ABPS report 2009 ENG

P.P. Sarsanghchalak ji, respected national office-bearers and members of the national executive; respected members of ABKM, newly elected delegate brethren; brother and sister activists engaged in the allied organizations and special invitees!

As always, we would elect the new Sarkaryavah in this ABPS meeting besides reviewing our activity and drafting plans for taking it forward. It is but natural that we are overwhelmed on such occasions by the memories of our colleagues and other activists who have worked actively for our cause or for the country and are no longer with us today.

Obituary

Humble and soft natured senior activist from Jammu Shri Tilak Raj Sharma, who was always in the forefront of the struggle for the protection of Hindu Dharma, culture and society least bothering about severe personal problems, is no more. Vibhag Sanghchalak of Sikar Shri Moti Singhji Rathore, who was also the Kshetra Karyawah of Rajasthan for sometime, author of several songs and a dedicated Swayamsevak, too passed away. A saintly personality who became a natural guardian to all through his love and affection, Shri Pandharirao Krudatta ‘Babuji’ left for heavenly abodes. Shri Madhav Pandurang alias Rajabhau Degvekar, who worked as the General Secretary of VHP, passed away. Author of ‘Yugapravartak Shri Guruji’ Shri C. P. alias Bapurao Bhishikar, who was a witness to the history of Sangh from the days of Doctorji, too passed away. Shri Anantrao Chapekar for whom serving the lepers became a life mission ended his long life-journey. Shri A. Venkataram who served as the President of BMS, Karnataka is no more. Shri Ved Prakashji Goel, who conducted himself as a good Swayamsevak in the political field, passed away after a prolonged illness. Shri Suryabhan Vahadane who was Speaker of Maharashtra assembly is no more. MP from Jaipur Shri Girdharilal Bhargava who used to dedicatedly work even for the simple needs of the ordinary citizens, passed away.

A senior and saintly Pracharak Shri Babasaheb Natu, who worked as the Kshetra Pracharak of Madhya Kshetra left for heavenly abodes. Senior Pracharak from Assam Shri Madhav Karambelkar passed away suddenly due to heart attack. Another senior and dedicated Pracharak Shri Jagdish Saraf too passed away.  Functionary of Hindu Jagaran Manch in Madhya Bharat and our Pracharak Shri Anil Bhargava; and functionary of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch in Madhya Kshetra Shri Jagdish Gupta also passed away.

Pioneer in the art of Yaksh Gaan in Karnataka Shri Shambhu Hegde, who was a member of the Shri Guruji Birth Centenary celebrations committee of the state, was so engrossed in the performance of the heavenly journey of Lord Shri Ram that it became his own last journey. The realized soul of Shrimati Vimala Thakar left the mortal body. Sant shri Baba Prakash Shah ji Maharaj who spent his life to achieve social harmony attained his Nirvana.

Former President Shri Venkataraman, former Prime Minister Shri V.P.Singh, former MP from North-East Kolkata Shri Ajit Panja and President of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh Shri Ram Sharan Das will henceforth remain in our memories only.

Besides these well known personalities in our national life we must also remember those innocent civilians and valiant and dedicated officers and soldiers from the Army, Police, Security Forces and the ATS who have attained immortality while delivering their duty to preserve the security and integrity of our country from the calamities like - the incidents in unending chapter of terrorism like the Mumbai attack, bomb blasts in Assam, the Naxal attack in Markegaon village of Garhchiroli etc.

We pay our heart-felt homage to all these brethren who have left us forever.

Status of our activity

In the Sangh Shiksha Vargas held in May-June 2008, in the regular Pratham Varsha Vargas 11082 trainees participated from 7194 places; in the regular Dvitiya Varsha Vargas 2772 trainees from 2230 places took part; 862 trainees attended the Tritiya Varsh Varga. In the special Vargas organised for Swayamsevaks of above 40 years age, 629 trainees from 445 places took part in the Pratham Varsha and 420 trainees from 333 places took part in Dwitiya Varsha. We had decided to hold special Tritiya Varsha Varga every alternate year, hence there was no Varga last year.

As per the information received till the end of January there are 43,905 Shakhas running in 30,015 places; Saptahik Milans are being held in 4964 places and monthly Sangh Mandalees are taking place in 4507 places.

