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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.
If 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 his vanvas (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".
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."
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