RSS

RSS Activities Abroad - A Report in the Organizer

Two swayamsevaks, Amul Sharma and Maneklal, started the first shakha acı Jss the seven seas in Kenya.The RSS Prarthana now reverberates through more than 170 countries of the world.

The swayamsevaks started various Hindu organisations in the countries where they settled. One among those organizations is the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, which resembles the Sangh very much in its activities.

As the work of the Hindu organizations spread  it was thought appropriate to bring the active workers together for a camp at least once in five years. The first step in this direction was taken when the Vishwa Sangh Shivir was organised in Bangalore in 1990, where 200 persons from abroad participated VHP has spread its work and the seva vibhag was also set up in many countries. About 20 branches of Vishwa Hindu Parishad are active in as many counties ofthe world.

After the Bangalore Shivir the organizational structure of HSS has improved a lot. Adhikaris were appointed for various vibhags and seven-day ITC camps were also held in various countries. Youths under the banner of Hindu Students Council have become very active in the universities of USA and UK. The HSC is active in 46 universities in these countries including he prestigious London School of Economics. The UK, USA and Kenya hold regular annual camps and the First Year Sangh Shiksha Varga. The camps are held for swayamsevaks of various age-groups... Since the last many years a Hindu Marathon is regularly held in the UK in which the local whites also participate. In Kenya and UK there is provision in schools for Hindu religious instruction... An annual youth camp is held in America. The Hindu Vidyarthi Parishad is active in America. A three-day convention held in Boston by this organization had attracted 400 students from across the United States and Canada. In the UK too Hindu students organize various programmes.

Even though the Sangh is not running any shakhas outside India the swayamsevaks have established several Hindu organisations in foreign countries. An association called Friends of India Society International works in the UK and the USA. The Overseas Friends of BJP is active in UK, USA and Canada. In UK and USA, Sewa International helps the service projects. In America similar work is carried on by Kalyan Ashram and India Relief Fund. All these institutions are active in South- East Asia and Middle East Europe, America and the Caribbeans. There are also organization called Hindu Sevika Samiti, Dr. Hedgewar Institute and such others. These organisations are connected to the Vishwa Vibhag of RSS.

Periodicals too are regularly published (in) some countries including Amar Bharati and Sangathan in Kenya, Sangh Sandesh and Hindu Vishwa in Thailand, Sangh Vichar in America and Vishwa Hindu Parishad Samachar in South East Asia. The National Hindu Students Forum (UK) publishes a monthly Hum (We). Besides, a fortnightly journal called Samvad is published from Vishwa Niketan (Delhi), which is mailed to the workers living abroad.

 Most of the Hindus abroad are economically well-off and take keen interest in seva work in India. NRI Hindus are planning to take Seva International to various countries. Many Hindu NRIs are taking great interest in the economic and industrial growth of our motherland. They have already expressed their willingness to invest in various industrial and commercial projects in India.

 The most important achievement of the Hindu. Organizations is that their work has drawn the appreciation of the local populace. Because of the discipline in the activities of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh and VHP, the local people have come closer to the Hindu society and faith.

 The image of the Hindus has improved considerably throughout Europe and America. The discipline in the activities of Hindu organizations has won praise from the leaders of these countries. Margaret Thatcher had attended an RSS programme when she was Prime Minister... She garlanded a portrait of Dr. Hedgewar. Queen Elizabeth II impressed by the work done by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had bestowed on VHP worker Hasmukh Shah the rare honour of inviting him to dinner at her palace. In Kenya, the country's President came to an RSS camp to attend a programme.

 It is in this backdrop that the Vishwa Sangh Shivir was held recently in Vadodara. This time 379 Hindu activists from abroad participated in the Shivir including 125 women.

Overseas Friends of BJP, who are already active in America and England, have started working in coordination with the BJP in India. Shri K.L. Sharma who looks after the overseas work also attended the Shivir. Shri L.K. Advani also visited the Shivir.

The participants discussed various means to counter the Pak-sponsored malicious propaganda war against India in the West. Hindu organizations have already started influencing policy makers in the West through lobbying and other such activities... The participants discussed various methods to increase the political participation of the Hindu NRIs in their respective countries. Altogether the Shivir reflected the vigor and vitality of resurgent Hinduism which is bound to sweep the world as a spiritual whirlwind.

