Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar: 2nd Head of RSS

 Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, known as Guruji, played a crucial role in rise of more than 70,000 daily shakhas (training camps), around 4,000 full-time pracharaks (cadre) and 36 organisations working in every sphere of society, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has emerged as the largest voluntary movement in the world.  It was under Golwalkar’s leadership that the RSS attained a truly pan-Indian character by expanding rapidly from 1940 to 1973 even as the organisation and the country went through some tumultuous times like Partition in 1947, the ban on the organisation following Mahatma Gandhi’s death in 1948, the debacle of the 1962 war, and the India-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971. Golwalkar ensured that not only did the RSS get over the ban but also emerged as an organisation with greater ideological clarity and stronger organisational structure. He traveled the entire country over 65 times to set up RSS- inspired organisations in every field, ranging from tribal welfare to student politics.

Golwalkar first came in contact with Dr. Keshab Baliram Hedgewar, the founder of RSS in Benaras in 1931 and became an active member of the RSS In 1934 Hedgewar appointed him karyavaha (secretary) of the Nagpur branch and Golwalkar prepared the first systematic statement of the RSS ideology in 1938. After the demise of Dr. Hedgewar, Golwalkar became the sar sangh chalak (the chief of the RSS). The task before him was two-fold-one was to develop the RSS into a mighty countrywide cadre-based organization, and second, to equip himself with qualities needed for a leader, to shoulder such a stupendous task.

Moreover, he, being a relatively new entrant in the RSS and being given the highest post in the RSS, wanted eagerly to be equal to the task of providing sound, competent leadership to the organization. Expectedly perhaps, in the first two or three years he had even to face slight resistance from some senior leaders of the RSS, B. Limaye, sangha chalak of the Bombay province, resigned underscoring in a way the depth of the discontent there. A number of members defected in 1942 and formed the Hindu Rashtra Dal in 1943. Nathuram Vinayak Godse, the founder, of this paramilitary organization, intended to use it to fight against British rule. It received the support of V.D. Savarkar (Anderson, and Damle, 1987: 13). Notwithstanding such difficulties and obstacles, Golwalkar proved his capability as a leader through sheer grit and perseverance.

The RSS continued to grow. In 1944, some 76,000 men regularly attended the shakhas (branches) in British India. Between 1945 and 1948, the RSS membership surged. The RSS also was more successful in attracting boys from the lower castes in northern India where the Brahminical orientation of the RSS did not arouse the opposition of non-brahmins as it did in Maharashtra. The growing popularity and activism of the RSS was even acknowledged by Gandhi when he visited a shakha in Delhi on 16th September, 1947.

In September, 1947 the military commander of the Delhi region met Golwalkar at least twice to solicit his help in maintaining law and order. A massive RSS rally in Delhi on December 10, 1947, attended by several Hindu princes, prominent businessmen and recognized leaders from various Hindu organizations, was but a pointer to the fact that the RSS by now had become an effective defender of the interests of the Hindu community. In-fairness, it may be said that Golwalkar was adamently opposed to the RSS getting involved in partisan politics.

Immediately after the Indian independence on August 15, 1947 communal tension was mounting every day. The influx of refugees from Pakistan accentuated the tension. Riots were rampant. In this sensitive social atmosphere, Gandhi was assassinated on Friday evening, 30th January, 1948 at 5.30 p.m. by Nathuram Vinayak Godse. Godse had previously been a member of the RSS and at the time of the assassination was the editor of a pro-Hindu Mahasabha newspaper in Pune. Because of his background, many leaders of Hindu Mahasabha as well as the RSS were arrested. On February 3, 1948 Golwalkar was arrested and the Government banned the RSS

Before his arrest he instructed the RSS leaders temporarily to suspend all the RSS activities and appealed to the RSS workers to maintain peace at any cost. However, on 12 July, 1949 the ban was lifted unconditionally and Golwalkar was released. Thereafter, the RSS was caught in a dilemma posed by ideology and politics. Golwalkar exhibited his convictions that the character of the RSS had to be retained and never allowed it to be converted into a political party. It does not mean, however, that he was unaware of the need of the hour, i.e., need of national reconstruction in the post-independence era. This background provided a fertile soil to the ‘swayamsevaks’ who founded organizations like the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and the Viswa Hindu Parishad.

The whole organizational structure of the RSS was given a new shape by Golwalkar. Through his hectic tours and continuous hammering on the basics of the philosophy and ideology of Hindu Rashtra and organizational functioning he endeavoured to galvanize the mode of working of the daily shakhas. He was successful in further expanding the already huge network of the RSS He could build bridges with influential persons belonging to the other political parties, including the Congress. He worked for improving the relations with Nepal. He inspired the ‘swayamsevaks’ to be in the forefront of the fight in the Sino-Indian War in 1962 and the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971.

By the late 1960s, the RSS became a force to reckon with in the Indian society. Golwalkar’s regular tours of the country twice a year were instrumental in paving the way for the evolution of an all-India uniform style of functioning of the RSS The RSS was totally identified with his thought and action. Towards the fag end of the 1960s he was afflicted with cancer and underwent operation in 1969. He breathed his last on 5 June, 1973.

Golwalkar possessed all those qualities which are expected of an individual who lives for his goal—patience, determination, perseverance. How can they suddenly forget a man who was the “prime architect” of the RSS? On his 114th birth anniversary, none from the top hierarchy including Prime Minister Narendra Modi deemed it even necessary to remember the second chief of the RSS who burnt his whole lives to glow the Motherland. Merely a decade and a half ago, the Sangh Parivar and all its affiliated organisations had celebrated Golwalkar’s birth anniversary in a big way with a focus on “social harmony” (samajik samrasta) as the central theme.

Perhaps an indication of this slow ‘invisibilisation’ of Golwalkar could be seen in RSS Supremo Mohan Bhagwat's three-day lecture series titled “Future of India” held in Delhi in 2018. Back then, a correspondent with a leading English daily even counted how Hedgewar got the maximum number of mentions  during the presentations whereas Golwalkar was mentioned only once over the first two days. Interestingly, in his lecture, Bhagwat “invoked 32 different personalities as many as 102 times in the first two days of his lectures to show how the Sangh incorporates the best of diverse sources. Golwalkar, however, remained absent, making it obvious that it was not just Bhagwat, but all the leading lights of the Parivar who had second thoughts about invoking his name in public.