Government Employees in RSS: Hastening The End of Democratic-Secular India

(The Milli Gazette
16-31 October 2006)

Government Employees in RSS: Hastening The End of Democratic-Secular India

by Shamsul Islam

None can beat the RSS in its nefarious attempts to undo a democratic-secular India from within. This Hindutva brigade, knowing fully well that the politics of Hindutva is not acceptable to this country, continues evolving newest foul methods of communalizing the democratic-secular constitutional set-up. The latest in this series has been the August 27, 2006, official communiqué of the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh led by a seasoned RSS cadre, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, allowing state government employees open participation in the activities of the RSS including its 'shakhas'. Interestingly, the RSS cadres have been ruling states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh but no such announcement were made for these states. This blatant announcement has jolted even Congress Party from its slumber towards the pitfalls of the Hindutva game plan. Protesting against the move, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to the President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, demanding his intervention to stop the MP government from putting into action its above order. Sonia Gandhi in her letter to the President petitioned that the MP government move was not only „illegal and unconstitutional‰ but also would result into „religious prejudices and passions and polarizing the society‰.1

If Congress is serious in its protestation and takes the fight to the logical conclusion, this country can at least begin the process of putting a stop to the anti-national activities of the RSS and its gang. The issue is not only of saving government employees from getting communalized by coming in contact with the RSS but exposing an organization which stands for Hindu separatism and complete demolition of a democratic and secular India. The RSS led Gujarat government had come out with the same kind of communiqué in the year 2000 but due to the intervention of the then President of the India Republic, KR Narayanan, the order was reversed. Unfortunately, neither Congress nor the secular camp carried this fight to the logical end which would have resulted in proving that the RSS is antithetical to all those principles and institutions on which secular-democratic India rests.

The BJP chief, Rajnath Singh who happens to be a senior RSS cadre himself, while defending the order of the MP government said: „As far as RSS is concerned, it is the world‚s largest socio-cultural body and there should be no ban on participating in its activities.‰2 It is pertinent for the security and existence of our democracy to compare the MP government‚s communiqué and its defence by the RSS gang with the essentials of secular-democratic polity of our country. A perusal of the comparison will make it abundantly clear how MP government‚s order poses a very serious danger to our constitutional set-up.

