For the last two weeks, I have been feeling a pang in my heart again and again. And it seems that our sensitivity is becoming futile. Tomorrow is Sane Guruji’s 75th death anniversary. He committed suicide (10 June 1950). Because it has been three years since independence, but even today the atrocities on Dalits, tribals and women are increasing instead of decreasing. The same untouchability continues with Dalits. Dogs and cats can easily go to the temple. But Dalits are prohibited from entering.
Independence was achieved in 1947 but it came with the partition of the country. And the world’s biggest tragedy was that more than two crore people had to face displacement. And lakhs of people were killed. And around the same time (30 January 1948) Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. All this pain became unbearable for a person as sensitive as Sane Guruji. Therefore, he became a victim of insomnia. And that is why he used to try to sleep by taking sleeping pills. And on 9 June 1950, he ended his life by taking too many pills.
Today it has been 75 years since his death. Looking at the picture of the country and the world in 75 years, it seems that it has worsened more than before. Be it America or India, how many people have died due to nepotism? Be it American or Indian, who were the people who died in the havoc of Corona? Sensitive people like Sane Guruji cannot see all this. Either our own sensitivity has died or our mind has become used to ignoring it even after seeing all this. Although suicide is not the way to solve the problem. But some people cannot see all this, cannot bear it. Although Sane Guruji was born on 24 December 1899, that is, a week before the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Leaving aside the first 20-25 years of his life which were devoted to studies, every moment of the rest till 11 June 1950 was spent for the country and the world. Seven and a half years were spent in jail for participating in the freedom movement. And 25 years in teaching-training. That means in a life of 51 years, almost half of his life was spent in public work. In which he dedicated it to the workers-farmers movement and most importantly to free the country from the clutches of the British.
He had no personal life. He was not married. Therefore, he lived with his friends in the commune. There was no question of him having his own property. And that is why Vinoba, being a saint himself, used to call Sane Guruji a saint.
Therefore, after Shivaji Maharaj, Jyotiba Phule and Baba Saheb Ambedkar, it is only Sane Guruji who has had an influence on the minds of people of Maharashtra. A whole generation has emerged into the public life of Maharashtra because of him. In the Quit India Movement of 1942, hundreds of people participated without caring for their lives, with Sane Guruji as the focal point. That has been a great feat in the life of Sane Guruji. For one thing, he was able to stay underground for a long time. And at that time, he did a great job with the help of his followers by putting in all his strength. In 1941, the Rashtriya Seva Dal was established. And for about 9 years until Guruji’s death in 1950, he worked a lot to strengthen the Rashtriya Seva Dal. He used to say, “Seva Dal is my life breath”. Even today, more than half of the songs of the Rashtriya Seva Dal are by Guruji. Before embracing death in 1947, despite Gandhi and Vinoba’s refusal, Sane Guruji first did public awareness campaign in entire Maharashtra through the Rashtriya Seva Dal’s Kalapathak to allow Dalits to enter Vitthal temple of Pandharpur. And after that he started his hunger strike on 1st May 1947 and the temple priests (called Badge in Marathi) had to agree to Guruji’s words after 10 days. And the ancient Vitthal temple of Pandharpur was freed for all. But there was a lot of criticism in this movement. Due to which Guruji was upset. And this must have been one of the reasons for Guruji’s disappointment. Because he had expected a lot in independent India. He thought that now the British are gone. Our own people are running the government of the country. So he sincerely believed that his government will not show any laxity in providing justice to its citizens. But he had started getting disillusioned a year or two ago. In the meanwhile, he started a newspaper named ‘Kartavya’. And soon had to close it due to lack of money. Then on the first Independence Day, he started a weekly named Sadhana. (15th August 1948) But the desired results were not coming. Kartavya was closed but Sadhana is still being published. Guruji did not care about the questions of personal life. But the efforts he was making for the country, the world and to make it better. He was not seeing the desired results in that. And all this must have become unbearable for his tolerance. And he must have decided to end his life.
However, if a friend commits suicide in such a public life, then my personal opinion is that we are also responsible for it. Because we have fallen short in understanding the psyche of our friend. Our relations become useless. We probably consider understanding the pain of the people associated with us as anti-revolution. Therefore, personal relations become very casual. We remain happy with each other’s happiness and sorrows because we are engrossed in the tune of our revolution. And we have to lose a precious friend like Guruji. Even though I was born three years after Guruji’s death, I am suffering from guilt. And I have tried to express this for the first time today. Many other people have committed suicide in public life. And I believe that whatever may be the Criminal Procedure Code of India, but we are also responsible for those suicides. In which Guruji’s suicide is supreme. We have made the mistake of losing one of the best people in the world.
If any friend does not like what I said, I apologize, but this realization has been going on in my mind since I became conscious. I have discussed this matter in great detail with my senior friends Vasant Palshikar, Gaur Kishore Ghosh, Prof. Amlan Dutta, Prof. Shiv Narayan Rai and the famous playwright of the Bengali theatre world, Badal Sarkar. Because such incidents were happening around all these friends of ours, we had to discuss this. And in that discussion, I have also discussed Sane Guruji’s suicide quite openly.
Guruji has been a poet, writer, journalist and one of those who have given social and political leadership. He was one of those who tried to fulfill the dreams of socialism, democracy and egalitarian society. And that is why he used his words and writing to remove all kinds of inequality. And that is why he has tried to bring the world literature and Indian elite literature in Marathi language. And that is why he had imagined Antarbharati. There are so many languages in such a big country. And we are not familiar with other languages of our own country. So his effort was that we should know at least one or two languages of our country. And that is why he had imagined Antarbharati. After him some people are trying.
There is no dearth of poets and writers in Marathi language. But there are many who live in their own separate worlds, oblivious of the world around us. There is an old discussion about art for art’s sake. But Sane Guruji was a very good citizen along with being a very good poet and writer. And with his inspiration, he has inspired more good people to move forward in every field of life. These include Madhu Limaye, Madhu Dandavate, S.M. Joshi, Nana Saheb Gore, Yadunath Thatte, Vasant Bapat, Bhai Vaidya, Dr. Baba Adhav, Bagaram Tulpule, Vasant Nagarkar, Professor Sadanand Varde, Sudha Varde, Mrinal Gore, Pramila Dandavate, Professor G.P. Pradhan and Sane Guruji’s role has been very big in enriching the literary world as well as the public life of Maharashtra. Today, on his 75th death anniversary, while paying humble tributes to him, the resolution to fulfill the efforts of the better world he had set out to create, will be the true tribute to him.
