Stalwarts Involved      

So with this reassurance, I left for Madras & then Kanyakumari, went through all the correspondence. In August realized that the work could not be managed from outside. Remaining as a RSS worker helping from outside would not do. I had to be a spokesman of this VRM Committee. I had to have some locus standi in the Committee. So I wrote to Guruji Golwalkar that the whole matter was such that I should have to completely identify myself with the Committee & I would not be able to do any Sangh work. If he was prepared for it he should tell me. I got his permission. Had he known that it was going to take years, I don’t think he would have given me clearance. Then on 11/8/1963 I became the Organizing Secretary of the VRM Committee.

The Plunge into the Task - Immediately I moved to Calcutta . At that time two key persons were opposing the idea. One of them was Humayun Kabir, Cultural Minister at the Centre. He had said number of times that Swamiji’s statue on the Rock would spoil the natural beauty of the place. Shri Bhaktavatsalam, CM of Tamil Nadu was saying that the Central Minister was against it. Shri Kabir was to be won over first. His constituency was Calcutta.

There was an International Centenary Committee formed by the Ramakrishna Mission of which Swami Sambhuddhanandaji was the Gen Secretary. I approached him for help. He deputed one of the sannyasins to go with me to all the press people. This way I met & befriended all the correspondents, journalists, editors of the Ananda Bazar Patrika etc.

After having prepared the field I addressed a crowded press conference on 2/9/1963 where I stated that Shri Humayun Kabir had expressed (Swamiji had agreed to this). The effect was expected. All the papers & some editorials criticized Shri Kabir. Calcutta was his constituency. You know where the weakness of the political personages lies. Immediately Shri Kabir called for me and I met him at Delhi. He told me: “It is true that I voiced this opinion that VRM should not be there. But then, I had voiced similar opinion against the Gandhi Memorial too. At that time they did not pay heed to my advice. I am dead against renovation of temples but they are doing on it. So also I expressed only at one or two places that it may not be good. They are using my statement. They actually do not want it themselves. So you can say that I am not against it”.

Now we came into confrontation with Shri Bhaktavatsalam who was to come to Delhi. In the meantime, I had met Shri Lal Bahadur Shashtri who had no portfolio. He said: “Mr Ranade, I also very much desire that Memorial should be there on the Rock alone and not on the shore. But then you want help from me. I am a very patient man, very slow. If you are in a hurry and if you want to do this & do that, then I shall not be of any use. I do things at proper time. If you have enough patience, then you can bank on me”. So I asked: “What shall I do?”.

He said: “You mobilize public opinion & when the time comes, I will tell you, ‘now it is my work’. Then I said: “Shri Bhaktavatsalam is coming to Delhi. I want to meet him; I am told he is a very blunt man. I shall have to talk to him. So if matters get precipitated and he says no, when what to do? He said: “This is exactly what I am pointing at. You should allow the matter to continue, discussions should continue, dialogues should continue. You should not break. You should not allow matters to precipitate. Even if he says “No” you should manage to continue the dialogue. Shri Bhaktavatsalam is an adamant man. The only person who can deliver is Pandit Nehru. But the time is not congenial. I will have to wait for the right opportunity to put it into his hears. Till that time you continue the dialogue”.

So when I talked to Shri Bhaktavatsalam he found that he was almost cornered, and said: “I do not remember the conversation. After all, why are you insisting on the Memorial on the Rock? Even if you put the Memorial & the statue on the Rock, what is the use of that statue? It won’t be visible from the shore. I will never allow a bridge because it will spoil the beauty of the place”. I said: “All right, we will do away with the bridge, and w.r.t to the statue, we can have a statue of 50 or 100 feet”. “What! 50 feet?” I said: “Yes 50 or 100 feet, than can be done. That will be visible from the shore, from 2 miles, 10 miles”. He was flabbergasted and just to brush aside he said: “All right, then you give me another scheme, we shall think over it”. But I got an excuse to continue the dialogue.

I consulted Shri Sathe, an architect from Bombay who told me that a 60 feet high statue would be enough to make it visible from the shore. Meantime, I was also a little impatient, because January 1964 was approaching, and I knew very well that once the Centenary Year passes away, the whole thing would become stale.

Since the Parliament was in session I camped in Delhi, spoke with members / friends who were sympathetic. I was specially thinking of giving a petition to the Govt with signatures of as many persons as possible. I found that almost all of them were favorably disposed. So I met Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri and spoke about the idea of a petition addressed to Pandit Nehru signed by some important persons in Parliament belonging to different parties. Shashtriji said – “Excellent do it. That is exactly what I want. Every other day something must appear in the Hindustan Times, here there. It must be in the air. And this petition will do”.

I decided to collect as many signatures as possible. Within three days I collected 323 signatures. First I approached all the leaders. Shri Raghunath Singh M.P. from Banaras was a top man. He was the Secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party. I used to meet him everyday & talk to him everyday. Then one day I broached the subject of the petition with him. He agreed and said: “Mine will be the first signature”. So on 23rd at six I went to his house with all the forms. He asked, “What made you come so early”. I said. “That petition we are going to present to the PM. So your first signature. I have to start work today”. And he signed.

When I showed his signature immediately all Congress people signed saying, “Oh Shri Raghunath Singh has signed”. In that Central Hall I collected 90 signatures within an hour, the signatures of all top Congressmen. After some discussions on the nature of the Congress government Shri Ram Manohar Lohia signed. Naturally when he signed all in the Socialist group put their signatures. Then Shri Ranga & Shri Vajpayee and all other political leaders also signed the petition. Then I went to Smt Renu Chakravarti, the Communist leader. Although she was against some words I told her that they cannot be removed. She said, “You leave this paper with me. I will get you signatures of some people”. And she got the signatures of the whole group of Communists from Bengal.