Is RSS a non-political organization?
We must compare the RSS claim that it is a cultural-social organization and has nothing to do with politics with the following two statements of M. S. Golwalkar, who headed the RSS after the death of the founder of the RSS, KB Hedgewar, and is considered the greatest ideologue of the organization till date. The first statement tells us about the kind of personnel who are sent to manipulate politics and what is expected of them by the RSS. While delivering a speech on March 16, 1954, in Sindi, Wardha, he said,
"If we say that we are part of the organization and accept its discipline then selectiveness has no place in life. Do what is told. If told to play kabaddi, play kabaddi; told to hold meeting then meeting?.For instance some of our friends were told to go and work for politics that does not mean that they have great interest or inspiration for it. They don‚t die for politics like fish without water. If they are told to withdraw from politics then also there is no objection. Their discretion is just not required"3
The second statement is also very significant and reads:
We know this also that some of our Swayamsevaks [cadres] work in politics. There they have to organize according to the needs of work public meetings, processions etc., have to raise slogans. All these things have no place in our work. However, the actor should portray the character accepted to the best of his capability. But sometimes Swayamsevaks go beyond the role assigned to an actor as they develop over-zealousness in their hearts, to the extent that they become useless for this work. This is not good.4
We find here Guru Golwalkar referring to the Swayamsevaks loaned to political offshoot as 'nat' or performers who are meant to dance to the tunes of the RSS. This fact should not be missed here that Golwalkar‚s above design of controlling the political arm was elaborated in March 1960 almost nine years after the establishment of Jansangh (the forerunner of the BJP) in 1951.
The RSS has strong political ambitions and designs is further corroborated by a publication of the RSS. The central publication house of the RSS, the Suruchi Prakashan, Jhandewalan, New Delhi, published, Param Vaibhav Ke Path Par (1997) which gave details of more than 40 organizations created by the RSS for different tasks. The BJP as a political organization figures prominently in it at number 3, with the ABVP, Hindu Jagaran Manch, Vishva Hindu Parishad, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and Sanskar Bharti etc. The preface of the book itself declares that „without the knowledge of the different kinds of activities of the Sawyamsevaks (the volunteers of the RSS) the introduction of the RSS is incomplete. Keeping this in mind it has been attempted in this book to produce the brief information about the diverse activities of the Sawyamsevaks. This book covers the organizational status till 1996 "We believe that this book will prove to be of use for those who want to understand the RSS with the Swyamsevaks"5
RSS stands for building a Hindu state
Sadly, the whole debate on the MP government‚s communiqué is kept revolving round the fact whether RSS is a political or non-political organization. A far more serious issue is being skirted that is to investigate into the evil philosophical designs of the RSS about India. For instance, if government employees are allowed to join RSS 'shakhas' it would be mandatory for them to recite following Prarthana (prayer) and Pratigya (oath), the recitation of which is must in each Œshakha‚.
Prarthana:
Affectionate Motherland, I eternally bow to you/O Land of Hindus, you have reared me in comfort/O Sacred Land, the Great Creator of Good, may this body of mine be dedicated to you/I again and again bow before You/O God almighty, we the integral part of the Hindu Rashtra salute you in reverence/For Your cause have we girded up our loins/Give us Your Blessings for its accomplishment.6
Pratigya:
Before the all powerful God and my ancestors, I most solemnly take this oath, that I become a member of the RSS in order to achieve all round greatness of Bharatvarsha by fostering the growth of my sacred Hindu religion, Hindu society, and Hindu culture. I shall perform the work of the Sangh honestly, disinterestedly, with my heart and soul, and I shall adhere to this goal all my life. Bharat Mata Ki Jai.7
Thus the government employees will not be faithful to a secular India, as it exists as a legal entity today but would be committed to subvert it into a Hindu theocratic state.
RSS denigrates the National Flag and the Constitution
It is the outcome of its commitment to the building of Hindu nation that the RSS hates the Tr-icolour and the Constitution of India, the two great symbols of our secular-democratic polity.
The RSS since its inception in 1925 has been demanding that India is a Hindu nation and its national flag should be Bhagwa Jhanda (saffron flag) only. When the Constituent Assembly adopted the Tricolour as the national Flag, the RSS demanded the hoisting of saffron flag at the ramparts of Red Fort in Delhi and openly denigrated the choice of the Tricolour in the following words:
The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour but it never [sic] be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.8
Golwalkar while addressing the Gurupurnima gathering at the RSS headquarters on July 14, 1946 declared that it was the saffron flag which in totality represented great Hindu culture and was the embodiment of God. He further resolved: „We firmly believe that in the end the whole nation will bow before this saffron flag.‰9
How loyal the RSS is to the Constitution of India can be known by the following statement of Golwalkar which is being reproduced from Bunch of Thought, which is not only selection of the writings of MS Golwalkar but also a Bible of the RSS cadres.
