Monday, 6 June 2016

19 FEB 1906-5 JUN 1973 MADHAV SADASHIV GOLVALKAR

M. S. Golwalkar

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M. S. Golwalkar
एम एस गोळवलकर
Golwalkar.jpg
Born19 February 1906
Ramtek, Maharashtra, India
Died5 June 1973 (aged 67)
Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
EthnicityMaharashtrian
OccupationFormer chief of RSS
Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (19 February 1906 – 5 June 1973), also known as Shri Guruji,[1] was the second Sarsanghchalak (Supreme Leader) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Golwalkar wrote the books Bunch of Thoughts,[2] and We, or Our Nationhood Defined.[3][4][5][6]

Early life[edit]

Golwalkar was born on 19 February 1906 in a Marathi family to Sadashivrao and Lakshmibai at Ramtek near Nagpur, Maharashtra. His family was a prosperous and closely-knit. Sadashivrao started as a clerk in the Posts and Telegraphs Department, later became a school teacher in Central Provinces, and then ended his career as the headmaster of a high school. Golwalkar was the only surviving son of nine children born to his parents. As the father was frequently transferred around the country, Golwalkar enrolled in various schools. He studied science and was an exemplary scholar and quite apolitical. During his adolescent years, he developed a deep interest in religion and spiritual meditation.[7][8][9]
In 1922, Golwalkar joined the missionary Hislop College in Nagpur. At the College, he is said[by whom?] to have been incensed at the `open advocacy' of Christianity and disparagement of Hinduism. Much of his concern for the defence of Hinduism can be traced to this experience.[10] In 1924, he left Hislop College to join the Benaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, receiving a BSc. in 1925 and MSc. in Biology in 1927.[10][7] During this period, he came under the influence of Madan Mohan Malaviya, a nationalist leader and the founder of the University.[11] After completing his degree in 1927, he went to Madras to pursue a doctorate in Marine Biology but was unable to complete it due to his father's retirement.[9] Later, he taught zoology for three years at BHU. It was here that he earned from his students the affectionate sobriquet of 'Guruji', owing to his beard, long hair and simple robe, a practice that was continued in a reverential manner among his RSS followers in later years. He later returned to Nagpur and by 1935 had obtained a degree in Law.[12][7]
While Golwalkar was lecturing at BHU, Bhaiyaji Dani, a student at BHU and a close associate of RSS Sarsanghchalak K. B. Hedgewar, founded an RSS shakha in Varanasi.[13] Golwalkar went to the meetings and was revered by the members but there is "no indication that Golwalkar took a keen interest" in the organisation.[7] In 1931, Hedgewar visited Benares and was attracted to the ascetic Golwalkar.[7] At his request, Golwalkar is said to have gone to the "Officers Training Camp" in Nagpur, meant for training RSS pracharaks.[citation needed]
After returning to Nagpur, Hedgewar became a bigger influence on Golwalkar. According to RSS sources, Hedgewar encouraged him to pursue a Law degree because it would give him the reputation of learning required for a leader of the RSS. In 1934, Hedgewar appointed him the secretary (karyavah) for the Nagpur main branch. After he started practising law, Hedgewar also gave him the task of managing the Akola's Officers' Training Camp.[10][14] However, in October 1936, Golwalkar abandoned his law practice as well as his RSS work and left for the Sargachi Ramakrishna Mission ashram in West Bengal, seeking to renounce the world and become a sanyasi. At the ashram, he became a disciple of Swami Akhandananda, a disciple of Ramakrishna and colleague of late Vivekananda.[14] On 13 January 1937, he is said to have received his 'diksha,' but left the ashram of his own accord soon afterwards.[15] He returned to Nagpur after his guru died in 1937 to seek the advice of Hedgewar in a state of "extreme mental depression and indecision." Hedgewar convinced him that his obligation towards society could be best fulfilled by working for the RSS.[16]

Leadership of RSS[edit]

