Partition-Days The Fiery Saga of RSS

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About the Book

In the year 1971 K. Narendra, Editor, Daily ‘Vir Arjun’, visited Rajouri (Jammu) to participate in the birth celebrations of Veer Banda,. There he learnt, and also saw for himself, that at the time of the partition of the country not only had local Sangh Swayamsevaks shown unparalleled courage and spirit of sacrifice, but hundreds of local women had also followed in the footsteps of Padmini and immolated themselves for the sake of their honour. On his return, he wrote in anguish, “It is the country’s misfortune that those in power today have made dastardly attempts to hide these events from our countrymen. In the name of secularism these facts are being covered up, and new history concocted to mislead the people.”

These comments speak for themselves. It is a fact that the heroic, inspiring and self- sacrificing role played by Sangh Swayamsevaks and our mothers and sisters is sought to be covered up. There are many books on the partition, but very little of this heroic history finds a place in them.

This book attempts to bring it to light. The events described here are facts of history, not flights of fancy. This is history written in blood - blood of patriotic Swayamsevaks, valorous women, and brave Jawans. This record glows with the ‘Jauhar’ of countless Padminis. In it the reader will come across many Abhimanyus, Hakikat Rais, and Baji Prabhu Deshpandes. This book is a treasure house of events of unparalleled courage, self-sacrifice and service to humanity.

About the Author

Manik Chand Vajpayee (Mamaji)-An idealist of silent dedication, Shri Vajpayee was born on October 7, 1919 at Bateshwar, district Agra. The legacy of scholarship that he inherited from his father Shri Sridatta Vajpayee is reflected in all his writings.

Mamaji became a Pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1944 and worked in this capacity in the Bhind area for nine years. The high school at Adhokhar (Bhind) does its existence to the inspiration provided by him. During the Emergency he raised his voice against injustice, as a result of which he was in jail for 20 months. On the death of his wife he again became Pracharak in 1955. During the period 1951-54 he was also Orgainsing Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh unit of the then Bharatiya JanaSangh.

Currently Shri Vajpayee is Prachar Pramukh for Madhya Bharat Prant as well as Convenor for the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch’s Central Zone.

As Editor of ‘Swadesh’, Indore from 1968 to 1985 Shri Vajpayee earned a high reputation as a journalist. His articles like ‘Not Marx but Mahesh in Kerala’ and ‘RSS in the mirror of its Constitution’ were widely acclaimed. He has also compiled and edited’ works in Hindi like Aapatkaleen Sangharsha Gatha’, Pratham Agnipariksha, Bharatiya Nari Vivekananda ki Drishti mein, Kashmir ka Karwa Sach, Pope ka Kasta Shikanja and so on. The present book is yet another testimony to his meticulous scholarship.

Shridhar Paradkar : Shri Shridhar Paradkar has made a commendable contribution to the collection and editing of the material presented in this volume. He was in central government service after doing his post- graduation in Commerce and Economics. He has now devoted his life to social service.

Preface

Many books have been written on the partition of the country in 1947. But this book is special. It is a thrilling and authentic account of how Swayamsevaks of the Sangh joined hands with their fellow-countrymen to stand up to the terrible tragedy of partition and the catastrophe that came in its wake.

This books is replete with innumerable inspiring examples of courage, bravery, sacrifice, self-immolation and selfless service. It really helps the reader to understand that tremendous tragedy, and also provides a warning for the future. The writer has not only described the horror but has also indicated the lessons to be learnt. As we have not yet learnt those lessons, the country is again faced with secessionism and threatened with another partition. From this point of view this book is all the more topical.

This book is a welcome collection of authentic events showing how Swayamsevaks saved people during attacks by Muslim League goondas, how they rescued Hindu brethren from Muslim majority areas and took them to safe places and finally to Bharat, and how they provided selfless service and succour to them here. It has also given adequate space to experiences of the general people as also to their acts of bravery.

During those terrible times, Swayamsevaks laid their lives on the line in every village and every city, and set records in courage and bravery that merit a place in the golden pages of history. The two authors deserve to be congratulated on the felicity with which they have presented unpublished but researched facts and events. The last chapter of the book draws the attention of the enlightened section of the Hindu Society to four important matters, to which the intelligentsia has to seek solutions. The first is the return of fellow- countrymen converted during the holocaust, either by force or by inducement. Conversion not only reduces our society but also adversely affects the loyalty of the converted towards the country. The Hindu society did not solve this problem, which was created by the entry of foreign faiths into our country, and the fell consequence of this was the partition. If we still do not wake up in time, history could repeat itself. Efforts have now been started by Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram etc., but they need wide acceptance, otherwise conversion and alienation going on in border provinces cannot be contained, as a result of which the country could even be partitioned again.

The conclusion of the book regarding women is that it is not right to project them as the weaker, helpless sex, and this has special relevance in the context of today’s culture of materialism and advertisements. For today, woman is being used as a medium to promote a distorted consumerism. So it is necessary to revive her image that of Mother and Durga.

The aggressions on our country were not limited to loot and political conquest. Both Muslims and Christians have used - and are still using - force or fraud in an attempt to alienate Hindus from their religion, their culture and their country. In this context, the book provides a very important insight to view history.

Hero worship and nationalism should be essential parts of our life, but we chose the cult of the individual worship instead. In the name of secularism and cowardly non-violence our national heroes and martyrs were deliberately buried in oblivion and worship of the individual promoted. As a result, our countrymen have no national ideals to inspire them, and have to take refuge in dynasticism to fill the void in leadership.

The ill effect of not inspiring Muslims to become nationalist, which we see today, is that their mindset is more or less the same as before the partition. They had then opposed the national hymn ‘Vande Mataram’, and they do it still. Today not only Muslims are opposing Saraswati Vandana, reverence for the Goddess of learning, but power- hungry politicians are also opposing it in order to appease them. In mere 50 years, history is repeating itself and warning us to learn from history.

If we want to expatiate the cardinal sin of partition and reunite our Motherland and our Society we have to learn the lessons laid out in this book and do our duty to the nation.

Finally, I may say that the book is readable, inspiring and authentic. It has enduring importance. Its reader will come upon unknown chapters of the history of partition. For most books published to date dwell on the atrocities of the Muslim League, but the history that the Hindu Society made under the leadership of the Sangh has been ignored. Some books have even tried to equate the atrocities in Pakistan with what happened to Muslim here, and argued that Hindus here were as inhuman as the Jehadists in Pakistan.

The truth is that only when Muslim even in India tried to resort to Jehad under the League’s leadership did the Hindus strike back bravely but never abandoned human values in their retaliation. They defended themselves within the humanitarian limits of Hindu values.

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