Last year’s figures indicated stability in our activity. Figures of this year suggest that the activity is progressing but at a slow pace. Now, our focus should be on increasing the pace of our progress and see that it is uniform in all Prants.

The reports available also show that excellent plans were made in all Prants for daily and occasional activities and they were conducted in a successful manner. As a

result a favorable atmosphere has been created all over and it helped in expanding and consolidating our work. This is the experience of all our functionaries.

Consistency in the activities initiated in the last year is also noteworthy. A few programmes are being reported here as examples.

Programmes

Sankalp Sammelan - Sullya, Mangalore

In Sullya tehsil in Mangalore Vibhag there were Shakhas in all the 44 villages for the last several years. On January 26 this year a programme called ‘Sankalp Samavesh’ was organised there. Ahead of that event a campaign was undertaken to start Shakhas in all Upa-Bastis. As a result a total of 136 Shakhas were started in 111 out of a total of 117 Upa-Bastis. As a preparation for the 26 January programme Ekatrikaran progammes were planned in all the Upa-Bastis. In the entire tehsil around 15000 people participated in them. In each Upa-Basti swayamsevaks were identified and responsibility was given to each one of them to conduct activities like - Shakha, Dharma Jagaran, Seva, Matrishakti Jagaran, Literature distribution etc.

On the morning of 26th January flag-hoisting took place followed by Matrishakti Sammelan – Women’s convention. 2800 women attended the convention. Route marches of swayamsevaks were held at 3 places in the evening in which 4018 Swayamsevaks took part in full uniform.

Important achievements in figures:-

Upa-Bastis represented in the programme : 117

Upa-Bastis from where more than 100 Swayamsevaks in Ganavesh participated : 11

Highest participation in Ganavesh from one Upa-Basti : 148

Shakha Kshetra from where every household was represented : 4

Upa-Bastis where every household was contacted : 60

District Sammelan during Ma. Sarkaryawah’s visit

On the occasion of the provincial visit of Shri Mohanji Bhagwat a district Sammelan was organised at Indur (Kamareddy and Indur Zilla in Sangh Vyavastha) in Andhra Pradesh. Plans were chalked out to prepare extensive lists of Swayamsevaks, deputing Gatanayaks, contacting villages, contacting local saints, preparing knickers, white shirt and danda for Sammelan etc.

621 Gatanayaks including the touring Karyakartas actively worked for the Sammelan and prepared list of Swayamsevaks in 331 villages.

Village in-charge were deputed in each of the 239 villages. A total of 119 Mandals out of 132 Mandals and 509 villages out of 740 villages were contacted. 5104 Swayamsevaks from 294 villages were present in the programme. 3942 Swayamsevaks prepared knickers and shirts only because of the above Sammelan. Out of the 50 saints contacted 36 were present. 2226 citizens were also present in the programme.

P.P.Sarsanghchalakji’s visit to Uttar Banga

This visit took place on 24, 25, 26th December. In the programme held at Malda town on 24th December 4500 Swayamsevaks participated in the route march in full uniform. Another 3500 Swayamsevaks and 17500 citizens were also present in the programme. In the programme for college students held on 26th December 640 students participated.

P.P.Sarsanghchalakji’s visit to Uttar Karnataka

P.P.Sarsanghchalakji visited Bagalkot on 28, 29, 30th December during his itinerary to Uttar Karnatak Prant. Belgaum Vibhag Samavesh was planned on 28th December and Karyakarta Baithak on 29, 30th December. In the Vibhag Samavesh ‘Gunatamak Sanchalan’ as also a public programme with physical demonstrations were held. 1035 Swayamsevaks from 109 Shakhas participated in the Sanchalan - route march. 8000 citizens including 1000 women participated in the public programme.

Practice for ‘Gunatmak Sanchalan’ was held in 125 out of 185 Shakhas. In the qualifying test held at the Khand level 1200 Swayamsevaks were selected out of 2000 Swayamsevaks. Another test was conducted a day before the Sanchalan at Bagalkot and 1035 Swayamsevaks were finally selected for the Sanchalan out of these 1200 Swayamsevaks.

234 Swayamsevaks participated in Samuhik Danda demonstration in the public programme, 42 Swayamsevaks participated in the Dvitiya Varsh Danda demonstration. Practices of Danda for this purpose were held since June itself in 84 Shakhas.

