RSS chief K. S. Sudarshan was a renowned leader who died on June 23 after suffering a heart attack while on a morning walk. He was born in 1931 in Raipur and studied telecommunications. He was appointed RSS pracharak in 1954 and stepped down due to ill health. He was a stalwart of the RSS for six decades and later became the Sarsanghachalak in 2000.
A multilingual personality, Sudarshan served as the RSS chief for eight years between 2000 and 2009. He was the first RSS pracharak to raise the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migration. He viewed illegal immigration as an “attack” from across the border. He studied the problem and came up with a comprehensive plan to counter it. His work included working with Ashok Singhal, who was a major force in the Ram Temple movement.
Sudarshan was the first RSS chief from the South. He was born in Madhya Pradesh and was educated there. His parents are from Kuppahalli, a small village in Karnataka. He openly expressed his views against the church after the 1999 visit of Pope John Paul II. He was known for his staunch Hindutva beliefs and supported Hindu and Muslim conversions to Hinduism. The RSS appointed him as a pracharak in 1954, and he had been the head of the organisation for over five years.
Despite being a hardliner, Sudarshan was one of the first RSS chiefs from the South. His parents were from Kuppahalli, Karnataka. His openly anti-Christian views were sparked after the visit of the Pope in 1999. He favoured the Indianization of both Christians and Muslims. He was also very disciplined with his body and never skipped a day of yoga or meditation.
He reportedly worked closely with Singhal, the man responsible for the Ram Temple movement. The RSS is an organisation of religious believers, but it is not a religion.
After assuming the RSS chief position in April 2009, Sudarshan was arrested during the emergency period in 1975. He served time in jail for 19 months during this time. In the interim, he became in-charge of the Purvanchal district and was a popular leader. He spoke several languages and was given the additional responsibility of being called “Akhil Bharatiya Bauddhik Pramukh” and “Sahsarkaryawah”. During the period of his arrest, he continued to attend shakha.
What is illegal immigration?
The issue of illegal immigration from Bangladesh to India has become a political hot potato. Although migrants have long crossed the border, the situation has recently gained prominence. In 2014, the BJP government took office in the country, and in 2019, it introduced the Indian Citizenship Amendment Act. The new law grants refugee status to illigal migrants. The BJP has played up the issue in recent local elections, and a number of immigrants from Bangladesh are now living illegally in India. K S Sudarshan was the first person to talk about illegal Bangladeshi migration.
In the wake of this crisis, the new government has pledged to address the problem of illegal immigration. It will be crucial to abide by the terms of the citizenship act and establish a strong, transparent system for monitoring immigrants. While the NDA has a long history of tackling this problem, it must be remembered that its election promise was to tackle the issue. The NDA will keep working on the problem, but it should also work with the UN to come up with a comprehensive plan to stop people from Bangladesh from moving to India.
There are various issues that must be addressed to address the illegal immigration from Bangladesh to India. First, the border is porous, and no one is sure if the border will remain sealed at all times. The BSF’s efforts to curtail the migration were not effective. There were many reports of police actions against the illegal immigrants, and many of them crossed the border again at different points.
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