Page 168 - JyotipunjEng
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An ashram school and a farming school were also
constructed for the tribals in Pal-Chitaria extension of Vijaynagar
Taluka in Sabarkantha, which have become the centres of
teaching and culturisation of tribals living there.
When Dr. Vanikar was engaged in serving in this tribal belt,
he felt very bad at seeing some greedy people taking advantage
of the simple tribals. He met sages and saints, and explained to
them the plight of the tribals, and thus made a solemn effort to
help the tribals. Dr. Vanikar possessed a very simple personality.
He did not allow his advancing age to hinder his hard work. It
was his daily routine to do the Surya Namaskar (a type of yoga)
and he followed this routine until the end of his life. He never
looked away from hard work. Every week, he would tour the
tribal belts for thousands of kilometres. He had donated one of
his older cars for social service too. He often drove himself. If
he felt tired due to long driving, he would pull up by the side of
the road, and lie down to sleep on the ground without spreading
a sheet even; and when he awoke; he would resume his journey
towards his destination.
He also significantly contributed in getting the weekly
Sadhana published—an ideological paper in Gujarat. As a trustee
of the Sadhana, he contributed greatly in making it strong. It
was the Sadhana in later period that had raised its voice against
the emergency in order to protect democracy. How could Smt.
Indira Gandhi tolerate that a small paper like the Sadhana was
challenging her government, so she got its proofreaders,
compositors, editors and trustees – everybody arrested under
the Misa and sent them all to jail. However, Dr. Vanikar never
wavered from his struggle for democracy. He was attached to
reputed and wealthy people, but they were all surprised when
a saint-like person like him was arrested. These people tried to
get him released from jail. At this, Dr. Vanikar sent a message
that he was not at all interested to come out of the jail until
democracy was reinstated again and the emergency was lifted.
He liked to be in jail until the emergency was in force.
The state office of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, called
Hedgewar Bhawan, was built due to his foresight. Had it not