K. B. Hedgewar - Background of RSS

Background of RSS

After his release in 1922, he became disgusted with what he believed was the appeasement of Muslims indulged in by the Congress during the Khilafat movement. He understood that this sort of appeasement would result in Muslim communalism and though intended to win them over to the freedom struggle, it would in the long run sow the seeds of separation. He believed that Hindus were the sons of the soil of India and were the primary community of India, and that the existence and future of the country was dependant on the existence and future of the Hindus.

When the trial of Kakori conspiracy was proceeding in Lucknow the British Government employed mostly Muslim Police Officers and the Special Magistrates who left no stone unturned to get the revolutionaries hanged to death or face rigorous imprisonments. Moreover the Hindu society did not dare to retaliate during the proceedings of the court as Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil has clearly mentioned in his autobiography. Pt Banarsi Das Chaturvedi - the editor of Kakori Ke Shaheed had also condemned it very strongly.

Thus, Dr.Hedgewar came to the conclusion that all the problems he felt the Hindu community in India faced—subjugation and oppression by 'foreigners' in the present and past, provincialism, and untouchability - were a result of an inherent flaw in the Hindu character rather than problems themselves.

He felt that the remedy was a cultural organisation that would unite Hindus on a common platform and instill among them discipline and national character. In this endeavour, he was blessed by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who was then under house imprisonment in Ratnagiri. The senior Hindu Mahasabha leaders of Nagpur, Dr B. S. Moonje and Dr. L. V. Paranjpe actively supported Hedgewar in starting such an organisation.