I mean, RSS – Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, not RSS – RDF Site Summary (feed). On my way back from Soraba, I met a very interesting relative of mine who works full-time with RSS and has the somewhat lengthy title of “Akila Bharata Saha Boudhika Pramukh”, which translates to “Head: RSS Think-Tank”. As we had a couple of hours to kill on the bus till we reached Shimoga, it was talk-time for the idealogically confused Tejaswi Nadahalli and the passionate RSS leader/idealogue Dattatreya HosabaLe. We covered some organizational behavior, leadership, Indic-culture, (Neo-)Colonialism, India, Indian-ness, Nehru, Partition, and a whole load of other similar topics. For the very first time in my life, I met a true leader of people; someone who knows the complications of implementing policies, logistics, people, Indian History, is very well read, ideologically driven, unmarried, devoted, and a lot more. Very impressive person, eye-opening conversation….I even checked out the RSS website and a few columns there. Vitriolic as usual, and also extreme in places; but still, after pondering for a while, I am not sure I am as liberal as I think I am.
I will end this with a few quotes that he used, that I still remember.
“If you are below 25 and not a communist, you dont have a heart; If you are over 35 and still a communist, you dont have a brain”
“Gandhi chose the wrong man; and so did God” – (think Nehru and Patel)