| Prof. Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiya) |
|
|---|---|
| Born | 29 January 1922[1] Shahjahanpur[2], Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Died | 14 July 2003 Pune Maharastra India |
| Religion | Hinduism |
Prof. Rajendra Singh, (Hindi: प्रो. राजेन्द्र सिंह Birth:1922 - Death:2003 ), popularly called Rajju Bhaiya(रज्जू भैया), was the fourth Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), leading the organization as its chief from the year 1994 to 2000.
He worked as a Professor and head, the Department of Physics at Allahabad University for a few years. He left a promising academic world of nuclear physics to devote his whole life to the RSS in the mid 1960s and becae its chief. He led the organisation for six years in the late 1990s and was seen as the mentor of prominent social activists and political leaders.
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Rajendra Singh was born on 29 January 1922 in the village Banail Pahasu of Bulandshahar to Smt Jwala Devi (Jiyaji) and Kunwar Balbir Singh, when his father was posted there as a engineer[3][4]. Kunwar Balbir Singh belonged to a respectable family of Tomar Rajput in the village Banail Pahasu of Bulandshahar district in Uttar Pradesh.[5] Balbir Singh was the first Indian to be selected for Indian Engineering Service in British Period. As confessed by Prof. Rajendra Singh himself in a book[6], the great Indian revolutionary Ram Prasad Bismil often used to come to his father in the engineer's colony of Shahjahanpur where he lived in those days of 1921-1922. Whenever Bismil Ji demanded, his father Balbir Singh used to contribute him monetarily. Rajendra was the third amongst five children of the Singh's family. Rajju Bhaiya had two elder sisters whereas his two younger brothers were in Indian Administrative Service.[7]
Rajendra did his matriculation from Unnao. After that he was enrolled at the Modern School (New Delhi) for a brief period. Thereafter he moved to St Joseph's College, Nainital. He was a meritorious student and made it through the prestigious Roorkee Engineering College. He secured 5th position in his B.Sc. and 2nd in M.Sc. Physics.[8] He completed his graduation and obtained his master’s degree in physics from Prayag University at the age of 21.[5]
Rajendra Singh was acknowledged as an exceptionally brilliant student by the Physicist and Nobel Prize winner Sir C. V. Raman, when he was his examiner in M.Sc. He also offered the fellowship for advanced research in nuclear physics to this young boy with him.[5] Prof. Mahesh Kumar an allumni of Allahabad University recounts: "when Sir C. V. Raman was taking the viva of Rajju Bhaiya, he had said being an examiner he did not know as much as this young student knew.".[9] He was offered to assist Sir C. V. Raman but he had different plans.
He joined the Allahabad University, which was known as the Oxford of the East in those days, in 1940s after majoring in Physics to teach Spectroscopy.[10] He taught at the University for several years, where later he was appointed head of the Physics Department.[5]
Rajendra Singh was also considered an expert in Nuclear Physics which was very rare those days in India.[11][12] During his teaching life he was also considered very popular teacher among students for teaching the subject of Nuclear Physics with simplicity and clear concepts.[12]
Rajendra Singh took active part in the Quit India Movement of 1942 and it was during this time that he came in contact with the RSS. From then onwards the Sangh influenced his life. He resigned from the prestigious University post in 1966 and offered full time services to the RSS as a 'pracharak'.
Starting as 'prant pracharak' for the province of Uttar Pradesh, Rajju Bhaiyya rose to become the 'Sar Karyavaha' (en.General Secretary) in the 80's.[13] Bala Saheb Deoras, Rajju Bhaiya's predecessor as RSS chief, stepped down from his post in 1994, and nominated Rajju Bhaiya to take over from him.
While living in Uttar Pradesh for RSS work he was having a good relation with Lal Bahadur Shastri and were sharing ideas with each other. He also developed good relation with Chandra Shekhar and V.P. Singh. Both of these two politicians had ever remained his students at Allahabad[14]. Murali Manohar Joshi was also one of his best students.
He spent most of his life in the offices of the Sangh. He maintained cordial relations with everybody, including the opponents of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. His liberal thinking was widely supported. Rajju Bhaiya was not a public orator or speaker like many other Sarsanghchalaks but his clarity in thoughts and views made him a very effective speaker.[15]
Arguably Rajju Bhaiya’s term of 6-years was one of the most crucial for both Sangh and India. Rajju Bhaiyya shared an excellent rapport with political leaders cutting across ideological lines besides academicians, social workers and intellectuals.[16]
1998 saw the pragmatic shift of Indian politics when the main opposition party, The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scaled new heights by emerging as the largest party in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition at the Centre. This was a crucial period for the RSS and its political wing BJP. The BJP and the RSS shared many common ideologies.
He abdicated the post of Sarsanghchalak on account of his failing health in February 2000 and nominated the Shri K. S. Sudarshan for the post.[16]
During emergency he went underground and toured whole India. Rajendra Singh was also responsible for organizing human rights convention presided by Justice Tarkunda in Delhi in 1976.[17] He was also responsible for setting up friends of India Society International.[17]
One of the most important beliefs of Rajju Bhaiya was: "All people are basically nice. One should deal with every person by believing in his goodness. Anger, jealousy, etc. are the offshoots of his past experiences, which affect his behavior. Primarily every person is nice and everyone is reliable."[18]
Like other Sarsanghchalaks he was a firm believer in the concept of swadeshi and empowering rural economy. Initiating the rural developmental activities, he had declared in 1995 that the utmost priority should be given in making the villages hunger-free, disease-free and educative (hi.kshudha mukta, roga mukta evam shikshayukt). Today, there are over 100 villages where the rural development work done by swayamsevaks has inspired the people of surrounding villages and their experiments are being emulated by those people.[19]
Addressing the Vijayadashami utsav (en.festival) at Nagpur in 1995, Rajju Bhaiya remembered Mohandas K. Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. He challenged the way in which the central government was working on fulfilling the dreams of these two statesmen.[20]
Rajju Bhaiya was very much sensitive over the issue of forming a memorial in the name of Indian revolutionary Ram Prasad Bismil in the capital like a Monument of the Republic located at Taksim Square in Istanbul city of Turkey. He had expressed this grief to a writer in an interview: "क्रांतिकारी 'बिस्मिल' के नाम पर इस देश में कोई बड़ा स्मारक हमारे नेता लोग नहीं बना सके."[21]. Having continued his pravas all the time he suffered ill health in the last days of his life. Even then he did not keep him away from working for the Sangh. Although he had shifted the responsbility of sarsanghchalak to Sudarshan Ji yet he continued to guide the organization in an advisory role.[16] While on the troubleshooting pravas throughout India. Rajju Bhaiya took his last breeth on 14 July 2003 at Kaushik Ashram[22] Pune in the state of Maharashtra and became an immortal for ever in the minds and hearts of his fans.
In the obituary, his successor, K. S. Sudarshan said that Rajju Bhaiya was looked upon as a fatherly figure for the entire Sangh Parivar.[23]
The then Prime Minister of India and the statesman Atal Bihari Vajpayee said: "The sad demise of Rajju Bhaiya is a great loss to our nation. He was a staunch patriot, able organiser and a great thinker. He will be remembered as a pillar of strength who dedicated his all and enthused millions of our youth."[23]
The then Deputy Prime Minister of India, Shri L. K. Advani commended the role of Rajju Bhaiya in guiding and mentoring leaders. He said: "As an RSS activist myself, I know how Rajju Bhaiya created good men like Nanaji Deshmukh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee."[23]
| Preceded by Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras |
Sarsanghchalak of the RSS 1994 – 2000 |
Succeeded by K. S. Sudarshan |