After Golwalkar rejoined the RSS, it would appear that Hedgewar started grooming him for the leadership for the RSS. He was made in charge of the All-India Officers' Training Camp for three years (1937-1939). Golwalkar's abilities of managing the complex details of the large camp, of public speaking and of reading and writing were appreciated. In 1938, he was given G. D. Savarkar's 1934 Marathi text Rashtra Mimansa (Nationalism) and asked to translate it into Hindi and English. The resulting text We or Our Nationhood Defined was published in Golwalkar's own name and came to be regarded as a systematic treatment of the RSS ideology.[17] The fact that it was an abridged translation was not brought to light until 1963.[18]
In 1939, on the occasion of the Gurudakshina festival, Hedgewar announced that Golwalkar would be the next General Secretary (Sarkaryavah), the second most important position in the RSS.[17] On his death bed a year later, the day before he died on 21 June 1940, he handed Golwalkar a sheet of paper asking him to be the leader of RSS. On 3 July, five state-level sanghchalaks (directors) who assembled in Nagpur announced Hedgewar's decision.[7]
The choice of Golwalkar is said to have "stunned" the RSS volunteers.[7] Hedgewar had passed over several senior activists to choose Golwalkar. Golwalkar's background, training and interests made him an unlikely successor. Balasaheb Deoras mentioned that several RSS leaders were sceptical if Golwalkar would be able to handle the responsibility of Sarsanghchalak.[7] In retrospect, the grooming carried out by Hedgewar, including the encouragement to obtain a Law degree and the authorship of We or Our Nationhood Defined, which came to be regarded as a 'Bible' by the RSS cadres, is seen to have been the key to Golwalkar's later success. One of the reasons advanced for the choice of Golwalkar is that he was likely to maintain the independence of the RSS, which was otherwise liable to be regarded as mere a youth front of the Hindu Mahasabha.[19]
Serving as the Supreme Leader of the RSS for more than 30 years, Golwalkar made the RSS one of strongest religio-political organisations in India, witnessing an enormous expansion from a membership of 100,000 to over 1 million. The RSS branched out into various political, social, religious, educational, labour and other fields through 50 front organisations. It was extended to foreign countries where overseas Hindus were recruited into new organisations such as the Bharatiya Swayamsevak Sangh or the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh.[20] However, there was a subtle but important shift in the RSS world view. Whereas for Hedgewar, nationalism was first and Hindutva (Hinduness) was a tool, for Golwalkar preserving Hinduism was first and nationalism was secondary.[citation needed] A major innovation of Golwalkar was to develop an anti-communist and anti-socialist ideology, adopting the slogan, "not socialism but Hinduism." D. R. Goyal posits that the anti-Marxist tinge made the RSS popular with the wealthy sections of the society, who made generous contributions financing the expansion of the RSS.[21]
RSS expanded into Kashmir and Jammu starting in 1940, when Balraj Madhok was sent as a pracharak to Jammu, with Prem Nath Dogra being the sanghchalak (Director). A shakha was started in Srinagar in 1944 and Golwalkar himself visited Srinagar in 1946. On 18 October 1947, he met the Maharaja Hari Singh upon the request of Vallabhbhai Patel, India's Home Minister, to persuade the Maharaja to accede to India. He was accompanied by Vasantrao Oak, the RSS pracharak for Delhi, and Narendrajit Singh, the RSS sanghchalakfor United Provinces. It is believed that the Maharaja agreed to the proposal but the formal accession was signed only on the 26 October, after the invasion by raiders from Pakistan.[22][23][24][25][26][27]

Reorientation of the RSS[edit]

