Hedgewar: A Definitive Biography – The Companion Podcast

Chapter 18 – The Long Shadow

Hedgewar was no more, but his ideas did not simply die with him. Under new leadership, the RSS grew from strength to strength in independent, post-partition India, with an impact to rival – or even surpass – that of Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar. But where does it go today – will it continue to build social capital or be seduced by that great temptress, power itself?

Chapter 17 – Last Stand

Hedgewar’s journey was coming to an end – and he knew it. In his final days, how did he lay the foundations for the RSS to continue on its path beyond his lifetime? Who, if anybody, could take forward his vision in the battles to come?

Chapter 16 – Wars and Visions

As Hedgewar’s health declined, his world was on fire. The RSS was growing, but not fast enough to be the bulwark that Hindu society needed. How could it manage the three-pronged threat of Muslim nationalism, the stirrings of World War II that would further drain India’s resources, and a growing fallout with Savarkar?

Chapter 15 – The Vanguard

10 years after its inception, the RSS had grown but still could not accommodate half of India’s population: its women. In a time of rising tensions, this is the story of how one woman – Lakshmi Kelkar – changed this, and helped to propel Hedgewar’s movement forward.

Chapter 14 – Between Saffron and Silence

As the RSS continued to spread across India and build bonded social capital, it risked creating a Hindu ‘us’ opposed to a ‘them’. Yet Hedgewar was not creating a divisive patriotism, but a more open sense of desh bhakti that raised the Hindu community beyond caste and creed – catching the eye even of Gandhi himself.