Kashmir Times
November 20, 2008
Editorial
Combating Hindutva terror
Secular forces must unite to frustrate nefarious designs of saffron brigade
The arrests of some serving and retired army officers, self-proclaimed saints, so-called godmen and the activists of the sangh parivar in connection with the blasts at Malegaon and other places have not only exposed the naked fascism and terrorism of the saffron brigade but have also revealed the extent of penetration of the RSS and its outfits in the country’s vital institutions. Shockingly, the Hindu fascists have not only found their place in bureaucracy and other wings of the services, apart from the legislatures in large numbers but have also penetrated into the armed forces and even judiciary, the watchdog of democracy. The systematic process of such penetration into various democratic and secular institutions apart from the country’s social and political life started right after independence and more than any one it is the Congress and other secular parties which would be blamed for this kind of situation. RSS’s role in the communal holocaust in the wake of India’s partition was too well known to allow it to continue its activities in secular India. RSS, Hindu Mahasabha and some other parties which openly believed in the concept of a theocratic state and thus were opposed to secularism should have no legal right to exist in a secular country. RSS not only stood for India as a Hindu nation but also considered the minorities like Muslims, Christians and Parsis as aliens who, according to erstwhile RSS chief M.S.Golwalkar cannot be treated as citizens of India and as such should either stay as second class citizens denied of all rights or should be driven out. The demand for banning such organizations after independence was unfortunately was not heeded by the Congress which assumed power. It was only after the assassination of Gandhiji on January 30 in 1948 that a ban was imposed on RSS and a number of its leaders and activists as also V.D. Savarkar were arrested for their alleged involvement in the conspiracy to kill the father of the nation. However, succumbing to the pressure of communal forces and as a matter of political convenience the ban on RSS was removed with its chief assuring to function in a democratic manner. (Intriguingly while such a ban imposed in Jammu and Kashmir was never lifted the RSS was allowed to continue and expand its activities in the state).
The involvement of RSS and its various offsprings in the large number of communal riots since independence is an established fact. Still nothing was done by the proclaimed secular state to outlaw such organizations working for destroying the secular fabric of the country. On the contrary the RSS and its political outfits like the Jana Sangh (now BJP) could increasingly penetrate into the country’s social, political and administrative life only due to the compromising attitude of the secular parties. While the Congress adopted a soft Hindutva policy keeping in view the majority vote bank it were the parties with clear commitment for secularism and socialism which provided a kind of respectability to the RSS and its political wing. It was the veteran socialist leader, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, who out of his anti-Congress obsession and with a view to oust it from power floated the idea of samukta vidayak dals (SVDs) with his Socialist Party joining hands with the Jana Sangh. That made the RSS outfit possible not only to increase its legislative strength and gain respectability but also to form coalition governments in alliance with a staunch secular party. Again it was due to another veteran socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, who led the movement against the black Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975 by uniting various non-Congress parties under the banner of Janata Party, that the Jana Sangh as its constituent managed to share power with the socialists and erstwhile Congress leaders like Morarji Desai. However, before his death JP, known for his secular credentials and unimpeachable integrity, regretted the decision of embracing RSS. It was another socialist leader, Madhu Limaye who, along with George Fernandez, Sharad Yadav and other socialists, was instrumental in undoing the mistake of joining hands with RSS by raising the issue of duel membership. This brought the Janata experiment and its rule to an end. Some of the erstwhile socialist leaders like George Fernandez, Sharad Yadav and several others failed to learn any lesson from their past mistakes and again joined the BJP and other communal outfits merely for the sake of power.
It is a tragedy that the Congress and other secular parties have failed to understand the grave danger that the emergence of Hindutva forces and their terrorism have been posing not only to the secular character of the country but also to the very survival of India as a state. If the onward march of the Hidutva fascism is not checked there is every danger of India soon turning into a theocratic Hindu nation. This will destroy the very idea of India, its pluralistic character and the very cherished value of our freedom struggle. It’s time for secular parties to join hands and unite on a single plank of defeating the BJP and its outfits and frustrating their nefarious designs. The Congress government at the Centre must shed its complacency, abandon its soft Hindutva approach, and launch an ideological battle against the fascist communal forces. At the same time there is need to weed out such elements from various vital organs of the state.
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