18.The Ghost of Casteism:

In the early days of Sangha, Doctorjee personally spoke with everyone who wanted to join the shakha. He used to ask about the name, the place of birth, etc of the prospective Swayamsevak. Anyone could join, if they answered these simple questions in a straight-forward, honest manner. This first "interview" was a needed precaution to avoid spies for the British Government trouble makers and informants who pretended to be eager to join, but their real motive was to spy on the activities of Sangha.

In one such "get acquainted" type chit-chat, Doctorjee asked one person about his native place. Instead of replying with the name of the town, the person said " I belong to  the Non-Brahmin cast". Doctorjee was surprised and said, "there is no caste with such a name, and Sangha does not wish to know what your cast is, since all are equally treated in Sangha as Hindus." This did not satisfy the person, who insisted on saying that he was a Non-Brahmin and did not like any Brahmins. Doctorjee calmly replied, "Sangha does not distinguish between castes.  For us, all are Hindus.  Please do not hate any caste or castes, because this can cause disunity in the society. Such feelings are not healthy." The gentleman angrily insisted that Doctorjee was not believable.  Doctorjee again calmly said: "Sangha has never asked for, or distinguished between castes. It will never do so.  If you wish to hate any caste, your feelings are not conducive to the unity of the whole Hindu society. Therefore, please give up this dislike or hatred.  Without this, you will find Sangha to be completely impossible to live with." The gentleman angrily went away.

This incident shows how visionary and foresighted Doctorjee was really right from the beginning of the Sangha. He took extreme care to preclude this poison of caste-hatred from entering Sangha.

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