P.P. Sarsanghchalakji’s visit to Madhya Bharat

Provincial Sammelan of Karyakartas of Madhya Bharat Prant was held at Shajapur on the occasion of P.P.Sarsanghchalakji’s visit. Making use of this visit programmes were planned with the objective of qualitative improvement.

Gana Samata competitions were held all over the Prant. It was made mandatory that the entire Gana in uniform should come from one place. Fulfilling this condition Gana Samata was practiced at 92 places in the Prant. In the final competition Ganas from 69 places participated out of which 12 Ganas participated in the demonstrations including Sarsanghchalak Pranam, Pratyut Prachalanam and Pradakshina Sanchalanam in presence of P.P.Sarsanghchalakji.

At 34 places in Shajapur district Swayamsevaks practiced Danda and Surya Namaskar. At 22 places preparation were made for Gana Samata in which full uniform was mandatory. Out of this 3 selected Ganas have demonstrated items from Dvitiya Varsha syllabus of Samata before P.P.Sarsanghchalakji.

80 selected Swayamsevaks participated in Ghosh. As a result of all these preparations the quality of public demonstrations was of a high order.

Swarnim Bharat Sankalp programme in Indore Vibhag

As a part of the follow up of Sri Guruji Birth Centenary year, the Indore Vibhag team came up with a programme under which (more than 1 lakh) students of 11th,12th and college level were to be contacted and an oath was to be administered to them for ‘Swarnim Bharat’ in a student convention.

January 12, the birth day of the youth icon Swami Vivekananda was the date selected for this event and P.P. Sarsanghachalakji was to address. Offices were opened at 24 places in Indore for organizing this event. Preparatory programmes for this event included a seminar of medical students in the presence of Sri Praveenbhai Togadia, ‘Naman 1857’ programme in which 1462 students from 32 engineering colleges participated, vehicle rally with 3000 students on May 10 commemorating the 150th anniversary of the 1857 War of Independence, and taking oath for Akhand Bharat etc. 6000 students participated in the General Knowledge competitions. All these programmes were successful as expected.

A total of 760 Baithaks were held in 110 degree colleges, 145 hostels, 161 junior colleges and 219 coaching centers. 39,915 students participated in these Baithaks. 65,550 students registered for the main event paying Rs. 5 as registration fee. A significant achievement was that 2562 students have prepared Ganvesh and become Gatanayaks for the event. 76 functionaries came out as full-timers for one month or 15 days or 4 days. On 12 January around 25,000 students participated in the event in the Nehru Stadium of Indore. They offered Pranam to Sarsanghachalakji and took the oath of Swarnim Bharat. Swayamsevaks of 10 Nagars demonstrated Gana Samata in this event. Sarsanghachalak Pranam, Pratyut Prachalanam, Pradakshina Sanchalanam etc were also conducted.

Expansion of the college students’ activities in Kerala

A well-planned initiative was undertaken this year in Kerala for the expansion of our activity among the college students. Those in-charge of College student’s activities were appointed from Prant to Zilla level; efforts were made to conduct Saptahik Milans (weekly gatherings) at college centers and other places; a two-day Prant level workshop was held for activists involved in running these weekly gatherings.

Special emphasis was laid and inspiration provided in the workshop on the follow up activities. Due to these collective efforts 741 students took part in the workshop; they came from 142 places and 147 colleges – a total of 289 units. Workshop programme included training in running the weekly gatherings; programmes in them; training in physical demonstrations; and discussions on the follow up activity. Swayamsevaks returned from the workshop with a determination to start weekly gatherings in 111 colleges and 250 other places. There is a considerable rise in the weekly gatherings after the workshop besides plenty of reports about various activities like picnics, camps, personality development programmes, competitions etc.

College students camp in Jaipur Prant

In this camp held on 27-28th September, 2546 students from 371 places participated. This camp was planned with the objective of introducing Sangh to new students. Each college student attending Shakha was made a Gatanayak or hostel/college in-charge and asked to contact new students. This, coupled with the continuous touring of the Sayam Karyavahs, helped in contacting around 18,000 students. As a result over 70% new students attended the camp. Historical and inspiring layout of the camp venue and the mass game ‘Haldi Ghati battle’ left a great impact on the students.

