(The Milli Gazette, 16-31 October 2006)
None can beat the RSS in its nefarious attempts
to undo a democratic-secular India from within.
This Hindutva brigade, knowing fully well that
the politics of Hindutva is not acceptable to
this country, continues evolving newest foul
methods of communalizing the democratic-secular
constitutional set-up. The latest in this series
has been the August 27, 2006, official communiqu?
of the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh led
by a seasoned RSS cadre, Shivraj Singh Chauhan,
allowing state government employees open participation
in the activities of the RSS including its 'shakhas'.
Interestingly, the RSS cadres have been ruling
states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh
but no such announcement were made for these
states. This blatant announcement has jolted
even Congress Party from its slumber towards
the pitfalls of the Hindutva game plan. Protesting
against the move, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi wrote a
letter to the President of India, APJ Abdul
Kalam, demanding his intervention to stop the
MP government from putting into action its above
order. Sonia Gandhi in her letter to the President
petitioned that the MP government move was not
only "illegal and unconstitutional"
but also would result into "religious prejudices
and passions and polarizing the society".1
If Congress is serious in its protestation
and takes the fight to the logical conclusion,
this country can at least begin the process
of putting a stop to the anti-national activities
of the RSS and its gang. The issue is not only
of saving government employees from getting
communalized by coming in contact with the RSS
but exposing an
organization which stands for Hindu separatism
and complete demolition of a democratic and
secular India. The RSS led Gujarat government
had come out with the same kind of communiqu?
in the year 2000 but due to the intervention
of the then President of the India Republic,
KR Narayanan, the order was reversed. Unfortunately,
neither Congress nor the secular camp carried
this fight to the logical end which would have
resulted in proving that the RSS is antithetical
to all those principles and institutions on
which secular-democratic India rests.
The BJP chief, Rajnath Singh who happens to
be a senior RSS cadre himself, while defending
the order of the MP government said: "As
far as RSS is concerned, it is the world's largest
socio-cultural body and there should be no ban
on participating in its activities."2 It
is pertinent for the security and existence
of our democracy to compare the MP government's
communiqu? and its defence by the RSS gang with
the essentials of secular-democratic polity
of our country. A perusal of the comparison
will make it abundantly clear how MP government's
order poses a very serious danger to our constitutional
set-up.
Is RSS a non-political organization? We must
compare the RSS claim that it is a cultural-social
organization and has nothing to do with politics
with the following two statements of M. S. Golwalkar,
who headed the RSS after the death of the founder
of the RSS, KB Hedgewar, and is considered the
greatest ideologue of the organization till
date. The first statement tells us about the
kind of personnel who are sent to manipulate
politics and what is expected of them by the
RSS. While delivering a speech on March 16,
1954, in Sindi, Wardha, he said,
"If we say that we are part of the organization
and accept its discipline then selectiveness
has no place in life. Do what is told. If told
to play kabaddi, play kabaddi; told to hold
meeting then meeting --.For instance some of
our friends were told to go and work for politics
that does not mean that they have great interest
or inspiration for it. They don't die for politics
like fish without water. If they are told to
withdraw from politics then also there is no
objection. Their discretion is just not required"3
The second statement is also very significant
and reads: We know this also that some of our
Swayamsevaks [cadres] work in politics. There
they have to organize according to the needs
of work public meetings, processions etc., have
to raise slogans. All these things have no place
in our work. However, the actor should portray
the character accepted to the best of his capability.
But sometimes Swayamsevaks go beyond the role
assigned to an actor as they develop over-zealousness
in their hearts, to the extent that they become
useless for this work. This is not good.4
We find here Guru Golwalkar referring to the
Swayamsevaks loaned to political offshoot as
'nat' or performers who are meant to dance to
the tunes of the RSS. This fact should not be
missed here that Golwalkar's above design of
controlling the political arm was elaborated
in March 1960 almost nine years after the establishment
of Jansangh (the forerunner of the BJP) in 1951.
The RSS has strong political ambitions and
designs is further corroborated by a publication
of the RSS. The central publication house of
the RSS, the Suruchi Prakashan, Jhandewalan,
New Delhi, published, Param Vaibhav Ke Path
Par (1997) which gave details of more than 40
organizations created by the RSS for different
tasks. The BJP as a political organization figures
prominently in it at number 3, with the ABVP,
Hindu Jagaran Manch, Vishva Hindu Parishad,
Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and Sanskar Bharti etc.
