[Copyright
for the forthcoming book is reserved by the publisher. For permission
to use excerpts, please write the author: email: partha@capital.net]
The
meteoric rise of Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP in the Indian political
horizon is all but certain to bring back an era of right-wing
divisiveness and hatred that is bound to cause more bloodshed in the
coming days—both within the country and on its borders. "Dark
times" for the traditionally oppressed of India is once again
looming large. Political power all over the world is shifting rapidly to
the right—women and the other downtrodden sections of the society are
being trampled afresh in the name of God and the "preservation of
cultural and moral values". In their basic characteristics, the
Hindu fundamentalist RSS-BJP-VHP combine and Shiv Sena are no different
from radical Muslim groups such as the Jamat-e-Islami or the Taliban, or
Christian fundamentalists such as the Christian Coalition or Promise
Keepers (in the United States)—different names, different
demographics—similar sociopolitical doctrines, similar
oppression—the variables lie only in the particular targets of hatred
and separation, and the particular creed being touted as supreme.
However,
in order to understand the BJP, the rising star of Indian politics, one
must know well about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS—BJP’s
all-important secretive parent organization. Inside knowledge of the
so-called non-political RSS would give us a powerful tool to comprehend
the Hindu radical right of India. The questions to ask after fifty years
of Indian independence are—do we want to go back to the days of
massacre and rape in the name of religion? Do we want to perpetuate the
myth that women are subservient to patriarchy? Or, in this era of
technological wonders, do we want to make people believe that a clay
idol can drink milk or a painting can shed tears?
The
present book, In the Belly of the Beast: the Hindu
Supremacist RSS and BJP of India—An Insider’s story, is an
insightful account into the enigmatic RSS and its various
offshoots—collectively known as the "Sangh Parivar" (Sangh
Family)—their daily activities, camps, training courses, celebrations,
fundraising, prayers, songs, and Sanskrit sacraments. The author, Dr.
Partha Banerjee, is very familiar with the Sangh's system of recruitment
and indoctrination of its "volunteers", and their allocation
in its various wings. Through a very watchful, laborious, and devoted
state of mind, he followed the organization and was admired by peers and
leaders alike during his days with the Sangh. His portrayal of the
organization is thus unique—reverence for personalities coupled with
disillusionment with the ideology—a very different approach not
matched by outside observers.
The
various chapters of this book meticulously unfold the day-to-day
functioning and year-to-year growth of the "Sangh Parivar"—an
insider's tale of final disenchantment.
SO,
REALLY, WHAT IS MY PROBLEM WITH "THEM"?
Many
years ago, when I was very young, my father took me to a "Sangh
shakha" in a North Calcutta neighborhood. Since then, I remained in
the "Sangh", or the RSS, for more than fifteen precious years
of my life. I made friends, played games, sang songs, paraded on the
street, took part in rallies and discussions, gave speeches, and did
numerous other things for them, year after year. Yet, I did not regret
it when I came out of the organization—in fact, I was happy when I
finally freed myself from its clutches. However, I lost touch with some
good old friends, and that was the only thing that made me sad.
But
I must confess—I am scared today. When I think about the "Sangh"
now, a nightmarish metaphor comes to my mind. I keep perceiving the
"Sangh" as a continuously expanding creature like some mutated
ominous insect inside an ancient cocoon—an insect that has mutated
only to expand and eat everything it grabs but never to come out of its
shell. It does it so slowly but surely that although it is potentially a
great danger, nobody understands how perilous it is—one reason is that
nobody can see it. Some find it a playful big cocoon lying in a remote
corner of the colorful woods chewing away to its heart’s content, some
find it an unsightly object to crack jokes about, some find it only a
subject of interest to discuss among academic circles. But the insect
keeps growing and mutating and devouring anything it gets. It nourishes
itself from all the youthfulness and freshness of its surrounding nature
and becomes bigger, stronger, and uglier.
