Communist Leaders, Congress Find Mention in Bhagwat's Speech as RSS Chief Seeks to Take All Along

New Delhi: The willingness of the RSS to work and engage with diverse political ideologies on national issues was evident on Monday as its chief Mohan Bhagwat mentioned Communist leaders such as Ramchandra Sakharam Ruikar and MN Roy and also praised the Congress for its contribution to the country’s freedom struggle.

Bhagwat, who was delivering a lecture on Day 1 of the three-day lecture series aimed at reaching out to people who are curious about the Sangh, emphasised on the need for a ‘nayak’ who can build a conducive society.

He devoted a major part of his lecture to Dr KB Hedgewar, the first Sarsanghchalak of the RSS, mentioning instances from his life when he engaged with people from all ideological backgrounds, including Ruikar — a pioneer of the Indian labour movement and leader of the All India Forward Bloc.

Bhagwat said Doctorji, as Hedgewar is commonly known, met people “from all ideological affiliations as long as they worked for strengthening the nation, including Ruikar. They were friends even though they came from different backgrounds”.

Narrating an incident, Bhagwat said once Hedgewar asked Ruikar what he would do if he came to know that the British had left India and Shivaji was back. To this, Ruikar said he would “get on an elephant and distribute sweets from there”. The discussion between the two made Hedgewar say, “We have the same destination, then why do we fight and get embroiled in controversies?”

Bhagwat also noted that the freedom struggle of 1857 failed because society had lost its values and mentioned Roy’s ‘radical humanism’ and ‘Father of White Revolution’ Verghese Kurien’s idea of a society in the context.

He said, “MN Roy, the proponent of ‘radical humanism’ and a communist leader, stressed that superficial changes in society are not of any good. If we need to bring change in society, we need to go to a common individual and bring change in his thought.”

The RSS chief added, “People need to be awakened and that can be done by reviving the values of ancient India. Kurien also emphasised on the need to stop depending on the government for bringing change in society. People need to be empowered.”

He also mentioned former President APJ Abdul Kalam, recalling that Kalam had said "it’s important to work with the motive to serve the country".

Bhagwat told the audience that the Sangh was being discussed as it was growing in prominence and power. While he clarified that he had no issues with a discussion, he noted that it should be informed and had thus called for the lecture series to give the ‘vastu stithi’ (reality) of the RSS.

He went on to say that the Sangh was a democratic organisation and it was ‘Hindutva’ that was binding a diverse country like India.