The preface of the book itself declares that
"without the knowledge of the different
kinds of activities of the Sawyamsevaks (the
volunteers of the RSS) the introduction of the
RSS is incomplete. Keeping this in mind it has
been attempted in this book to produce the brief
information about the diverse activities of
the Sawyamsevaks. This book covers the organizational
status till 1996 --We believe that this book
will prove to be of use for those who want to
understand the RSS with the Swyamsevaks"5
RSS stands for building a Hindu state Sadly,
the whole debate on the MP government's communiqu?
is kept revolving round the fact whether RSS
is a political or non-political organization.
A far more serious issue is being
skirted that is to investigate into the evil
philosophical designs of the RSS about India.
For instance, if government employees are allowed
to join RSS 'shakhas' it would be mandatory
for them to recite following Prarthana (prayer)
and Pratigya (oath), the recitation of which
is must in each 'shakha'. Prarthana: Affectionate
Motherland, I eternally bow to you/O Land of
Hindus, you have reared me in comfort/O Sacred
Land, the Great Creator of Good, may this body
of mine be dedicated to you/I again and again
bow before You/O God almighty, we the integral
part of the Hindu Rashtra salute you in reverence/For
Your cause have we girded up our loins/Give
us Your Blessings for its accomplishment.6
Pratigya: Before the all powerful God and
my ancestors, I most solemnly take this oath,
that I become a member of the RSS in order to
achieve all round greatness of Bharatvarsha
by fostering the growth of my sacred Hindu religion,
Hindu society, and Hindu culture. I shall perform
the work of the Sangh honestly, disinterestedly,
with my heart and soul, and I shall adhere to
this goal all my life. Bharat Mata Ki Jai.7
Thus the government employees will not be
faithful to a secular India, as it exists as
a legal entity today but would be committed
to subvert it into a Hindu theocratic state.
RSS denigrates the National Flag and the Constitution
It is the outcome of its commitment to the building
of Hindu nation that the RSS hates the Tr-icolour
and the Constitution of India, the two great
symbols of our secular-democratic polity. The
RSS since its inception in 1925
has been demanding that India is a Hindu nation
and its national flag should be Bhagwa Jhanda
(saffron flag) only. When the Constituent Assembly
adopted the Tricolour as the national Flag,
the RSS demanded the hoisting of saffron flag
at the ramparts of Red Fort in Delhi and openly
denigrated the choice of the Tricolour in the
following words:
The people who have come to power by the kick
of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour
but it never [sic] be respected and owned by
Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil,
and a flag having three colours will certainly
produce a very bad psychological effect and
is injurious to a country.8 Golwalkar while
addressing the Gurupurnima gathering at the
RSS headquarters on July 14, 1946 declared that
it was the saffron flag which in totality represented
great Hindu culture and was the embodiment of
God. He further resolved: "We firmly believe
that in the end the whole nation will bow before
this saffron flag."9
How loyal the RSS is to the Constitution of
India can be known by the following statement
of Golwalkar which is being reproduced from
Bunch of Thought, which is not only selection
of the writings of MS Golwalkar but also a Bible
of the RSS cadres.
Our Constitution too is just a cumbersome
and heterogeneous piecing together of various
articles from various Constitutions of Western
countries. It has absolutely nothing which can
be called our own. Is there a single word of
reference in its guiding principles as to what
our national mission is and what our keynote
in life is?No.10
In fact, RSS wanted this Constitution to be
replaced by Manusmriti or Codes of Manu which
is known for its derogatory and inhuman references
to Untouchables and women. When the Constituent
Assembly of India had finalized the Constitution
of India RSS was not happy. It's organ, Organizer
in an editorial on November 30, 1949, complained,But
in our constitution there is no mention of the
unique constitutional development in ancient
Bharat. Manu's Laws were written long before
Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this
day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti
excite the admiration of the world and elicit
spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to
our constitutional pundits that means nothing.
There is no doubt that participation of government
employees in the activities of such an organization
which openly decries the national Flag and the
Constitution will only hasten the end of a democratic-secular
India.
