New Delhi: “Today I came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of Mother India,” wrote former President Pranab Mukherjee on a visitor’s notebook at the birthplace of Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, founder of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in Nagpur last year. Mukherjee’s visit was not part of his scheduled itinerary and the decision was taken by the President himself when he was invited to speak at the annual graduation ceremony of RSS workers at the Sangh headquarters.
A former member of the Indian National Congress, Hedgewar had founded the RSS in 1925. But not much is widely known about this man even as Mukherjee called him a “great son” of India.
On the 79th death anniversary of Hedgewar, Friday, ThePrint looks at what had compelled him to start the Right-wing organisation and why he did not want its members to participate in the independence movement.
Early life
Hedgewar was born on 1 April, 1889 into a Brahmin family in Nagpur. His father was Baliram Pant Hedgewar and mother Revati. The family originally hailed from Andhra Pradesh but moved to Nagpur a few generations later, in the early 19th century. When he was 13, Hedgewar’s parents died in an epidemic of plague and he was mentored by Balakrishna Shivram (B.S.) Moonje, a member of the Congress who later became president of the Hindu Mahasabha.
Pralay Kanungo in his book RSS’s tryst with politics: from Hedgewar to Sudarshan mentions how Hedgewar, in his 10th grade, was expelled from Neel City High School in Nagpur for singing Vande Mataram.
Moonje then persuaded Hedgewar to go to Calcutta and complete his education. He later pursued medicine, passing the L.M.S. Examination from National Medical College in June 1914. This was also when people started to fondly address him as “doctorji”, a title that even RSS workers later used throughout his tenure as its first sarsangchalak.
Congress member and RSS founder
When ‘doctorji’ was pursuing his medical studies in Calcutta he had also joined the ‘Anushilan Samiti’ — a staunch Hindu outfit that was heavily influenced by writings of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.
Returning to Nagpur in 1917, he followed mentor Moonje’s footsteps and became a member of the Indian National Congress. He also became a member of the Hindu Mahasabha. Dual membership to different organisations was allowed at the time.
Hedgewar, however, started having some problems with Congress’ position after Mahatma Gandhi assumed leadership of the party in 1921. He opposed Gandhi’s idea of bringing Muslims together to launch the Khilafat movement in 1919, against the British. It has, however, been reported that he took part in it and was imprisoned for a year by the British government.
Kanungo’s book also mentions how the 1923 Hindu-Muslim riots in Nagpur was one of reasons why Hedgewar decided to form the RSS. A major trigger for the riots was a dispute over Hindus’ right to carry out religious processions in front of mosques.
C.P. Bhishikar’s biography of Hedgewar, Keshav Sanghnirmata also talks about how the RSS founder had equated Muslims to “yavana” snakes.
But a bigger driving force for Hedgewar to form RSS was Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar’s writings — primarily the latter’s ideas on Hindutva and motherland. Sarvarkar had spelled out that only those who considered India as their fatherland and a holy land could be considered patriots. He also believed that this ruled out Muslims, suggesting that their patriotism should always be suspected.
Rakesh Sinha, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and Hedgewar’s biographer, said, “Hedgewar formed RSS in order to consolidate the Hindus. He wanted to liberate them from restrictions imposed by the protracted Mughal-British rule and to give them a space where they can practice their culture, something denied to them earlier. RSS’ oath also mentions freedom of the Hindu nation from British imperialists.”
RSS finally came into form on 27 September, 1925 and five people were present at the inaugural meeting — Hedgewar, Moonje, Veer Savarkar’s brother Ganesh Damodar Savarkar, L.V. Paranjpe and B.B. Tholkar.
RSS and freedom struggle
RSS’ role in the Indian freedom struggle has always been a topic of debate. On 18 March, 1999, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee issued a postage stamp commemorating Hedgewar as a great freedom fighter.
According to author Shamsul Islam (who has written extensively on the RSS), this was an attempt to show RSS’ contribution to the anti-colonial struggle. But the organisation never really took part in it, Islam argues, adding that Hedgewar refused to accept the tricolour as the national flag. Islam also writes how Hedgewar told cadres to only salute the “bhagwa dhwaj“.
Islam tells that the RSS had also dissuaded people from participating in the Salt March of 1930.
Meanwhile, Sinha said that Hedgewar significantly contributed to the freedom movement before RSS’ formation. “He even formed the Nagpur National Union to support Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement when followers of Bal Gangadhar Tilak remained unenthusiastic to Gandhi’s call. Hedgewar went through a year of rigorous imprisonment for his ‘seditious’ speech during the Khilafat movement,” he further said.
Hedgewar passed away on 21 June, 1940 and his last rites were performed at his Reshim Bagh house in Nagpur, which later came to be known as the Hedgewar Mandir.
The RSS has since grown massively and is regarded as one of the largest volunteer organisations in the world with over 6.7 lakh members spanning across India. It is also widely regarded as the parent organisation of the ruling BJP that won a mandate of over 300 out of 543 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
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