Guwahati: Senior pracharak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Vinayakrao Kanetkar was paid heartfelt tributes in a meeting, organized on Thursday at Sudarshanalaya premises in the city. Attended by 400 people belonging to different organizations along with his former colleagues, the participants sincerely acknowledged his dedication, patriotism, hard work and immense contributions to the society.
Vinayak Vishwanath Kanetkar, also a founding member of Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal died on 18 July 2022 at Kaushik Ashram in Pune, Maharashtra. Born at Sangli on 5 September 1939, Vinayakrao Kanetkar joined Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in 1961. Soon he became a RSS pracharak after completing MA in Economics from Fergusson College, Pune. In 1965, he came to Assam and worked in various parts of northeast India as a pracharak during the difficult times.
The soft spoken, but straightforward, gentleman is one of those pioneers who laid the foundation for RSS works in the alienated region. Vinayakrao Kanetkar, who left for Kaushik Ashram in 2016 and lived there till his demise because of old age illness at the age of 83, made valuable contributions to the educational scenario. He maintained close contacts with intellectuals outside the purview of RSS too and always insisted that education should be Indianised.
Began with lighting of sacred lamps, the Guwahati meeting was addressed by RSS senior pracharak Sasikanta Choukhaiwale along with Bibhash Das Purkayastha, Umesh Chakraborty, Guruprasad Medhi, Basistha Ram Deka, etc where they fondly remembered their experiences while working with Vinayakrao Kanetkar. Recitation of verses of Ghosha and Sanskrit Slokas added gravity to the occasion, while floral tributes were also offered to the departed soul.
