Decoding RSS :- Formula of Success (Part 2)

In 1^st part I had explained “Idea behind RSS” & how Doctor Hedgewar cultivated a great idea into an organization but a great idea do not guarantee success. Every year innumerable commercial, social, political and many other type of new organization start with some great idea and passion but most of them collapse in their early days, either due to some internal issues or outer pressure, the question arises about RSS survival after 90 years of genesis and an unhindered growth.

In Last few years we have seen commercial giants like Lehman Brother, Nokia, Satyam, and Yahoo, etc. collapse like pack of cards or their downfall from the pick to the perils just because of some internal or external reasons. So survival & growth of RSS for almost a century is a surprising factor, specially when there is no monetary benefit to its members nor it is a religious organization to bind people together because of their believes.

Critics can easily raise questions about the success of RSS.  On 27^th September 1925 Dr. Hedgewar started RSS in Nagpur with one shakha of 10-15 swayamsevaks or precisely of boys without any fanfare. After 90yrs in Bharat (India) you will not find a single city or town where RSS does not have a direct presence and if we consider the RSS inspired organizations then it will be hard for us to find even a village without some connect. Not only in Bharat (India) but all over the globe you can find footprints of RSS or it’s Inspired organizations, in around 110 countries either RSS or inspired organizations have presence directly or indirectly and in around 35-40 countries these organizations are in influencing position which helped in forming pro Bharat (India)  and Hindu policies. If the growth of RSS is substantiated on the ground of it’s inspired Organizations like BMS, BJP, ABVP, VHP, Seva Bharati, etc. then even opponents will not have any doubt about success of Doctor Hedgewar’s efforts.

There are many documentaries and books available on success story of Steve Jobs Apple or Bill Gates Microsoft commercial, there are documentaries studying Muslim brotherhood or Al-Qaida but it’s strange to note that no one ever bothered to study and represent the success of Doctor Hedgewar’s social and peaceful experiment.

There are 2 main reasons for this negligence by intellectual classes

1) Indian intellectual’s space remained dominated by communists & socialists and they denied any alternative idea as they thought it could cost their existence, so rather than accepting RSS, they almost denied the existence of such a great experiment or considered the idea to be vague.

2) Doctor Hedgewar give a significant emphasis to the thought that society and nation is above self, this thought kept members away from propaganda of organization and own leaders

So obvious question will come in anyone’s mind; what is formula of success so that Doctor Hedgewar’s experiment is still going strong even after 90 yrs. The answer remains simple, he set his own life as an example and pushed values at base of the organization, with growth of organization those values and ethos got inculcated in to every individual associated to the organization. Below are few values which kept RSS alive & flourishing.

