Relatives irked at Rajguru’s RSS tag

Mumbai, April 3

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Taking umbrage to the portrayal of freedom fighter Rajguru as an RSS ‘swayamsevak’ in a book released recently, his descendants have asserted that there is no evidence to prove the freedom fighter’s association with the Sangh.

The book, written by former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak and journalist Narender Sehgal, claims that Rajguru, who was sent to the gallows along with Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev in 1931, was a Sangh “swayamsevak”.

“There is no proof that Rajguru was a RSS swayamsevak and neither did our grandfather tell us so,” Satyasheel and Harshwardhan Rajguru, grandsons of the revolutionary’s brother, said in Pune on Monday.

“However, it is true that during Rajguru’s brief stay at Nagpur, the arrangements were made by a Sangh swayamsevak,” they told a Marathi TV channel. “Rajguru was a revolutionary and his name should not be associated with any particular organisation,” they said.

RSS leader MG Vaidya said founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar might have made “secret arrangements” for Rajguru’s stay in Nagpur. Asked if Rajguru had visited the Mohite Bagh shakha of the RSS in Nagpur, Sangh headquarters, Vaidya said, “You are asking if Rajguru visited (the branch). He may have come. Dr Hedgewar may have made some arrangements for him? When Aruna Asaf Ali was ‘underground’ (during freedom movement), she stayed at the house of RSS functionary Hansraj Gupta.”

“If (Rajguru) came (to Nagpur), it is possibile that Dr Hedgewar made secret arrangements. This is a possibility as Dr Hedgewar was a revolutionary and had ties with revolutionaries,” he said. — PTI