Shri C N Annadurai was a great admirer of Swami Vivekananda. Through the efforts of Shri Nedunchezhian, the Education Minister I met Shri Annadurai. When we met he praised Swamiji and then asked, “What do you want from me”. I said, “We have a State Unit of Tamil Nadu for the VRM. We already have a President. We want a Vice-President. We would like you to be one of our Vice-Presidents”. He said: “Since I am a Member of Parliament, I stay in Delhi most of the time. Make Shri Nedunchezhian your Vice-President”. I agreed and suggested that Shri Annadurai becomes a member of our General Body. He agreed. Because of the association of Shri Annadurai all DMK people also subscribed their signature.

We had prepared two copies of the petition. One for the PM and another for Shri Bhaktavatsalam, CM of Tamil Nadu. Shri M S Aney, the oldest M.P. from Tilak’s time was approached to present the petition. On 26/12/ 1963 the petition was given. After it was given I went to Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri and told him about the petition. He was stunned to hear that 323 members had signed the petition. He said, “You have done a good job. So, now it is my turn. The Rock Memorial is assured now”.

Next day Panditji said, “As far as the Govt of India is concerned, we shall very much like to have Swamiji’s statue on the Rock. But after all, it is a matter for the Madras govt to decide. However, I am going to Madras soon for unveiling of Swamiji’s statue. At that time, I shall speak to the CM & see what I can do in the matter”.

2 days later some correspondents of the Hindu met Shri Bhaktavatsalam and obtained a statement from him, “We never objected to the statue on the Rock. The only apprehension or objection was that the statue being in the midst of the sea will be constantly washed by the waves & it could not stand there for long”. I met the CM later. He said, “You do not know the fanatics. They will not allow the statue to remain there. Some structure – a formidable structure should be there so that you can put the statue under lock. So if the Committee is prepared to put up such a statue I have no objection.”

Friends am ignoring detailed conversation. CM said, “the shrine like structure should be of the size 15*15, that is the maximum”. When the whole controversy was going on Swami Chidbhavananda thought the committee was being stubborn by insisting that the Memorial be on the Rock & not on the shore. Whatever may be the other things in him Shri Bhaktavatsalam was very particular that the Rock must be established as “Vivekananda Rock”. The CM told Swamiji: “I can allot a place on the shore to put up a memorial there. You put up a memorial on the shore, so that I can show to the world that this Committee is obstinate”.

The CM asked Swamiji to make a statue of Swami Vivekananda with dimension 15 feet by 15 feet. “Before January 1964 the memorial must be completed. I shall ask Dr Radhakrishnan to come there & open it”. CM met Dr Radhakrishnan (President) and persuaded him to come to Kanyakumari for the inauguration of that 15 by 15 Memorial. I was also keeping contact with the President. So I met him and said, “I have come to know that you are coming to Kanyakumari for unveiling Swamiji’s statue. My only request is that when you come you should visit Vivekananda Rock”. Accordingly he wrote to Shri Bhaktavatsalam who flared up: “He is coming for inaugurating the Memorial & he goes to the Rock & again the issue will remain the same. So that would not serve the purpose”.

So he informed the President that it would not be proper to visit the Rock and that he should inaugurate the Memorial only. The President did not want to get into any controversy & decided not come. The Memorial was opened for the public during the Centenary Year. So he wanted that the Memorial that was to come up on the Rock should not be bigger than the Memorial on the shore. I said: “Fine. Now we need not fight with each other as we have a common goal. We shall put up the Memorial there and you have also agreed”.

In the meantime, Shri Humayan Kabir was allotted some other portfolio and Shri Chagla became the Cultural Affairs Minister. He was very well disposed towards us & I had a number of meetings with him. So I told Shri Bhaktavatsalam: “These people should atleat be consulted and their advice taken about what sort of memorial should be there”. CM said” “whom are you going to consult”. I said, “I am going to consult only six persons. Dr Radhakrishnan, Pt Nehru, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, Shri M C Chagla, President of the Ramakrishna Mission & Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. In one month’s time I shall come”.

Except for Pandit Nehru where Shastriji advised me to wait for the right time I met the other five people and everybody said that when the Memorial was put up on the rock, it must be a magnificent one. I knew that Shri Bhaktavatsalam respected only person in Tamil Nadu ie the Shankaracharya therefore I included his name.

Then we got a very good artiste Shri S K Achari. Eventually he became our Chief Architect. Shankaracharya cited verses from Shilpa Shastra and persuaded Shri Achari to prepare a particular design. Eventually I met Shri Bhaktavatsalam. Knowing the CM’s respect for the Shankaracharya I said: “He asked me to send him the architect whom we thought of engaging for this work. He had discussions with him and he has prepared some designs. So I showed him modern designs & also design prepared by Shri Achari in consultation with the Shankaracharya”. Once approved by the Shankaracharya Shri Bhaktavatsalam had nothing more to say.

I said: “One difficulty is there. You were talking of 15 by 15 feet. It is now 91 by 32 feet. He said: All right, let it be”. Now the actual design of the Memorial are 180 by 56.5 feet excluding the Sripada Mandapam & the Meditation Hall. We thought that we should present our proposals in installments.