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By:

Uday Jogalekar

13 May 2026 at 3:25:14 pm

From Pracharak to Minister: My Memories of Dilipda

Long before he became a minister, Dilipda had already earned our respect through his simplicity, discipline, and warmth. In 2007, my job brought me to Kolkata. Once there, I began attending the local RSS shakha and gradually became involved in Sangh work. I first met Dilipda during a visit to a swayamsevak’s home. Coincidentally, that same year, he had been appointed to our division. As everyone introduced themselves, Dilipda casually asked me in Marathi, “How are you finding Bengal?” Hearing...

From Pracharak to Minister: My Memories of Dilipda

Long before he became a minister, Dilipda had already earned our respect through his simplicity, discipline, and warmth. In 2007, my job brought me to Kolkata. Once there, I began attending the local RSS shakha and gradually became involved in Sangh work. I first met Dilipda during a visit to a swayamsevak’s home. Coincidentally, that same year, he had been appointed to our division. As everyone introduced themselves, Dilipda casually asked me in Marathi, “How are you finding Bengal?” Hearing a Bengali pracharak — a full-time RSS worker devoted to organisational work — speak fluent Marathi came as a pleasant surprise to me. From that moment onwards, my interactions with Dilipda increased, and I gradually began to understand the many dimensions of his seemingly simple personality. Coming from Maharashtra, where Sangh work generally faced non-violent opposition, adapting to Bengal — where the opposition was often violent — was not easy. In that atmosphere, I learnt from Dilipda how to remain enthusiastic while also keeping fellow workers motivated and active. I often accompanied Dilipda during his visits to our area. He had a remarkable ability to blend effortlessly into any household, warmly enquire about every family member, and make everyone feel as though he were one of their own. Before being appointed to Kolkata, Dilipda had served as an RSS pracharak in the remote Andaman Islands from around 1999–2000 until 2007. Based in Port Blair, he worked under difficult conditions despite limited travel and communication facilities, diverse tribes speaking different languages, and a local mindset that often kept outsiders at a distance. He would often share positive experiences from his years in the Andamans but never once spoke about the hardships he endured. Despite working in such difficult conditions, he never mentioned his personal discomforts. This ability to remain free of complaints despite adversity is a hallmark of a pracharak, and Dilipda embodied it completely. He possessed the rare gift of finding positivity even in challenging situations. Excellent Cook In Bengal during 2007, Sangh work had not yet expanded to the scale it has reached today. At times, pracharaks had to cook their own meals, and this had made Dilipda an excellent cook. Whenever he returned to the city from his travels, our group would eagerly gather to enjoy his khichdi. Our area, Bidhannagar, was located in Salt Lake, a relatively prosperous locality. Adjacent to it were a few underprivileged settlements, and we would occasionally visit the nearby market. To reach the market from Salt Lake, one had to cross a wooden bridge, where the toll was 25 paise for pedestrians and one rupee for bicycles. Observing the difficulties faced by people in those settlements, Dilipda once suggested starting some sewa (service) activity there. That eventually led to the establishment of a homoeopathic clinic in the locality. While setting up the clinic, Dilipda effortlessly guided us through every stage of planning — what arrangements were needed, how the process should be structured, and what challenges might arise. It felt as though the entire plan was already mapped out in his mind. As the clinic became operational, we began noticing the educational difficulties faced by the local children. English, science, and mathematics were particularly challenging subjects for them, which eventually led to the start of a study centre. The idea of involving engineers from Salt Lake’s IT companies also came from Dilipda. Later, by bringing together IT professionals, an “IT Milan” initiative was started, and many of them eventually became swayamsevaks actively involved in Sangh work. Remarkable Ability At the time, the CPM government was in power in Bengal, and there were many obstacles to conducting shakha activities. Dilipda constantly guided us on overcoming these challenges. He had a remarkable ability to identify work that could bring meaningful change, plan it carefully, and execute it with determination and effectiveness. Whether it was service activities, daily shakha work, or handling sensitive cases related to “Love Jihad", Dilipda consistently displayed dedication, clarity of thought, a fighting spirit, and an unwavering readiness to work tirelessly toward the objective. What amazes me even today is that a pracharak like Dilipda — someone far ahead of us in age, experience, and accomplishments — would interact so casually and warmly with ordinary swayamsevaks like us, placing a hand on our shoulders and speaking as though he were a close friend. In 2009, I was transferred back to Mumbai, bringing my Kolkata chapter to an end. Later, in 2014, I learned that Dilipda had been given responsibility in the BJP. And now, in 2026, the BJP forming a government on its own strength speaks volumes about its contribution and leadership. Today, Dilipda has become a minister, and many titles and honours will naturally be associated with him. But to us, he will always remain simply "Dilipda". (The writer is an entrepreneur based in Kalwa, Thane.)

Operation Rising Lion and Return of the Begin Doctrine

Netanyahu’s audacious strikes on Iran mark the most forceful reaffirmation of the Begin Doctrine in a generation.

