Hindu-Muslim problem a creation of politicians: Nanaji Deshmukh

Nanaji DeshmukhIf Lord Ram is the ideal Indian hero, then Nanaji Deshmukh is his model devotee. It's close to two decades since the Jan Sangh stalwart renounced public life for social work in the most backward parts of Uttar Pradesh. It is appropriate that he should now be based in Chitrakoot, where Lord Ram is said to have spent most of hisvanvas(exile).Chitrakoot is the most unspoilt of holy places. There are no pesky pandaas playing mediator to the gods, nor hordes of pilgrims. But there are thousands of descendants of Hanuman, on every rooftop, every street corner. The sort of monkeys who are used to being venerated and pampered. Situated on the Bundelkhand plateau on the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border, Chitrakoot reverberates with the Ram legend. The Kamadgiri hillock, where Ram is believed to have lived with Sita and Lakshman; the Gupt Godavri caves, where all the rivers collected to pay homage to Ram; and the idyllic Janakikund on the banks of the Mandakini river, where Sita would sit after her daily bath.For all its unspoilt beauty, Chitrakoot can be hellish in summer with temperatures hitting 50 degrees Celsius. I am told that I have carried the rains with me. It's on a wet, green day that I reach the bright pink building that Nanaji has named after his late friend and founder of the Indian Express group, Ram Nath Goenka. Nanaji explains that Goenka was instrumental in coaxing Indira Gandhi to release him from jail after an incarceration of 17 months during the Emergency. "He persuaded me to stand for elections in 1977." Upon his release Nanaji became one of the architects of the Jan Sangh's merger into the Janata Party, though he refused to join Morarji Desai's cabinet ("The Janata experiment failed not because of the Jan Sangh members' dual membership of the RSS but because three men, Desai, Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram, all wanted to be prime minister"). A year later, Nanaji abruptly quit public life for the noblest of tasks in the RSS lexicon - the task described as "nation building".Nanaji believes the Hindu-Muslim problem is a creation of politicians. Which is why he quit politics.He disappeared into Gonda in Uttar Pradesh, the district from which he'd entered Parliament. An impressive project was set up: 2,000 tubewells in two years, improved methods of cultivation in 2,800 villages. The headquarters were Jayaprabhagram, named after "close friend" Jayaprakash Narayan, with whom Nanaji was active in the 1974 Bihar movement.What compels a man to give up everything at the height of his political career?"It is an ulti duniya (upside down world) that we are creating. India's wealth, both in terms of people and natural resources, is in her villages. But the Government is ignoring that. It is developing only cities and promoting consumerism. Disgusted with politicians, I decided to use young people to see what could be done in villages."In the early '90s Nanaji shifted base to Chitrakoot, where he realised his dream of setting up a rural university - now being run by the Madhya Pradesh Government. "I came to Chitrakoot because this is where Ram came after renouncing his throne and Bharat followed him. I want to remind people of their example at a time when politicians lust for power and those like Laloo Yadav refuse to give it up."His address: Siya-Ram kutiya, a modest outhouse attached to the Goenka memorial. I draw Nanaji's attention to pictures of Mahatma Gandhi alongside portraits of RSS founder K.B. Hedgewar and M.S. Golwalkar. How can the RSS appropriate Gandhiji?"I don't see a contradiction ... like Gandhi the RSS also believes that India lives in her villages ... If it had not been for the RSS I would not have thought of the country and devoted my life to it. Whatever Nanaji Deshmukh is today is because of the RSS."He pauses and adds as an afterthought: "It is sad that none of Gandhiji's sons entered the field of gram swaraj (rural empowerment)." The afternoon sun is beginning to emerge from the clouds. Visitors stream in, touch Nanaji's feet and begin to ask for advice. Someone is organising a function in Varanasi. Will Nanaji attend? Another follower brings his family to meet Nanaji. He listens patiently and is generous with his advice. After a while, the visitors disperse and Nanaji rises to take us on a grand tour of his projects in Chitrakoot. His brisk pace does not give a hint of his 81 years.Some years ago Nanaji broke all links with the rural university he had established. Once the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh was replaced by the Congress, funds for the university were withheld as it was perceived as being an RSS outpost. Nanaji was forced to quit as chancellor. But he's moved on to other things. Such as the half-completed Arogyagram, a sprawling ayurveda research centre funded by the Tatas. "We must revive the ancient Indian shastras (sciences)," he says with conviction.Nanaji's vision of the ancient Indian idyll transplanted in the modern age cannot be complete without gaumata or the holy cow. That is why he is particularly proud of his gaushala, where 10 breeds of Indian cows are kept. "Did you know that scientists are now discovering that desi ghee made from the milk of Indian cows does not contain cholesterol?" he asks.There are schools too, and they follow the ancient Indian gurukul system. There is the Surendra Paul School in Chitrakoot, named after the late younger brother of NRI industrialist Swraj Paul; and the Ramnath ashram, again in memory of Goenka, for 200 live-in adivasi (tribal) students. At the spanking-clean and efficiently run Ramnath ashram, the day begins with prayers followed by yoga. The school brochure states that "it is without doubt that Lord Ram, with his compassionate behaviour, had won the hearts of the vanvasis ... the forest dwellers were the strength of Lord Ram." And if there is any doubt about how lofty the entire enterprise dedicated to Ram is, Nanaji points to an upcoming structure nearby. "That will be the Ram Darshan, a permanent exhibition of paintings, statues, scenes from the Ram legend and an audio track from the Ram katha."Sarojini Naidu had once quipped that it cost a fortune to keep Gandhiji in poverty - referring to industrialists like the Birlas and Bajajs being his followers. If a comparison can be drawn with Gandhi it is in the manner in which industrialists support Nanaji's endeavours. Among the most prominent of his followers is Bombay Dyeing Chairman Nusli Wadia ("I knew his mother, Jinnah's daughter Dina very well," he recalls). The most ambitious of Nanaji's projects in Chitrakoot has recently taken off. Hand-picked couples will give instructions in "moral, cultural and economic development" in about a 100 village clusters. With Nanaji at the helm there is little doubt that the funds will be raised, the work will be done. As he says, "Mera kaam saat peediyon tak chalega (My work will survive seven generations after me)."I sneak in my parting questions as I take his leave: is the agenda social upliftment or Hindu rashtra? And isn't the RSS philosophy fundamentally anti-Muslim? "There is no Hindu-Muslim problem in our country," replies Nanaji. "It is all created by politicians. That is one of the reasons I quit politics."Published By: AtMigration Published On: Aug 11, 1997 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---

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Hindu-Muslim problem a creation of politicians: Nanaji Deshmukh

Two decades after he quit politics, the Jan Sangh stalwart tells Principal Correspondent Saba Naqvi Bhaumik about his vision of an ancient Indian idyll and its relevance today.

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