Can Congress Sevadal, Communist, RSS volunteers work together to uplift society?

By Sudhansu R Das 
It was the volunteers of the Congress’ Sevadal who were in the forefront of India’s freedom movement. They faced British atrocities with patience and courage. They were on the path of non violence which did not reduce the cruelty of the British who showered lathis and bullets on the peace loving volunteers who came in the way of British hunger for wealth. That time, the Sevadal was doing more Seva and less politics. Their honesty, simple lifestyle and patriotism popularized the congress party; it strengthened the Congress party from within. 

But just after Independence, the Sevadal volunteers quietly disappeared from the political scene. The ruling congress leaders gave the Sevadal volunteers the taste of power, lucrative posts, luxurious lifestyle and many other concessions. Amid power and luxury the Sevadal volunteers lost their true purpose in life. The social and economic freedom of India remained unachieved. The human minds change very fast when they get acquainted with lures and luxury. India has witnessed disappearance of dedicated volunteers not only from the Sevadal but from other political parties.
The British filled India with poverty, hunger and unemployment. Farmers were in real distress after paying huge taxes to the Moghuls and the British government. There was a famine like situation in India. The Indian government used to persuade foreign ships to unload food grains on the Indian coast. Hunger and unemployment unfolded in huge proportion. Banks were asked to give loans in loan melas without guarantees. Many Sevadal leaders were upset with this deterioration and expressed the view that they should have continued their programs and activities until India achieved economic and social freedom. 

 Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of casteless society was shattered within a short time. The Sevadal volunteers lost their vision, direction and leadership when the vast majority of Indians desperately needed their guidance and support. The Congress had seldom made a sincere effort to revive the Sevadal. The grand old party witnessed the exit of many strong leaders; they formed their own political parties. Today’s Congress party clings to coalition politics in order to survive. The revival of the Sevadal is an impossible task now.
Like the Sevadal, the RSS volunteers were omnipresent; be it in war or natural calamities, the khaki clad youth were there in the forefront of any crisis. Even today they rescue people at the time of natural calamities. Thousands of RSS volunteers aged between 14 and 80 years fought an emergency under the veteran socialist leader, Jay Prakash Narain and thousands were put in jails. When the emergency was over and the Janta Dal came to power, the RSS volunteers tasted power. The phenomenal growth of BJP had diverted many RSS workers to take the responsibility of the BJP. The taste of power diluted their level of patriotism, commitment, dedication and sincerity.
Over the last three decades, the number of active RSS daily Sakhas has reduced significantly. The disappearance of public playgrounds, price rise, consumerism, impact of western life style, break down of joint family system, lifestyle change, growth of mono culture, growth of status consciousness, erosion of service mentality among people, high cost of health and education facilities, and food inflation etc leave a negative impact on dedicated volunteers. 

The middle class Hindu families have shrunk due to family planning; they showed little interest in allowing their only child to become a full time or part time RSS Pracharak. Today, the Indian youth have time and money to go to pubs, clubs, gyms, bars and spend long hours watching cricket matches and mobiles. But, they don’t have one hour to play indigenous games and do Surya Namaskar in the RSS morning Sakhas free of cost. The biggest challenge before the Sangh Parivar is how to reverse this societal behavior change; there is need for deep introspection.
The communist cadres who worked relentlessly to protect the rights of millions of industrial workers, bankers, farmers, artisans and people in the unorganized sectors lost direction when their leaders tasted power in some states. The cadres had the skill to organize but they have not acquired skills to develop work ethics among the workers; they failed to learn how to develop employable skills among artisans, weavers and villagers. They failed to implement their sustainable economic model based on natural sectors. 

They always pointed their fingers at the capitalist, investors and traders; they branded them as exploiters. But, the communist leaders did not work hard to develop skills among people and generate employment. They had built their image as a protector but not as a promoter. The communist Supremo, Jyoti Basu agreed to be the Prime Minister with the support of Congress Party; they had fought Congress in parliament and in the streets for decades. It had disillusioned the dedicated communist cadres who had spent their lives to know their leader’s hidden ambition which was a compromise; later they made many compromises. Today the Communist parties are cornered because they lose their cadres; many of them joined other parties.
One will not come across dedicated, selfless, honest and patriotic cadres in any party; they are being replaced by paid cadres who can change their loyalty from time to time. The whole band of paid social media cadres can change their allegiance if power swings. India is going through a hard time where ideology has little value; and commitment is displayed for money; honesty and sincerity are simulated actions. This is high time for the Sevadals, RSS and the Communist to revive their dedicated cadres for the common purpose of building a strong nation which is required to live with self respect and pride since the big talk about internationalism is nothing but falsehood.