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However I met Shri Balasaheb Deoras for the first time in 1929 at a winter camp held at a ground where the Nagpur Airport is now situated. Swayamsevaks of our shakha were directed to reach the camp site early for making the necessary arrangements for the camp. Balasaheb who at that time was about 15 years young was also there. I remember Balasaheb as the Pramukh (incharge) of the camp. He made all arrangements for the camp and conducted the camp successfully. Since he was an ideal swayamsevak, he gradually rose in the Sangh, and finally became Sarsanghchalak of the RSS. I was witness to an ordinary swayamsevak becoming a Mukhya Sikshak, then a Shakha Karyavah, a Varga Sikshak, Sarkaryavah and then a Sarsanghchalak.
During the early stages of RSS we used to have Kusha Pathak in the shakhas considered to be of great importance. In this Pathak physical mental and education was imparted to the selected young swayamsevaks. Balasaheb was a swayamsevak of that Kusha Pathak.
Balasahebji met Dr Saheb almost every day at the shakha. However, Dr Saheb used to visit our shakha thrice a week. Dr Saheb displayed rare qualities of leadership. He himself cleaned the Sanghasthan (the site where a shakha is held), and sprinkled water there brought from a nearby well. He participated in physical activities along with other swayamsevaks. Balasaheb observed all these rare qualities of Dr Hedgewar and was quick to imbibe them.
I personally felt that Balasaheb's working pattern was very much akin to that of Dr Hedgewar. He never imposed his decision on the swayamsevaks. .in this regard, I remember an incident. During the first ban on RSS in 1948, Shri Guruji and Balasaheb together came to Delhi after their release from Nagpur jail. We planned to launch a countrywide satyagraha against the ban on RSS. Unfortunately, Shri Guruji was again arrested in Delhi. The next day we received a note from Guruji from the jail, in which he directed us to go ahead with plans to launch the satyagraha by ourselves. This responsibility was entrusted to Balasaheb and myself. Balasaheb suggested that we should not impose our decision of starting satyagraha on swayamsevaks. He also suggested that we should call for a meeting of all the Prant Pramukhs (provincial heads) and a decision in this regard should be arrived at by all the senior workers. In that meeting all Pranta Pramukhs were of the opinion that the proposed satyagraha must be launched. The note of Shri Guruji was also read out at that meeting. Bhaiyaji Dani was to come to Delhi from somewhere on December 12, 1949, at the Old Delhi railway station. It was decided that he should be received by a group of swayamsevaks and taken in a procession to phauwara (Fountain in Chandni Chowk). Bhaiyaji Dani was, however, arrested at the railway station itself. The same night Balasaheb and myself were also arrested. However the satyagraha was performed in different parts of the country in spite of the desperate attempt of the Home Ministry to crush it.
During the second ban in 1975 also Balasahebji led the swayamsevaks successfully. He was Sarsanghchalak then. Various other organisations, apart from RSS, were also banned. Balasahebji was detained in Poona Jail. I was underground. At that time also satyagraha was started. This time the satyagraha was launched not merely for lifting the ban on the RSS, it was for the survival of democracy in the country.
After the death of Dr Hedgewar Shri Guruji became Sarsanghchalak in 1940. In 1943, as he was addressing a meeting in Poona he spoke about Dr Hedgewar. Shri Guruji said, "if you want to know what Dr Hedgewar was, know Balasaheb Deoras! He is the real image of Dr Hedgewar." After this meeting Shri Guruji came to Nagpur. As we were discussing many subjects, he told me that by uttering those words about Balasaheb Deoras, he had not declared his successor. However till Balasahebji became Sarsanghchalak I only regarded him as the next Sarsanghchalak of the RSS. Subsequent developments have clearly confirmed the views of Shri Guruji in this regard. Balasaheb, undoubtedly, was the real successor of Dr Hedgewar and Guruji.
After assuming the office of Sarsanghchalak of the RSS, Balasahebji was invited to deliver a lecture in the Basant Vyakhayanmala in Poona. The audience present eagerly awaited his speech on some serious subject. However, contrary to the expectations of everyone present at the Tilak Mandir, he aptly quoted Abraham Lincon, who said, "if slavery is not wrong, there is nothing wrong in this world". Balasaheb continued and said, "if untouchability is not wrong, there is nothing wrong in this country." He vehemently opposed untouchability. Describing it as the worst shame on the country he stressed the need for samarasata. In fact, Balasahebji started a quiet campaign against untouchability.
In 1977, after the declaration of Emergency, the Janata Party formed a Government at the Centre with Morarji Desai as the Prime Minister. During his term Morarji Desai committed a blunder by forming the Minority Commission. Though the Congress had been indulging in the policy of appeasement of Muslims from the very beginning, it never committed blunder of this nature. At that time, it was Balasaheb who strongly opposed the Minority Commission and suggested that a Human Rights Commission should be formed in its place. Another major decision Balasahebji took in his tenure as Sarsanghchalak of RSS was the call for Indianisation. He said that if a person is reluctant to call himself Hindu, he must at least identify himself as a Bharatiya, irrespective of his form of worship. At that time a movement was launched for Indianisation. Various political leaders like Shri Balraj Madhok, also supported it.
I met Shri Balasahebji for the last time on April 12 this year at Nagpur where I had gone to meet my eldest brother. Balasaheb looked at me with a smiling face but could not speak as he was bed-ridden. I could not imagine that, that would be my last visit to Ma. Balasaheb. I expressed my life-long wish of setting up a big modem hospital in Delhi in memory of Dr Hedgewar. I also told him that I had already discussed the matter with Ma. Rajju Bhaiya in Delhi. He was visibly happy.
When I told him that I have completed 60 years of my life span in Delhi as active worker of the Sangh, age does not allow me to be active, Balasahebji seemed to approve of my feelings.
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