‘Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’ Book release function concludes

Mumbai 30 April 2017 – “The ‘Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is an organisation like a ‘Brahmarshi’. Therefore whosoever be a Prime Minister or let the cabinet belong to any party, the Sangh should always hold its position above them; that too for not gaining anything but for giving”, these upfront thoughts were put forth by Executive Editor of Dainik Pratyaksha, Dr. Aniruddha Dhairyadhar Joshi. Dr. Joshi was speaking at the release function of the book, ‘A peerless organization in the world – Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’, written by Rameshbhai Mehta.

The Hon’ble Governor of Uttar Pradesh – Ram Naik, Hon’ble Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping – Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Member of Parliament and Essel Group Chairman – Dr. Subhash Chandra, RSS Konkan Prant Sanghachalak – Dr. Satish Modh and Samirsinh Dattopadhye of Lotus Publications were present at the function.

Rameshbhai Mehta’s articles on ‘Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’ had featured as a series in the column, ‘Chalta Bolta Itihas’ (A living history) of the Dainik Pratyaksha. Lotus Publications has published a book which is the compilation of these articles. The book has been published in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and English languages. The book release function for the same was held at Dinanath Mangeshkar Natyagriha, Parla on Saturday, 29^th April 2017. During the function Dr. Aniruddha Joshistated that he had seen Sangh work selflessly. Yet Sangh was being criticized was felt injustice. Hence this series was initiated by Dainik Pratyaksha and Rameshbhai Mehta accepted this assignment very affectionately.

Drawing attention towards few facts Dr. Aniruddha Joshi stated that there has been an outcry about destruction of the ‘Bharatiya culture’. But the roots of Bharatiya culture were so deep and its values so immortal that no one could destroy it. Clothes, fashion could change but that wouldn’t change the Bharatiya culture. He also stated that Bharatiya culture never felt the need of any external paraphernalia. Bharatiya culture is imbibed equally in the minds of all Indians. Thus, in spite of many invasions and mountain-load of difficulties, Bharatiya culture stands tall. Further he pointed out that standing in front of Shree Ganapati we all perform aarti of Shiv Shankar, Panduranga and Durga Mata. This is because we accept that they all are one. We do not require books to understand this, and this is the biggest strength of Bharatiya culture.

Dr. Joshi expressed his hope that according to the teachings of Golwalkar Guruji’s, the Shakhas of the Sangh be given utmost importance. He also underlined that fact that Golwalkar Guruji and Dr. Hedgewar had never differentiated in Mata Jagadamba and Bharatmata, and that Golwalkar Guruji’s thoughts not only act as guide but also prove to be the constitution for the Sangh. Dr. Aniruddha Joshi emphasized that attention has been put on increasing the number of Shakhas; likewise priority should also be given to enhance them qualitatively.

During the function Rajyasabha MP and Chairman of Essel Group, Dr. Subhas Chandra claimed the Sangh to have become synonymous with nation’s virtues and gave references of Sangh’s officials who worked without any expectations of honours and gains. Dr. Subhash Chandra termed the foreword written by Dr. Aniruddha Joshi to be the “exact gist of RSS” and made a special mention of the quote from it in which Dr. Joshi terms RSS to be like a ‘Brahmarshi’.

Hon’ble Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari expressed his disappointment saying that misconceptions have been spread widely among society about the Sangh. He further said that though the supporters of the Sangh are committed to socio-economic equality and harmony, the society was poisoned with negative propaganda against them. These misconceptions being a challenge for the Sangh, the Swayamsevaks have to strive hard to ward-off this negativity through their conduct. Gadkari also stated that the Sangh was performing tireless work in all fields but has fallen short to reach out to the society through the media. Yet the results in the field of education, healthcare and personality development inspired by the thoughts of the Sangh will keep manifesting themselves. Expressing his faith Nitin Gadkari said that the qualitative development of the country will happen proportionally to the expansion of Sangh’s work.

The Hon’ble Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Ram Naik urged everyone to read the foreword for the book penned by Dr. Aniruddha Joshi on the very day of the release. He further read out two paragraphs from the foreword and said that Rameshbhai Mehta had put forth the journey of the Sangh right from its origin to the year 1996. He urged Rameshbhai to also take up the task of bringing the Sangh’s further journey to the readers in form of book.

Expressing gratitude book’s author, Rameshbhai Mehta said that Dr. Aniruddha Joshi had inspired him to write the history of the Sangh. Subsequently before writing the Sangh’s history Rameshbhai chose to write our country’s history which is not disheartening but rather glorious. Expressing his concern he mentioned that though this was true, the history written by foreign invaders was being presented to us. And therefore it was necessary that we must pass on the legacy of our true and real history in the hands of our next generation, added Rameshbhai Mehta.

Meanwhile, the Sarkaryavah of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bhaiyyaji Joshi was supposed to be present at the function. But for the medical reasons he was unable to attend the same. In his absence Dr. Satish Modh read out the message that Bhaiyyaji Joshi had sent. In his message Bhaiyyaji Joshi writes –

“प.पू. बापू ने रा.स्व.संघ का वर्णन ’ब्रम्हर्षि’ इन शब्दों में किया है। उनके यह शब्द केवल दिशा दर्शक ही नहीं तो इस राष्ट्र के समग्र विकास हेतु किस प्रकार के भाव से संयुक्त शक्ति चाहिए इस ओर संकेत करते है।“