M. S. Golwalkar
Madhav Sadashivrao Golwalkar was an Indian politician who served as the second Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindutva paramilitary organisation. Golwalkar is considered one of the most influential and prominent figures among the RSS by his followers. He was the first person to put forward the concept of the Hindu Rashtra theocratic state, which is believed to have evolved into the concept of the Akhand Bharat. Golwalkar was one of the earliest prominent Hindu nationalist thinkers in India. Golwalkar authored the book We, or Our Nationhood Defined. Bunch of Thoughts is a compilation of his speeches.
Early life
Golwalkar was born to Sadashivrao and Lakshmibai Golwalkar in a Marathi Karhade Brahmin family at Ramtek, near Nagpur in British India's Central Provinces and Berar. His family was prosperous and supported him in his studies and activities. Sadashivrao, a former clerk in the Posts and Telegraphs Department became a teacher in the Central Provinces and Berar and ended his career as headmaster of a high school. Golwalkar was the only surviving son of nine children. Since his father was frequently transferred around the country, he was transferred to many schools. Golwalkar was apolitical as a student. As an adolescent, he developed a deep interest in religion and spiritual meditation.In 1922, Golwalkar was enrolled by his parents in the Intermediate of Science programme at Fergusson College in Poona. However, he was compelled to withdraw due to a newly imposed regulation by the Bombay Presidency, which restricted admission in provincial institutions to local students. This regulation was rescinded a few months later, but Golwalkar did not return to Fergusson. Instead, he chose to continue his studies at Hislop College in Nagpur, a missionary-run institution. While his strict father had intended for him to pursue a career in medicine following his intermediate studies, Golwalkar sought a means of freedom from his family. His decision to study at Hislop was, in part, an effort to distance himself from his household. He lived under the guardianship of his uncle, Balkrishna Raikar, when in Nagpur. However, he struggled academically at Hislop. He was also reportedly incensed at the open advocacy of Christianity and the disparagement of Hinduism; much of his concern for the defense of Hinduism is traceable to this experience.
After passing from Hislop College, a pressurised Golwalkar applied for admission in a medical college in Lucknow, but he could not succeed. He subsequently moved to the Benaras Hindu University in Benaras, a decision prompted and facilitated by Raikar. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1927, and a master's degree in biology in 1929. He was influenced by Madan Mohan Malaviya, a nationalist leader and the founder of the university.
Although Golwalkar attended meetings and was esteemed by its members, there is no indication that Golwalkar took a keen interest in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. In 1931, Golwalkar met K. B. Hedgewar, the founder and Sarsanghchalak of the RSS, who was visiting Benares. After returning to Nagpur, Hedgewar exerted great influence on Golwalkar. According to RSS sources, Hedgewar encouraged him to pursue a law degree because it would give him the reputation required of an RSS leader. In 1934, Hedgewar made him Karyavah of the main Nagpur branch. After he began practising law, Hedgewar tasked him with the management of the Akola Officers' Training Camp.
In October 1936, Golwalkar abandoned his law practice and RSS work for the Sargachi Ramakrishna Mission ashram in West Bengal to renounce the world and become a sanyasi. He became a disciple of Akhandananda, who was himself a disciple of Ramakrishna and brother monk of Vivekananda.
On 13 January 1937, Golwalkar reportedly received his diksha but left the ashram soon afterwards. He returned to Nagpur in a state of depression and indecision to seek Hedgewar's advice after his guru died in 1937, and Hedgewar convinced him that his obligation to society could best be fulfilled by working for the RSS.
RSS leadership
After Golwalkar rejoined the RSS, Hedgewar began grooming him for leadership and he was placed in charge of the All-India Officers' Training Camp from 1937 to 1939. Although he had only ever been a lab assistant, Golwalkar presented himself as a professor, in an attempt to enhance popular admiration and glorify his personality. His acquaintances and followers referred to him as "Guruji", largely due to his image as a former professor and intellectual.Golwalkar's abilities were appreciated. In 1938, he was asked to translate G. D. Savarkar's 1934 Marathi language Rashtra Mimansa into Hindi and English. The resulting book, We, or Our Nationhood Defined, was published in Golwalkar's name and regarded as a systematic treatment of RSS ideology; the claim that it was an abridged translation was only made by Golwalkar in a 1963 speech. However, a comparative analysis of Marathi language Rashtra Mimansa and We, or Our Nationhood Defined shows that the latter was indeed not a translation, but only text inspired by the former. Specifically, the pro-Nazi ideas were Golwalkar's own.