• Flexibility: - Todays corporate giants are spending billions of $$ to make their organizations flexible. All IT firms are jumping from water fall to agile to dev ops methodology, just to make sure their organizations are flexible enough to accommodate customer’s needs & fast changing business environment but most of them failed, as flexible organization never meant flexible process but it meant flexible workforce who are ready to adopt any change. Dr. Hedgewar was aware that if RSS wants to survive for decades then it needs to be flexible. He worked with multiple ideologies so it was easy for him to be flexible not only that but he created mechanism/tool (RSS shakha) to embed this quality in people and that’s why RSS inspired organizations without any hesitation work with communist, church, Muslim organizations, etc on specific issues. Both Doctorji & Guruji have shown this quality through their actions, in China war Guruji aligned RSS with Nehruji lead Cong Government in national interest. Other sarsanghchalaks continued this tradition like RSS easily mingled with socialist & communist during emergency. Flexibility is deep rooted in RSS and that’s why swayamsevaks work even with ideological and political opponents for betterment of society.
• Adopting Changes: - Flexibility of thought process is one thing but adopting changes in working is very tough as human nature resist change. Individuals who are set for a bigger goal can adopt any change easily once they realize that change is required for achieving goal. For RSS it is easy to adopt change as flexibility in character allows swayamsevaks to hear and experiment in new territories and once they get convinced that a this change is needed for betterment of society then it is easily adopted. Doctorji in early days of RSS setup a process of discussion and adopting changes, RSS Prarthana (Prayer), Dress Code, shakha structure everything changed and that process is continue till today. Adoption is not always of process or structure but Organizations even need to adopt to people and their working style; easy transition from one sarsanghchalak to another is a good example of deep rooted value in swayamsevaks. Doctorji was military style person whereas Guruji was like a spiritual leader then also transition was smooth and that tradition is continue till date. Like other organizations you don’t hear controversies when sarsanghchalak at top or shakha level office bearers change as in RSS everyone is ready to accept change for bigger goal.
• Internal corrective Mechanism: - It’s easy to say organization is flexible and ready to adopt changes but most fail as slowly organizations get weak internally, best example is of “Satyam”; it failed internally as there was no corrective mechanism. Doctorji created an organizations which is like open source software project so that anybody can come and improve code. One surprise visible only in RSS, on its supporting platforms (Ex social media) people criticize and debate on how to improve organizations without moderators interfering; this same culture is in shakha’s or in RSS meetings. That’s why when youth flow started declining, internal corrective mechanism automatically come-up with IT Milan like concepts. This is only organization in which you can go to their platform, criticize them and they will not mock you but will invite to shakha to implement solution which you suggested.
• Nation (Goal) above Organization and Organization above Individual: - Most organizations fail as those get trapped into individual personas or dynasty cult. In a country where family, Caste, Group or Regional pride is prevalent, Doctorji’s success in creating RSS like organizations is a miracle where people work together keeping individual ego aside. By Making Bhagwa Dhwaj (Saffron Flag) as RSS guru, he taken a revolutionary step of making sure that RSS will never become a personality cult. Organizations which are process or goal oriented are successful than organization which are persona oriented. From Apple to Infosys, Congress to Shiv Sena; Baba Amate to Satya Sai trust; common question is who will take ahead work after one person? But you will never hear this question in RSS like ‘Who after this sarsanghchalak?’ or person as in everyone’s character it is embedded that organization is my responsibility and I need to work for it. Take an example of Congress, before independence it was an organization with rainbow of leaders with different ideology, all committed for a common goal but after Independence organization became a property of one family, members lost focus on goal as relationship with family became more important than the performance. Doctorji had a practical experience and he was aware of this danger, by keeping himself aside he made sure that Organization will not became individual cult and soon he got a chance to show that goals are even above organization when Laxmibai Kelkar approached him, it was easiest decision to start a women wing under his leadership but he taken a conscious decision to allow Laxmibai to start a parallel organization as he always said to build a nation and strong society, one RSS is not enough and if many organizations work parallel then goal can be achieved easily. His one decision set a future path for RSS that goals are above organization and that’s why we see flexibility that RSS don’t back out even when it comes to working with ideological opponents. Jan Sangh merged into Janta Party during emergency, this was simply means giving Jan Sangh political strength in hands of Socialist which were ideological opponent of organization but goals taken precedence over existence of one political outfit.
• Firm on Core Values: - Organizations which are flexible and ready to accept new things are always at a risk of getting carried away from core strength and that’s where APPLE became a unique company under leadership of Steve Jobs, even after market pressure he never given on core beliefs like support to Flash and many other things. Even though RSS is in different domain but same applies to it. RSS never go away from core values of nationalism and Hindu culture even after criticism & pressure, organization stayed firm on core values and always maintained a delicate balance between flexibility and firm stand on issues. This can be seen in RSS stand of staying away from all activities and freedom to swayamsevaks to work on different cause; many debated this is a wrong strategy in PR sensitive world but RSS stayed firm as it believed in this model.
• Innovation: - Starting RSS like an organization was in itself an innovative idea and that tradition continued at every level. If you want to understand what is mean by innovation in daily life then just go for RSS outings and you will be surprised from game to food to songs to even traveling  some type of innovative twist would have been given so that participant of any age and background feel comfortable. In family outings 3 or 4 generation from all professional, cultural and regional backgrounds participate but things are planned in such a way that everyone enjoy and get connected. Different initiative like IT Milan, family shakha, Skype shakha, Projects like Kanyakumari Vivekananda Kendra, 1 teacher school (and list goes on) shows Swayamsevaks innovative mindset for betterment of society and growth of organization.
• Planning: - “Failing to plan is planning to fail”; this quote may have overlooked by corporate people but it is embodied in RSS character. In every program or day to day activity Planning, POC & dry runs are followed meticulously, simple task like taking flowers is planned in advance and allocated to owners. This planning habit helped RSS swayamsevaks in executing big programs attended by lakhs of people with 100% precision and in running some of world’s biggest organizations without creating Chaos.
• Leadership: - RSS aim is not to create cadre to follow organization dictates but aim is to create leaders who can go to different walks of life and solve problems in society; that’s why RSS don’t use term Cadre but use word “Swayamsevak” which can be translated in English as Volunteer but thought process is not exactly same. Even though swayamsevak & Volunteer both have same character of alignment with Goal and not organization but like volunteer, swayamsevak will not just support a cause but expectation is he must lead solution and that’s why so many RSS inspired organizations are there. In society when swayamsevak see a problem either he try to solve or create an institution to solve it but approach is different than communist activism. Communist believe in instigating people against Government or system and start class struggle but swayamsevak believe in finding out solution, he will try to setup school & hospital for lack of education or medical facility to poor. Leadership is not necessary means leading people but it also means owning task and get it done like starting a new shakha or just making sure Dhwaj(Flag) reach daily on time. RSS don’t believe in passive participation of swayamsevak and that’s why in programs everyone have separate ownership from reciting prayer/song or Quote; carrying flag or contacting to other members etc., everyone is involved and owns something or leads some area which ultimately build leadership quality.
• Collective decision making: - Most people misunderstand innovation and leadership as walking alone but this will defeat RSS purpose of uniting people. RSS leadership very carefully cultivated a process of collective decision making and this kept RSS away from internal controversies or fights as everyone in involved in decision making. In any other organization, selection of person on sarsanghchalak like powerful and nominated post would have been hot potato but in RSS things are smooth as even for a nominated post outgoing sarsanghchalak discuss with all office-bearers and senior swayamsevaks and that’s why announcement may come as a surprise for outer world but for inner circles this is just one another change as most people know in advance why & who? This quality kept RSS intact and strong as swayamsevaks of different views fiercely discuss ideas but decision is taken on merits of argument or on majority and this keeps all united and moving ahead together
• Discipline: - Once person start attending shakha, he automatically becomes disciplined by shakha activity and surrounding. Innovation and flexibility does not means anarchy; for success a disciplined team which can work together in one direction is 1^st requirement. RSS swayamsevak are disciplined not only in parades and programs but even in decision making process; if a decision taken even after fierce debate then also you will never hear any RSS office bearer or swayamsevak speaking against collective decision and that’s why RSS strength get multiplied by many fold as once decision taken, all efforts get focused on working on implementation.

RSS leadership try to strengthen Swayamsevak character by embedding above qualities through Shakha,some of the qualities get automatically adopted as they realize that these qualities need for working as a team towards betterment of society.