UNDOING DEMOCRATIC-SECULAR INDIA: THE HINDUTVA WAY by Shamsul Islam (original) (raw)

"UNDOING DEMOCRATIC-SECULAR INDIA: THE HINDUTVA WAY Shamsul Islam (notoinjustice@gmail.com) The most prominent flag-bearer of Hindutva politics; the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh1 (RSS), since its birth in 1925, has been steadfastly working for turning India into a theocratic state. It enjoyed the support of a section of high-caste Hindu society but with the formation of the National Democratic Alliance governments[1 998-2004], RSS greatly accelerated its old favourite pastime of turning India into a Hindu Rashtra and minority-bashing as part of Hindutva project. The then Sarsanghchalak or the Supremo of the RSS, KS Sudershan while addressing a rally on the eve of the 75th founding day of the RSS in Nagpur, called upon the Muslims and Christians of the country to prove their patriotism. Later, the RSS at the end of its Bangalore session on March 7, 2002, came out with another warning to the Muslims: “Let the Muslims understand that their real safety lies in the good-will of the majority”. This statement came in the aftermath of the carnage of the Muslims allegedly organized by the cadres of the RSS in Gujarat. How the Muslims and other minorities could earn RSS ‘good-will’ was clear by the following words of an editorial in The Hindustan Times: Daughters were gang-raped in front of their fathers and then had their heads bashed in. Their fathers were doused with petrol and set on fire. Their property was looted. Their businesses were destroyed. And the police stood by and did nothing.2 It is really atrocious that an organization, which had been banned at least twice for anti-national activities by the Government of India after Independence should pose as the controlling authority of patriotism in the country. Should we once again refresh the memory of the RSS brass that their rabid communal organization was banned in 1948 for collaborating in the murder of Father of the Nation M. K. Gandhi,3 and in 1992 it was again banned for demolishing the Babri mosque at Ayodhya? Do we also need to tell the RSS that misadventures like the demolition of the Babri mosque, the large scale pogrom of the Muslims in Gujarat, violence against Christians and Dalits by its outfits only served the strategic goals of the enemies of India like the ISI of Pakistan who wanted to see an India fractured, and at war with itself? The RSS and its leadership historically have been great worshippers of Hitler and Mussolini and their ideas. Nazism and Fascism have greatly moulded the ideological as well as organizational frameworks of the RSS. They do not hide this love. The RSS does not hate minorities only, it publicly wants to build up an India of Manu’s dehumanizing ideas and establish a theocracy in which the Dalits/Untouchables, lower castes, downtrodden and women amongst the Hindus will have no humane or respectable existence. It is to be noted that anti-minority rhetoric is only a strategy to camouflage its anti-national designs. It is high time that the people of this country scrutinize the record of patriotism and loyalty to the Nation of the RSS itself. Unfortunately, the RSS, which is fond of demanding unwavering and unflinching loyalty to the nation from the minorities, is loyal neither to the Constitution of India nor to the National Flag. The RSS is an organization which openly decries the existence of a democratic, federal and secular India; and these characteristics are the ‘Basic’ features of the Constitution of India. It is an organization which not only openly decried the Freedom Movement against the British rule but also made fun of the heroic and patriotic revolutionary tradition of great martyrs like Bhagat Singh and his companions who laid down their lives for the liberation of the Motherland. In order to know the truth we will simply have to make access to the literature and publications of the RSS and its different outfits, specially the writings of M.S. Golwalkar who, as an ideologue is religiously followed by the bosses and cadres of the RSS. Here it is attempted to present the original and official viewpoints of the RSS on different aspects of Indian Nation, so that there is no room to allege that they have been misrepresented. It must be stressed here that it is the need of the hour that we know about the RSS and its game plan. It is no more a fringe organization now, as the present BJP leaders have declared their open allegiance to the RSS. They have even told the Nation that the RSS to them is what Gandhi was to Nehru! Interestingly, the RSS, despite these claims and declarations, denies any political role for itself! It claims to be just a cultural organization of the Hindus. It is hoped that with all these facts available (from horse’s mouth itself) our nation and the world will get familiarized with the real face and intentions of the RSS, otherwise it may be too late to save our dear Motherland.