Unsung RSS heroes of partition days-2

'Had RSS not been there, the genocide of Hindus in Punjab would have been far more than that which took place.'
- Smt Leelatai, w/o. Gen Shankarrao Thorak.

On 3 June, 1947, the British government announced its plan of partition of India. A special meeting of the AICC met in Delhi on 14-15 June, 1947 to pass the resolution on the acceptance of the Mountbatten Plan of Partition announced on 3 June. At this meeting there were only two prominent voices of protest against the Plan of Partition. Chothram Gidwani from Sind bitterly criticised the resolution as a total and abject surrender to the blackmailing tactics of violence resorted to by the Muslim League under Jinnah. Among the top-most Congress leadership it was Babu Purushothamdas Tandon who firmly stood out against the resolution till the very end. In a voice charged with emotion he said:

Shri Madhavrao Muleyji, heroic RSS Pranth Pracharak in Punjab in 1947.

'The Resolution is a counsel of weakness and despair. The Nehru government has been unnerved by the terror tactics of the Muslim League and acceptance of Partition would be an act of betrayal and surrender. Let us rather suffer the continuation of the British Rule a little longer than sacrifice our cherished goal of United India. Let us gird up our loins to fight, if need be both the British and the Muslim League, and safeguard the integrity of the country.' The loud applause which greeted Tandon's speech gave a note of warning to the Congress leadership. The dying embers of faith in the hearts of Congress members had been stoked and the fate of the Resolution hung in the balance. It was at this crucial moment that Gandhiji intervened effectively and got the Partition Resolution passed by the AICC. Gandhiji spoke out his heart in despair when he said: 'If at this stage, the AICC were to reject Congress Working Committee's decision to accept the Mountbatten Partition Plan, what the world think of it? The consequences of rejection will entail the finding of a new set of leaders who will have to constitute the new Working Committee and also be capable of running the government. Maintaining peace in the country is very essential at the present juncture. Congress has been all along opposed to Pakistan; and I too have steadfastly opposed it. Yet, I have now to urge for its acceptance. Sometimes certain decisions however unpalatable have to be taken.' The curtain was thus drawn on the final act of the tragic drama of Partition, with the supreme representative body of the nation, the Congress, capitulating on the most basic and vital issue of national unity and integrity. Even after accepting the June 3rd Plan of Partition in general terms, Jinnah tenaciously pursued his objective to the last detail. The blinking and the blustering Congress under the effete and almost feminine leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru sheepishly accepted Lord Mountbatten as the Governor General of India. Jinnah was no fool. He kept everybody guessing. It was fully one month later, on 2 July, 1947, that he intimated to the Viceroy that he himself would be the Governor General of Pakistan. At the same time, he had desired that Mountbatten would stay on as India's Governor General. Jinnah had cleverly and patently sidetracked the express provision in the V P Menon Formula to which he had agreed, of having a common Governor General for both the Dominions. By this cleverly diplomatic act, Jinnah scored a double advantage. On the one hand, he was left unfettered to pursue all his future manoeuvring against India, while at the same time India was put under the restraining hand of a third party from England. The fact that Jinnah and Attlee and even Churchill had sent special messages to Mountbatten to remain as India's Governor General only confirmed the advantages that were likely to accrue to Pakistan and Britain by this arrangement.

Jinnah also turned down the eminently statesmanlike suggestion of Ismay, Chief of Mountbatten's Staff, that 'both the new governments should have an instrument on which they could rely in the early days of their nationhood and that the Indian Army as at present constituted is ideal for their purpose.' But Jinnah would not accept power on 14 August, 1947 'unless he had an army of appropriate strength and predominantly Muslim composition under his control.' This insistence of Jinnah, again, as subsequent events have shown, was in accordance with his future designs against India in general and Hindus in Pakistan in particular.

Between the date of announcement of Partition on 3 June, 1947 and 15 August, 1947, only 72 days were left for carrying out the stupendous task of division of the vast country. The problems to be faced were many and intricate: Division of the Army and Police, deciding the rival claims of assets and liabilities, demarcation of boundary, and last but not the least, the resulting colossal human problem of rehabilitation of refugees. What made Lord Mountbatten, a seasoned commander and a diplomat, come to take this clearly perilous post? Though the time lag, in the original proposal by the British government for the completion of the Partition scheme for the transfer of power was up to June, 1948, Lord Mountbatten advanced the date of transfer of power by more than 10 months and announced the date as August 15, 1947. Leonard Mosley indicates the clue to the real motives behind Mountbatten's decision: 'Having proved to his own satisfaction that the Indians were largely paper tigers when confronted by the right kind of bluff, the Viceroy gathered his British staff around him and told them to rush through the details of the Draft Scheme for Independence without delay. The idea was to jostle a settlement through before either the Congress or the Muslim League had too much time to think about it, and before any really effective opposition to the Partition of the country had time to develop.' The people's trust in the Congress party in the whole of Northern India was completely betrayed by the snap decision taken by the Congress to accept the Partition Plan of 3 June, 1947. Mistake after mistake was committed by Lord Mountbatten:

Sri Guruji Golwalkar

i) Partition of India announced in May, 1947 with no plans for dividing its Army until June 1947, with only six weeks to go to the deadline.

ii) Partition of India announced in May, 1947, but the Radcliffe Boundary Commission to decide the boundaries along which the two new States were to be divided was not appointed till the end of June 1947.

iii) Partition of India announced in May, 1947 and independence on 15 August, 1947 with contempt for the common people of India as a whole, who were desperate to know the boundary details were deliberately kept in ignorance of which country they belong to until two days after independence.

Mountbatten's decision to withhold the publication of the Radcliffe Boundary Commission Award till 17 August, 1947 led to all the post-partition disasters. As Leonard Mosley, who is unsparing in his criticism of Lord Mountbatten, rightly observes: 'A prior government report would have given millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims a chance to pack their bags and leave from the respective countries.'

Sri Guruji, Sar Sanghchalak of the RSS, was expressing himself against the Partition right from the first day on which Jinnah declared his intention to create a Muslim nation of Pakistan. When the Partition Plan of 3 June, 1947 was announced by the British government, Sri Guruji gave directions to thousands of Sangh Swayamsevaks to act as a protective shield to the Hindus and directed them to instil among the people a sense of security and indomitable courage. The Swayamsevaks were instructed to go back immediately to their places and arrange for the transit into India of the Hindu brothers and sisters and mothers with their life and honour in tact. They were directed to stay steadfast until the very last Hindu was evacuated and sent over to Bharat. Many of the RSS workers who were sent back to areas then in West Pakistan and East Pakistan, were never to be seen again. They gave their lives and all for the protection of their Hindu brothers, sisters and mothers.

On account of the initiative taken by Sri Guruji, the Punjab Relief Committee was set up. Pranth Pracharak of the RSS Sri Madhav Rao Muley Ji and his band of selfless Swayamsevaks created a new chapter of heroism and sacrifice in the history of Punjab and India.

In those dark and tragic days after 3 June, 1947, the Sangh Swayamsevaks proved to be the only ray of hope of succour and survival. Many books and articles on Partition have paid great tributes to the sense of duty, patriotism and valour displayed by the Swayamsevaks of the RSS in those days and how they laid down their lives for the sake of the safety and honour of Hindu men and women. It was mainly due to the security provided by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that many Congress leaders themselves were able to reach India safely from different parts of Pakistan. Sri Guruji provided outstanding leadership in those critical days guiding and encouraging all the Swayamsevaks of the Sangh working in the riot-torn areas of West and East Pakistan.