Bal Shivir in Uttar Banga

In the district-wise camps held as part of the Prant planning, in the camp held in Malda district 523 Bal Swayamsevaks attended from 92 places. 426 Swayamsevaks were present from 70 places in Siliguri.

"Sanghatan Sashaktikaran" Camps in Mahakoshal

This programme was planned as a follow up to the Hindu Sammelans held during Sri Guruji’s Birth Centenary. In the Baithak held in July plans were chalked out to hold Sangh-introduction camps in places from where people came to attend the Hindu Sammelans; start Saptahik Milans or Sangha Mandalees in those places; and conduct district-wise camps for organizational revitalization in the month of December as an outcome of these activities. Every functionary from Prant to Tehsil/Khand level was assigned a specific area for touring and guidance. In the last month 559 Vistaraks gave 7 to 15 days; 845 Vistaraks gave entire daytime every day; another 625 activists gave one or two days in every week thus working for the success of this campaign. In the district-wise camps held between 10 December and 18 January 568 out of 597 Khands, 1652 out of 2510 Mandals and 5017 out of 24,189 villages were represented. Total attendance was 21,543. Expected Ganvesh was Khaki shorts, white shirt and cap. Mass Surya Namaskar and Vyayam Yog were held in each camp.

The Swayamsevaks from old Shakhas gave demonstrations in Niyuddha, Samata and Danda Yuddha etc.

As a follow up all were instructed to conduct Bharat Mata Pujan programme and Makar Sankranti function in their respective villages. As a result of all this 181 Shakhas, 12 Milans and 8 Mandalis have been added newly.

Barghat tehsil needs a special mention here. With a set target for 80 Shakhas they could achieve 65 Shakhas. This campaign has also helped in motivating our activists and a good number of new people have become Swayamsevaks.

District level camps in Gujarat

For the last couple of years special efforts were being made to organize district level camps in December-January. This year’s achievement is like this: In the Tarun camp in Vadodara Mahanagar 380 Tarun were present from all the 19 Nagars and 49 Bastis. Preparetory to the camp, route marches were held at Nagar level and Danda Valaya competitions were held at Shakha level. Follow up plans are afoot to start activity in every Basti. In the Bal camp held in Karnavati Mahanagar 873 Swayamsevaks were present from 87 Shakhas of 51 out of 52 Nagars in 7 Bhags.

First-ever Public Programme by Sangh in Shillong

During the visit of Sarkaryavah Ma. Mohanji Bhagwat the first-ever public programme of Sangh was planned for 24th December in Shillong. As a result of the extensive contact undertaken in preparation there was representation from 140 villages belonging to 4 districts. Secretary and other leaders of the Seng Khasi movement adorned the Sangh platform for the first time and addressed the audience. A youth camp was also organized on 22-24th December in which 272 youths participated. Our work got a major boost in Shillong as a result of the good response to these two programmes.

Extensive touring of Prant level functionaries in Paschim Andhra

With a specific agenda the tour of the Prant functionaries was planned upto Khand level this year. Five specific programmes were decided – a Khand Baithak of the Shakha functionaries and of those in-charge of Saptahik Milans and Sangh Mandalees; a Baithak of the touring functionaries of the Khand; attending the Shakha at the Khand center; Baithak of that Shakha team; and visiting the houses of the Mukhya Sikshak and touring functionaries. 29 Prant functionaries and 1 Kshetra functionary together completed visits to all the Khandas in August. Those Khands with no Shakhas were also visited and efforts were made to start Shakhas there.

Prarthana practice fortnight – Bilaspur Nagar

In this fortnight-long programme planned in the Bilaspur Nagar of Chattisgarh Prant first 7 days were devoted to memorizing Prarthana, practicing with proper pronunciation, intonation etc. In the second week the Swayamsevaks practiced Prarthana by writing it down 10 to 14 times. Writing of the translation was also held in some Shakhas. It resulted in improvement in the singing quality of the Prarthana and created a special interest in its recitation.

Surya Namaskar Maha Yagna – Goraksha Prant

Efforts for this programme, held on the birthday of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, 23rd January, began after the Prant Baithak in July. Manifold efforts were made like: tours of Shareerik team to Shakhas, deploying trainers of Surya Namaskars, contacting schools, arranging speakers etc. On 23rd January the programme was held in 1644 Shakha places and another 385 schools, colleges and coaching centers in which 1,25,766 students performed a total of 17,59,152 Surya Namaskars.