Our Constitution too is just a cumbersome and heterogeneous piecing together of various articles from various Constitutions of Western countries. It has absolutely nothing which can be called our own. Is there a single word of reference in its guiding principles as to what our national mission is and what our keynote in life is?No.10
In fact, RSS wanted this Constitution to be replaced by Manusmriti or Codes of Manu which is known for its derogatory and inhuman references to Untouchables and women. When the Constituent Assembly of India had finalized the Constitution of India RSS was not happy. It‚s organ, Organizer in an editorial on November 30, 1949, complained,
But in our constitution there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu‚s Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing.
There is no doubt that participation of government employees in the activities of such an organization which openly decries the national Flag and the Constitution will only hasten the end of a democratic-secular India.
ANTI-DEMOCRACY
The RSS, contrary to the principles of democracy, has been constantly demanding that India be ruled under a totalitarian regime. Golwalkar while delivering a speech before 1350 top level cadres of the RSS at Madras in 1940 declared, "The RSS inspired by one flag, one leader and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva in each and every corner of this great land."11 This slogan of one flag, one leader and one ideology has directly been borrowed from the programmes of the Nazi and Fascist Parties of Europe. Thus all those who will join the RSS bandwagon would naturally be anti-thetical to a democratic India.
AGAINST FEDERALISM
The RSS is also dead against the federal structure of the Constitution, again a Basic Feature of the India polity. This is clear from the following communication of Golwalkar, which he sent to the first session of the National Integration Council in 1961. It read,
Today‚s federal form of government not only gives birth but also nourishes the feelings of separatism, in a way refuses to recognize the fact of one nation and destroys it. It must be completely uprooted, constitution purified and unitary form of government be established.12
Imagine the bureaucracy who is supposed to be committed to the federal set-up of India would work to wreck it as per the wishes of RSS.
Role of RSS in Gandhiji‚s murder
It is a matter of shame that government employees in MP are being permitted to participate in the activities of an organization which was held responsible for the murder of Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi by no less a person than Sardar Patel. Sardar as the first Home Minister of India, in a letter dated July 18, 1948 to a prominent leader of Hindu Mahasabha, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, wrote:
As regards the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, the case relating to Gandhiji‚s murder is sub judice and I should not like to say anything about the participation of the two organizations, but our reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities of these two bodies, particularly the former, an atmosphere was created in the country in which such a ghastly tragedy became possible. There is no doubt in my mind that the extreme section of the Hindu Mahasabha was involved in the conspiracy. The activities of the RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence of Government and the State. Our reports show that those activities, despite the ban, have not died down. Indeed, as time has marched on, the RSS circles are becoming more defiant and are indulging in their subversive activities in an increasing measure.13
If such are the philosophical commitments and activities of the RSS how can any patriotic Indian, what to talk of government employees, be allowed to participate in the RSS activities? It is high time that all those organizations and individuals who have faith in a secular-democratic India must ask the question that when Maoists, Khalistanis and Islamists etc. are routinely declared anti-national as they aim at subverting the constitutional set-up of India, why is it that RSS remains out of our scrutiny? It is really unfortunate that Hindu Separatism is yet to be acknowledged as a serious threat to the Indian democracy despite its terrible anti-national record. One reason could be as underlined by a prominent leader of the RSS, „RSS members are everywhere, including that very party which is making all these allegations against RSS. Just scratch their body and you will find RSS blood inside.‰14 This statement only shows how grave is the danger from the Hindutva gang. If Congress and other secular outfits are serious about saving secular-democratic India they must legally and politically confront the RSS gang with the documents cited above. They also need to weed out the Hindutva elements from their ranks. The time is fast running out.

Shamsul Islam.
notointolerance[at]hotmail[dot]com.

1 Cited in The Hindu, September 29, 2006.
2 Cited in The Statesman, September 29, 2006.
3 MS Golwalkar, Shri Guruji Samagar darshan (collected works of Golwalkar in Hindi), Bhartiya Vichar sadhna, Nagpur, Volume 3, p. 33. Hereafter referred as SGSD.
4 Ibid, Vol 4, pp. 4-5.
5 SD Sapre, Parm Vaibhav ke Path Per, Suruchi, Delhi, 1997, p. 7.
6 Shakha Darshika, Gyan Ganga, Jaipur, 1997, p.1.
7 Ibid, p. 66.
8 'Mystery behind the bhagwa dhwaj' in the RSS English organ Organizer, August 14, 1947.
9 MS Golwalkar, SGSD, Nagpur, nd., Volume 1, p. 98.
10 MS Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sandhu, Bangalore, 1996, p. 238.
11 SGSD, Vol 1, p. 11.
12 Ibid, Vol 3, p. 128.
13 Letter 64 cited in Sardar Patel: Select Correspondence19450-1950, Volume 2, Navjivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1977, pp. 276-277.
14 Cited in The Statesman, September 29, 2006.