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Journalism of Courage
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee8217;s clean chit to the RSS that it is not a political organisation in the context of the Gujarat government lifting the ban on its employees joining the RSS and Home Minister L.K. Advani8217;s open-mindedness on the question of allowing central government employees to join the RSS are all intended to test the waters. If the near-silence from the BJP8217;s allies is anything to go by, it will not be long before central government employees will be able to take part in the morning shakhas of the RSS and attend their government offices later in the day.
The central issue is how participation of government employees in the RSS will compromise the political neutrality of the government. It is true that the RSS is not a banned organisation but that does not legitimise involvement of government employees in its activities, either. As it is, the employees are not allowed to join any political party. On its apolitical character, M.S. Golwalkar, who was the RSS sarsangh chalak in itsformative period, clearly explained the position thus: quot;Hitler8217;s movement centred round politics. We try to build life without being wedded to politics. It is many times found that many are gathered for political purpose. But when that purpose fails, unity is lost. We do not want any temporary achievement but an abiding oneness. And so we have kept aloof from politics.quot;
Its claims of political disinterestedness had a selfish motive too. During the British period, it did not want to antagonise the government and thereby invite retributive action. Walter Anderson and S.D. Damle, who are otherwise favourably disposed towards the RSS, in their pioneering study on the RSS, Brotherhood in Saffron were constrained to write: quot;When the British banned military drill and the use of uniforms in all nonofficial organisations, the RSS complied.quot; It even stayed aloof from the Quit India movement earning, in the process, a certificate of good conduct from the alien rulers while Congress workers led by Mahatma Gandhi went to jail in their thousands.
After Independence, when Sardar Patel8217;s plan to allow the RSS cadres to join the Congress did not fructify, Golwalkar felt the need for some sort of political cover. He knew without political support, the RSS could virtually turn into a football in the political field. He, therefore, lent the services of four ofhis able cadres to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee when he founded the Jan Sangh in 1951. Among the cadres lent were Vajpayee, endowed with consummate oratorial skill, and the mild-mannered Advani. They can hardly be blamed if, half a century later, they feel beholden to the RSS and are compelled to oblige their parent body out of sheer gratitude.
Since 1951, the RSS has always guided or directed the activities of the Jan Sangh and its latter-day avatar. Not only that, it also participated in the 1952 movement against cow slaughter and several other political agitations, including the Nav Nirman movement in Gujarat and the anti-foreigner agitation in Assam. By no stretch of the imagination can these activities be described as cultural, however loosely Vajpayee may define the adjective.Let there be no mistaking, the RSS is authoritarian in its emphasis on discipline, in its refusal to recognise the specific character of minorities and in its intention of reforming the Hindu mentality absolutely to prepare the adventof a new man, implying the need to extend its sway over the whole society.
It is yet to repudiate Golwalkar8217;s original prescription that still rankles the minorities, quot;The foreign races in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of glorification of the Hindu race and culture 8230; or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, cl-aiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment not even citizen8217;s rights.quot;
The RSS did not have a constitution of its own until Sardar Patel as Home Minister forced it to have one. It does not recognise the tricolour and has reservations on the Constitution of India. The BJP may be in power at the Centre but on Republic Days and Independence Days, the national flag does not fly atop the RSS headquarters at Nagpur. This is because the RSS recognises only the ochre-coloured standard associated with Shivaji.
Strictlyspeaking, Godse may not have been a member of the RSS when he shot Mahatma Gandhi, but Gandhi Jayanti is not sacred for the RSS. Nor is the Jana Gana Mana revered. In fact, Vajpayee was virtually crucified when as the then president of the BJP he announced that the new party stood for Gandhian socialism, whatever it meant. Similarly, the RSS has not yet abandoned its Akhand Bharat project. The map of India that it uses includes countries like Burma, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tibet and Afghanistan. Imagine a future Indian foreign secretary attending the RSS shakha and affirming his commitment to Akhand Bharat when he has to manage diplomatic relations with these very nations. Small wonder that the fears that the RSS generate are not confined to some sections alone.
At one point, even Vajpayee was constrained to argue that the political activities of the RSS affiliates quot;do not help an organisation the RSS to establish its apolitical credentials. He further argued that quot;it is possible that some peoplegenuinely feel apprehensive about the RSS. A certain onus accordingly devolved on the RSS, an onus that has not been discharged effectively by the RSSquot;. Elaborating on this theme, he wrote, quot;Its the RSS repudiation of the theocratic state was welcomed. Yet, the question could legitimately be asked 8212; why does it not open its doors to Muslims? Recent statements of the RSS chief, Mr Deoras, indicate that non-Hindus are being encouraged to join the organisation.
A natural corollary of this process would be clear enunciation by the RSS that by Hindu Rashtra8217; it means the Indian nation which includes non-Hindus as equal members.quot; Indian Express, August 2, 1979. Two decades have passed since Vajpayee wrote this article but the RSS is yet to repudiate the fundamentals on which Hegdewar, Golwalkar and Balasaheb Deoras built up its edifice and Rajendra Singh soldiers on. Until then the fears will remain.