Gramotsav (Village Celebration) in Mandu Khand of Ramgarh district in Jharkhand Prant

Village contact programme on the occasion of the Hindu Samrajyotsav has been going on in Mandu Khand since last year. A plan was made this year with the involvement of all those activists. The plan was to contact those villages where street plays were held last year, conduct village baithaks and plan for a Hindu Sammelan on the Hindu Samrajyotsav day. It was decided that in these Gram Sammelans worship of village deities (Gram Devta), Ram Katha, Jalaabhishek, Bharatmata Pujan etc should be under taken. These programmes were held in all the 11 villages of the Khand in which 4433 villagers – men and women – participated.

Programme of Bal Swayamsevaks in Pune during Sarsanghachalakji’s Visit

Planning for the physical activity-centric Bal programme to be held on 15th February in the presence of P.P. Sarsanghachalakji was done 6 months earlier. Some of the targets set for this programme were: all the Bals should attend in full uniform; atleast 100 Bal from each Bhag of the Mahanagar should give one demonstration; there would be a mass demonstration of Surya Namaskar and group song; Shakha level efforts would be made for practice and quality improvement. Well organized tour programmes were planned for functionaries at all levels. As a result of all this 682 Bal Swayamsevaks presented qualitative demonstrations on 15th February in front of around 8000 citizens. Entire event, including conducting the programme, introduction, solo song, Ghosh etc, was organized by the Bal Swayamsevaks only.

Homage to the Martyrs of 1857 in Jabalpur

A committee of eminent citizens was constituted in Jabalpur to pay homage to the martyrs of 1857 with the slogan ‘One Lamp, Two Minute Silence in the name of the martyrs’.

Participation was invited from social, religious and professional bodies also. Vast publicity was given to encourage public participation through 1 lakh hand bills, 25,000 stickers, more than 100 hoardings etc. Atmosphere was created by asking eminent citizens to light lamps at important locations in the city between 1st and 10th May.

As a result over 25,000 citizens participated at 250 places in this programme on 10th May making it a grand success.

All India Shrunga Vadya Training at Gwalior

In this first ever all-India Shrunga Vadya training programme, 306 Swayamseavks took part from 34 Prants. There were 159 players who knew more than one composition. Most of the participants came with prior preparation. It has helped in raising the quality of training in the camp. There were sessions for practicing primary lessons ganawise, correcting tunes, practice in mass performance, practice in Sanchalan with the instrument, learning the text of the compositions, demonstrating individual talents etc. On the final day route marches were held in Gwalior in 5 groups, followed by a concluding programme in which a non-stop playing of the instruments was held for 18 minutes which left a great impact on the citizens of Gwalior.

Ghosh Camp in Konkan Prant

This camp, held from 11th to 23rd February at Panvel near Mumbai, was held not only to play an important role in the development of Ghosh in the Prant, but also to pay homage to the martyrs of the Mumbai terror attacks, thus making it much more relevant and significant. Preparatory to this camp, weekly Ghosh Vargas were held tehsil-wise and in some other places for 3 months regularly. Six new songs and two new Ghosh tunes were composed for this camp; experimental use of traditional ‘Pakhwaj’ instrument in Ghosh was attempted. Some significant aspects of this camp include: renowned music director Sri Sridhar Phadke was the Sarvadhikari of the camp; well-known literary figure Mrs. Girija Keer inaugurated the exhibition; camp was inaugurated by the local MLA Sri Vivekananda Patil; and the family members of the martyred Mumbai policemen were present in the concluding programme. 778 Swayamsevaks participated in this camp.

Service Activities

Service activities at the time of the terrorist attack in Mumbai

Local people have retaliated at the time of the terrorist attack on Nariman House. Activists of the BJP were in the forefront in that. A BJP activist Shri Harish Gohil was killed in that terrorist attack and another activist Shri Prakash Surve was seriously injured when the terrorist threw hand grenades at the crowd.

Due to the promptness and dynamism of the Swayamsevaks relief work commenced at several places at 10.30-11.00 PM itself on 26 November. Relief centers were setup at G.T.Hospital, J.J.Hospital, St.GeorgeHospital, BombayHospital and several railway stations.

