New Delhi: In a gathering Monday evening at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, stalwarts of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) came together to honour the memory of Madan Das Devi, former joint general secretary of the RSS who passed away a week ago.
The venue was brimming with over a thousand attendees, and dignitaries continued to arrive to pay their respects.
Among those present were BJP president J.P. Nadda and several Union ministers including Piyush Goyal, Anurag Thakur and Dharmendra Pradhan. Former Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, former Maharashtra Governor B.S. Koshyari and senior RSS leaders Dattatreya Hosabale, Suresh Soni and Krishna Gopal were also in attendance.
The 81-year-old Hindutva ideologue, Madan Das died on the morning of 24 July in Bengaluru. He was cremated in Pune on 26 July with senior BJP and RSS leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, paying their final respects.
At the event Monday, many of the leaders present — such as Nadda, Naidu, Hosabale, BJP’s Rajnath Singh and senior journalist Prabhu Chawla — took to the stage to share memories of Madan Das.
The late RSS leader is credited with playing a key role in building the student organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), of which he was the ‘Akhil Bharatiya Sangathan Mantri’ or all-India organisation secretary for 22 years. He was later appointed as the joint general secretary of the RSS.
According to Nadda, the fact that BJP and RSS workers of three generations had gathered in such a large number to pay tribute to Madan Das Devi was a testament to his personality, work and sacrifices.
Nadda, who was also in the ABVP and worked under Madan Das, recalled that when the RSS leader was helming the outfit, the environment was not favourable.
“He fostered student activism and galvanised lakhs of dedicated workers. Even amid the turmoil of the Emergency, his leadership propelled the organisation forward with determination,” Nadda said.
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‘Inspired millions across country’
Speaking at the event, Hosabale said, “Madan Dasji was a master of human behaviour. He was a wonderful craftsman of man-making and organisation-building.”
Referring to Madan Das’ role as a “bridge” between the BJP and RSS during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee era, Hosabale said, “Between the 1990s and 2004, the responsibility of being the contact person between the BJP and RSS fell on him. Governments came and went in those years. It wasn’t easy to sail the boat while also keeping an eye on the Sangh Parivar as well as the individual and the party ideology.”
“There were experts, but winning everyone’s heart with so much skill introduced his (Madan Das’) organisational skills,” he added.
Rajnath Singh pointed out that Madan Das had the education of a chartered accountant and could have easily chosen that as a career, but instead he decided to work for the nation.
“When I was a young karyakarta (worker) of the ABVP, I remember he used to ask me, ‘I am thinking we should do this to expand the work of the ABVP. What do you think?’. We were just small workers and he need not have asked us for our views, but he was eager to learn from younger karyakartas and valued their opinions,” Singh said.
Naidu acknowledged that the ABVP provided him with a transformative training ground. He recalled how his association with the RSS at a young age led him to join the ABVP, where he imbibed essential organisational skills that would later shape his journey as a political leader.
“Whenever I met Madanji, I used to get some message, which helped me shape my future. He was a philosopher and used to pinpoint what is good and what needs to be done. He was a great organiser, great thinker, and someone who inspired millions across the country,” he added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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