The role of Sangh Parivar is going to be unprecedentedly higher from hereon as a social and cultural guardian in achieving ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’.
The Narendra Modi 2.0 led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had returned back with a thumping majority in the parliament and now is the time to see that the much important qualitative development takes a faster pace. But the task of social upliftment is multipronged and massive. Societal development and upgradation is not just the duty of the government but also the collective duty of every citizen. Having said that, the role of Sangh Parivar towards societal upliftment from hereon is going to be much greater than ever before. This multitudinal duty of the Sangh Parivar is certain to increase even further in the days to come because there exists no other national organization as wide, deep-rooted, popular and experienced as it is. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) indeed knows the pulse of the nation.
Whenever any government comes to power there is a high level of motivation among its leadership and cadres to promote its agenda and plan for further consolidation of power and authority at all levels and by all means. Enroute this could also lead to and result in the overstatement of communal thoughts, abuses emanating from socio-religious intolerance, misuse of political power at the grassroots level and thereby putting the interests of the poor and minorities in grey and this is where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upgraded mantra ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas, Sabka Vishwas’ comes into crucial play. It was on the 25th of May, at the NDA parliamentary party meeting, where Narendra Modi’s address to the newly elected Members of Parliament of the NDA parties, which gave rise to the inclusive mantra ‘Sabka Vishwas’ to the existing and well proven ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas’. The Prime Minister’s address was not a private meeting of the NDA but much evidently a post-poll victory address from the parliament to the nation, all observing countries and all those waiting with brickbats to pick between the lines with the intention to take potshots.
Prime Minister and his Cabinet of Ministers alone cannot achieve Sabka Vishwas, but the entire nation has to make an attempt to achieve it and the Sangh Parivar should bear the social torchlight like a guardian. By portraying ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas, Sabka Vishwas’ the Prime Minister has abided by his Dharma – duty that the administrator of a state is required to see his subjects as equals, take all social groups into confidence and protect those who seek protection. Prime Minister Modi categorically said that apart from continuing to focus on the poor his government shall remove the trust-deficit of the minorities ‘deceived’ by the traditional vote bank politics. This inclusive policy of the NDA government is in accordance with the dynamic, ever reverberating and living philosophy of Bharat: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam meaning ‘the whole world is one family’. But inorder to prove that the world deserves to be ‘one family’ – India needs to steadily march ahead as a single family and show to the world that India is a diverse and yet a united phenomenon!
History teaches us that development is a combine of economic, political and social growth that takes place in a country over a period of time. Trends of development comes with the gradual emergence of a lively and enriching society, an economic developmental peak in the middle and then a degrading pattern towards the end of it. Even great civilizations in India and worldwide have had such patterns in the past. The path to ‘democratically’ stretch this ‘period of overall development’ could lie in extending the time period through prolonged human development with a better understanding of human values and much importantly through the spiritual enrichment of human consciousness. In ensuring this’ is where the crucial role of the Sangh Parivar comes into play i.e. the societal part of development in accordance with the Bharatiya culture and character. It is very much important for the Sangh Parivar to abundantly handhold and groom young social leaders with an ability to identify forthcoming challenges, conviction to critically think and proactively evaluate, apt sense of emotional intelligence, decision making ability with a desire to learn from mistakes, achieve goals through smart work and a clear understanding of India’s geography, history and culture associated with it. We require such a leadership at the societal level to stich an ecologically sensitive economics too! A society that is constantly evolving with such a responsive character & boldness can rarely go hopeless & directionless, and the resulting political and economic development spearheaded by a selfless and ‘out of the box’ thinking society needs no explanation.
The RSS today is the guardian and beacon light of socio-cultural India and not many of its voracious critics know about its potential and strength. This is because flattery or show-off has never been pursued by it and that is exactly why the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is fondly called as ‘Sangh Parivar’ by both insiders and outsiders for its silent yet penetrative work nationwide. Had there been no founding of the RSS by Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar or ‘Doctor Ji’ in 1925 and effective grooming and nurturing by Shri. Madhav Sadhashiv Golwalkar, also known as Shri. Guru Ji, India would have gradually lost hold of its cultural heritage from its mainstream, only to become a destructive investment hotspot for various foreign business and religious groups, something which the liberal-intellectuals of today would never agree with. However hard several of the vested groups have intentionally tried to propagate falsified and malicious hatred against the Sangh Parivar at the global level, it has only enabled the RSS to work more spiritedly for the societal welfare, communal harmony and up keeping of India’s cultural ethos. This is just similar to how the Colonial British suppressed and undermined the Bharatiya culture, heritage and beliefs but ultimately resulted in India’s cultural sentiments getting passionately resurrected into ‘Cultural Nationalism’. This comparison is valid because Sangh Parivar is synonymous with the Bharatiya culture and heritage. Today, it is an irrevocable public belief that the Sangh Parivar and Govt. holds a good, cordial and constructive relationship which is in the overall interest of India, its society and diverse culture. However shrewdly the liberals strategize to defame the Sangh Parivar, their efforts are not going to match the meticulous – mammoth work undertaken by it. Because RSS is thoroughly a grassroots organization and works in response to the ground realities that are truly concerning the Indian society and its population. Through several of its goal-oriented organizations, RSS aims to multitudinally enrich India’s socio-cultural thought process for peace and harmony.
Today there is an urgent requirement for socio – religious and sub-regional harmony and cooperation in India and this can be brought about only by taking into confidence the belief of the multi-cultural and religious groups residing in India. It is also high time to put India on a path of development where every citizen shall have a role to play and this requires a behavioral change in the citizenry which need to be brought about through a mass social movement. The citizenry in the long term need to be empowered to reject anything that is detrimental to social harmony and national growth. Rather than supporting divisive groups that promote conflict and religious tensions in the society, groups should work to mainstream public opinion towards national development through proper channeling of opinions and constructive criticism. However, any threat to the sovereign democratic setup of India by any of the socio-politico-religious groups must be dealt with iron fists, without doubt. This means to put an end to all the vested interests of the non-state & extra-state actors and sponsored anti-national activities that continuously attempt to challenge the very sovereignty of India. Indeed ‘Sabka Vishwas’ has to be achieved within the availabilities of our Constitutional framework.
(Sabareesh PA is a Research Scholar at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
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