LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday thanked the RSS functionaries for their relentless service to mankind over a period of 96 years. He said, "If anybody wants to know about Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he or she should look at the body of work of the organisation which served the society silently and without expecting anything in return.'' The CM added that the RSS never tried to impose its ideology on others.
Yogi said the kind of service RSS has extended during the most trying times of Covid, signifies the philosophy and outlook of the organisation. The CM was addressing a function on the occasion of the release of "Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh: Swarnim Bharat ke Dishasootra", a book written by senior RSS functionary Sunil Ambedkar in Lucknow.
CM Yogi said that this book would present a guiding direction to the country as the vision of India and the vision of RSS had always been the same.
"Four years from now, RSS will be celebrating its centenary, an achievement for any organisation which has helped humanity without taking any government help and that too without seeking any limelight," he added.
He said that it would be hard to imagine the overpowering feeling of nationality among the RSS which went down south to build Vivekanand memorial and up in the North to set up service camps for devotees of Amarnath.
"Not only this, their passion for the grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya had been exemplary just as the six 'Vaicharik Kumbh', organised by the RSS, created religious and spiritual awareness among the people of the country and even abroad," he said while adding "it has been the routine for RSS to reach every part of the country which faces any calamity or crisis."
He said, "Another remarkable feature of RSS is that it never tried to impose its ideology on others. It did not rejoice when admired and did not sulk when criticised."
RSS's Sah Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale said: "Hindustan gets its identity from Hindu and Hindutva. And here Hindutva doesn't mean Hindu religion. It shouldn't be restricted to such a narrow definition. It's a way of life, just like RSS."
"Hindutva is not communal as called by a few so-called seculars. Hindutva is not Hindu religion. Its Hinduness. Hindu religion is just one part of it. Hindutva is a culture. Its extensive," he said.
"Sangh is beyond one book, one statement, one opinion. It's collective. Also it's not one organisation in a society but an organization of a society. It's a lifestyle, a vision, a movement. One needs to have emotions, feelings to know Sangh as it is a unique system," he said, adding "People born here are Hindus. Hindu is desh ke DNA ka naam hai," Hosabale said.
"This intellectual circus started after Independence which debated on Hindutva. Terms like minority and majority were coined. A name has a lot in it. Name contains history. Reason why Prayagraj makes sense and not Allahabad," he added.
Author and senior RSS functionary, Sunil Ambedkar said, "For the past few years I was getting the feeling that there is a lot of curiosity about India, its religion, culture and history. People in the world want to know about it."
With new technologies that have come, the younger and newer generation of people are getting lot of information about the whole world and they tend to compare.
"Kuch samay aisa bhi tha ki jo jisne bola woh chalta raha (whatever people said about India it was accepted)," he said.
But then efforts made by RSS created awareness in society and a new generation started realising that, so far, they have been told a lot of things which were not right and complete. There was a curiosity in this generation of people to know more.
In the last 10-12 years, in my interaction with Indians studying and settling abroad I have realized they wanted to participate. "They asked me what they could do for the country. They wanted to know more about Sangh, draw motivation from it and be part of it."
At the same time, there are people who, for varied reasons, doubt 'ki sangh badh jayega toh kya karega (what will Sangh do if it grows) "Sangh samaj ka sangathan majboot karega, Samaj ko niyantrit nahin sashakt karega (Sangh will strengthen society and not control it)."