Golwalkar's religious orientation and apparent disinterest in politics convinced some members of the RSS that it was no longer relevant to the nationalist struggle. The RSS remained aloof from the freedom movement and all connections with the Hindu Mahasabha were severed. The RSS membership in the Marathi-speaking districts of the Bombay became disillusioned and the RSS sanghchalak for Bombay, K. B. Limaye, resigned. Several swayamsevaks defected and formed the Hindu Rashtra Dal in 1943 with the agenda of a paramilitary struggle against the British rule. Nathuram Godse the future assassin of Gandhi was a leader among them.[17]
However, Golwalkar moved quickly to consolidate his position. He created the position of prant pracharaks (provincial organisers) who would report directly to him rather than the sanghchalaks. He recruited local Congress leaders to preside over the RSS functions, demonstrating the independence of the RSS from the Hindu Mahasabha.[28] The RSS continued to expand during the years of the Second World War, especially in North India and the areas of the present day Pakistan. Many of the new members were small-scale entrepreneurs with a religious orientation who were interested in consolidating their caste positions using the symbols of Hinduism represented by the RSS.[29]
The RSS policy during the war years was influenced by the potential threats to Hinduism. The RSS expected to be prepared for defending the Hindu interests in the event of a Japanese invasion of the subcontinent. It also expected that there would be renewed Hindu-Muslim communal struggle after the war for which the organisation must be prepared. Golwalkar did not want to give the British government any excuse to ban the RSS. He complied with all the instructions from the government, disbanding the RSS military department, and staying away from the Quit India movement. The British acknowledged that the RSS had "scrupulously kept itself within the law, and refrained from taking part in the disturbances that broke out in August 1942"[28][30][31][32]
In addition to these pragmatic reasons, Golwalkar appeared ideologically opposed to an anti-British struggle. In his own words, the RSS pledged to the freedom of the country through defending religion and culture. There was "no mention of the departure of the British" in that.[33][34][35] He called it a `reactionary view' to equate anti-Britishism with patriotism and nationalism, alleged that it had "disastrous effects upon the entire course of the freedom struggle."[36][37] By his own admission, this attitude greatly "puzzled" people, included manyswayamsevaks within the RSS, leading people to view the sangh with distrust.[38][39]

Independence and Partition[edit]

Rajeshwar Dayal, then Chief Secretary to the United Provinces Government, reported in his memoirs[40] a plot by the RSS to carry out large scale attacks on the Muslim communities throughout the western districts of the state. The plot is said to have been uncovered by the U. P. police through timely raids on the organisation's premises and the evidence was brought to him in two large steel trunks. The plans for the attack were said to have been master-minded by Golwalkar himself. Dayal, along with the Police chief, urged the government to arrest Golwalkar. However, the government headed by Gobind Ballabh Pant dithered. Golwalkar was apparently tipped off and left the state before the authorities could engage him.[41][42][43][44]

RSS ban and arrest[edit]

When Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in January 1948 by Nathuram Godse, there was a widespread apprehension that RSS was involved in the plot, despite Golwalkar's condemnation of the murderers.[45] Golwalkar himself was arrested on 4 February, along with 20,000 swayamsevaks, and the RSS was banned on charges of promoting "violence" and "subversion."[46] Godse declared that he acted on his own initiative and no connection between the RSS and the Gandhi's assassination has ever been made officially. However, Nathuram Godse's brother Gopal Godse—who was also an accused in the assassination and asserted that Nathuram never left the RSS and his statement of having left the RSS was designed to protect the RSS and Golwalkar who were "in deep trouble" after Gandhi's assassination.[47] Golwalkar was released on 5 August after the expiration of the six-month statutory period.[45]
The ban on the RSS however continued, and Golwalkar tried to negotiate with then Home Minister Vallabhbhai Patel about lifting the ban. The mass arrests, violence against its members and the ban by an independent Indian government of what was understood to be a patriotic organisation was a great shock to the RSS members.[45]
Patel asked the RSS to join the Congress, but this was not to Golwalkar's liking. Patel then demanded, as an absolute pre-condition, that the RSS adopt a written constitution. Golwalkar responded by launching a satyagraha on 9 December 1948. Golwalkar was arrested once again, along with 60,000 RSS volunteers. The RSS leaders Eknath Ranade, Bhaiyaji Dani and Balasaheb Deoras suspended the satyagraha in January 1949 and, in collaboration with a liberal leader T. R. Venkatarama Sastri,[48] wrote a constitution for the RSS that was to Patel's satisfaction. The ban was subsequently lifted on 11 July 1949.[49] The Government of India issued a communique stating that the decision to lift the ban on the RSS had been taken in view of the RSS leader Golwalkar's undertaking to make loyalty towards the Constitution of India, and acceptance and respect towards the National Flag of India more explicit in the Constitution of the RSS which was to be worked out in a democratic manner.[50][51]

