It’s Time for India to Speakout

The statement of Rahul Gandhi that RSS is a bigger threat to India, and Digvijay Singh pointing to RSS involvement in terrorist activities has led to a spate of verbal war between Congress and BJP, a political wing of RSS. This war of words, in fact, invokes many for a debate over the credibility of RSS. India is fighting a fight against terrorism tooth and nail, but a harsh fact is that it will never succeed unless and until it unveils the real culprits and masterminds.

The honest investigation of Malegaon Blast Case by then ATS Chief Hemant Karkare added a new dimension to the history of terrorism in India. The needle pointing to the involvement of Sangh Parivar caused great uproar and unrest to them. Leaders of the stature of L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh were seen rallying in favor of the accused in the case. Every Indian was excited to know more about the revelations of the new face of terrorism. But soon this chapter was closed for good with the mysterious death of Karkare. Within hours of Karkare’s death, KP Raghuvanshi, a highly controversial and communally-biased officer, was appointed ATS Chief. He immediately took over the investigation of the Malegaon blast case and hurriedly completed it. With this was closed the chapter of thriving terrorist potential being hatched by Sangh Parivar.

A question is posed to every sane and sensible Indian. Should the unveiling of the terrorist potential of Sangh Parivar die away with the death of Karkare? If no, let us be honest and muster the courage to unearth and declare a terrorist a terrorist, in order to safeguard our motherland.  

It is high time we initiated a debate on RSS on a large scale.

RSS IDEOLOGICALLY

RSS is committed to the concept of Hindutva which means inherent faith in casteism, racism, and imperialism. It stands for the establishment of Hindu Rashtra or nation in India where minorities like Muslims and Christians could exist only as second-class citizens. The ideology of RSS is anti-national, anti-secular and anti-constitutional. This ideology is manifested sternly in the controversial book We or Our Nationhood Defined by M.S. Golwalkar, the second Sarsanghchalak of RSS. He propagates that Hindustan is the land of Hindus and any religion other than Hinduism is foreign to it. Here is the excerpt from the abovementioned book:

“Emigrants have to get themselves naturally assimilated in the principal mass of the population, the National Race, by adopting its culture and language and sharing in its aspirations, by losing all consciousness of their separate existence, forgetting their foreign origin. If they do not do so, they live merely as outsiders, bound by all the codes and conventions of the Nation, at the sufferance of the Nation and deserving no special protection, far less any privilege or rights. There are only two courses open to the foreign elements, either to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture or to live at its mercy so long as the national race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at the sweet will of the national race. That is the only sound view on the minorities problem. That is the only logical and correct solution. That alone keeps the Nation life healthy and undisturbed. That alone keeps the Nation safe from the danger of cancer developing into its body politic of the creation of a state within the state.”

The result is obvious. Apart from young ‘volunteers,’ other professionals and intellectuals such as historians, writers, playwrights, journalists and even public servants who pledge allegiance to the RSS, play their role of vitiating the communal atmosphere very ‘honestly’ in their respective fields and places. 

M. S. Golwalkar, in his book, openly encourages the genocide of minorities by citing the example of Nazi Germany. “To keep up the purity of its race and culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic races, the Jews. …a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by.” 

A large number of communal riots across India taking millions of lives do confirm that the hatred theory is continuously propagated and practiced.

RSS HISTORICALLY

The Home Ministry of India, then headed by Sardar Patel, imposed the first ban on RSS on February 4, 1948. The government communiqué while explaining the reasons for banning the RSS, said:

“Undesirable and even dangerous activities have been carried on by members of the Sangh [RSS]. It has been found that in several parts of the country individual members of the RSS have indulged in acts of violence involving arson, robbery, dacoity, and murder and have collected illicit arms and ammunition. They have been found circulating leaflets exhorting people to resort to terrorist methods, to collect firearms, to create disaffection against the government and suborn the police and the military.”

Rajeshwar Dayal, the first Home Secretary of UP after independence, recounted in his autobiography an incident which clearly exposed the sinister designs of Golwalkar and RSS to break the unity of the country just on the eve of Independence.

