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TN government honours swayamsevak for social work
TN government honours swayamsevak for social work
Author:
Publication: Organiser
Date: April 16, 2006
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=126&page=27#5
Last month, Shri Chandrasekhar, Collector
of Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu, gave away Rs 1 lakh to Shri Muthuraj,
panchayat president of B. Chettihalli village, in appreciation of elimination
of untouchability in his panchayat under a state government scheme to promote
social cohesion. Till 1981, this village had the bad name for ill-treating
harijans. With an RSS pracharak, Shri Ramakrishnan, started a shakha in Jogipatti
falling under the panchayat that year and things began to change for the better.
Shakha naturally attracted youth from all communities. The village youth who
became swayamsevaks were imbibed with a sense of social justice as a path
to Hindu consolidation. They gave the necessary pep to the harijan families.
As a result, harijans began walking along the village streets wearing footwear.
They could now ride bicycles inside the village limits, something impossible
earlier. Jogipatti blazed the trail for eradication of untouchability in surrounding
villages over a period. Muthuraj, a second-year trained swayamsevak, was among
the first batch of village youth to attend the shakha. Later, he was elected
for the post of panchayat president as an independent candidate. This gave
a fillip to the efforts of the Sangh workers striving for samajik samarasata
in the neighbourhood. Soon the Chaaki Amman temple festival became an occasion
for all castes to express solidarity, a sea change from the conflict-ridden
affair that it used to be. All this led the government to select the village
for the award.
(VSK, Chennai)
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