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It was late night of June 5, 1973. I was with the daily Motherland published from New Delhi. A telephonic message from Bombay (there was no direct telelink between Nagpur and Delhi then) brought the sad news of the passing away of Shri Guruji, the second Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. There were only four of us from the editorial staff present at that hour-myself, news-editor Jayaram and two of his team of subs on the late night shift. Shri K.R. Malkani. the editor, had also gone home after a firing day at the office. He rushed back to the office to ensure proper coverage of the event. While I was helping him in sorting out the material to be carried in the morning edition. I also thought of Guruji's successor. And the name that instantly came to my mind was that of Balasaheb.
Although under the RSS constitution it was Guruji's prerogative to nominate his successor, Balasaheb's name used to figure as the first choice among RSS workers ever since Guruji had stopped his year-round touring because of his ill-health. I had seen Balasaheb addressing RSS gatherings while he was Sarkaryavah. Contrary to Guruji's orations which he used to make standing, feet joined together, Balasaheb would speak sitting in a chair. Initially this was not liked by swayamsevaks. But once it came to be known that he could not stand for long because of diabetes, they stopped talking about it. Swayamsevaks including some seniors would worry about his diabetes, especially in the context of the likelihood of his succeeding Guruji. Yet they reassured themselves saying: "He has the fire in him to carry forward the RSS." The way he ably carried the mantle of Sarsanghchalak for 21 long years is testimony to his indomitable will to succeed and the fire the swayamsevaks saw in him.
Author By R C Batura
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