Why did they feel sad at this death?

This is not known how sad the Sangh Parivar felt at the demise of K.S. Sudarshan (Raipur, 15^th September). But the Muslims, who on August 20 would have heard or read the news from Bhopal that on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr this senior leader of RSS wanted to go to Tajul Masajid to “say” the Eid Prayer or to offer Eid greetings to Muslim “brethren” but his staff and police officers kept him from doing so on the pretext of traffic jam and the Eid prayer having finished, and later on former chief minister Babulal Gaur took him to the house of one of his Muslim acquaintances where he offered Eid greetings to Muslim “brethren”, enjoyed sewaiyan and expressed his heartfelt pleasure on the occasion, must have felt wishful sadness. No comment on this act of Mr. Sudarshan was seen in English and Hindi newspapers save and except that he was presented ill and as a patient of forgetfulness during the August 20 incident; however certain Urdu newspapers did comment on it. The basis of such comments was the idea that this act of Mr. Sudarshan could not be due to forgetfulness. There must have been something about Salat, Eid and Muslims in the back of his mind.

The SMS of a friend

Now a friend from Maharashtra sent an SMS saying: “On August 20 Sudarshanji wanted to express his natural feelings by offering the Eid prayer and witnessing the Eid gathering at Tajul Masajid in Bhopal but his men banned his personal freedom; at last he felt angry and left the world. One of my friends had invited Sudarshanji, when he was sarsanghchalak, to Islam by writing a detailed letter to him. Sudarshanji had replied to the letter and sent a car to him (for further discussion). The deceased did not make any formal declaration but has given a message to Sangh Parivar. How I wish they realize this and Muslims too have the courage to do Dawah” (Mobile Message, September 17 – 09313522885). The feeling seems to be quite right. Whether a person is victim of forgetfulness or of weak memory due to old age, if he talks something unexpected, that talk indeed has some meaning. The feelings he thus expresses are related to what he used to do during his days of strong memory and consciousness.

This is quite possible

Former sarsanghchalak of RSS, Kuppalli Sitaramayya Sudarshan was a follower of hardline Hindutva ideology. This stand of his on the various issues came to the fore from time to time during his sarsanghchalak days (2000 to 2009). He also expressed the Sangh stand on certain issues related to Muslims quite emphatically. He also kept on issuing harsh statements on some national issues. Sometimes he also talked against BJP leaders and their viewpoint. In an interview he declared Indira Gandhi as by then the most successful Prime Minister. Thus he was straightforward in his statements. But after retiring from the leadership of Sangh he remained somewhat silent. It is expected that during those days he might have pondered over the realities of life and the universe with much mental freedom and he must have studied Islamic beliefs and views. The SMS from Maharashtra also supports this view. Therefore it is quite expected that during his last days Mr. Sudarshan might have been reviewing his views on Islam and Islamic life that he had developed as a result of his long association with the Sangh.

22/ 09/12 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf