On my way home from a jog in the park, I met VHP workers led by Ravi Chakravarthy, going from home to home, collecting donations for the Ayodhya Ram temple. He is the Sanghchalak for Jayanagar RSS branch. I asked him if they were visiting only Hindu homes. He shook his head and said, no, every home.
I asked if muzli!mz were contributing and he gave a great big nod and said hundreds of them were contributing. One of his big contributions of ten thousand rupees or so had come from a Mushtaq.
I had tears in my eyes.
He said it wasn't an exception. Many many Muslims were forthcoming with contributions.
Meanwhile there were Hindus who said, no, we cannot give you money, or not interested or something.
What about the Christians, asked I. He said 'very very rare'.
He admitted that they were more of a threat to Hindu interests than Muzl!mz. I said, yeah, look how they wiped out Hinduism from the North East.
I told him about my trifle math about donations to Ram temple and said they would end up collecting more than 10 times the budget of 1100 crores. He smiled. I hoped they would allow BJP to use those funds for election expenses said I. No that won't happen. BJP will not take it, VHP will not allow it, he said.
What will you do with the excess? We have 2 more temples, remember? Kashi and Mathura, said I. The funds would be used for that.
Was Kerala lost? No nothing is lost, he said vehemently. Keep the hope, keep the faith. Had you ever imagined that BJP would be in charge of 14 corporations in Kerala?
Will Modi continue post 2024, Iasked? He will win the elections but may not continue. How can he not abide by a principle he has laid down himself?
Finally, Tejaswi Surya is being groomed. Both of us were happy to think that he was a prime ministerial candidate.
There are hundreds like him in BJP all over the country, he said.
So BJP is not a one man party. As I had always maintained.
Were the RSS shakhas running empty, I expressed my worry. Not at all, there are plenty of students, he said.
I grabbed his phone and sent myself a friend request. You a chakravathy? He asked. I am a chakravathy too, said he. He was an Iyengar too and from the same Shrivatsa gothra!
More than 50 years in RSS, and still in service of the nation.
What releif it is to meet such people!
May their tribe increase. And how will that happen?
In my entire family of 9 siblings on my mother's side and 5 on my father's side, and their children and grandchildren, all of them totalling to 109, only one boy goes to the RSS shakha.
Those of you who have children, please send them to the shakha. Set an example for them by attending yourself and offering some little service, or simply standing in solidarity with the Sangh by just being present in the premises, even if you actually do nothing.
2 comments:
Good to hear from the forever hopeful tribe (the sangh), who keep their heads down and work hard.
May the Nidhi samarpana be successful.
I was also collecting with other Swayamsevaks. In Navi Mumbai where I live, Muslims might be 10 %. We did not get any good donation from Muslims. Two third of Muslim shopkeepers did not give any penny. In 1/3rd most gave 10 rupees, some gave 20 rupees, one in fifty Muslims would give 50 rupees. Christians wont donate at all, I agree. I think most Muslims gave 10 or 20, because they live in Hindu area, and their customers are Hindu.
One Muslim bakery, while I was buying egg, asks another customer, "aapto bhai hain na" another customer response "han Nadim bhai"(Bhai stood for Muslim). That bakery guy also gave 10 rupees, not to antagonize or cause any ill will in Hindu customers.
Many RSS people have desire to gain acceptability from Muslims. So they exaggerate donations by Muslims.
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