BUNCH OF THOUGHTS
M.S. Golwalkar
Part Three - The Path To Glory
XXI.  The One Answer to Many Challenges*

THE work of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been started with the one aim of building up an organised and consolidated life of our Hindu People. It is indeed a difficult and an uphill task. In order to achieve this goal, we have to first find out what are the obstacles and the problems, which we have to face on the way.

The first thing that strikes our eyes is, that many of our Hindu brethren, even the educated and well meaning among them, feel shy to call themselves Hindus. Some specious arguments are advanced to support their view that they need not call themselves Hindus. I remember someone quoting Swami Vivekananda and saying that he spoke of ‘universal religion’ in order to usher in socialism and secularism! But the fact is that one can come across innumerable passages in his works wherein he exhorts us to stand up with pride and hold our heads high as Hindus. He has called upon us to proclaim at the top to our voice: ‘I am a Hindu’. Mahayogi Aurobindo has said the Sanatana Dharma is the essence of Hindu Rashtra. So we find that the present mental complex of fighting shy of calling ourselves Hindus goes against the saying of these great seers and thinkers.

Secondly, we find that our Hindu society has been broken into so many bits and fragments. The countless divisions of castes, sects, creeds and languages, present a dismal picture of total disintegration.

About twenty years ago, it was thought that language was a great cementing force, but now that theory is exploded. People with same language now want to go apart and carve out for themselves distinct political units called ‘States’. The present upsurge for a separate Telangana in Andhara is also of the same nature.

Since the day Andhara Pradesh was formed, the complaint began gaining ground in the Telengana region that the coastal Andhra people were monopolising all services and economic opportunities and that the ‘sons of the soil’ were being thrown out. Now, what does this expression ‘sons of the soil’ denote? It only means that our people have begun to feel that they are the ‘children’ of a small region and not of the whole country. If this were to continue then each district will become a centre of *The last public address at Bangalore – February 1973. - loyalty! At present, the Telugu-speaking people are waging a sort of war with the Centre for the breaking up of the present State into two or probably three portions. The belief that linguistic entity would be a homogeneous one in now belied.

The only way out is to be courageous enough to declare a unitary type of Government by suitably amending the Constitution. The country is one, the people are one, and therefore let us have only a single Government, a single Legislative Authority. The country may be arranged into various zones from the point of view of administrative convenience. The zones may be few or many, that doesn’t matter.

The executive authority may be distributed, but the legislative authority should be one. There are some who say that many provinces and provincial legislatures are necessary to satisfy the demands of democracy. I have not been able to understand what connection there is between democracy and having many legislatures. One Central Legislature for the whole of the country should satisfy the demands of democracy.

However, as things are, the persons at the helm of affairs seem unable to muster courage to opt for the Unitary State. Then, if the present federal structure has to continue, it is essential that definite principles must be formulated by all and they must be struck to.

If there are smaller units, with language as only one of the basic factors and not as the sole deciding criterion, then that should be welcome. States with more than one language in each, or more than one state with the same language, may be formed keeping in view the overall national interests. Smaller units need not be always harmful.

As a matter of fact, tiny states have been formed in the old province of Assam where it is positively harmful. The British had kept the so-called NEFA separate form the rest of Assam. The same tradition is being carried forward by our Government also. Now NEFA has been given a different name so that its separate entity has been confirmed. Apart form that, under pressure or what I do not know, a small state called Meghalaya round about Shillong, and another, Mizoram, have been formed. These are economically bankrupt; in fact, they cannot help being bankrupt, so small is their population. Breaking up of that province into so many parts has in a way weakened our position in that border area which had been the seat of trouble from China since 1962.

What a painful spectacle these agitations and violent demonstrations in one name or the other, present! And what a great havoc is being wrought by the various forces of disruption! The idea of belonging to one single country seems to have been entirely lost sight of. There is a widespread feeling that people in the South have nothing common with those in the North. Rudyard Kipling wrote, "East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet." However, now, East and West are meeting on cultural and scientific grounds. But in our own country, where we have all along been one people for thousands of years, to say that ‘North is North, South is South and never can they meet’-how extremely unfortunate it is!

Added to these forces of disruption, is the corroding evil of corruption rampant everywhere. There is a crisis of character. Everyone knows this, everyone speaks of it. In fact talk about corruption is so widespread that our sensitivity to it seems to have become dulled. Even when we see it, we don’t feel revulsion at it; our conscience is not roused.

When a country falls low in character its very existence as an honourable and free nation is imperilled. We see such conditions existing in our country today. Some of our leaders at the top have said that the American secret agency – CIA – is active in our country, trying to disrupt our national life. Suppose it is. How can such agencies – whether of America or Russia – act unless some of our own citizens play into their hands? Either they must be on their payroll or under their influence in one way or the other.

Praise is also one such way of influencing. And there are subtle ways of praise too. Recently news appeared in papers that a certain institute of town planners and architects in France pronounced that Chandigarh was the best city in the whole of the world. I think they had given it a certificate of honour also. If they had said only that much, we would have had no objection. Because, after all, Chandigarh has been planned by French architects and town planners, and if they think that it is the best town planned, it is quite natural. But in the same breath it has been said that it was all due to the foresight and the dynamic personality of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, which qualities are now being manifested in his daughter, the present Prime Minsiter. What a fine, sweet way of flattery! Let us hope that our Prime Minister will refuse to be flattered. That will be in keeping with our great tradition, of not falling a prey to praise or flattery, and keeping on a strong and balanced mind.