Then,
one day, people realize that there is no more green left in the
once-beautiful garden—everything is dull and barren and sad and
gray—the now-monstrous vermin has absorbed all the fertile energy from
the once-diverse nature—and now it has turned into such a colossal
beast that nobody even dares to stop it from whatever it wants.
I
am sorry if I sound pessimistic. But when I compare today’s RSS with
the one from my days or even before, this is how I really feel about the
organization and its growth.
RSS —
The "SANGH"
What
is it, and what is it not?
"Jesus
is junk. It is high time for Hindus to learn that Jesus Christ
symbolizes no spiritual power, or moral uprightness. He is no more than
an artifice for legitimizing wanton imperialist aggression. The
aggressors have found him to be highly profitable so far. By the same
token, Hindus should know that Jesus means nothing but mischief for
their country and culture."
[Sita
Ram Goel. 1994. Jesus Christ—An Artifice of Aggression. Voice
of India, New Delhi.]
The
above was recently said by a prominent leader and theorist of RSS or
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps), in a treatise on
Jesus Christ.
Dr.
K. B. Hedgewar floated the organization in 1925 on the Hindu holy day of
Vijaya Dashami (the triumphant tenth day of the moon) in the
Maharashtrian city of Nagpur. According to Hindu mythology, this is the
day when in a holy war, Lord Rama, the God king, triumphed over Ravana
"the demon king". The Sangh and its offspring organizations
such as the BJP have successfully used the name of Rama as a ploy to
garner Hindu votes and drum up anti-Muslim hatred. In addition to the
assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the RSS, Jana Sangh (now known as BJP),
and VHP or Vishwa Hindu Parishad have been implicated in numerous
communal riots all over India. RSS now has two other important
offshoots—Bajrang Dal (the party of Hanuman, the monkey-king, who was
befriended by Lord Rama), and Banavasi Kalyan Ashram, the organization
targeted to include the tribals in its fold.
Atal
Bihari Vajpayee, the parliamentary leader of BJP, is a lifelong member
of RSS, more commonly known as the "Sangh". Most leaders and
active members of BJP are products of the Sangh and steeped in its Hindu
supremacist doctrine. Vajpayee was a full-time RSS worker before he was
"released" for BJP (formerly Jana Sangh) activities. In one of
his Hindi poems, Vajpayee proclaims: "Hindu Hindu mera parichay"—my
only identity is Hindu. This may remind us of his campaign speeches
during the recent Indian elections, "Is it a crime to be a Hindu in
this country?" [2] One can perceive the same Hindu
Vajpayee—only with refined rhetoric and a display of moderation—very
similar to the recently toned-down functioning style of BJP itself.
The
meteoric rise of BJP in the Indian polity is now all but certain to
bring back an era of more social and political pressures for the
traditionally oppressed—the "untouchables", the religious
minorities, and women. BJP's political ally Shiv Sena (SS) and its
dictatorial leader Bal Thackeray have been openly supportive of social
codes that are downright racist and oppressive. Mr. Thackeray has gone
so far as to say that democracy is not for India and what Indians need
is a "benign dictatorship."
In
order to learn about the BJP, the rising star of Indian politics, one
must examine the RSS with an open mind. Most secular and progressive
Indians, and those who do not have any particular political faith,
either do not know much about the RSS and its modus operandi or because
of a preoccupied mind, refuse to recognize them. To me, this ignorance
or rejection is the very thing that has allowed the rapid growth of the
Sangh organizations. We must defeat the RSS in its own game—its
supremacist-divisive Hindutva doctrine must be countered with the
secular and all-inclusive version of Hinduism which is the religion of
Sri Chaitanya, Ram Mohan Ray, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, and Bhakt Kabir.
The Sangh Parivar’s doctrine of separatism and supremacy must be
exposed by drawing parallels between them and other social-religious
fundamentalist groups that fiercely fight with each other. Only then,
their global bigotry and deceit can be truly assessed and dealt with.