 (Source: The Organizer Republic Day Special, 28 January, 1996)

RSS: Rajendra Singh's Address to Rally Karimganj, Assam, 28 January, 1996

Increasing number of shakhas and swayamsevaks around the country is an indication of the strengthening of nationalist forces and it augurs well for the nation, facing threats from secessionist elements.

The unabated influx of foreigners from Bangladesh had assumed serious dimension, upsetting demographic structure of the north eastern States. In Mizoram the growth of population was 100%, in Assam 79% and in Arunachal Pradesh the scenario was not in any way different. He explained that it was not a question of Hindu or Muslim but a very "sensitive issue" with wider ramification. Saudi Arabia identified 25,000 Bangladeshis and deported them and Bangladesh sent back thousands of Mynamar nationals from its soil. Infiltrators were acting as the agents of foreign powers and posed security risk.

What is the way out of the present morass? RSS is not pessimistic this country will again become the epicentre of the world... The judgement of the Supreme Court on 'Hindutva' has been a slap on the faces of those who have dubbed it as "Hindu fundamentalism"Hindus following their high tradition and cultural heritage based upon the teachings of Veda, Upanishad, Grantha Sahil and Gita could never be fundamentalists. Otherwise how could Christians, Muslims and Parsees from outside live here?

RSS with it social and nationalist commitment and the philosophy of sarvey bhavantu sukhinah works for the upliftment of people and takes pride in running 12,000 schools across the country. It is this tenet of RSS that can stem the decline and restore values and virtues in our life. Handing over the three holy shrines of Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura would be a symbolic friendly gesture for the Muslims considering the destruction of 30,000 temples by the invaders and marauders. We will bring the government that will reconstruct Ram temple. It would be a government that would rise above all policy of appeasement and vote-banks.

(Source: The Organiser)

RSS Shakhas Abroad

Country                      Up-shakhas             Country                              Up-shakhas

                        Total   179

RSS: Bajrang Dal's Go-Raksha Andolan

N.K. Singh in The India Today, 15 Feb., 1996

 For the Bajrang Dal, the militant youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) (did) some communal muscle flexing (for) the launch of its cow-protection programme in Allahabad on January 21, 1996. Nearly one lakh Dal volunteers sporting saffron bandanas converged on the... confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. Spouting profanities denouncing those involved in the meat trade, they "vowed" to stop the slaughter of cows in the country.

The Bajrang Dal, clearly, has embarked on a course fraught with dangerous consequences. By whipping up communal hysteria on the eve of the general election, the organisation hopes to play its part in a wider Sangh brotherhood strategy to create a pro-BJP wave across the country. And a BJP government at the Centre, according to Bajrang Dal activists' light, would be the quickest way to establishing a "Hindu Rashtra". As Bajrang Dal President Jaibhan Singh Pavaiyya said: "We shall use muscle power to stop cow siaughter. If that causes a civil war in the country, we know how to deal with it".

Having set March 20 as the deadline for a complete halt to cow slaughter in the country, the organisation hopes to pursue its agitation under the auspices of the Goraksha Andolan Samiti, recently formed outfit comprising the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal representatives. To this effect, the Sangh brotherhood has floated a trust, and plans to launch a massive fund- collection drive.

The Sangh brotherhood has embarked on similar missions in the past, but this being an election year, the possibility of such a drive sparking off communal clashes is all too real.

RSS: Resolution on Rewriting History

Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana Samiti

It is resolved that the history textbooks for students up to XIIth class all over India should contain only the unsuppressed facts of true history of India as re- constructed on the basis of recent archaeological discoveries and re-study of the oldest literature of the country, the Vedas, which clearly prove that the Aryans did not come from outside the ancient boundaries of the country and that they were the same people who gave us the cities and villages of the Indus-Saraswati Civilization more than 5000 years ago.

(Source: The Organiser, 18 February, 1996)

The contest will be between congress and BJP. All other parties are insignificant.

L.K. Advani