Tribute to Acharya Vinoba Bhave on his 129th Birth anniversary on 11th September

This is written on the occasion of Vinobaji’s 129th birth anniversary!

I was very angry about Vinobaji for his role in the JP movement during 1973-75. But after reading a book titled ’Gandhi is no more, what next?’ (which is mainly a chronicle of the meeting of the founding of the Sarva Seva Sangh!) edited by Shri Gopal Krishna Gandhi while he was working as the Governor of Bengal and staying in the Raj Bhavan of Kolkata, that anger, mainly about Acharya Vinoba Bhave, was completely cleared from my mind.

Six weeks after Gandhi’s assassination, a meeting was held in Sevagram from 11 to 14 March 1948. This led to the establishment of today’s Sarva Seva Sangh. Nehru, Patel, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad, Kumarappa, JP, Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj, Acharya Kripalani, Dr. Zakir Hussain, Acharya Dada Dharmadhikari, Acharya Vinobaji were also present in it. Gopal Krishna Gandhi has specifically written in the preface of the book that he regretted that Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia could not attend the meeting. The history of the meeting has been written by Acharya Dada Dharmadhikari. After editing it by Gopal Krishna Gandhi, it is now in the form of a book.

In that five-day meeting Vinobaji said, "I want to say something. I belong to the state in which RSS was born. I have renounced my caste. Still I cannot forget that I belong to the caste of the one who killed Bapuji. Kumarappaji and Kripalaniji spoke strongly against the military arrangement the day before yesterday. I remained silent. They spoke with sorrow. I was silent with sorrow. The sorrow of one who does not speak is not expressed. I did not speak because I was ashamed along with sorrow. I have been living in Pavnar for years. Four-five people have been arrested there too. They are suspected of having some kind of connection with Bapuji’s murder. Arrests were made in Wardha, Nagpur, and are being made everywhere.

This organisation has been spread on such a large scale with great efficiency! Its roots have reached very deep! This organisation is of the true fascist type! It has mainly used the intelligence of Maharashtra! Whether it works in Punjab or Madras, its leaders and chief operators in all the provinces have often been Maharashtrians, and often Brahmins! Golwalkar Guruji is also a Brahmin from Maharashtra! The people of this organisation do not take others into confidence! Gandhiji’s rule was of truth! It seems that their rule should be of untruth! This untruth is a part of their technique - their system - and their philosophy!

I read an article or speech of Guruji in a religious newspaper. It was written in it that the best ideal of Hinduism is Arjuna, he had respect and love for his teachers, he bowed to his teachers and killed them, the one who can commit such a murder is a person of steady wisdom. Those people are no less worshippers of the Gita than me. They must be reading the Gita with as much devotion as I have. If a man can kill his respected teachers, then he is a person of steady wisdom, this is the meaning of their Gita. The poor Gita is used in this way. It means that this is not just a group of rioters. This is a group of philosophers. They have a philosophy and they work with determination according to it. They also have their own special method of interpreting religious texts.

After Gandhiji’s assassination, Maharashtra is in a strange state. Everything is happening here in an extreme manner. After Gandhi’s assassination, the reaction from the public in the name of Gandhians was like the reaction in Punjab at the time of the creation of Pakistan.

There has been a terrible reaction from Nagpur to Kolhapur! Sane Guruji has called upon me to travel in Maharashtra! What would a person who could not handle even Pavnar, could not influence the people of Wardha-Nagpur, do by travelling in Maharashtra? I remained silent!

There has always been a conflict between the working style of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and ours. When we used to go to jail, their policy was to join the army and police. Wherever there was a possibility of a fight between Hindus and Muslims, they would reach there. The government of that time thought all these things were beneficial to them. That is why it also instigated them. We are facing the consequences.

In today’s situation, the main responsibility is mine, of the people of Maharashtra! This organization was born in Maharashtra! Only the people of Maharashtra can reach its roots! So you inform me, I will keep my mind clear and work in my own way! I will not commit myself to any committee! I will take help from all those people who have deep and firm thoughts, different from RSS! I will take help from all those who believe that we will work only with pure means! Let us form a front for purification of means! Socialists can also join it, and everyone else can join! We need such people who consider themselves as human beings!

Acharya Vinoba Bhave was so clear about RSS 76 years ago! And some of his self-proclaimed followers need to understand this today on the occasion of Vinoba’s 129th birth anniversary! Because after my personal experience, I find a lot of confusion in some Gandhians and Vinoba’s followers!

In the current propaganda of Hindutva, I see some people either completely silent! Or some have directly joined the Hindutva camp! And after finding a convenient meaning about Mahatma Gandhi or Vinobaji, they have changed sides! Because in the words of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, there are three types of Gandhians 1) Food and drink people 2) Clothing people 3) Philosophy people. Such people can be seen very clearly in today’s situation!

Today, on the occasion of Acharya Vinobaji’s birth anniversary, we need to understand him in the true sense and act upon it. Will we just keep on remembering his birth anniversary? Or should we follow the path shown by him? I have been in Assam for the past one week. Here too, many kinds of works of the Sangh Parivar are going on. And the work of Vinobaji and Gandhiji’s institutions seems to be breathing its last. On the occasion of Vinobaji’s 125th and Gandhiji’s 150th birth anniversary, we should take a resolution that we will form the front against the Sangh Parivar that Vinobaji had talked about. Today, it has been 76 years since that happened. But let alone following it, we are busy in our daily rituals. There is still time, we should start working towards putting Vinobaji’s words into practice. Because now Kashmir, yesterday North East, later 5th and 6th Schedule which our constitution makers have made for special provisions for tribals! Sangh Parivar has started to change all that! Kashmir, NRC, this is its beginning! And much more is going to happen in future! Sabarmati Ashram and Gandhi Vidyapeeth and Publication Department of Sarva Seva Sangh of Banaras and Gandhi Vidya Sansthan established by JP, Sangh people have occupied some parts! And some parts have been razed to the ground with bulldozers! But our mutual conflict is also responsible for that! And taking advantage of that, Sangh is infiltrating its institutions! But instead of taking cognizance of this, we are busy counting each other’s mistakes! For that, instead of starting to open a front in the language of Vinobaji, we are fighting among ourselves like this! Is this the true memory of Vinobaji and Gandhiji?

Dr. Suresh Khairnar, 11 September 2024, Nagpur.