Mahatma
Gandhi was murdered by an RSS member—and that is the common belief
On
the 30th of January 1948, within less than a year of the Indian
independence, Nathuram Godse, a Hindu zealot from the western Indian
state of Maharashtra, shot and killed Mahatma Gandhi at a prayer meeting
in Delhi. Nathuram Godse was a prominent member of the RSS and a close
associate of its founder Dr. K. B. Hedgewar. Just before the
assassination, however, Godse "left" the RSS and joined
another Hindu supremacist group Hindu Mahasabha.
So,
why was the Sangh not convicted in Gandhi assassination?
RSS
was never officially implicated in the murder of Mahatma Gandhi because,
they say, Nathuram Godse could not conclusively be proven to be an RSS
member. This apparently bizarre conclusion was possible because of RSS'
non-existent membership roster and the absence of any internal
documented proceedings of Sangh activities or meetings. At the time of
the assassination, the Sangh did not even have a constitution—this was
after twenty three years of its public existence! [3]
RSS
mobilizes workers into its different fronts. Other than the BJP, the
Sangh mentors its cadres for its education front Akhil Bharatiya
Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Industry-based cadres are sent to organize
the labor front, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), and the more gray-haired
and often rich workers from the business world move into the powerful
well-financed religious wing, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or the
World Hindu Council. Although very much in the fray of capturing unions
through electioneering (and hooliganism), both ABVP and BMS claim to be
non-political.
RSS,
Shiv Sena, and their admiration of fascism
Dr.
Hedgewar, the RSS founder, propounded the idea that national unity would
only come about if it was declared that all non-Hindus in India, such as
Muslims and Christians, do not form a part of the nation. This was
because, in his opinion, non-Hindus deny Hindu traditions, ideals, and
culture. Hedgewar indoctrinated this idea into his hand-picked protégé
Madhavrao Sadasivrao Golwalkar (more commonly known as Guruji—"the
teacher"), again from Nagpur.
The
most comprehensive statement of this exclusionary idea was made in Mr.
Golwalkar's book "We or Our Nationhood Defined"
published in 1938. [4]
The
pamphlet-like book has so many laudatory references to Hitler and his
theories of racial supremacy that it became embarrassingly uncomfortable
for the RSS to continue its publication and was soon withdrawn from
circulation.
It
would be worthwhile to cite a few excerpts here: "German race pride
has now become the topic of the day. To keep up the purity of the race
and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of
the Semitic races—the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been
manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is
for races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be
assimilated into one united whole—a good lesson for us in Hindusthan
(i.e., the land of Hindus) to learn and profit by."
This
is the lesson the "Guruji" wants Sangh volunteers to learn:
"From this standpoint sanctioned by the experience of shrewd old
nations, the non-Hindu peoples in Hindusthan must either adopt the Hindu
culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence the
Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but the glorification of the
Hindu race and culture, i.e., they must not only give up their attitude
of intolerance and ungratefulness towards this land and its age-old
traditions, but must also cultivate the positive attitude of love and
devotion instead; in one word, they must cease to be foreigners or may
stay in the country wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation claiming
nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment,
not even citizen's rights." [5]
The
Hindu Mahasabha leader Savarkar, a much-respected personality in RSS
circles, proclaimed,
"If
we Hindus grow stronger in time Moslem friends ...will have to play the
part of German Jews." [6]
First
RSS, Jana Sangh, then BJP—then a turn of luck
In
1951, RSS floated the Jana Sangh, its political wing, now known as the
BJP, to counter the rising public hatred resulting as a fallout of RSS’
involvement in Gandhi’s assassination. It also wanted to have its
voice heard in the first Indian elections of 1952. M. S. Golwalkar put
Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, an ultra-nationalist and famous orator from
the Bengal Hindu Mahasabha, in charge of the Jana Sangh. Dr. Mukherjee
was allegedly murdered by the Congress Party or Sheikh Abdullah's party
in a jail in Kashmir, and later, Sangh activist Deendayal Upadhyay
became the president of the Jana Sangh. [7]
The
unassuming and mild-mannered Upadhyay was also assassinated, again,
allegedly by political rivals. Atal Bihari Vajpayee then took over as
the Jana Sangh president and carried the mantle for a long and lonely
decade. Jana Sangh came close to obliteration during the heydays of
Congress under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru and subsequently his
daughter Indira Gandhi. It was only the proclamation of the totalitarian
Emergency rule by Indira Gandhi in 1975 that gave a second breath of
life to Jana Sangh through its opportunistic alliance with other
national opposition parties. Imprisonment of forgotten personalities
like Vajpayee and L. K. Advani on Indira Gandhi's orders elevated them
to national stardom. Indira Gandhi, under the mistaken impression that
her popular support was strong, called for general elections in 1977.
