Margaret Thatcher at the HSS function in UK
| Source: VSK Date: 4/12/2013 2:23:39 PM |
- Shankar Tatwawadi
Shrimati
Margaret Thatcher, the First and the only Lady Prime Minister of UK
(1979 to 1990) passed away in Ritz Hospital, London on Monday, 8th April
2013. Her last rites will be performed at St Paul's Cathedral in London
on 17th April at which Queen Elizabeth will be present. The function
will be held with State Honor. Very few persons have been thus honored.
They include Princess Diana, Queen Mother and the legendary hero Sir
Winston Churchill.
Mrs Thatcher was the longest serving
Prime Minister of UK for a little short of three terms.She came from the
Conservative Party and evoked mixed reactions for some of her policies
and actions while she was the Prime Minister. The total crushing of the
Trade Unions and the war with Argentina on the issue of control of
Falkland Islands were some of her landmark decisions during her regime.
She has been both praised and criticised for these actions. She is known
as the Iron Lady of UK.
The Hindus and particularly those in UK
have a special reason to remember Shrimati Thatcher because of her
presence at the Sangh Function in UK in the year 1990 while she was the
Prime Minister.
The occasion was the Makar Sankranti
Utsav of the Finchley Shakha of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh in UK. Finchley
is the northern part of greater London with a sizeable Indian population
and was also the constituency of Margaret Thatcher. Hindu Swayamsevak
Sangh (HSS) has a good network of Shakhas in London and Finchley Shakha
was regularly meeting in a local school. Shri Ghanshyam Master was the
karyavah of the shakha which has a regular attendance of about 20 to 25
swayamsevaks including youngsters and the youth. Shri Ghanshyam Master
was a friend of the political representative of Shrimati Thatcher of
that area. Ghanshyam ji had told his friend about the Sangh Shakha and
its activities and had requested him to bring Shrimati Thatcher to see
the shakha. The friend and through him Shrimati Thatcher knew about the
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh as a non political cultural group imparting
discipline and character building training. Because of her extremely
busy schedule of political and administrative engagements, for quite
some time she did not get the opportune time to visit the shakha.
In the year 1989, Hindu Swayamsevak
Sangh of UK had planned a very big gathering of the UK Hindus at a place
called Milton Keynes, which is located about 70 miles north of London.
The gathering was held on 26th and 27th August with almost 100,000 (one
lakh) Hindus assembling for two days. About 30 religious leaders
representing all the major Hindu religious sampradayas were present at
this occasion which was inaguarated by Swami Chinmayanand of the
Chinmaya Mission. Swami Satyamitranand ji Giri was the conveyor of this
event. The speakers included Muni Susheelkumar, Doctor Swami of the
Swaminarayan Sampraday, Shri Morari Bapu, Shri Rameshbhai Ojha, Sardar
Samsher Singh. Swami Bhavyanand, Shri Chitrabhanu ji , Shri Maheshanand
Giri ji and a host of others. Man Sudarshan ji, the then Sah sar
karyavah also addressed the gathering. It was also the centenary year of
Poojaneeya Dr Hedgewar.
The event was initiated with the
chaupais and Geeta Chanting by Lata Mangeshkar and in the evening Shri
Sudheer Phadke, Shri Anoop Jalota and other famous artists entertained
the audience.
This was so far the biggest gathering of
Hindus outside Bharat and the whole programme was a talk of UK during
that time because of the discipline and the satwik nature of the
programme. The mayor of Milton Keynes was the chief guest at the event
and he had publicly spoken very highly about the function. It is a guess
that the good comments about this Hindu gathering might have reached
the Government and the Prime Minister because a few Members of the
Parliament had also participated in the event.
We have reason to believe that this probably prompted the Prime Minister to visit the Sangh Shakha in her constituency.
It was decided that she would attend the
Makar Sankranti Utsav of the Finchley Shakha. It was 19th January
1990.With a short notice of only a few days the arrangements were made.
Sanghchalak Man Satyanarayan ji, and Karyavah Shri Dhirubhai Desai along
with a few other karyakartas were on the dias. About 50 swayamsevaks
and sevikas were present in full Sangh uniform consisting of black
trousers, black shoes and sox and a white top.
There was not much of a protocol with
the arrival of the prime minister because it was a semi private and non
official function. At around six o'clock she arrived and was given a
Swagat Pranam. She was escorted at the dias by the adhikaries. Bhagwa
flag was hoisted. All did pranam (in UK they have pranam like a simple
namaskar) and so the prime minister. The Sangh Prarthana was sung with
lead and follow style. The prime Minister also stood in the attention
position along with the other swayamsevaks during the whole prarthana
time.
The Sanghchalak them welcomed the prime
minister and presented her with a bouquet and then requested her to
garland the picture (the bust) of Dr Hedgewar and she quickly adhered to
the request. Could anyone have thought that a day would be there when
the prime minister of UK would garland the bust of Doctor ji who was
sentenced in India a few decades back because he was not loyal to the
Empire?
A small demonstration of Vyayam Yoga by the swayamsevaks and Yogchap by a group of Sevikas was then presented.
After a chorus by all the sangh
swayamsevaks Man Sanghchalak spoke about the importance of the Makar
Sankranti among the Hindus and requested the prime minister to give her
blessings to the swayamsevaks.
Shrimati Thatcher then spoke for about
ten minutes. In the beginning she mentioned as to how lucky we all are
who can enjoy this change of season.
She then spoke about the Hindu
contribution to the world. She first mentioned about the concept of Zero
(counting on her fingers, one to nine and then saying "naught" i.e.
zero). She also spoke highly about the Hindu Family system and said that
"we christians also have similar family bondage". She congratulated the
young swayamsevaks and the sevikas for the good physical demonstration.
She made an interesing jovial reference to Yogchap (the wooden musical
item). A set of Sangh books was then presented to her along with a piece
of Yogchap to practice. She was offered TILGUD and she obliged without
any hesitation.
Then there was the lowering of the flag after the conventional Dhwaj Pranam and VIKIR, i.e. the dispersal.
The prime Minister then took a round in
the hall meeting informally with the swayamsevaks and also the others
present in the hall. She was very casual, informal and in a pleasant
mood. The young 6-7 years old grand daughter of Man Bhaskar rao Gadre
was among the audience standing along with her mother. The prime
minister after approaching her, kneeled down and fondled her lovingly.
The function thus came to an end. The adhikaries escorted the
dignitaries up to the gate of the school.
It was thus a historical moment for the
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, UK that a person no less than a stature of the
Prime Minister of UK was present at one of the national festivals of the
Sangh and gave her blessings to the Hindu youths.
The whole function lasted for about an
hour. Fortunately a video of the whole event has been taken and is
available at the sangh archives. An audio of the speech of Shrimati
Thatcher is also preserved at the archives.
Finchley shakha is regularly held even
now and is known as Pratap Shakha. It has however been shifted now to
another nearby location.
source: www.vskbharat.com
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