Due to the Banga-Bhang movement, chanting of ‘Vande Mataram’ had become a fashion for the youth across the country. At that time Rampayali of Balaghat of MP was also in Central Province. Moreshwar alias Aabaji, a relative of Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, founder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, lived there. After the death of his parents due to plague, teenage Keshav used to go there often. So I became friends with boys of my age there.
There was a tradition of crossing the city limits on Dussehra. Hundreds of people used to gather. There used to be a big fair. This is about 1907 or 1908. Keshav mobilized the local youth and convinced them that this time they will create a buzz with Vande Mataram and Swadeshi in this fair. Everyone arrived dancing and singing to the band and raised slogans of Vande Mataram. Keshav gave an aggressive speech and left. Later his two friends were expelled from the school. British lawyer Armstrong came from Nagpur and filed a case of treason against both of them. Advocate Purushottam Dev of the nearby district cited the age of the children to the District Magistrate. Only after giving arguments like what is illegal in singing the songs of Matribhoomi, all the charges against him were dropped. But Keshav felt like a victory.
The British government now became alert and issued a circular in the schools of Central Province that no student would take part in any political meeting or assembly or protest or sing Vande Mataram. This thing hurt Keshav and his friends. Then all of them were studying in Neil City High School, Nagpur. It was decided that as soon as any outsider or official comes to the school, slogans of Vande Mataram will be raised in the class where he goes. All the teachers of the school were nationalists, but here it was a matter of pressure from the British government.
Government spies were sending him news of continuous violations of the circular. The government decided to send investigating officers to schools. The children of Neel High School had also taken the decision. In those days, among Keshav’s admirers there were not only teenagers but also teachers. That day Principal Jarndan Oak himself came to visit the class along with the investigating officer. As soon as he entered, the entire class greeted him with Vande…Mataram. The faces of both were worth seeing. The principal immediately approached the other class with the officer. Same thing happened there also. The investigating officer got angry at the principal and left from there.
After that the school manager received a notice, Keshav’s entire class was suspended. The children got the support of leaders like Dr BS Munje etc. There was a strike in the school. The parents of the children also participated in this. The uproar continued for one and a half months. Efforts for compromise were also made. The parents of the children were also worried about the loss of education. Despite this no one took Keshav’s name. Ultimately the formula for compromise was that children would be asked in school whether raising the slogan of Vande Mataram was wrong? So the child only had to nod his head yes. All the children did this, except two children. Now no one knows the name of one Keshav and the name of the other. Both were expelled from school. Keshav simply said, “Vande Mataram is the greatest blessing of Mother India, it is not a sin. If it is a crime then I will do it again and again.”
Dr. Munje becomes Keshav’s guide
Keshav’s courage became so widely discussed that Congress leader and well-wisher of the revolutionaries, Dr BS Munje, who was merely impressed by him, now became his admirer. With their help, Keshav took admission in ‘Vidyagriha’, a school opened by nationalists in Yavatmal. His mark sheet had the signature of a revolutionary like Rash Behari Bose. After passing it, with the help of Munje, he went to Calcutta to pursue a degree in National Medical College. There he joined Anushilan Samiti and joined their core committee. He was given the task of delivering weapons etc. to the revolutionaries in far away places.
When questions were raised about his medical degree in college, Keshav and his colleagues agitated. Surendra Nath Banerjee, a big Congress leader of that time, came to support this. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee’s father Ashutosh Mukherjee also supported Keshav’s movement. The British government bowed down and said that those taking degrees from here will have to give one more small examination. Even though it was easy, all his classmates gave it but not Keshav. Said, I will not get the English seal of approval on my degree.
When ‘offer’ of Rs 5000 came in dowry
Hedgewar had decided that he did not want to practice medicine. When he returned to Nagpur, many relationships started coming for him. He gave the address of Rampayali’s relative to everyone. At that time people were talking about giving dowry of up to Rs 5,000. This was a huge amount at that time. His relatives also got upset after meeting their relatives. Ultimately Keshav had to say that I will serve the motherland and will not marry. They want to give dowry because they are thinking that I will become a doctor, but I will not even practice.
