HPI Correspondent India/South Asia
NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 4, 2009th, 2009 (By Rajiv Malik): The chief aim of RSS as enumerated by its founder, Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, was to unite the Hindu society. Even after eighty years of its existence, its leaders say this aim and focus has not changed.
“In all these decades what Sangh has done is indeed a big job but it is still incomplete, said Shri Mohanrao Bhagwat, General Secretary of RSS in an interactive session on the subject “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh: Achievements and Expectations” held on the evening of January 3, 2009 in New Delhi’s Satya Sai Auditorium which with around 800 people including educationists, media persons, social activists, government officials and senior army officials. A group of Hindu saints also participated in the event.
Reeling out figures Shri Bhagwat said, “Though the population of Hindus is 1 billion, the number of RSS swayamsevaks [volunteers] is just 4 million. For sure we would like it to go up and it should at least be one percent. But at the same time we have to recognise that from just one person, we are now 4 million and from this we definitely aspire to become 40 million in the times to come. However we are in no hurry to stretch ourselves too much for this and will keep working at the best pace that is suitable to us within our limitations.”
He continued, “We are engaged in the process of man making, society making and nation building and this is a full time occupation for us. Our endeavour would be to train and produce volunteers who work in a steadfast and dedicated manner and set an example by following the highest tenets of values and character.”
Answering a volley of questions on diverse subjects, Shri Bhagwat said, “This mentality of Jehadi terrorism is not something new for us and we have been facing it for the past 1000 years. This problem can be better tackled if Hindus are more vigilant and awakened. We are open to a dialogue with the Muslims for betterment of our relationship with them and also removing any misunderstanding that we may have about each other, but for this to take place, some kind of positive initiative must come from their side also.”
In reply to another set of questions, he said that it would be wrong to say that RSS is male-dominated. “We have to understand that our 4 million volunteers cannot function without the active and total support of the womenfolk in their families. We also have a sister organisation, Rashtriiya Swayamsevika Sangh, which has 5000 groups for women all over India.”
Responding to yet another question, he clarified that it would be wrong to say that RSS ignores or has ignored dalits. He said,” the vision of Hindu unity cannot come about without the involvement and participation of our so called dalit community. From our point of view all Hindus are equal and for us there are no dalits, they are all Hindus.”
The three hour event began with chanting of mantras and traditional lighting of lamps before the picture of Bharat Mata [Mother India]. It ended with the collective recitation of Vande Matram.