She and her Congress party were nearly wiped out, largely due to a
massive people's movement led by socialist leader Jaya Prakash Narayan,
and a hodgepodge coalition formed the government. Vajpayee and Advani
assumed important portfolios of the foreign affairs and
information-broadcasting ministers, respectively. Until then, few could
dream of such a turn of luck for these two career politicians and for
the BJP—the new incarnation of the Jana Sangh.
"Guru-Dakshina"
and tons of soft money too!
Other
than the enormous amount of money collected at the Guru-Dakshina
(charity for the guru, in this case, the saffron flag) day every year
(which goes largely unreported, and hence untaxed), RSS also reportedly
generates huge sums of money from its members and sympathizers abroad.
Other than contributing to election funds of BJP, they say, immigrant
Sangh sympathizers pay their "Guru-Dakshina" at various
branches of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), the overseas version of
RSS. [8]
Money
is also reportedly pumped in and out by other organizations such as the
Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP), VHP of America, and the Hindu Student
Council or HSC of America. Traditionally conservative but apolitical
Hindu temples in USA and Europe are now targeted by the Sangh in order
to mobilize second-generation Indian-American youth through organization
of VHP-sponsored Hindu summer camps and various religious conventions of
HSC. Under the guise of cultural education, a whole generation is being
indoctrinated to be blind, separatists, and bigots. Many Indian
immigrants, ignorant of the relationship of the VHP and HSC with BJP and
RSS, are being used to further the fascist-like sociopolitical agenda of
the Sangh Parivar.
The Rama
Movement of the 90's—Vajpayee still wants the temple (He also wants
the N-Bomb)
Unlike
many other religious fundamentalist movements across the globe that have
a well-defined vision of the society they want to build, the Sangh's
vision of the Hindu Rashtra (nation) is purposefully vague. As RSS seeks
to extend its reach, its Hindu revivalist mission finds itself tangled
with a number of serious obstacles. The RSS' brahminical version of
Hinduism has little support among the poor and the lower castes, and its
assertion of Hindu supremacy ignores deep-rooted caste, class, ethnic,
linguistic, and regional loyalties. Against the backdrop of these
difficulties, the Sangh came up with two objectives to forge its
ambitious Hindu nationalism: (1) the tenet of hatred toward the Indian
government and (2) drumming up hatred toward the minority Muslim
population in India. The Rama Janmabhoomi campaign and the concurrent
nationwide communal riots orchestrated by Sangh militants (where Muslims
were the victims of murders, rapes, and destruction of property in
overwhelmingly disproportionate numbers) fulfilled these two objectives.
The Sangh Parivar now depicts itself as a nationalist movement besieged
and confronted by a "socialistic and atheistic" state that
pampers the minority communities—although the Sangh knows well how
Muslims and other minorities in India have traditionally suffered as
second-class citizens in political and economic life. [9]
Also
see Dr. Gopal Singh’s report, Minorities Commission, 1983 (Source: Emergency
Assessments, Vijay Prashad, Social Scientist,
September-October 1996, p. 61).]
