The Indian Express
Fringe Benefits
How different sections of society were seduced by the Hindutva narrative and an elaborate division of labour in its ranks paid off
Written by Seema Chishti | Updated: May 13, 2017 1:20 am
Name: Shadow Armies: Fringe Organisations and Foot Soldiers of Hindutva
Author: Dhirendra K Jha
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 229
Price: Rs 499
Randomness, coincidence, and probability have haunted scientists, mathematicians and even purveyors of spirituality for centuries. This has generated theorems and ideas that try to explain random events. Albert Einstein’s famous allusion to God not playing dice has been subjected to a million interpretations.
But on a contemporary note, the “randomness” of the violence visited by cow vigilantes, often little-reported attacks on people for their food habits, way of life, choice of life partners and even contraception has been raising some serious questions. Is it really random, a throw of dice best consigned to the crime pages of newspapers? The killings of Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar, MM Kalburgi, Pehlu Khan and Muhammad Akhlaq, or the hangings in Latehar — how “random” is it all?
This is a question that journalist Dhirendra K Jha has sought to answer in this book. A quick read, it combines historical reference, fresh interviews and a look at the affairs of the fringe armies after the present government took office in May 2014.
The Sanatan Sanstha, the Bajrang Dal, the Sri Ram Sene, the Hindu Aikya Vedi, the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, Bhonsala Military School and Abhinav Bharat are described in considerable detail, including their origins and inspiration. Each chapter analyses a group, its footprint and objectives and the social groups they target for followers. Jha lays bare the interconnections between organisations and the years of groundwork they have put in. He shows how the RSS and its brother organisations blow hot and cold, associating with and dissociating from the fringe at the right time. So, what appears to be an apolitical mob attack is actually a response learned over time.
Amidst tension around the Babri Masjid issue, especially in UP, the Bajrang Dal was formed in 1991 as a “well-considered strategy where an affiliate organisation lower down the hierarchy was deployed to keep an issue alive for future exploitation…” Meanwhile, “the more important fronts kept relatively quiet to prevent any embarrassment for the BJP government.”
Abhinav Bharat, which “would have remained mired in obscurity had it not been for the bomb blast on September 29, 2008” in Malegaon, actually had a leader, the late Himani Savarkar, who spoke of the need for “blast-for-blast” reprisals. She was asked to restrain herself so that the organisation could remain above ground as long as possible.
The chapter on the Bhonsala Military School is especially instructive: on trips to Italy, BS Moonje picked up ideas on fascist education (directly inspired by the Central Military School for Physical Education) and other related pedagogical practices.
Jha’s book weaves a complex narrative of how different sections of society were seduced by the Hindutva narrative and “fringe” armies were set up for different objectives, an elaborate division of labour which paid off in times of bans and adversity. In better times, the intricate Hindutva web offers flexibility — the Hindu Aikya Vedi in Kerala seamlessly lent its president to head the BJP’s Kerala unit in 2015.
There is now much interest in the Hindu Yuva Vahini, nurtured through disputed graveyards, property, food, love affairs, even travel and cricket disputes sometimes, to drive a Hindu-Muslim wedge deeply into all aspects of life. Founded in the shadow of the Gujarat riots in 2002 as the Goraksha Manch, it was renamed and subsumed in an aggressive Hindu Yuva Vahini. Its founder, Adityanath, is now chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. It has been a very short journey from the “fringe” to the mainstream.
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Showing posts with label Bhonsala Military School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bhonsala Military School. Show all posts
April 27, 2017
Connecting the dots: The BJP, Hindutva and fringe organisations (Book Review) IANS April 26, 2017
Connecting the dots: The BJP, Hindutva and fringe organisations (Book Review)
IANS April 26, 2017
Title: Shadow Armies: Fringe Organisations and Foot Soldiers of Hindutva; Author: Dhirendra K. Jha; Publisher: Juggernaut; Pages: 228; Price: Rs 499
The rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from two seats in 1984 to a staggering 282 in 2014 may be seen as the growing appeal of its ideology -- Hindutva -- among the masses, but this compelling work of extraordinary research provides enough evidence to suggest that the ruling party's advance over the last three decades is not its journey alone and has been accompanied by the steady progress of fringe organisations which, in turn, have been the "foot soldiers" of its ideology.
From Yogi Adityanath's Hindu Yuva Vahini in eastern Uttar Pradesh and the "love jihad" obsessed Sri Ram Sene in Mangalore to the Sanatan Sanstha, whose members have been arrested for the murder of rational thinkers Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi, the direct outcome of the activities of almost all of these eight organisations -- polarisation -- has not only served to foster a pro-Hindutva environment but has, indeed, brought about long-term electoral gains for the BJP.