In 1939, at a Gurupooja festival, Hedgewar announced that Golwalkar would be the next general secretary. A day before his death on 21 June 1940, he gave Golwalkar a sheet of paper asking him to be the RSS leader. On 3 July, five state-level sanghchalak in Nagpur announced Hedgewar's decision.
Golwalkar's choice was said to have stunned the RSS volunteers as Hedgewar had passed over several senior activists. Golwalkar's background, training, and interests made him an unlikely successor, and Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras said that several RSS leaders were skeptical about Golwalkar's ability as a sarsanghchalak. In retrospect, Hedgewar's grooming, is seen as key to Golwalkar's later success. One reason for his choice is that he was thought likely to maintain RSS independence, otherwise liable to be regarded as a youth front of the Hindu Mahasabha.
As the leader of the RSS for more than 30 years, Golwalkar made it one of the strongest religious-political organisations in India; its membership expanded from 100,000 to over one million, and it branched out into the political, social, religious, educational, and labour fields through 50 front organisations. The RSS extended to foreign countries, where Hindus were recruited into organisations such as the Bharatiya Swayamsevak Sangh or the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh. There was a subtle yet important shift in the RSS worldview. One of Golwalkar's major innovations was an anti-communist, anti-socialist ideology, with the slogan "Not socialism but Hinduism". According to D. R. Goyal, the RSS' anti-Marxist tinge made it popular with the wealthy sections of society who generously supported it.
The RSS expanded into Jammu and Kashmir in 1940, when Balraj Madhok was sent as a pracharak to Jammu with Prem Nath Dogra as director. A shakha was founded in Srinagar in 1944, and Golwalkar visited the city in 1946.
Reorientation
Golwalkar's religiosity and apparent disinterest in politics convinced some RSS members that the organisation was no longer relevant to the nationalist struggle. It remained separate from the freedom movement, and connections with the Hindu Mahasabha were severed. The RSS membership in the Marathi-speaking districts of Bombay became disillusioned and the Bombay sanghchalak, K. B. Limaye, resigned. Several swayamsevaks defected and formed the Hindu Rashtra Dal in 1943, with an agenda of a paramilitary struggle against British rule; Nathuram Godse was a leader of that group.However, Golwalkar moved quickly to consolidate his position. He created a network of prant pracharaks, who would report to him rather than to the sanghchalaks. Golwalkar recruited local Congress leaders to preside over RSS functions, demonstrating the organisation's independence from the Hindu Mahasabha. The RSS continued to expand during the Second World War, especially in North India and present-day Pakistan. Many new members were religious, small-scale entrepreneurs interested in consolidating their caste positions with the RSS' Hindu symbols.
Organisation policy during the war years was influenced by potential threats to Hinduism, with the RSS expected to be prepared to defend Hindu interests in the event of a possible Japanese invasion. It also expected a renewed Hindu-Muslim struggle after the war. Golwalkar did not want to give the British colonial government an excuse to ban the RSS. He complied with all governmental instructions, disbanding the RSS military department and avoiding the Quit India movement. The British acknowledged that "the organisation scrupulously kept itself within the law, and refrained from taking part in the disturbances that broke out in August, 1942". In a speech given in June 1942, Golwalkar stated, "Sangh does not want to blame anybody else for the present degraded state of the society. When the people start blaming others, then there is basically weakness in them. It is futile to blame the strong for the injustice done to the weak… Sangh does not want to waste its invaluable time in abusing or criticising others. If we know that large fish eat the smaller ones, it is outright madness to blame the big fish. Law of nature, whether good or bad, is true all the time. This rule does not change by terming it unjust".
Golwalkar appeared ideologically opposed to an anti-British struggle. As per Shamsul Islam and Ram Puniyani, the RSS pledged to defend India's freedom by defending religion and culture, and there was "no mention of the departure of the British".
He called the conflation of anti-Britishism with patriotism and nationalism a 'Reactionary View', which would have disastrous effects upon the entire course of the freedom struggle. Golwalkar acknowledged that his attitude confused people, leading them to distrust the Sangh.
At the peak of the freedom struggle Golwalkar had famously uttered:
"Hindus, don't waste your energy fighting the British. Save your energy to fight our internal enemies that are Muslims, Christians, and Communists."