By V. Shanmuganathan, Hon’ble Governor of Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh
Mananiya Sri. K. Suryanarayana Rao (Suruji) came to Tamil Nadu in the early 70s from Bangalore. The people of Tamil Nadu were quite impressed by his tall, well built, pleasing and majestic personality. He was a real leader with extraordinary determination. After coming to Tamil Nadu, he learnt the Tamil language and was able to read and write in Tamil with ease. He started working from Chennai. He toured entire Tamil Nadu. He identified himself with the common people of Tamil Nadu.
His narration of the life of Swami Vivekananda to the public was soul stirring. “Have faith in yourself and God” used to be a famous quotation from him. His powerful diction, narrating skills, dramatic voice and emotional presentation created the impact that they should live for the glory of the motherland.
He narrated the life of Sri Guruji Golwalkar in an elaborated manner to all the karyakartas. He also spoke about his own personal experiences with Sri Guruji, and his personal letters to him and life incidents of Sri Guruji as the disciple of Swami Akhandananda, Sri Guruji and doctor Hedgewar, Sri Guruji as sarsangachalak, Sri Guruji and Kashmir and so on among the swayamsevaks of the Sangha in an inspiring manner.
He came as Saha Kshetra Pracharak to Tamil Nadu in the year 1970. He was shaped and given to Tamil Nadu by Shri Yadahava Rao Joshy. He concentrated in Tamil Nadu completely. Sri Suryanarayana Rao was just like a Sun-God for us. The Sun God had green horses. In the same way, we all worked under him as horses. He gave us clarity of thought, conviction of ideas, motivation to work hard. He was our leader, master and Sangha adhikari. We were all inspired by him. He kept himself invisible. He made us visible. He was the heart of the organisation. We are the face of the movement.
In the year 1975, when Emergency was declared, we were not exposed to any underground activity. He prepared our mind to carry on the activities of Lok Sangharsha Samiti to organise the masses for democratic values. He made us courageous and resolute to face any danger and difficulty. Then, he organised the Satyagraha Movement against the dictator. He did everything through us. He made us to contact the industrial workers, textile mill labourers, farmers, viewers, traders, students and almost everyone of the society. We enlightened the people through pamphlets and booklets. When it reached them, the entire mass population was awakened and reacted against Emergency.
After the removal of Emergency, he focused his entire attention in strengthening the organisation, building up shakas and inculcating values among the karyakartas. During the early 80s, he made us to contact the intellectuals of Tamil Nadu and also the social and spiritual leaders. Then we contacted Swamy Chidbhavananda, Justice Krishnaswamy Reddyar, industrialist Dr. Mahalingam from Pollachi and journalist Cho. Ramaswamy. He was able to protect our scheduled caste (Dalit) brothers during the Meenakshi Poram incident. He also made a special effort for Gangajal Yatra. During the Yatra, he asked me to contact Mr. Vishwanathan, brother of Mr. Kakkan, the minister belonging to dalit community to carry Gaganjal water for abhishekam in the final programme with lakhs of people in Madurai and Rameshwaram.
Sri. Suryanarayana Rao was approachable by everyone. He used to interact with all types of people. He was a caring person and showed concern to everyone. He lived the life with one mission. He served our Hindu Rashtra in a beautiful manner, wholeheartedly and with a free mind and complete joy. He was an undaunted personality. His spirit of dedication attracted everyone. He was a disciplinarian. Every morning, he did exercise and practised yoga. He recited the shlokas from The Gita. Till the last minute of his life, he worked hard. His life was full of resilience. He showed enormous courage. He was very bold and a wonderful personality who cannot be forgotten by anyone. He will always live in the hearts and minds of the people.