Thus,
in the nineties, RSS, VHP, and BJP forged the strong Hindu revivalist
Rama platform that dwelled on the issue of the "historic"
birthplace of Lord Rama in Ayodhya in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Their
contention was that the mosque, known as Babri Masjid (after the Islamic
ruler Babar) was built upon the ruins of a Hindu temple that was
supposedly been demolished by "Muslim" invaders. This temple,
the Sangh says, was built to mark the holy birthplace of Rama, the God
king. The Sangh contends that a temple with pillars had indeed been
there since the eleventh century.
However,
even an avidly pro-BJP Belgian columnist Koenraad Elst, in his book
argues, [10]
"When
that building (the temple) was destroyed, we do not know precisely,
there are no descriptions of the event extant anywhere. Mohammed Ghori's
armies arrived there in 1194, and they may have destroyed it. It may
have been rebuilt afterwards, or it may only have been destroyed by
later Muslim lieutenants. So it is possible that when Mir Baqi, Babar's
lieutenant, arrived there in 1528, he found a heap of rubble, or an
already aging mosque, rather than a magnificent Hindu temple."
Other
archeologists plainly assert that there has not been a single piece of
evidence for the existence of a temple of either brick, stone or both. [11]
The
fact is, Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) also has the largest number of
parliamentary seats and is important enough to sway the outcome of the
elections for one party or another. BJP has long concentrated to carry
the state. The Rama movement of 1990-92 culminated in the forcible
demolition, by Sangh militants, of the mosque on December 6, 1992, and
consequent massive communal riots that claimed thousands of lives all
over India—especially in North India and Bombay. [12]
Repercussions
followed in adjoining Pakistan and Bangladesh, where reactionary Muslim
fanatics gathered strength out of this incident, and destroyed Hindu
temples, lives and property.
The
BJP managed to worm its way into a short-lived coalition government in
U.P. in 1995, paving the way for a big win in the 1996 elections. In
early 1997, after a long impasse, BJP and Mayawati-Kansiram's Bahujan
Samaj Party (BSP, a splinter party of "lower castes") forged
another coalition government in the state where a power sharing deal was
cut—the small contingent of Mayawati's party would be given the chief
ministership for the first six months, BJP would then have its own chief
minister, and so on. In late 1997, however, BSP withdrew its support but
the BJP managed to hang on to power in U.P. by means of massive
"horse-trading" and use of muscle-power and money. The
"new inductees" were subsequently rewarded with ministerial
portfolios. The BJP chief minister had to create numerous portfolios to
appease the "disgruntled" lawmakers. RSS, for its part,
blessed these practices from its Nagpur headquarters.
Leaders
like Vajpayee and L. K. Advani still support the long-promised Rama
temple on the demolition site. This is a centerpiece of the Sangh pledge
to the affluent and conservative upper caste Hindus. Can Vajpayee and
Advani ignore the RSS whip from its Nagpur headquarters? Not very
likely. In any event, another brutal communal riot looms large on the
horizon. Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is also keen to create another
bloody movement to "free" Mathura in U.P., the so-called site
of Lord Krishna's birth—an objective Mayawati-Kansiram's party (the
BSP) does not favor.
Vajpayee
and Advani also support BJP's promise to make India an official N-bomb
nation—Advani has reiterated his party’s stand at recent meetings
and press conferences. [13]
By
most accounts, Pakistan is on the verge of having nuclear weapons, and
BJP's coming to power will only expedite it. Is a nuclear war brewing in
the Indian subcontinent? The CIA reported, truly or falsely, that one
such serious threat was averted only recently. Nevertheless, a
subcontinental nuclear war is no longer an unlikely scenario.
Is RSS
really fascist?