We do not know how many more ways of flattery are being practised upon our people by others! After all, human mind is weak and if persons in high authority succumb to it, harm is bound to befall us. We should bear in mind that succumbing to flattery is also lack of character.

The painful experience that we have come across during the famine relief measures in several parts of the country at different times is a glaring example of the low depths of character to which we have sunk. Whatever help the Government or the other agencies mobilise for the sake of the famine-stricken people, does not always reach them. The ‘middle-men’ swallow up a substantial part. Last year, much help came from foreign countries also for the refugees from East Bengal in the form of drugs, woollen rugs and blankets. But most of them did not reach the refugees at all. They were sold in the markers of Culcutta. However, the authorities have not tried to catch hold of those who had indulged in such nefarious business and had enriched themselves at the cost of their suffering brethren. If a probe had been undertaken, probably some of the secrets of our corrupt political life would have come to light. To what a low condition have we degraded ourselves, that when some are dying for want of food, others should be fattening themselves at their cost! With such a corrupt people no nation can ever hope to rise. This is the great challenge – the challenge of ‘Crisis of Character’.

Now, an old problem has once again raised its head.

During the freedom struggle, as we know, persons professing a faith not born out of the Hindu family of faiths, objected to the singing of Vande Mataram, the song which inspired our freedom-fighters to sacrifice their all in the cause of national liberation. As a result, this beautiful song was mutilated by our own leaders, and only the first few lines were allowed to be sung. Even now, the same thing continues except in the meetings conducted by such persons as are wholly devoted to the Motherland as the very manifestation of the Divine Mother. Recently, a few Muslim gentlemen, some of them belonging to the ruling party also, have objected to the singing of the present fraction of Vande Mataram in the Urdu Schools of Bombay Corporation. All these years, schools teaching in any language, Urdu, Hindi, Marathi, or Gujarati, have been singing this song.

There was a report that the General Secretary of the Ruling Congress has also supported this objection of the Muslims. If the report is true, and the powers that be give a directive that the singing of Vande Mataram will be optional, then it will be a willful attempt at suppressing patriotic feelings among the people. Such suppression is bound to harm the country. If the episode is allowed to pass off without taking a serious view of it, we can be sure that throughout the country impetus will be given to the communal feeling on the part of the non-Hindus.

In the present incident, unfortunately, no leader at the Centre has come forward to condemn the opposition to Vande Mataram. Not even those who are now trying to reform the Muslim society have come out with an unequivocal statement to that effect. I think that all the political parties, including the ruling party, should take a strong stand and declare that those who refuse to sing Vande Mataram shall have no place in the party. That will help creating an atmosphere of ‘mother and child’ relationship between our country and all the communities living here.

As the present conditions stand, it is clear that it is only the Hindu who feels that this country is his adored Motherland. This feeling is in his blood. For generations, he has been worshipping the dust of this sacred soil. Whatever auspicious work he takes in hand, he starts with Bhoomi Poojana. This ingrained devotion in us has to be made alive once again and the entire Hindu People made to feel that they are the children of the same soil and, as such, are brothers to one another.

We are nowadays trying to establish fraternal relations with all sorts of people in the world – the Russians, Chinese, Japanese, Arabs, the Americans and whom not – but within ourselves we are engaged in fratricidal conflict! This is a very incongruous situation, which must be corrected. We must learn once again the lesson that from North to South and East to West, to whatever sect, caste or language we may belong, we are one single brotherhood, the children of the same Mother, with the same blood coursing through our veins. The integrated oneness of our people can manifest only as a result of this realisation. Mere economic or political adjustments here and there, some patchwork theories won’t be able to create such abiding oneness.

There are some persons in our country who say that all ancient things like our heritage, traditions, etc., are anachronisms in the present times and must be thrown into the dustbin of oblivion. But even they, when circumstance force them, cannot help singing the glory of our past. When there was war on the issue of Bangladesh, our Prime Minister – socialistic, secular etc., as she calls herself, and others also like to call her – could not but say that we have a glorious heritage of five thousand years and that we are not going to be brow-beaten by anyone. I was particularly happy that the Prime Minister voiced the sentiments propagated by the RSS all these years, as if she were also one of its members!

This idea that the Hindu People are the Rashtra here is a historical truth. To deny truth is not going to do us any good in this world. However, this truth has been sought to be denied for the past so many decades in a vain bid to bring the various non-Hindu communities into the mainstream of national life. Not only that but even the expression of that truth is made out to be against our country’s interests. One fails to understand how the expression of truth can be against the national interest.

Truth is truth. It must be spoken, expressed and experienced; it must be lived up to. Unless we do this, real national integration of the people as a whole, even among the Hindus, will never be realised. As a matter of fact, even such Muslims and Christians who are really well-meaning and patriotic at heart and are not ridden by old dreams of their empires, do accept that this has been Hindu land for thousands of years and its national ethos is the Hindu ethos. They are also aware that this national ethos in no way militates against their individual religions. But unfortunately, such persons are very few and are also not vocal. Probably they are not listened to by their co-religionists.

If once all the Hindus, whatever their political and other denominations, decide to stand shoulder to shoulder in a concerted manner as one national entity right form the Himalayas to Kanyakumari and form Dwaraka to Manipur, then all those others who have been living in this country will also learn to respect the Mother and the national entity here. Keeping their own faiths intact they will be able to become useful members of this great nation.

Hence the RSS has been emphasising that the revitalization of the truth of our national existence alone will be able to inspire our people for unified and dedicated efforts in the cause of the nation. That alone will make our nation march forward with strength and confidence holding its head high amidst all the turmoils and conflicts surrounding us in the world.