Narendra Modi's mentor: Madhukarrao Bhagwat

It is not commonly known that Narendra Modi has an old association with the current Sarsanghachalak of the RSS, Mohanrao Bhagwat, through the latter’s father, Madhukarrao. In this chapter of his book Jyotipunj, Modi writes fondly about meeting him at age 20, and staying with him during his third year of RSS training. Interestingly, Bhagwat Senior instructed both Modi, and LK Advani before him. [caption id=“attachment_1331425” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A file photo of Madhukarrao Bhagwat.[/caption] For three generations, his family served Mother India, but he remained low-key and did not advertise this. One would not even know of the family’s sacrifices on meeting him, so much a part of the background he chose to be. Right to the end. Those were my feelings when I heard of the passing of Madhukarraoji Bhagwat. One could see a mingling of the Marathi-Gujarati cultures in the manner of his dressing. He wore a Gandhi dhoti of the Gujarati style and over it the singlet favoured in Vidarbha. In his hand was always a box for his paan, and he also carried with him his infectious sense of humour with which he disarmed all who met him. Some of the people we meet leave a lasting impression on us, but with Madhukarraoji it seemed as if he had entered us. Like sugar in milk. Gujarat will forever remain in his debt. How can one forget his contributions to the freedom struggle and against the dark conspiracy that partitioned this land? The RSS in Gujarat was all but unknown in those years, but he left his home and village to move here and settled in this arid place to sow the seed of Sangh-think. It isn’t easy for us to imagine today how tough this would have been. We often hear of the Guru giving his spiritual light and knowledge to the pupil. Ramkrishna Paramhans and Vivekanand are a good example and there are others. But it is usually one or at the most two people that the Guru thus enlightens. In conferring the enlightenment of social devotion and nation worship, the contributions of the RSS are unparalleled. And I have myself experienced this aspect of Shri Madhukarrao’s great work. Many Swayamsevaks like me benefited from him. At a very young age, I had heard stories about Madhukarrao’s life and work, but I met him only when I was 20. The details of this meeting are still alive in me. He met me like he had always known me. He knew, about everyone he met, what that person was about and what their destiny was. But even if the path there was difficult, he would not indicate this, other than to communicate that this ultimate destiny was only a step away. And so we began walking together. In knowing the road, he had no equal. For my third year’s training in the RSS, I stayed a month with him in Nagpur to learn. This opportunity was like life-giving sanjeevani to me. Madhukarrao was born in Chandrapur, near Nagpur, and his father was a famous lawyer, Narayanrao Bhagwat. He became a Swayamsevak in 1929. Along with Eknath Ranade, he toured Mahakaushal-Katni (Madhya Pradesh) as a Pracharak in 1941. After gaining this experience, he came to Gujarat. He set up an RSS Shakha in Surat’s Parekh Technical Institute. Baroda and Karnavati (Ahmedabad) also saw Shakhas established in this early period and Madhukarrao spread the fragrance of the RSS across Gujarat. He learnt to speak a beautiful and fluent Gujarati. Not just that, in the Baroda Shakhas, which had a large community of Marathis, he forbid the speaking of Marathi in favour of Gujarati. In the freedom struggle between 1941 and 1948 he deployed his incredible organisational skills to make the RSS’s presence felt in 115 cities and towns of Gujarat. In 1943-44, the national leadership of the RSS entrusted him with the task of training all Karyakartas from north India and Sindh (today’s Pakistan). Many Swayamsevaks like Shri Lal Krishna Advani learnt under Madhukarrao in this period. After his mother’s passing, the family insisted Madhukarrao marry (and so he returned home). However, his father died shortly after the wedding. And so, now as a householder Pracharak, Madhukarrao again came to Gujarat. He was toiling to make the Sangh’s state unit, still in its infancy, stable and vibrant, when the RSS was banned in 1948 (after Gandhi’s assassination). How could Madhukarrao bear to see this smothering of his beloved 7-year-old child? A spark ignited in him. Like a mother, he worked to save this child, the Sangh organisation in Gujarat. We cannot even imagine how tough this would have been - to struggle to keep the flame of truth burning, and that too in Gujarat. But he kept the self-confidence of the Swayamsevaks high and readied them for the fight. More people now volunteered to fill the jails over this than even in any single instance of the freedom struggle. Man doesn’t need to be motivated much to do good work, that is true. But when this good work is inhibited and banned, the struggle is made tougher and it takes superhuman effort to overcome the odds. Madhukarrao had the ability to inspire people to do this. He was a Pracharak himself and then offered his son, Mohanrao Bhagwat, to the country also as Pracharak (he is today Sarsanghachalak). The touch of the Parasmani (Philosopher’s Stone) turns iron into gold, but it cannot turn a piece of iron into another Parasmani. The story of Madhukarrao and Mohanrao overturns this. Parasmani Madhukarrao prepared Parasmani Mohanrao. He was like a living school of Sangh tradition. He was a great traveller on the road to nation-building. His footsteps have inspired many who followed, and I am one. I bow to Madhukarrao’s life!