Why
is the RSS labeled as fascist by some circles and how much justification
is there? Why call anybody a fascist? Before RSS or BJP is called
fascist, we need to describe their ideas. Let's explain what fascism is,
and compare these ideas with what the "Sangh Parivar"
practices. [14]
The
word "fascism" describes a set of overlapping and sometimes
contradictory beliefs that first became fashionable in continental
Europe in the 1920s. According to Dr. Mark Trisch of Johannes Gutenberg
Universitaet, Germany, the following set of ideas (in varying
combinations) fostered by a party or organization would brand it
fascist: [15]
(1)
Calling for a return to the "ancient traditions of the race"
(2)
A hierarchical, militaristic, corporate social organization
(3)
A cult of leadership
(4)
Calls for national self-reliance
(5)
Calling for "full employment"
(6)
Aggressively nationalistic foreign policy.
According
to Dr. Trisch, although it is the combination of all these that makes
for trouble, the first three seem to be the most important.
Do
the RSS, and its sister organizations such as the BJP or VHP foster
these ideas? Unfortunately, they do. A return to the ancient so-called
"glorified Bharatiya traditions" of the Hindu race is their
number one creed. Every single day, RSS, in its militaristic shakhas or
gatherings, preaches to its workers and sympathizers that the
"oldest nation of Bharatvarsha" was the "greatest"
on earth and that its inhabitants were "happy, prosperous, and
religious". The Sangh leaders never forget to mention that all the
ills of India began when, due to the "disunity of the Hindu
race", Muslim and then British aggressors invaded and took over
this "holy land". The long term goal of the Sangh Parivar is
of course to bring back that "past era of glory" by creating
an "Akhand Bharat" (i.e., an Undivided India ranging from
"Himalaya to Kanyakumari" and "Gandhar to Brahmadesh"
(i.e., from Tibet in the north to the southern tip of India, and from
Afghanistan in the west to South East Asia including Burma, Laos,
Thailand, and Cambodia)—culturally and politically. This dream of
"unity" is to be reached by organizing Hindus from all around
the globe.
The
RSS is indeed a hierarchical, militaristic organization that actively
practices regimentation. RSS has a "Sarsanghchalak" (Supreme
Leader) who is never elected (for that matter, no other leaders are
elected—there is no system of internal elections in the
organization)—the supreme leader's commands are obeyed without
question. Further, Dr. Keshavrao Baliramrao Hedgewar, the founder of the
Sangh and Madhavrao Sadasivrao Golwalkar, the second and most well-known
supreme leader of RSS, are remembered in Sangh circles with a sense of
divinity and admiration that reaches the level of God-worshipping.
Indeed, these two men are officially given the status of Avatars
(reincarnation of God) by the RSS. Pictures of these two Sarsanghchalaks
are distributed and sold by RSS offices and bookstores and decorate
walls of workers' homes. Stories, often exaggerated, about their lives
are discussed at RSS camps and gatherings on a regular basis, essays are
written on their lives and works and the best ones are awarded prizes.
Portraits of the present Sarsanghchalak Rajendra Singh ("Rajju
Bhaiya") is now promptly posted on RSS' Internet homepage by active
workers in the USA. [16]
Similarly,
Shiv Sena’s new official homepage, on its title page, now has the
picture of its supremo, Balasaheb Thackeray.
This
is what the Shiv Sena homepage declares about its leader: "People
from all parts of Hindustan have only one hope. "Hon'ble
Shivsenapramukh Shri Balasaheb Thackeray is our only hope. He is our
national Leader" they say."
National
self-reliance is preached by the RSS: the Sangh has now actively taken
up the issue of self-reliance and put forth a program called the "Swadeshi
Jagaran Manch"—a platform to champion the idea of total economic
self-reliance. They decry the US investments in India and pro-US fiscal
treaties such as the GATT and NAFTA—RSS' opposition to American
investment might well have been a headache for the US government (and
the) CIA in deciding between the faltering Congress or rising BJP to be
covertly pushed as the next ruling party of India.