Sangh Parivar[edit]

Political views and reception[edit]

  • Golwalkar lamented on the anti-British nationalism of pre-independence India. In his book titled "We or our Nationhood Defined," he criticised the vigorous anti-British character of the Indian freedom movement. In Golwalkar's own words:
    Anti-Britishism was equated with patriotism and nationalism. This reactionary view has had disastrous effects upon the entire course of the freedom struggle, its leaders and the common people.[36][37]
  • Critics have accused Golwalkar of being a fascist, pointing to his extreme right-wing views expressed in the 1939 book, We, Our Nationhood Defined. In it, Golwalkar writes:
    To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic Races - the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well nigh impossible it is for Races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by.[52] Ever since that evil day, when Moslems first landed in Hindustan, right up to the present moment, the Hindu Nation has been gallantly fighting on to take on these despoilers. The Race Spirit has been awakening.[53]
  • According to Christopher Jaffrelot, despite the use of the term "race," Golwalkar's main purpose was not racial homogeneity, but cultural unity. However, Jaffrelot also makes reference to Golwalkar's racism. According to Jaffrelot, Golwalkar's viewed a national language—like Sanskrit—to be an expression of the race spirit; the German parallel would be volksgeist according to Jaffrelot. Jaffrelot characterises Golwalkar's racism as a form of socio-cultural domination rather than being based on notions of racial purity.[54]According to Jaffrelot, the "racial factor" was—to Golwalkar—the most important ingredient for a nation, and in this respect Golwalkar claimed inspiration from Hitler's ideology. According to Jaffrelot, Golwalkar applied this nationalist ethnic reasoning to Indian Muslims who Golwalkar felt were a "foreign body" embedded in and destabilising Hindu society.[52] The minorities were meant to be "assimilated" through the removal of their signs of adherence to particular communities. This is evidently an asymmetric relationship: whereas the Hindu symbols are "national," those of the religious minorities are communal or "foreign." The Indian nation of Golwalkar and other RSS leaders is a "hierarchy dominated by the Hindus."[55]

  • Golwalkar was vehemently opposed to the concept of a secular Indian state.[56] In We, or Our Nation defined (1938), he stated:-
  • William Dalrymple says Golwalkar "broke with conventional views" on numerous issues in multiple senses, including the mainstream view about Indo Aryan migration. Golwalkar believed that the Aryan ancestors of the Hindus were indigenous to India in contrast to India’s Muslims, who invaded India and still looked to Mecca as the centre of their faith.[57]
  • According to Rohan Oberoi, both of Golwalkar's books "Bunch of Thoughts" and "We, or Our Nationhood Defined" are egregious for the racist views they espouse. According to Oberoi, in "Bunch of Thoughts," Golwalkar opines that Muslims and Christians in India are unpatriotic, but Golwalkar's hatred is not confined to Indian Muslims or Christians. According to Oberoi, Golwalkar describes the Chinese using the following language: "They eat rats, pigs, dogs, serpents, cockroaches, and everything. Such men cannot be expected to have human qualities." In "We", writes Oberoi, Golwalkar showers praise on the egregious Nazi campaign against Jews and Gypsies which took place in the 1930s in Germany explaining that this was "a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by." "There are only two courses open to these foreign elements," Golwalkar explains, according to Oberoi, "either to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture or to live at its mercy so long as the national race may allow them to do so and quit the country at the sweet will of the national race."[58]
  • According to Ramachandra Guha, Golwalkar had written, "In this land Hindus have been the owners, Parsis and Jews the guests, and Muslims and Christians the dacoits." Guha calls Golwalkar the "guru of Hate."[59]
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M. S. Golwalkar
Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, also known as Shri Guruji, was the second Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Golwalkar wrote the books Bunch of Thoughts, and We, or Our Nationhood Defined.Wikipedia
Born: February 19, 1906, Ramtek
Died: June 5, 1973, Nagpur
Education: Banaras Hindu University
Books: Bunch of Thoughts, We or Our Nationhood Defined
Parents: Lakshmibai Upakhya, Sadashiv Rao Upakhya
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