Peoples Democracy, 3 February 2013
On this very day, 65 years ago, Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead by a Hindu fanatic. 29 years ago, in 1984, the then incumbent prime minister, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by Khalistani extremists. 22 years ago, during the 1991 general elections, the then incumbent prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, was consumed by an LTTE 'human bomb'. In these over six decades of independence and partition, lakhs and lakhs of people, mostly innocent people, have been consumed by terrorist violence perpetrated by communalism and fundamentalism. In recent memory is the ghastly 2002 communal pogrom in Gujarat. Cross border terrorism sponsored by fundamentalist forces reached its heights in the 2008, 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. Various terror outfits operate in different parts of the country, particularly in the North East. Political violence is perpetrated by the Maoists, which the current prime minister has termed as "gravest threat to India's internal security". There is caste-based terrorist violence. The country rose in total outrage and indignation at the brutal gang rape and murder in Delhi reflecting the growing gender based terrorist violence. Terrorist violence and the politics of terror are, in India, as diverse as the country itself. Rather than seeking to straightjacket terror into some self-designed brackets, terror of all varieties need to be uncompromisingly fought and defeated for the sake of safeguarding and strengthening our country's unity and integrity.
The need is to combat terror of all varieties including 'Hindutva terror' not 'Hindu terror'. Clearly, no religious community, as a whole, can be held responsible for the terrorist activities of individuals embracing that religion. Same yardstick, however, should apply to other religions as well. However, not, according to the RSS. The RSS routinely adopts resolutions seeking to, "curb Islamic terrorism with an iron hand". This is not merely an expression of double standards. It reflects the ideological roots of converting the modern secular democratic republic of India into the RSS version of a 'Hindu Rashtra' based on rabid religious intolerance. The home minister's remarks on ‘saffron terror' appear to be based on investigations following the announcement made by the then union home minister, in July 2010, to the parliament that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will probe the terrorist attacks on the Samjhauta Express and examine the entire conspiracy behind the attack, including the links of the accused in terrorist attacks at Malegaon (September 8, 2006), Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad (May 18, 2007) and at the Dargah in Ajmer (October 11, 2007). 68 people were killed when bombs exploded in two coaches of Delhi-Lahore Samjhauta Express around midnight of February 18, 2007. Even earlier, the attention of the central government was drawn to various reports linking some RSS affiliates with incidents of bomb blasts across the country. At a meeting of the National Integration Council on October 13, 2008, the CPI(M) submission had stated the following: "Police investigations in the past few years have noted the involvement of Bajrang Dal or other RSS organisations in various bomb blasts across the country - in 2003, in Parbani, Jalna and Jalgaon districts of Maharashtra; in 2005, in Mau district of Uttar Pradesh; in 2006, in Nanded; in January 2008, at the RSS office in Tenkasi, Tirunelveli; in August 2008, in Kanpur etc etc." Ignoring all this, the BJP has now demanded the sacking of the home minister. Its spokesman said: "If there were terrorists behind the bombings in Samjhauta, the government is free to take action against them. If some former swayamsevak of the Sangh Parivar was involved, please act against them. But you cannot tarnish the image of a nationalist organisation "
Thus, they are once again proclaiming that such terrorist acts may be the result of actions by a few 'deviant elements' and insist that the organisation as a whole is not to be blamed. Such claims are nothing original. This is precisely what was said about Nathuram Godse following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Godse's brother, however, is on record, in a media interview, to say that all brothers in the family were active members of the RSS. Independent India's first union home minister, Sardar Patel penned a government communique dated February 4, 1948 announcing the ban on the RSS by stating "the objectionable and harmful activities of the Sangh have, however, continued unabated and the cult of violence sponsored and inspired by the activities of the Sangh has claimed many victims. The latest and the most precious to fall was Gandhiji himself". The history of the RSS and its methodology of functioning belies such theories of a differentiation between the 'core' and the 'fringe'. The issue of imparting militant training to the Hindus and using violence as a political weapon by the RSS has a long history. It was Savarkar (who advanced the two nation theory - Islamic and Hindu - full two years before Jinnah did) who gave the slogan "Hinduise all politics and militarise Hindudom".
Inspired by this, Dr B S Moonje, mentor of RSS founder Dr Hegdewar, travelled to Italy to meet the fascist dictator, Mussolini. The meeting took place on March 19, 1931. His personal diary notes of March 20 reveal his fascination and admiration of the manner in which Italian fascism was training its youth (read storm-troopers) militarily. Upon return to India, Dr Moonje established the Central Hindu Military Education Society at Nasik in 1935, the precursor to the Bhonsala Military School (now charged with imparting training to Hindutva terror) established in 1937. Golwalkar, in 1939, exults Hitler's purging of the Jews under Nazi fascism and says that it is "a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by". Subsequently, following the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the then UP chief minister, who has recently re-joined the BJP, gloated over the fact that the kar sevaks demolished in few hours what any contractor would have taken days! It is, indeed, an irony of history that on this very day, 80 years ago, in 1933, the fascist dictator Adolf Hitler, who embraced terror as State policy, was sworn-in as the chancellor of Germany. India must maintain that terrorism has no religion. It is simply anti-national and, hence, the country should display zero tolerance. Further, terrorism of all varieties only feed and strengthen each other, seeking to destroy the very unity and integrity of our country. On this day, we must redouble our resolve to defeat this menace of terro'rism in our country.
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