But
the international investors can now breathe a sigh of relief as this
call for national self-reliance has proved to be just a politically
expedient move without any real will behind it as evident by what the
BJP in fact did vis-ŕ-vis the multinational Enron power project.
Full
employment for labor (but without any real power or control over the
workplace) has been a centerpiece of RSS and BJP actions implemented
through the activities of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh or BMS, one of the
largest labor organizations in India. BJP's ultra-right ally Shiv Sena
has come up with plans to support the Hindu labor force in the state of
Maharashtra. The irony here is that the Shiv Sena was originally floated
by national and international vested-interest groups to crush the
once-powerful trade unions of Bombay back in the 1980's and has operated
a protection racket ever since. In recent months, American pop-singer
Michael Jackson and eminent Indian film playback singer Lata Mangeshkar
and actor Dilip Kumar participated in huge Shiv Udyog Sena-sponsored
concerts purportedly to raise funds for the Hindu laborers of Bombay. [17]
An
aggressively nationalistic foreign policy has always been at the
forefront of RSS propaganda. Much toned-down by the BJP now, during the
Jana Sangh days, it was much more overt. America was never well-liked by
Sangh members—the United States has always been portrayed as the very
image of immorality and profanity on earth. However, a previous Jana
Sangh president and one of its most famous orators Balraj Madhok was an
ardent pro-American who had a small but powerful following in his days.
But he could not make RSS, and consequently Jana Sangh, openly
pro-American. This was largely due to the opposition of the all-powerful
Golwalkar and leaders like Vajpayee the latter being a supporter of
non-alignment with a less vociferous objection against the then USSR
(this was however a strategy for them to internationally undermine and
isolate China—the Sangh's one main enemy). RSS' and Jana Sangh's (and
now BJP's) foreign policy stands on the dictum of anti-Pakistan and
anti-China hatred—and for that matter, hatred against any Islamic or
socialist countries or alliances. Consequently, Israel now has become a
hot favorite of the Sangh Parivar—Vajpayee, Advani, and other BJP
leaders have frequented the country to show their support for the
ferociously anti-Arab nation. Attempts have often been made,
now-apparently successful, to iron out the Sangh’s previously bitter
relationships with USA via the mediation of Israel. Note the irony
here—a Hitler-admiring organization is having a mutual love-fest with
the one nation that has the most reason on earth to despise anything
that even remotely seeks of Hitler and the Nazi party.
What
now?
Congress’
fortune has plummeted forever. The party that many arguably say won
Indian independence from the British and later degenerated into a party
of corruption, inefficiency and anarchy, is now facing near-extinction.
Sitaram Kesari, the Congress president, withdrew support in late 1997 to
the left-leaning United Front government. Congress is breaking up again
and its more conservative section is leaning towards BJP. Vajpayee's
chances to be India's next prime minister is now even brighter. [18]
BJP
now seems to be the party of choice of the upper caste conservative
Hindus—the traditional kingmakers of India—and the political
equilibrium seems to have shifted in their direction. How much effort
BJP makes to implement the Hindu supremacist ideas of RSS and to what
extent, if any, it resists them, remains to be seen. To the poor and
ever-oppressed of India, one dark chapter of rule is now being replaced
by another one.
To
these Indians, who have been trampled upon by the Brahmins and other
upper castes and social patriarchs for ages, the only hope is the true
consolidation of a third force—a force of the untouchables, religious
minorities, women, poor laborers and marginal peasants. The recent
developments show that such a possibility, before it really
crystallized, was destabilized mostly by outside forces through
inevitable Congress sabotaging and due to internal squabbling. BJP has
suddenly become the hot favorite of the big industrialists of
India—the big businessmen put out huge newspaper advertisements in
favor of the party.
Who
is going to reap the harvest of all this? Other than the international
anti-India agents, it will no doubt be the saffron supremacists of the
"Sangh Parivar".
[2] New York Times, May 1996.
