On Friday evening, Thamaram, a small hamlet near Kalady in Thiruvananthapuram has a special visitor.
The supreme head of RSS, sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, arrives and
joins around 200 sevaks in their routine prayer and exercise. Thamaram
shakha is the only one in Bhagwat’s Kerala itinerary. There is a reason
for that.
Thamaram was once notorious for goons and quotation gangs, young men
on hire to whoever bid the highest price to maim and kill. That was
before the RSS shakha was set up. Today, around 600 families living
their vouch that peace is back in their lives.
The RSS views the transformation of Thamaram as the result of an
active shakha functioning there. Adjacent to the small Devi temple, a
lively shakha functions and sevaks assemble everyday morning at 6am for
training.
On Friday evening, Bhagawat doesn’t address the gathering, but his
very presence and effervescent smile has a visible effect. To welcome
him, around 200 members had reached the shakha on Friday evening.
“We have 75 active workers. There are sevaks as young as five years
to as old as 65,” says Akhilraj M L who is in charge of the shakha. True
to his word, half a dozen toddlers were seen doing Surya Namaskar ahead
of Bhagwat’s visit.
N Mohanan (61) is the oldest sevak present for Friday’s session.
Unmindful of a weak kidney, Mohanan joined others in doing 45-minutes of
physical exercise. “I am 37 Sangh years old,” he says with a smile when
quizzed about the secret of his energy. From 1979, Mohanan attends
shakhas and is now in charge of the basthi comprising Thamaram and three
nearby shakhas. “I only skip play during our exercise regimen,” says
Mohanan.
He said the priority of Sangh leadership in shakhas similar to
Thamaram is to ensure social security. “We still see youngsters lured by
something that they don’t know would be detrimental to their interests.
They need to be brought back,” said Mohanan.
Thamaram was notorious for goonda gangs and local politicians used to
hire henchmen from this area. Twenty-two years ago, RSS established a
shakha here to take up the challenge. “We have lost eight sevaks in
conflicts with CPM. Many of them had switched over to RSS from their
fold,” says a senior RSS senior leader who preferred anonymity.
“There are several specialties in this shakha. All four sections of
the shakha schoolchildren, teenagers, college-going students and
adults are active here. More than 80% members of the shakha come from
weaker sections,” the leader recalls.
The RSS, as the next step of expansion, recently launched Akshayasree
at Thamaram. Akshayasree is a self-help society for women like
Kudumbashree and through this the Sangh aims to bring women from the
families of shakha-regulars to their fold.
Courtesy: Times of India
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