Nagpur: “Kisi sirfiray ne Mahatama Gandhi ki hatya kardi hai. Aisa vyakti na toh Sangh ka swayamsevak ho sakta hai na hi uska Sangh se koi sambandh ho sakta hai,” said theatre actor Amol Telpande mouthing the words spoken by Madhav Golwalkar, the second sarsanghchalak of RSS, in the drama ‘Hum Karey Rashtra Aradhan’.The three-hour play was staged to a packed house at Kavi Kulguru Kalidas auditorium on Saturday evening in presence of sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat. Bhagwat, who was watching it for the first time, said, “Both, people within the RSS and outside should watch it to clear misconceptions and get the right perspective of its functioning.”Produced by Mahalaxmi Productions, Nagpur, the play is powered by a script that touches upon issues that have riddled the organization since its inception. It brings up issues like why RSS was never at the forefront of freedom struggle, it speaks of behind the scene work done by the organization during every national crisis, be it freedom struggle, partition, attack on Kashmir in October 1947, or the role played by RSS in making ruler of Kashmir Hari Singh agree to merge with Indian union.Through the course of the play, Amit Sawarkar as sutradhar laments that history has not recorded the good work done by RSS. “In 1932, when British government banned its officials from associating with RSS almost all Indian leaders contested it and proved in Vidhan Sabha that RSS was not unsecular. This has not been put on record anywhere,” he says.The play also seeks to underline the purpose behind the birth of RSS. “It is to create an organization for the times to come that will rise and protect the nation from internal or external threat,” Hedgewar is heard saying when the swayamsevaks seek his permission to join Gandhi’s satyagrah. “We have to work from behind to provide safety and security to freedom fighters.”There is also a scene in which Golwalkar dissuades swayamsevaks from joining Quit India movement. “Our reach is only from Belgaon to Gondia and British will crush us in no time,” he tells them. When Shyama Prasad Mukherjee approached Golwalkar asking for a few swayamsevaks to form Bhartiya Jan Sangh, Guruji tells him, “Only on the condition that they would not be pulled into politics and the party would respect their ideology.”The narrative also plays upon Hedgewar’s admiration for Mahatma Gandhi and his joy at meeting him in Wardha where RSS was holding a camp in 1934. When Gandhi asked him why he hadn’t set up such an organization when he was in Congress, Hedgewar replied he had tried during the Congress session in Nagpur in 1920. “It didn’t happen because of the mentality. Our swayamsevaks are treated as labourers only fit for arranging chairs at such sessions.” To Gandhi’s other question, “Why can’t people of all religions be part of your organization,” he replied, “Anybody who considers Bharat as his Mata can be a part of us.”“The contribution of RSS in nation building has been deliberately overlooked,” says writer and director of the play Avinash Ghangrekar. “This play is an attempt to claim that space by informing people, especially the youth who do not read history, about its role and ideology,” he says.

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