To Claim RSS Association With The Tricolour,Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat Plants Lie In Televised Speech
Hedgewar issued a circular on 21 January 1930, asking all RSS shakhas to welcome the Purna Swaraj resolution of the Congress by showing respect to the bhagwa dhwaj as the national flag, instead of the tricolour.
In a blatant distortion of facts to claim an association with the national flag, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat presented a falsified version of a circular issued by RSS founder Dr KB Hedgewar on 21 January 1930. The circular, instead of supporting Bhagwat’s assertion on the RSS’s fealty to the tricolour, shows that the RSS went out of its way to distance itself from the tricolour and embrace its own bhagwa dhwaj, or saffron flag.
Delivering the first of his three-part lecture on the RSS’s perspective on the “Future of India” at Vigyan Bhavan on 17 September, Bhagwat said in his nationally televised speech, “When Congress passed the resolution for Purna Swaraj [complete independence], Doctor saheb [Hedgewar] issued a circular asking all [RSS] shakhas to march past with the tricolour.”
Bhagwat was referring to the Indian National Congress’s resolution of 19 December 1929, which asked Indian nationalists to fight for complete self-rule, independent of the British Empire. This was followed by Jawaharlal Nehru hoisting the tricolour on 31 December 1929 at Lahore. The Congress also urged Indians to celebrate 26 January 1930 as the “Independence Day.”
Responding to the development, Hedgewar issued a circular on 21 January 1930, asking all RSS shakhas to welcome the Purna Swaraj resolution of the Congress by holding meetings of their respective swayamsevaks on 26 January that year and showing respect to the bhagwa dhwaj as the national flag, instead of the tricolour.
“This year Congress has resolved to make ‘independence’ as its objective, and its ‘Working Committee’ has announced that Sunday 21-1-30 will be celebrated as ‘Independence Day’ throughout Hindustan. […] Therefore, all the shakhas of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh should organize meetings of their swayamsevaks at their respective Sangh places at six in the evening on Sunday 21-1-30 and worship the national flag that is the saffron flag.”
The circular, which was originally written in Marathi, was reproduced in Hindi as part of the collection of Hedgewar’s selected letters published by NH Palkar. The collection, titled “Dr. Hedgewar: Patraroop Vyaktidarshan”—Rendezvous Through Letters—was published in 1989 with an introduction by Palkar, a loyal RSS cadre who is also known for writing the first hagiographic account of Hedgewar. The account was published in 1964, shortly after Hedgewar’s death, and has an introduction by Hedgewar’s successor, the RSS chief ideologue MS Golwalkar, who terms Palkar “a dedicated RSS worker from his childhood.”
Bhagwat’s distortion of the 1930 circular of the RSS is part of an effort to use the Vigyan Bhavan event to explain the Sangh’s position on key ideological issues for which it has faced flak from its ideological adversaries.
The RSS’s stand on the national flag has always remained a matter of controversy. In January 2017, the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked the RSS for not hoisting the national flag at its headquarters for over five decades after Independence. “For 52 years after the Independence, the RSS did not have a tricolour at their headquarters in Nagpur. They used to salute the saffron flag, not the national flag,” he claimed.
His allegation was not without basis. On several occasions in the past, the RSS has expressed its dislike for the tricolour and held that saffron should be the colour of the national flag, as it is the colour associated with Hinduism.
An editorial published in the 14 August 1947 edition of the RSS mouthpiece Organiser said: “The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour but it [shall] never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.”
Similarly, in his book, Bunch of Thoughts, Golwalkar wrote: “Our leaders have set up a new flag for the country. Why did they do so? It is just a case of drifting and imitating … Ours is an ancient and great nation with a glorious past. Then, had we no flag of our own? Had we no national emblem at all these thousands of years? Undoubtedly we had. Then why this utter void, this utter vacuum in our minds?”
In his speech, Bhagwat sought to make a distinction between the tricolour and the bhagwa dhwaj, saying the latter is worshipped by swayamsevaks as their “guru” to which they offer “guru dakshina” every year. Simultaneously, while asserting that the RSS has always respected the national flag, he casually planted the lie and distorted Hedgewar’s 1930 circular.
Courtesy: www.caravanmagazine.in
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People must do politics; elected representatives must work, says Actor Prakash Raj
Kalaburagi: Actor and activist Prakash Raj has said that in a democracy, politics must be done by the people, while elected representatives are meant to work and serve after winning elections.
Speaking at the launch of Vartha Bharati's Kalyana Karnataka edition in Kalaburagi on Saturday, Prakash Raj said that once representatives are elected, their only responsibility is service. “This is our tax, our country. Service is the only job of people’s representatives. They come to seek votes every five years; the people do not,” he said.
Releasing the newspaper’s special issue at the event, he asserted that the distinction between people and politicians must never be reversed. “This is our country. Citizens must continuously engage in politics, and politicians must continuously work. Never change this order. Politics belongs to the people,” he said.
ALSO READ: Kalaburagi: ‘Vartha Bharati’ Kalyana Karnataka edition launched
Quoting writer P. Lankesh, Prakash Raj said newspapers, media, artists, and citizens must act as a permanent opposition. “They must be the voice of the people without seeking the patronage of the ruling party. Only then can they work fearlessly,” he said. He stressed the need to clearly tell today’s society who must engage in politics.
Referring to regional imbalance, he said Karnataka has become Bengaluru-centric and confined largely to southern Karnataka. With Vartha Bharati entering the Kalyana Karnataka region, he said the newspaper must contribute to the region’s development by consistently reporting its issues with a strong voice.
Prakash Raj also spoke about the role of independent media, saying that anyone can be swept away in a flood, including dead fish, but to swim against the current requires life. “Independent media have that life. Ravish Kumar, The Wire, and Vartha Bharati have the courage to swim against the flood,” he said.
He warned that fear strengthens authoritarianism. “If we are not afraid, they will be afraid,” he said, alleging that institutions such as the police, Election Commission, courts, and media are being pressured, silenced, and manipulated for political benefit. Expressing concern over the denial of bail to Umar Khalid, he said there is a visible lack of conscience in institutions meant to deliver justice to the people.
Recalling the early years after Independence, Prakash Raj said there was once fear of the police but also faith in the judiciary. “There was confidence that injustice would be addressed in court. Today, that faith no longer exists,” he said. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party are responsible for the present situation.
Using a metaphor, he said India is like a pond disturbed by a demon within it. “A lotus blooms on the surface, that is the BJP. We are fighting the lotus, but the real fight should be against the RSS, the root power beneath,” he said.
Drawing parallels with past global authoritarian regimes, he said leaders like Hitler and Mussolini headed political parties and could be defeated electorally. “The RSS is not a political party. Defeating the BJP alone is not enough. The roots must be uprooted,” he said, adding that despite changes in appearance, the ideological growth remains unchanged.
Prakash Raj also raised concerns over Hindi imposition, delimitation, and what he described as political oppression of southern states such as Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh in the name of elections. He said people must recognise who is responsible for this oppression and understand the role of newspapers like Vartha Bharati in identifying and exposing it.
The event also marked the formal launch of Vartha Bharati's Kalyana Karnataka edition in Kalaburagi.
