Vijayadashami 1947 Address — M. S. Golwalkar विजयादशमी १९४७

The day

• Date: 24 October 1947 — the calendar date of Vijayadashami; our sources do not record the exact day of the gathering
• Place: Nagpur
• Address by: M. S. Golwalkar

What the address covered

In the first Vijayadashami after Independence and Partition, as summarised in the Shri Guruji Samagra, Golwalkar answered critics who called the Sangh both inactive and 'anti-national'. He said an English newspaper had grudgingly credited it with relief work for Punjab's Hindus, and that swayamsevaks had done this as a natural duty without publicity. He suggested rival parties feared the Sangh's popularity at elections, said no opposition would stop it, and rejected blind imitation of Russia, America or England. He also explained the meaning of the shami puja and simollanghan traditions.

Context

Held amid the post-Partition violence. Curran (1951) describes the RSS's agitation among refugees during the winter of 1947-48.

How sure is this?

This account rests mainly on one source, listed below; details may be incomplete. For these years the main source is the organisation's own compilation of Golwalkar's talks (Shri Guruji Samagra), which prints edited summaries rather than verbatim transcripts.

In the archive

• ← Vijayadashami 1946 Address — M. S. Golwalkar5 October 1946 (calendar date) · M. S. Golwalkar
• Vijayadashami 1949 Address — M. S. Golwalkar →1 October 1949 (calendar date) · M. S. Golwalkar
• All years, 1925–2026The full table
• 100 years of Vijayadashami addressesOverview and milestones