It is perhaps the first book of its kind that has carefully studied the functioning and evolution of fringe organisations in the country and linked, with evidence, their connection to a mainstream political party.
Author Dhirendra K. Jha, a journalist, combines substantial research of eight Hindu rightwing organisations across India and their BJP connections with flawless prose to prove his point in "Shadow Armies: Fringe Organisations and Foot Soldiers of Hindutva".
Jha asserts that India has witnessed "astonishing growth in the politics of Hindutva" and, by providing careful insights into the structures as well as the evolution of such organisations, claims that there is a common connection between all such forces.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the vanguard of this ideology and, according to the book, all these organisations, directly or indirectly, function under the guidance of the RSS to ensure that one particular community, the Hindus, have the exclusive right to define our national identity.
But, some may argue, the BJP is the only RSS outfit given to politics and the RSS does not necessarily claim to be the vanguard of all such Hindutva forces.
The author narrates numerous anecdotes and examples to convey, quite clearly, to his readers that in practice most of its affiliates work as "political instruments" to convert India into a Hindu Rashtra. Their purpose and intentions are achieved in the name of protecting Hinduism, which ultimately swings electoral gains in favour of the BJP.
"Though the RSS publicly eschews politics, as the parent body it not only supplies much of the strategic and ideological direction as well as cadres and leaders to the BJP and other associates, but also has its hand -- directly or through its affiliates -- in several communal conflagrations. It is these attacks on minorities that lead to the kind of polarisation necessary for the growth of Hindutva politics," Jha says bluntly in the introduction.
The author is struck by the "omnipresence" of these pan-Indian outfits and finds that their divisive agenda is carried out in a highly "equivocal" manner.
"Whenever these other bodies create a controversy, the RSS and the BJP promptly label them 'fringe organisations'. The fact, however, is that they are active parts of the Sangh Parivar, working as buffer organisations for doing the dirty work the BJP and the RSS were once obliged to do themselves," Jha maintains.
Jha argues that the RSS and the VHP are the biggest "shadow organisations" of the BJP and that except for contesting elections, they do almost everything that a mainstream political party would do -- mobilise masses, develop issues for political polarisation, and play a role in identifying electoral candidates and managing booth-level campaigns.
The findings of the book suggest that a central focus of all of the eight organisations revolves around the portrayal of Muslims as a threat to Hindus. Though the practitioners would never say this in public, Jha claims, the objective of these activities is always to create false fear among Hindus and stoke the polarisation of their votes in favour of the party leading the forces of Hindutva.
The eight fringe organisations that figure in the book are Sanatan Sanstha, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Bajrang Dal, Sri Ram Sene, Hindu Aika Vedi, Abhinav Bharat, Bhonsala Military School and Rashtriya Sikh Sangat. The author has, obviously, researched and compared, wherever necessary, the functioning of these bodies with the RSS and the VHP.
"Shadow Armies" is a scholarly offering and a result of research that attempts to unravel what has generally escaped both the imagination and research of leading writers. Jha's book will stay relevant as long as the fringe organisations continue to stir controversies and may well be regarded as an apt contemporary investigation into the Hindutva brigade.
(This review is based on an advance copy received from Juggernaut. The book is available in stores from April 26, 2017. Saket Suman can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in)
--IANS
ss/vm/sac
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
source URL: http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/connecting-the-dots-the-bjp-hindutva-and-fringe-organisations-book-review-117042600284_1.html
IANS April 26, 2017
Title: Shadow Armies: Fringe Organisations and Foot Soldiers of Hindutva; Author: Dhirendra K. Jha; Publisher: Juggernaut; Pages: 228; Price: Rs 499
The rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from two seats in 1984 to a staggering 282 in 2014 may be seen as the growing appeal of its ideology -- Hindutva -- among the masses, but this compelling work of extraordinary research provides enough evidence to suggest that the ruling party's advance over the last three decades is not its journey alone and has been accompanied by the steady progress of fringe organisations which, in turn, have been the "foot soldiers" of its ideology.
From Yogi Adityanath's Hindu Yuva Vahini in eastern Uttar Pradesh and the "love jihad" obsessed Sri Ram Sene in Mangalore to the Sanatan Sanstha, whose members have been arrested for the murder of rational thinkers Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi, the direct outcome of the activities of almost all of these eight organisations -- polarisation -- has not only served to foster a pro-Hindutva environment but has, indeed, brought about long-term electoral gains for the BJP.