“…When the trunks were opened, they revealed incontrovertible evidence of a dastardly conspiracy to create a communal holocaust throughout the Western districts of the province. The trunks were crammed with blueprints of great accuracy and professionalism of every town and village in that vast area, prominently marking out the Muslim localities and habitations.

“…Timely raids conducted on the premises of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) had brought the massive conspiracy to light. The whole plot had been concerted under the direction and supervision of the Supremo of the organization himself. Both Jaitley and I pressed for the immediate arrest of the prime accused, Shri Golwalkar,…”

RSS PRESENTLY

Let me recount five years of NDA regime at the Centre. The most criminal act of BJP-led NDA government, from my point of view, was the attempt to rewrite history and tamper with the school curriculum. This attempt was of far-reaching dangerous consequences. Under this government, the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) developed and issued (November 2000) a National Curriculum for School Education (NCFSE) indicating the direction in which education system of the country was to proceed.

Under the stewardship of then Union Minister, Dr. M.M. Joshi, a leading ideologue of Sangh Parivar, an attempt was made to restructure education on RSS footing. A determined move is made for not honoring the multiculturalism. It does not honor and appreciate the differences that exist among the nation’s citizens as a positive force. It perceives cultural pluralism more as an obstruction to the unity of the nation. The books make it more than clear that followers of religions of non-Indian origin have no common bonds with the Hindus. The Muslims are virtually treated as ‘non-Indian residents.’

History is given blatantly communal orientation. The medieval history is found to be full of falsehood in these books. The Sultans and the Mughals are presented in the darkest possible color. These rulers are on the whole presented as destroyers of temples, anti-Brahmans, and oppressors who resorted to the massacre of Hindus and destruction of Buddhist monasteries. Islam is projected as intolerant and the initiator of violence of sorts, oppression, discrimination, and exploitation in the Indian society.

Study of history should serve a bridge between different religious, linguistic and cultural groups by affording some appreciation for one another and by emphasizing common elements in them. Education aims at freedom from various kinds of biases, prejudices, and imbalances on the basis of caste, creed, gender, religion, ideology, etc. Minimising and finally eliminating these differences is the goal that education can help to achieve. But unfortunately, the curriculum designed and directed under this government had the reverse impact.

Sanskrit, though spoken by 0.4 percent population, finds undue precedence over the languages spoken by the linguistic minorities in different regions. It is introduced as an additional optional at the secondary level and an elective subject at senior secondary level. In this, even the number of students offering the subject is no precondition. On the other hand, Urdu would find no room. It is taken over either by regional language or by Sanskrit. Urdu as a language may be taught only if the students are available in sufficient strength. 

There are innumerable barbaric and terrorist activities committed by those subscribing to the ideology of RSS. To name a few, in recent past, demolition of Babri Masjid and brutal killing of Muslims in Gujarat shocked the world. One can gauge the amount of hatred of Sangh Parivar against Muslims with Narendra Modi flagging off Pride Parade (Gaurav Yatra), a few months after the bloodbath of Muslims, when thousands of victimised families were forced to spend dehumanized life in camps. Fake encounter of Muslim youth is another dark phase of BJP-led government, be it state or center

India is a land with citizens of different religions, different languages, and different cultures. Indians view multiculturalism and pluralism as an asset. We are proud of our centuries-old unity in diversity and believe that diversity is crucial to the dignified survival of man.

India witnessed its partition on communal lines and subsequent bloodbath in northern and eastern parts of the country. Hindus even being in majority rejected RSS demand of establishment of a Hindu Rashtra, and India chose to become the Democratic Republic under the leadership of Congress.

After this brief analysis of RSS in precept and practice, shouldn’t the credibility of RSS be questioned? Is RSS not anti-national and anti-constitutional? Is RSS not a big threat to India?

It is time for India to speak out. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and all other citizens of India, irrespective of their faith and practice, should come shoulder to shoulder and fight back any hate-based ideology in order to maintain peace and progress of our country.

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