Swayamsevaks undertook activities like - donation of two hundred bottles of blood, arrangements for informing the relatives of the injured, providing food, tea etc. for the relatives of the injured at the hospitals etc. There is a station called Masjid Bundar just before Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus. 65 Swayamsevaks got engaged in providing food for the passengers in the trains stuck there. Arrangements were made by Swayamsevaks for 120 people to stay. Arrangements were also made to transport out-station passengers to the Dadar Railway Station.

Relief for the flood victims in Bihar

As soon as the Kusaha bund gave way on 18th August 2008 unprecedented floods started in Kosi river. The river changed its course by 115 km. This unprecedented flood affected 62,96,691 families in 1058 villages of 35 blocks from 5 districts. Swayamsevaks took this calamity as a challenge and plunged into relief work which is continuing to this date. Young Swayamsevaks of Janki Prabhat Shakha of Veerpur, working against several odds, saved 260 people by using long ropes and coursing through the swirling flood waters on 18th, 19th, 20th August. Swayamsevaks have saved around 1800 people in 494 villages from the fury of the flood.

A relief camp was organised for 5000 people in the Saharsa district school from 23rd August to 27th September. In another 5 such camps arrangements were made for food and medical help for around 10,000 people. Swayamsevaks also visited small and big relief camps in 320 villages and distributed 5,70,000 food packets. Activists of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Vidya Bharati, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Akhil Bharateeya Vidhyarthi Parishad too conducted relief camps at several places.

After the waters receded, 264 families in 4 districts were provided houses made by 15x8 ft. GIC sheet as part of rehabilitation of the poor and affected people. Seva International too helped in providing another 135 such houses in 4 districts.

As always, the entire society stood by us in these service activities everywhere in the country.

Activities like these that give impetus to our organizational reach, expansion and consolidation and the service undertaken at the time of disasters help in hastening our social consolidation process. Events in the last session once again showed to us that the only answer to the present day challenges lies in an awakened and organized society.

Scenario

Several auspicious events like - the launching of Chandrayan into the outer space, Vishwanathan Anand winning world championship in Chess, Indian film winning Oscars etc - took place after the Varsh Pratipada Yugabd 5110 (2008 AD). Yet the common man is facing a lot of problems in his immediate vicinity. We managed to escape a little from the wrath of the economic recession due to our age-old economic practices. Yet we are experiencing a scenario of gradual degeneration in the country due to the coalition of three evil forces i.e. domestic and global forces which view the geographical integrity of this country and its unique Hindu identity as impediments in the path of their self interest; the corrupt and inefficient policies of the governments and administration; and vote bank politics. This process is still on. In the absence of a self-confident and valiant response from the society these forces are becoming more blatant.

A piece of land was allocated to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board for making arrangements to the pilgrims of Shri Baba Amarnath after a due legal process, unanimous resolution of the Cabinet and guidelines from the courts. However, certain politicians in their desperation to cling on to power joined hands with anti-national forces resulting in the act of that land being taken back by the Alliance Government of Jammu and Kashmir. When the people rose to get justice, and to protect their self-respect and centers of veneration, threats of secession were issued waving Pakistani flags. Yet the 60-day long relentless agitation has finally destroyed the intransigence of the anti-national forces and the arrogance of power of the rulers. Everyone from the Center to the State was forced to capitulate before the soul of Bharat that was manifest in the hearts of the people. At the commencement of this session itself, the Amarnath agitation has showed us the way to conquer over all our problems and the global forces that are inimical to our nation. Patriotic people of Jammu and Laddakh do not just deserve our compliments alone; they have to be emulated.

While the agitation was going on in Jammu, similar forces indulged in the heinous murder of Pujya Swami Laxmanand Saraswati at Kandhmal in Utkal. Swamiji was service-incarnate, pleasant and affectionate. He was a staunch opponent of illegal cow slaughter and conversions.

The Janmastami day was deliberately chosen for this brutal murder in order to rub salt into the wounds of Hindus. This region was already in the grip of severe unrest last year due to the conflict between the Kandhs and Panas over the distribution of governmental benefits. There was a strong reaction when the aggressive evangelical forces tried to take advantage of this conflict by resorting to the barbarous murder of Swamiji. The government, which showed utter insensitivity to the daily threats of life being received by Swamiji, his security, illegal conversions, cow slaughter and the atrocities of the extremists etc, suddenly became over-active against Hindus. A brutal oppression was unleashed against Hindus irrespective of whether they were innocent or culprits.

