Why has Gujarat become a laboratory of the Sangh Parivar? The answer lies in the book written by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in which he has depicted the lives of the leaders who built the Parivar in the state.

Modi, in his book Jyotipunj, written in Gujarati and released in Ahmedabad on Monday, has written on unsung heroes of the Sangh Parivar who worked in oblivion throughout their lives to build the organisation in Gujarat.

In his book, Modi says that he has obtained his sanskars from these RSS leaders. In the 200-page book, he has written about the lives of 16 leaders of the Sangh Parivar.

He has described in detail about their character, their strength, their skill in organistion building and above all their simplicity.

"The work of the Sangh Parivar is an open university in organisation building," Modi writes in the chapter on one such leader Keshavrao Deshmukh. He describes RSS as the, "silent revolution of making men".

Modi says, "The RSS model of making leaders needs to be studied in comparison to western models which is being taught in IIMs, Harvard and Stanford".

"The RSS has a unique culture in which they do not teach to impress, but they give importance to renunciation, dedication and hard work," he added.

Modi has described in detail the hard work done by these RSS leaders to build the organisation in the state. He said it is due to their work and work of other RSS volunteers that the Sangh Parivar has grown into a vat vrakush (a big tree).

"These people have given their life without expecting any rewards from the society. The society is unaware about the work done by them," he added.

"People will come to know about the work of the RSS by reading this book," Modi said.

He said in his book that it is a myth that Sangh Parivar is formed by upper caste Brahmins. "If we look at the development of RSS in the states, there are many leaders from lower rungs of the Hindu society, who have contributed to the development of Sangh Parivar in Gujarat," Modi said in the chapter on RSS leader Babjubhai Oza.

Oza, who came from other backward class community, held one of the top posts of RSS leadership in the state for a long time, Modi said.

Modi, who has been a RSS worker, has refrained to write about his relationship with the leaders on whom he has written in the book.

The Sangh Parivar leaders about whom Modi has written in his book are Dr P V Doshi, K K Shastri, Laxmanrao Inamdar, Madhukarao Bhagwat, Anantrao Kale, Keshavrao Deshmukh, Vasant Gajendragadkar, Dr Vishwanath Vanikar, Kashinath Bagwade, Nathalal Jaghda, Babubhai Oza, Bachubhai Bhagat, Vasudevrao Talavkar and Vasantrao Chilponkar

source : http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/apr/15modi.htm