29

Oct

Hundred years of Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh: A critical appraisal

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Dr Satish Misra

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New Delhi | Tuesday | 29 October 2024

Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s exhortation to its followers in his annual Vijaydashmi address on October 11 this year asking them to reach out to Dalits pointing out to dangers from ‘Deep State’ and ‘Wokeism’ need to be taken seriously.

Bhagwat’s address this year is particularly significant as he was at a time when the RSS is celebrating centenary of its existence. On 27 September 1925, the RSS was founded by a dedicated group of volunteers on the Vijaydashmi day that year in Nagpur. Founding meeting was attended by five people which included Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, BS Monje, VD Savarkar’s Brother Ganesh Damodar Savarkar, LV Paranjpe and BB Tholkar.

What was common among all founder members was the deep distrust and hatred towards Islam and Muslims. Hedgewar used to refer to Muslim as “Yavana Snakes”-using the Hindi term for Greeks, often applies to foreigners generally. The RSS founder chief was convinced that all Muslims were ‘anti-national’.  

Hindu-Muslim riots in 1923 in Nagpur was the immediate cause for the founding of the RSS as Hedgewar influenced by Savarkar’s book ‘Hinduatva: Who is a Hindu?’ in which author had elaborated that the main weakness of Hindus was that Hindu society was not organized and that is precisely why it had been subjugated by the Muslim first and then by the British. Lack of regimentation in the Hindu society was the one of the strongest factors for the tragic plight of Hindus who were the original in habitants of the sub-continent.

 

Article at a Glance

 

In his annual Vijaydashmi address on October 11, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat urged followers to connect with Dalits and warned against threats from a "Deep State" and "wokeism." This address is significant as the RSS celebrates its centenary, founded in 1925 amid Hindu-Muslim riots, rooted in a distrust of Islam. Bhagwat's mention of a "Deep State" raises questions about its definition and implications, suggesting secretive groups undermining democracy. Critics argue that the RSS itself exhibits characteristics of a "Deep State," with a history of unverified membership and lack of transparency. Bhagwat's remarks against "wokeism" echo the RSS's longstanding opposition to progressive ideologies, positioning the organization as a defender of traditional

 

In fact Savarkar’s book became the torch bearer for all subsequent efforts for Hindu consolidation including the RSS.  

In this backdrop, Bhagwat’s this year’s annual address need to be read carefully digging out real meaning of his words between the lines. The RSS chief claimed that a ‘Deep State’ was at work to divide the nation on caste and communal lines but he did not elaborate what constitutes a ‘Deep State’ and who are its members.

The Cambridge Dictionary says that a ‘Deep State’ consists of “organisations such as military, police or political groups that are said to work secretly in order to protect particular interests and to rule a country without being elected” or in other words without a popular mandate.   

 Others sum up that it is a body of people, typically members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulations or control of policy. The ‘Deep State’ also means a parallel government made up of “potentially secret” and “unauthorized” networks of power operating independently of a state’s political structures. 

Now a question that automatically crops up which needs to be asked to Bhagwat and it is his moral and ethical responsibility to elaborate and share information with citizens at large. He can’t get away shooting in dark by giving facts of the “Deep State” of which he is warning.

Otherwise, RSS has all the attributes of a ‘Deep State’ as it has been working since 1947 to establish a ‘State’ that undermines the country’s constitution in many ways. RSS’s finances, till recently, were not audited and its accounts were never made public. Selection of the RSS Sarsanghchalak or its chief used to be secret till nineties as the incumbent chief used to leave the name of his successor in a sealed envelope which used to be opened after his death. National tricolor was not hoisted or flown either on RSS offices nor on its main headquarter in Nagpur.

Many of the important officials, judges, armed forces personnel were members of the RSS though their membership could never be verified as the outfit never kept a record of its members. Through, their members the RSS collected information and prepared its strategy to counter such policies which in the Sangh assessment were anti-Hindu though its official Hinduatva ideology was markedly different to postulates and guiding philosophy of the Sanatan Dharm faith which largely allowed every belief to flourish and gave enough space to exist and was forthcoming to make it as one of its own.

While RSS was not directly involved in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948 but it was indirectly responsible as it had created a conducive atmosphere for generation of hatred towards Father of the Nation. The RSS cannot deny its close association with the Hindu Mahasabha whose member Nathuram Godes had killed Gandhi. The RSS has never made a serious effort to stop or spoken against glorification of Godse thus blessing the cult of violence.

Dangers to country’s unity, Bhagwat said, are from ‘wokeism’ and ‘cultural Marxism’. The RSS chief argued that these forces first attack a country’s culture and then infiltrate its education institutions, fostering discontent  and leading people to despise  their own heritage. “Direct conflicts are created in society, and an atmosphere of anarchy and fear is intensified through distrust of the system, law and governance making it easier to their own supremacy”, he pointed out.

Bhagwat’s words need to be analysed closely for a better understanding and for that a definition of ‘wokesim’ has to be looked at. Its dictionary meaning is ‘promotion of liberal progressive ideology and policy as an expression of sensitivity to systemic injustices and prejudices’.

In the above definition of the word, Bhagwat was saying nothing new as he was only reiterating the RSS’s old view of progressive ideologies like Socialism and Communism that aimed at the emancipation women along with the depressed and deprived sections of society and making them equal partners in the socio-political and socio-economic system. Left wing ideologies like Communism were declared enemies like the Islam and Muslims of the RSS and Savarkar.

Bhagwat’s exhortation to the RSS cadres to strengthen relations with Dalits was essentially aimed at helping the BJP which suffered electorally in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. RSS’s deep rooted antipathy towards Dalits and other backwards sections of society is well known and it is no secret that Sangh has never tried to reform itself from within.      

Even after hundred years, the RSS’s hatred towards left wing ideologies and Muslims continue to remain the glue and motivational force of its followers.

Has the RSS’s popularity grown or its acceptability increased in the last hundred years? While the BJP’s coming to power at the Centre in ninnies and then in 2014 with absolute majority has helped the RSS to           

 

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