The murderers of Swamiji and the conspirators are still at large while cases were foisted against more than 1200 innocent Hindus.

The Hindu society decided to call for a Bandh on 25 December to press for its demand of the arrest of the murderers of Swamiji and the conspirators; but called it off after the administration gave a commitment in writing that they will be immediately arrested. Yet there was no proper response from the government for this restraint and decent behaviour. The Oriya media was highlighting the reality correctly whereas the other, especially the English media took a very biased view of the events. The episode of Swamiji’s murder was completely brushed under the carpet by them and the whole blame was sought to be heaped at the doorstep of the Hindu society.

On the pretext of the involvement of some Hindu youths and a Sadhvi in the Malegaon blast case these hard-line fundamentalist and secessionist forces have tried to create an illusionary and self-contradictory lie called ‘Hindu Terrorism’. While the allegations against those accused were yet to be proved in a court of law there was a strange and clandestine effort to leak the information relating to the investigations regularly to the media. Thus all of them were held guilty by the media even before the matter went before the courts. Ridiculous aspersions were cast on our security forces; shameless and reprehensible attempts were made to defame Hindu saints, society and organizations by dragging them into this controversy. Silly, baseless and unbelievable allegation was made against an organization like Sangh, which is striving relentlessly

for last 83 years for the well-being of our nation, that it receives funds from foreign spy agencies. In order to hide their discredited failure in tackling terrorism Hindu-hating political forces joined hands with the forces that are out to destroy the morale of the Hindu society and tried to put up Hindu society at par with the utterly communal and anti national violent forces, thus hoping to harvest votes in the coming Lok Sabha elections. But this plan didn’t work on the awakened Indian society which is greatly agitated over the atrocities on Saints and Sadhvis.

This sinful nexus between the selfish politicians and anti-national forces was thoroughly exposed by the dastardly terrorist attack on Mumbai on 26 November. The attack came to an end after 60 hours of battle involving the sacrifices of the officers and the soldiers of our army, police, ATS and other security forces and the courage of our countrymen. But anger and pain that was simmering in the hearts of the ordinary people who were living in the shadow of this terror threats for years burst out like a volcano.

Smt. Salaskar summarized this agony in a single question from the dais in Panvel Ghosh Shivir - “How many more will have to become the ‘Veer Patnis’ (wives of martyrs) in this country?”

This terrorist attack has clearly established the support the terrorists are getting from within the country. In the light of this revelation ever increasing infiltration from across Bangladesh border acquires serious significance. The ABVP undertook a disciplined and comprehensive programme of social awakening on this issue through a hugely successful student rally against infiltration at Kishanganj and through several other programmes. But driven by political self interest our government and administration betray utter inability in tackling both terrorism and infiltration.

Shri Amarnath agitation showed us the path to respond successfully to all such challenges. Economic downfall of America is indicating the end of the era of half baked foreign theories. When the society stands-up with immense pride in its own identity, and a firm resolve to live and die for the country, Dharma, culture and society, then only it would be able to create a democratic polity that will throw up enlightened rulers and efficient administration. All types of scheming, conspiracies, terrorism and atrocities will be powerless in the face of the enlightened and united society. Learning lessons from the past experiences and remaining alert to the interest of our nation we must ensure hundred percent voting in the coming elections. Staying out of day to day politicking and party politics and remaining within our limits we all have to undertake this responsibility.

Call

This period of challenge is also an invitation to our gallantry and an opportunity to achieve victory through our valour. Need of the hour is to awaken this bravery and valour in the Hindu society spread out in countless villages across the country from Himalayas to the Indian Ocean. Let all of us strive to expand and consolidate still further our already existing nationwide network to enable our society to effectively respond to all the challenges it is facing, by adopting appropriate strategies and techniques.

It is an unflinching challenge to the whole world,

May they feel good or bad about it,

That we are determined to pursue our national mission,

Everready to take the threats head-on.

Such a society alone is the answer to all the evils; response to all the threats; exclamation of victory and the only foundation for the all-round glory of our nation. The Sangh is engaged in creating such a society.