[3]
What is the truth about Godse's RSS connection? ... Godse himself had
stated before the Court: "I have worked for several years in RSS
and subsequently joined the Hindu Mahasabha..." (Godse, Gopal:
"May it Please Your Honour: Statement of Nathuram Godse").
The most significant is the revelation by his brother about the last
moments of his life: "On reaching the platform they recited a verse
of devotion to the Motherland: "Namaste sada vatsale matribhume..."
[This is the RSS prayer sung even today — author]. The above is quoted
from D. R. Goyal: Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh . Radha Krishna
Prakashan. New Delhi. 1979.
[4]
M. S. Golwalkar. 1938. We or Our Nationhood Defined. Bharat
Prakashan, Nagpur.
[5]
This rhetoric reminds us of the anti-immigrant decree of Pat Robertson,
the leader of the Christian Coalition of USA—a personality much
despised by the RSS and VHP people of America. The Republican governor
of California, Pete Wilson, won the recent elections in the state upon
this anti-alien, anti-immigrant plank known as Proposition 209—a
measure that denies all human rights to illegal immigrants and their
children and some benefits even to legal immigrants.
[6]
Savarkar's presidential address to RSS members in Nagpur on 28 December
1938. Indian Annual Register, 1938 (1939), Vol. II, Calcutta.
[7]
Sheikh Abdullah was the Kashmir chief minister for a long time since its
inclusion in India. He was also close to Jawaharlal Nehru, the first
Indian prime minister.
[8]
The political activities are often masked by religious activities at
Hindu temples, teaching of Sanskrit to youngsters, private gatherings,
etc.
[9]
This section is paraphrased after Amrita Basu's article "Women and
religious nationalism in India: an introduction", Bulletin of
Concerned Asian Scholars, December 1993.
[10]
Koenraad Elst. 1991. Ayodhya and After — Issues before the Hindu
Society. Voice of India, New Delhi.
[11]
The Statesman Miscellany. September 12, 1993, Calcutta.
[12]
Granta, Spring 1997. New York and London.
[13]
New Delhi, December 11, 97. Reuters.
[14]
Also read, Achin Vanaik, Communalism Contested, Vistaar
Publications, New Delhi, 1997. Vanaik prefers to call the Sangh Parivar
a "pre- or potentially fascist" group. p. 279.
[15]
Per Indology mailing list discussions on the Internet, December
1995.
[16]
A meeting of prominent RSS workers was held on November 9 and 10, 1929.
It decided against the 'cumbersome clap-trap of internal democracy' and
opted for a centralized authority-based structure... The principle was
called "Ek Chalak Anuvartitva" (following one leader) and was
explained to the swayamsevaks by V. V. Kelkar who told them that it was
on the lines of the traditional Hindu joint family system and was most
appropriate for an organization wedded to reviving and rejuvenating the
Hindu way of life. It is rather difficult to distinguish this
arrangement from what has been called the "Fuehrer Principle"
followed by the Fascists in Italy and Nazis in Germany in the decade
leading up to WWII. Quoted from D. R. Goyal: Rashtriya Swayamsewak
Sangh . Radha Krishna Prakashan, New Delhi. 1979.
Recently,
in an interview carried in the Panchjanya, a magazine with close
RSS connections, Ms Uma Bharati, the BJP MP from Khajuraho and president
of the party's Yuva Morcha, has quoted the RSS chief, Professor Rajendra
Singh, to say that despite the number of police stations in the country,
and thousands of policemen, Muslims cannot be safe if they have enmity
with the Hindus. Source: The Hindu, January 18, 1998.
[17]
Shiv Udyog Sena is the commerce front of the Shiv Sena.
[18]
Vajpayee became the Indian prime minister in 1996 for 13 days — his
minority government resigned rather than face a vote of confidence on
the floor of the parliament. The only legislation the BJP government
managed in these days were some silly but nonetheless chilling
restrictions on the broadcast media.
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