helped unfurl a giant tricolour by climbing the pole in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru in colonial times.
He also sought to address the criticism that there were no women in the RSS. He said since making men and women work together at that time was difficult, the RSS helped found the Rashtriya Sevika Samiti, an all-India women’s organisation, on the lines of the Sangh.