Dr. BS Munje, a prominent Congress leader of Vidarbha at that time, had brought a bundle of political ideas into his life. Munje himself was a follower of Lokmanya Tilak, but he was internally angry with the Congress because of the way Tilak was stopped from becoming the Congress President in 1907, and then sent to Mandalay jail for 6 years. Earlier in 1904, he had met Keshav in Shivram Guru’s Akhara, which was the biggest base of nationalists at that time. Due to the affection he received from his side, respect for him kept increasing in Keshav’s mind. Keshav also considered Lokmanya Tilak as a source of inspiration. Had heard him in his program in Nagpur in 1902.
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Munje was also impressed by Keshav’s hold on the youth and at the time of the Bengal riots in 1905, he formed an organization named ‘Vidyarthi Samaj’ and gave the responsibility to Keshav. Munje also engaged him in the work of raising ‘Tilak Paisa Fund’. Munje was surprised to see his dedication. In those days, Keshav was also taking training in bomb making in Munje’s house. He threw the first bomb at Rampayali Police Station in 1908, which fell in the nearby pond. This work was done so cleverly that no one found any evidence, nor any witness. Keshav had escaped cleanly.
On the one hand, Keshav had returned after completing his course, on the other hand, Tilak had also returned from jail and started becoming active in politics. But Keshav was enjoying the company of his friend Bhauji Kavre. Both of them were involving the youth in the surrounding districts for revolutionary activities under the direction of Dr. Munje. Bhauji did not accept everyone, but used to test them with his own surprising tests. Once he asked three boys to jump into a 40 feet high well, two got scared, but the third one jumped, Bhauji also jumped to bring him to safety. But he liked his courage. Another friend was Anna Khote, he started his gymnasium to connect the youth, while the work of the third friend Dadasaheb Bakshi was to repair damaged weapons. With the help of all this, about 150 youth had joined him. He also started buying second hand weapons from some people from the army unit in Kamathi near Nagpur.
Did Tilak change the course of Keshav’s life?
Bhauji and Keshav even included in their group the rich people who were collecting taxes from the British in the name of the country. His organization was named ‘Narendra Mandal’ like the organization of kings. Keshav wanted to establish a big revolutionary organization like Anushilan Samiti on the soil of Vidarbha, but due to the beginning of the First World War, the British government was taking strict action. Munje definitely helped the revolutionaries, but did not want to establish such a big organization. Keshav understood this and hence thought why not discuss with Lokmanya Tilak. When Dr. Munje wrote to Tilak about this, he immediately agreed and asked to send Keshav to him so that he could stay in his house for a few days. Keshav stayed with him in Pune for several days and the future outline was also discussed several times. But neither Dr. Hedgewar nor Tilak ever wrote about this discussion in detail. Yes, during his stay in Pune, Keshav definitely visited Shivaji Maharaj’s Shivneri Fort.
Keshav had made preparations for a big revolution in 1917-18.
It is mentioned in Suruchi Prakashan’s ‘Men of the Millennia: Dr. Hedgewar’ written by Nana Palekar that Vamanrao Dharmadhikari of Yavatmal told him that Keshav had prepared for a major revolution against the foreign rule in 1917-18. Keshav sent him with enough money to Marma Goa, where a ship full of weapons was about to arrive. There he met a certain Mr. Patil, who had hosted him at Dadasaheb Vaidya’s house. But that ship could not reach Goa beach, later news was received that it had been caught. Even before this he had brought weapons from Goa for Keshav. Then later Keshav started participating in the Home Rule League movement along with Tilak. Due to Tilak and Munje, Keshav made many visits to the entire Central Province and the direct benefit of this was that people now started getting to know him too and they formed direct and strong contacts. This was the transition period, when the strictness of the British against the revolutionaries due to the World War, Tilak becoming active in politics after returning from Mandalay jail, there were also factors which may have influenced Keshav’s thinking that he should join the Congress like his two seniors Tilak and Munje and in such a situation, the news of the Congress convention to be held in Nagpur turned his steps towards Congress. Even before that, to fill the void after the death of Lokmanya Tilak, Munje included them in the campaign and then by placing both of them in the welcome committee of the Congress, they became active in the Congress.
Back story: Hedgewar was ready to go to any extent against cow slaughter
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