ANTI-DEMOCRACY
The RSS, contrary to the principles of democracy,
has been constantly demanding that India be
ruled under a totalitarian regime. Golwalkar
while delivering a speech before 1350 top level
cadres of the RSS at Madras in 1940 declared,
"The RSS inspired by one flag, one leader
and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva
in each and every corner of this great land."11
This slogan of one flag, one leader and one
ideology has directly been borrowed from the
programmes of the Nazi and Fascist Parties of
Europe. Thus all those who will join the RSS
bandwagon would naturally be anti-thetical to
a democratic India.
AGAINST FEDERALISM
The RSS is also dead against the federal structure
of the Constitution, again a Basic Feature of
the India polity. This is clear from the following
communication of Golwalkar, which he sent to
the first session of the National Integration
Council in 1961. It read, Today?s federal form
of government not only gives birth but also
nourishes the feelings of separatism, in a way
refuses to recognize the fact of one nation
and destroys it. It must be completely uprooted,
constitution purified and unitary form of government
be established.12 Imagine the bureaucracy who
is supposed to be committed to the federal set-up
of India would work to wreck it as per the wishes
of RSS.
Role of RSS in Gandhiji's murder
It is a matter of shame that government employees
in MP are being permitted to participate in
the activities of an organization which was
held responsible for the murder of Father of
the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi by no less
a person than Sardar Patel. Sardar as the first
Home Minister of India, in a letter dated July
18, 1948 to a prominent leader of Hindu Mahasabha,
Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, wrote:
As regards the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha,
the case relating to Gandhiji's murder is sub
judice and I should not like to say anything
about the participation of the two organizations,
but our reports do confirm that, as a result
of the activities of these two bodies, particularly
the former, an atmosphere was created in the
country in which such a ghastly tragedy became
possible. There is no doubt in my mind that
the extreme section of the Hindu Mahasabha was
involved in the conspiracy. The activities of
the RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence
of Government and the State. Our reports show
that those activities, despite the ban, have
not died down. Indeed, as time has marched on,
the RSS circles are becoming more defiant and
are indulging in their subversive activities
in an increasing measure.13
If such are the philosophical commitments
and activities of the RSS how can any patriotic
Indian, what to talk of government employees,
be allowed to participate in the RSS activities?
It is high time that all those organizations
and individuals who have faith in a secular-democratic
India must ask the question that when Maoists,
Khalistanis and Islamists etc. are routinely
declared anti-national as they aim at subverting
the constitutional set-up of India, why is it
that RSS remains out of our scrutiny? It is
really unfortunate that Hindu Separatism is
yet to be acknowledged as a serious threat to
the Indian democracy despite its terrible anti-national
record. One reason could be as underlined by
a prominent leader of the RSS, "RSS members
are everywhere, including that very party which
is making all these allegations against RSS.
Just scratch their body and you will find RSS
blood inside."14 This statement only shows
how grave is the danger from the Hindutva gang.
If Congress and other secular outfits are serious
about saving secular-democratic India they must
legally and politically confront the RSS gang
with the documents cited above. They also need
to weed out the Hindutva elements from their
ranks. The time is fast running out.
1 Cited in The Hindu, September 29, 2006.
2 Cited in The Statesman, September 29, 2006.
3 MS Golwalkar, Shri Guruji Samagar darshan
(collected works of Golwalkar in Hindi), Bhartiya
Vichar sadhna, Nagpur, Volume 3, p. 33. Hereafter
referred as SGSD.
4 Ibid, Vol 4, pp. 4-5.
5 SD Sapre, Parm Vaibhav ke Path Per, Suruchi,
Delhi, 1997, p. 7.
6 Shakha Darshika, Gyan Ganga, Jaipur, 1997,
p.1.
7 Ibid, p. 66.
8 'Mystery behind the bhagwa dhwaj' in the RSS
English organ Organizer, August 14, 1947.
9 MS Golwalkar, SGSD, Nagpur, nd., Volume 1,
p. 98.
10 MS Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya
Sandhu, Bangalore, 1996, p. 238.
11 SGSD, Vol 1, p. 11.
12 Ibid, Vol 3, p. 128.
13 Letter 64 cited in Sardar Patel: Select Correspondence19450-1950,
Volume 2, Navjivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad,
1977, pp. 276-277.
14 Cited in The Statesman, September 29, 2006.
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