Author:
Publication: BJP Today
Date: September 1-15, 2001
Introduction: Atalji expresses
regret at media blackout of this crime releases book on RSS Pracharak "Vakil
Saheb"
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
said here on August 18, soon after receiving news about the sacrifice rendered
by four Pracharaks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in Tripura that it
was most retrettable that the media at large did not carry the news of
this gruesome murder by an extremist organisation.
Speaking on the occasion of the
release of a book "Setubandh" written by BJP General Secretary Narendra
Modi and the Late Rajabhai Nene, Atalji said that the news was not carried
even after it was provided to the media. One could understand genuine differences
of opinion, but that should not result in enmity. The media had to consider
their stance, he added.
Atalji said that if Christian missionaries
were involved in any incident, that development was highlighted. The missionaries
do render services but their motive often was conversion. They had the
right to do so, Atalji said but added that these Swayamsevaks too had gone
for rendering service to people of Tripura. Yet their kidnapping and killing
did not make news.
"Setubandha", originally in Gujarati,
was translated into Hindi by Shri Narendra Modi himself. Referring to this,
Atalji said that translations of literary worker from the language to another
should continue unabated and a separate department for this should be set
up.
Referring to the life of Shri Inamdar,
Shri Vajpayee said that the RSS should be evaluated on the basis of the
conduct of swayamsevaks and the motives with which they rendered service
to the society.
Shri K.S. Sudarshan sarsanghachalak
of the RSS who came all the way from Nagpur to attend the function despite
his hand being in bandage, recalled how crucial the role of "pracharaks"
such as Shri Inamdar were in the RSS organisation. He recalled in this
connection the regret of Indira Gandhi for having banned the RSS during
the emergency saying that this was a nation-wide organisation and they
would surely organise countrywide protests, which they did.
Shri Sudarshan also recalled that
the Police were unable to arrest the "pracharaks" during the emergency
because they had no fixed homes. They made the homes of every swayamsevak
their own homes and could not be traced for this reason.
Referring to Shri Inamdar, he said
that it was after the 1948 ban on the RSS that Shri Inamdar, who had held
a law degree, donned the black coat to plead for the release for RSS workers
arrested during ban. This gave him the sobriquet "Vakil Saheb".
Shri Sudarshan said that the RSS
did not discriminate between religions and castes while rendering service.
He recalled in this connection the service rendered to the dead in the
Saudia and Kazakistan Airlines planes destroyed in mid-air collision over
Haryana. Most of the victims were Muslims.
Shri Modi in his introductory speech
referred to the value-based conduct as the hall mark of every swayamsevak.
The swayamsevak treated the families of every other swayamsevak as his
own family, which made the RSS such a large and strong organisation.
Shri Shyam Sunder Agrawal, of Prabhari
Prakashan, the publisher of the book, proposed a vote of thanks.
