India: Secular democratic forces must assert to prevent India going RSS way | Edit, Kashmir Times

Editorial, Kashmir Times, 5 October 2013

Editorial
Fighting out communal forces
Secular democratic forces must assert to prevent India going RSS way

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s call to the secular and democratic forces in the country to fight out communal forces, who have gained much ground during the past few decades, has come none too soon. That there is a grave threat from these forces, spearheaded by the communal fascist RSS, to not only the country’s secular and democratic character and its rich composite culture but to its unity and integrity as well. While the Prime Minister’s concern over the rising graph of these communal forces, committed to the RSS concept of Hindu rashtra, is unexceptional the Congress leadership needs to do some self-introspection to understand the party’s role and contribution for creating such a situation. In its bid to retain or grab power the Congress during the past few decades, particularly after the black emergency was clamped by Indira Gandhi in 1975, had appeased these forces to isolate and marginalize democratic, secular and socialist forces which had the inherent capacity to face the demon of communalism head-on.

The assassination of Gandhiji by the communal bigots in early 1948, with the involvement of RSS and Hindu Maha Sabha too well known in the conspiracy, was the result of the hate campaign launched by these communal forces against the Father of the Nation, with the RSS organs like “Organiser” and “Panchjanya” playing a key role in this campaign. In the wake of Gandhiji’s assassination, the RSS was outlawed and a large number of RSS men including the second Sarsanghchalak M.S.Golwalkar were sent behind the bars. Announcing the ban on RSS, the then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India, Sardar Patel, whom the RSS and BJP are now eulogizing as a matter of political expediency and opportunism, said: “Undesirable and even dangerous activities have been carried out by the members of the Sangh. It has been found that in several parts of the country individual members of the Rashtra Swayamsewak Sangh have indulged in acts of violence involving arson, robbery, dacoity and murder and have collected illicit arms and ammunitions. They have been found circulating leaflets, exhorting people to resort to terrorist methods, to collect firearms, to create disaffection against the government and suborn the police and military”. The RSS activists distributed sweets in Jammu soon after the assassination of Gandhi, a fact which was even mentioned by Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru while addressing a public rally in Parade Ground, Jammu. In his letter to Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee on July 18,1948 (in response to his plea for lifting ban on RSS) Sardar Patel said: ... “our reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities of these two bodies, particularly the former (the RSS), an atmosphere was created in the country in which such a ghastly tragedy (Gandhiji's assassination) became possible. There is no doubt in my mind that the extreme section of the Hindu Mahasabha was involved in this 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.”

However, for inexplicable reasons the ban on RSS was lifted on the assurance of Golwalkar (then in jail) that the outfit will function only as a cultural organization and not indulge in political activities and will have a written constitution, This commitment was never honoured. This was the initial mistake by the Congress leadership which lifted the ban under pressure from the communal forces. Still the Congress under Nehru’s leadership determinedly opposed the forces of Hindu communalism.

Gradually the Congress itself adopted a soft Hindutva policy, instead of fighting out the forces of communalism and bigotry. It encouraged the obscurantist forces with Indira Gandhi herself patronizing the self-proclaimed godmen and ghostmen, believing in superstitions and similar rituals against the rastionalist and scientific temper. Instead of adopting radical democratic, anti-communal, anti-fascist and socialist policies the Congress followed the path of soft Hinduvta and crony capitalism. The rath yatra launched by L.K.Advani which culminated in the vandalisation of the historic Babri masjid had the connivance of the Congress government at the centre headed by Narsimah Rao. Subsequently the Congress failed to learn lessons from its past mistakes and instead of fighting out these communal forces tried to appease them by adopting soft Hindutva policy. Even the Socialist leaders like Jayaprakash Naryan and Ram Manohar Lohia committed the same mistake by joining hands with RSS (Jana Sangh), the former to fight against the black emergency and the latter to oust Congress from power.

If Manmohan Singh and the Congress are genuinely concerned about the rising graph of communal forces in the country’s public life then instead of weakening other secular, democratic and progressive forces and appeasing different brands of communalism it must come out openly and unambiguously against the demon of communalism, particularly the communalism of the majority community, which poses gravest threat to the country’s survival as a secular democratic country. Congress will have to abandon its soft Hindutva approach and the economic policies which have communalised the polity only led to crony capitalism. There is need to march forward to build a truly secular democratic and socialist India.


News Updated at : Saturday, October 05, 2013