Surrounded by regimes that have openly sworn to erase it, Israel has, since its founding in 1948, embraced a uniquely Darwinian form of survival: never wait to be annihilated. This resolve was in stunning display on Friday when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu launched a devastating wave of pre-emptive air strikes deep inside Iranian territory. Dubbed ‘Operation Rising Lion,’ the offensive is the most direct and audacious Israeli military operation against Iran to date.


Six sites were struck including the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, missile bases near Tabriz and military installations around Tehran were hit as over 200 Israeli jets pierced Iran’s skies in coordinated waves, flattening more than 100 high-value military and nuclear targets.


The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed it had assassinated the Islamic Republic’s three most senior military commanders: Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the armed forces; Hossein Salami, commander of the IRGC; and Major-General Gholam Ali Rashid, who oversaw the Khatam al-Anbiya Central HQ. Former atomic energy chief Fereydoun Abbasi was reportedly killed along with Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, a nuclear physicist and head of the Islamic Azad University. Their deaths mark a near-total decapitation of Iran’s nuclear and military elite.


This was not the first time that Israeli jets flew long distances to destroy a nuclear programme run by a ‘genocidal adversary’ (from Israel’s point of view) in the Middle East. It was 34 years ago almost to this date, in June 1981, when then Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered ‘Operation Opera,’ the now-legendary strike on Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in Iraq.


In 2007, Ehud Olmert did it again. This time the target was Deir ez-Zor in Syria where erstwhile Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, with covert North Korean help, was secretly building a reactor. Operation Orchard erased the facility in minutes.


The so-called ‘Begin Doctrine,’ never formally codified but fiercely held, rests on one blunt principle that Jewish sovereignty will not trust its survival to UN resolutions, Western hand-wringing or the ‘managed containment’ of Israel’s adversaries as clearly suggested by Netanhayu’s address following the strikes.


This doctrine is designed to prevent not only mushroom clouds, but strategic parity in a region where Israel cannot afford to lose even once. It matters little whether the international community approves or even notices. After all survival, not popularity, is Israel’s lodestar.


This latest operation reinforces that strategic axiom. For years, Iran has crept toward the nuclear threshold. It has spun centrifuges in Natanz and Fordow, refined missiles in Arak and Kermanshah, and waged shadow wars across Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.


Despite repeated American and Israeli warnings, Iran continued its march. Last week, the clock ran out. Talks in Oman, led by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, had stalled. Iran refused to cap its uranium enrichment; the Americans balked at further concessions. Netanyahu, sensing both opportunity and inevitability, gave the order.


There is, of course, a cost in form of expected Iranian retaliation. However, Iran’s proxies, particularly Hezbollah, are unlikely to offer swift or effective reprisal. Throughout last year, Israel has systematically pulverised Hezbollah’s military structure, assassinating Hassan Nasrallah and decapitating its senior ranks in southern Beirut, the most audacious being the Mossad-detonated walkie-talkies and pagers rigged with explosives that killed dozens of Hezbollah fighters.


What currently remains is a diminished militia nursing its trauma rather than readying its rockets. For now, Tehran stands more isolated and more exposed than at any time in recent memory.


When Begin launched the Osirak strike, he was condemned from all quarters. The United Nations passed a resolution denouncing Israel. The Reagan administration was caught flat-footed. Even in Israel, critics accused Begin of gambling with war. And yet, a decade later, as U.S. troops entered Baghdad during the first Gulf War, General Norman Schwarzkopf admitted he was “grateful” Israel had neutralised Saddam’s nuclear ambitions.


Much the same occurred after Olmert’s 2007 strike on Syria. At the time, Israel maintained radio silence. It took years for the world to confirm that Bashar al-Assad’s nuclear ambitions had been vaporised in minutes.


For all the fierce condemnation hurled at them, Israel’s leaders do not see themselves as Machiavellian warmongers, but as custodians of a post-Holocaust promise. ‘Never again’ is no mere slogan but a governing principle.


Israel’s leaders, from Begin to Netanyahu have recognized that the nuclear spectre looms larger over Israel than perhaps any other state and it cannot absorb a second strike. It has no geographic buffer. The first enemy bomb would be the last. Therefore, it has always acted with the urgency of one who cannot afford to wait.


To outsiders, this may seem reckless. But to Israel for whom the scars of the 1973 Yom Kippur War (when strategic warning was ignored by the Jewish state) run deep, complacency is a luxury it can ill afford.


It remains to be seen how this new phase of confrontation will unfold. Iran’s capacity for retaliation is not negligible; its cyber-arm may target infrastructure. The Red Sea could become more volatile. But Israel, as always, has bet that the greater risk lies in inaction.


That, ultimately, is the meaning of Operation Rising Lion. It is not a break from the past, but a logical continuation of the Begin Doctrine. The world may disapprove. But history, as always, may thank Israel later.

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