Mumbai, Oct 18 — On the occasion of the centenary year of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Entrepreneur and writer Brinda Kotak on Sunday spoke openly about the organisation's philosophy of work in connection with the book "Hundred Years Young: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh".
She said that although she has had no direct personal or family connection with the RSS, the organisation's selfless and ground-level work has transformed her outlook on life.
Highlighting what she considers the Sangh's greatest strength, Kotak added that the RSS focuses not on publicity but solely on work, and is working towards the vision of a strong India where one day even its own existence may no longer be needed.
Commenting on the book "Hundred Years Young: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh", Kotak said, "I am very grateful to be a part of this book, and I am very happy with the selection of young people who have been specially chosen to share their thoughts and perspectives on the RSS for this book, because there are people like me who actually have no direct connection with the RSS, either family-wise or otherwise."
She added that even so, they are deeply inspired by what the RSS does, by its ground-level work, and that this has directly influenced her life.
"I can speak on behalf of hundreds, thousands and millions of other young people on whom the RSS has had a positive impact," she said.
"For me, personally, what the RSS has done is change my mindset about many things. I write about this in the book as well. But one important thing that the RSS has taught me is to work for something beyond oneself. We had always heard this. We had always read about it, but actually seeing it in the form of work through the RSS was a different experience," Kotak added.
She expressed the hope for a world in which every citizen of India is so empowered that there is no need for the RSS or any organisation like it.
"I find this incredible. One complaint that I and all of us have about the RSS is that we do not know much about them. They are doing a great deal, but we have very little information about them. The reason is that their focus is never on sending out any kind of message or spreading an ideology. Their focus is on doing the work."
On Prime Minister Narendra Modi completing 25 years as head of government, Kotak said, "It is wonderful. Look at the kind of conversation we were having about Indian politics, the Indian polity and India's place on the global stage just before PM Modi was elected in 2014, and the conversation we are having now. India's position in the world, India's respect in the world, and India's economic power in the world have completely changed."
She added that she can clearly see that difference, and every young person around her age can see and feel it.
"This is proof of how much change has actually taken place, because the conversation we were having in 2014 and the conversation we are having now are completely different."
Regarding the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests, Kotak said, "First of all, I would like to say that the right to protest belongs to everyone, and everyone, especially the youth, should exercise this right. But there should be a purpose behind it. It should be done with the right mindset, with the right permissions and with the right rights."
She noted that there have been several instances, particularly in the present environment, where those boundaries were not respected.
"I would like to tell our youth that they should not focus on breaking our society and country, but rather on becoming creators, being productive for society, and contributing to the building of society."