|
|
|
|
Again in 1993, there was a bomb-blast in the provincial headquarters of RSS at Madras, Tamil Nadu, in which 11 persons lost their lives. Balasaheb decided to visit Madras in spite of his failing health. Because of his incapacitating illness he had to be taken around in a wheel- chair. The air hostess, seeing his condition, enquired whether he was going to Madras to be treated in the famous Apollo Hospital? Balasaheb replied in the negative and said, "You might have read about the bomb- biast in the RSS office at Madras in which 11 of our swayamsevaks and sympathisers have lost their lives. I, being the Sarsanghchalak of the RSS, am dutybound to console the bereaved families." The air-hostess was so overwhelmed that she inadvertently bent forward to touch his feet.
It was this concern for the swayamsevaks that had endeared Shri Balasaheb Deoras to thousands and thousands of workers all over the country. This trait had been a part of his personality which was evident even when he was a teenager and was admitted to the Kush Pathak of Dr Hedgewar. As a Mukhyashikshak of his Shakha he with other swayamsevaks had nursed back to health a poor swayamsevak by attending on him by turns continuously for a week and raising a small fund for his medicines.
Not only did Balasaheb care for the welfare of the swayamsevaks, but also used to defend them whenever not so charitable comments were made about them. During the emergency he was detained in the Yervada jail at Pune along with some 400 swayamsevaks and about 75 workers and leaders belonging to other political parties. Everyday there used to be discourses on different topics in the afternoon and physical exercises and games in the mornings and evenings. One day one of the Socialist leaders came to him and said, "Some of you swayamsevaks are well read and do take part in scholarly discussions. But others are of ordinary calibre." Balasaheb replied- "What you say may be correct. But we give equal importance to those who can deliver scholarly lectures as also those who can conduct good physical programmes and games on the field."
After the Meenakshipuram conversions in Tamil Nadu in 1981, mammoth gatherings of Hindus were organised in different parts of the country under the auspices of Virat Hindu Sangam, headed by Dr Karan Singh. In one such gathering at Patna. I also delivered a small speech in which I tried to caution the audience about the machinations of Christian missionaries as also Pak-inspired Muslim collaborators of our country. Dr Karan Singh somehow didn't like it and told the late Badri Prasad Toshniwal of VHP on his way back to Delhi that only the positive side of Hindutva should have been brought out. When Toshniwalji told this to Balasaheb Deoras, he remarked, "Dr Karan Singh is a politician and as such it is natural for him to try to keep his voters, which consists of a sizable section of Muslims, in good humour. But Sudarshanji has no political ambition and hence why should he feel inhibited in expressing the truth?"
He always liked to directly interact with the swayamsevaks and hence during his tours there invariably used to be a question and answer session in which the swayamsevaks used to have a direct rapport with the Sarsanghchalak.
This encouraged and emboldened the swayamsevaks to ask all sorts of questions, even awkward ones. This had been particularly true of Kerala where the majority of the swayamsevaks coming from the poorer sections of the society were generally reticent during such sessions. Once a swayamsevak at a meeting in Kerala asked him, "Why should you answer the questions in English? After all whatever you say is translated into Malayalam. Hence you can as well answer in Hindi."
Balasaheb said, "I am really very much pleased to hear this from YOU. myself do not relish replying in English. I have been using that language only for your convenience. But if you want it in Hindi I shall be immensely pleased to do so."
This direct communication between the swayamsevaks and the Sarsanghchalak served two purposes. Whereas the swayamsevaks could get their doubts removed by having access to the highest authority, the Sarsanghchalak also got an opportunity to have directly an inkling of the swayamsevaks' mind which helped him in formulating proper policies for the organisation.
His habit of going through all the major newspapers enabled him to have a grasp of the situation existing and developing in different parts of the country. With his remarkable ability to go to the root cause of any problem he never faced any dilemma about the action to be taken in a particular situation. His response used to be immediate and solutions offered always crisp, unambiguous and perfectly practical. It was in 1977, when the Janata Party came to power that he advocated the abrogation of Article 370. Many eyebrows were raised at that time. Today every right thinking person of our country is veering round the same point of view. His advocacy of the common civil code and human rights commission, instead of minority rights commission, are also receiving general acceptance among the thinking sections of the public.
During the Assam agitation it was he who first made a clear distinction between the refugees and infiltrators from Bangladesh, and demanded that the infiltrators should be deported and refugees properly settled. He also warned his countrymen that history bears testimony to the fact that wherever the Hindu became a minority that area either got seceded from the country or became. a festering sore. Hence, he said, it was in the enlightened self-interest of the Assamese speaking people that they bridge their differences with other sections of the society, specially the Bengalis, and keep Assam a Hindu majority area. Not only that, he exhorted the swayamsevaks in the north-east to organise Hindu conferences in all the major towns. At that time a very hostile atmosphere was prevailing where even the mention of the word Hindu was anathema and was dubbed communalism. But due to the hard work put up by the RSS and the VHP successful Hindu conferences were held against all odds. This helped in slowly changing the perception of the Hindus. As of today, everybody is realising the gravity of the situation in Assam and the need for Hindu consolidation.
His diabetes for the fast more than 40 years and many accompanying ailments might have had crippled his body but not his spirits. He was as vigilant and mentally alert as he had always been.
 |
||
|
||
|
||