It is perhaps the first book of its kind that has carefully studied the functioning and evolution of fringe organisations in the country and linked, with evidence, their connection to a mainstream political party.
Author Dhirendra K. Jha, a journalist, combines substantial research of eight Hindu rightwing organisations across India and their BJP connections with flawless prose to prove his point in "Shadow Armies: Fringe Organisations and Foot Soldiers of Hindutva".
Jha asserts that India has witnessed "astonishing growth in the politics of Hindutva" and, by providing careful insights into the structures as well as the evolution of such organisations, claims that there is a common connection between all such forces.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the vanguard of this ideology and, according to the book, all these organisations, directly or indirectly, function under the guidance of the RSS to ensure that one particular community, the Hindus, have the exclusive right to define our national identity.
But, some may argue, the BJP is the only RSS outfit given to politics and the RSS does not necessarily claim to be the vanguard of all such Hindutva forces.
The author narrates numerous anecdotes and examples to convey, quite clearly, to his readers that in practice most of its affiliates work as "political instruments" to convert India into a Hindu Rashtra. Their purpose and intentions are achieved in the name of protecting Hinduism, which ultimately swings electoral gains in favour of the BJP.
"Though the RSS publicly eschews politics, as the parent body it not only supplies much of the strategic and ideological direction as well as cadres and leaders to the BJP and other associates, but also has its hand -- directly or through its affiliates -- in several communal conflagrations. It is these attacks on minorities that lead to the kind of polarisation necessary for the growth of Hindutva politics," Jha says bluntly in the introduction.
The author is struck by the "omnipresence" of these pan-Indian outfits and finds that their divisive agenda is carried out in a highly "equivocal" manner.
"Whenever these other bodies create a controversy, the RSS and the BJP promptly label them 'fringe organisations'. The fact, however, is that they are active parts of the Sangh Parivar, working as buffer organisations for doing the dirty work the BJP and the RSS were once obliged to do themselves," Jha maintains.
Jha argues that the RSS and the VHP are the biggest "shadow organisations" of the BJP and that except for contesting elections, they do almost everything that a mainstream political party would do -- mobilise masses, develop issues for political polarisation, and play a role in identifying electoral candidates and managing booth-level campaigns.
The findings of the book suggest that a central focus of all of the eight organisations revolves around the portrayal of Muslims as a threat to Hindus. Though the practitioners would never say this in public, Jha claims, the objective of these activities is always to create false fear among Hindus and stoke the polarisation of their votes in favour of the party leading the forces of Hindutva.
The eight fringe organisations that figure in the book are Sanatan Sanstha, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Bajrang Dal, Sri Ram Sene, Hindu Aika Vedi, Abhinav Bharat, Bhonsala Military School and Rashtriya Sikh Sangat. The author has, obviously, researched and compared, wherever necessary, the functioning of these bodies with the RSS and the VHP.
"Shadow Armies" is a scholarly offering and a result of research that attempts to unravel what has generally escaped both the imagination and research of leading writers. Jha's book will stay relevant as long as the fringe organisations continue to stir controversies and may well be regarded as an apt contemporary investigation into the Hindutva brigade.
(This review is based on an advance copy received from Juggernaut. The book is available in stores from April 26, 2017. Saket Suman can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in)
--IANS
ss/vm/sac
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
source URL: http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/connecting-the-dots-the-bjp-hindutva-and-fringe-organisations-book-review-117042600284_1.html
November 23, 2015
India: Why is BJP backing an outfit inspired by Mussolini and accused of terror? | 12 December is the 143rd birth anniversary of Hindutva ideologue BS Moonje
catch news
Why is BJP backing an outfit inspired by Mussolini and accused of terror?
The leader
- 12 December is the 143rd birth anniversary of Hindutva ideologue BS Moonje
- He was the mentor of KB Hedgewar and helped him shape the RSS
The outfit
- Moonje founded the Central Hindu Miltary Education Society which runs the Bhonsala Military School in Nashik
- The School was named in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blasts
More in the story
- What is the BJP's view of Moonje?
- Why associating with Moonje's outfit can harm the BJP?
- What was Moonje's association with Benito Mussolini?
If you are in Delhi on 12 December, do not be surprised if you
see a group of 80-odd young boys marching to military music in the
heart of the national capital. These will be students of Bhonsala
Military School run by Nashik-based Central Hindu Military Education
Society (CHMES).
These young men will be celebrating the 143rd birth anniversary of Balakrishna Shivram Moonje, the society's founder. Moonje was also a president of the Hindu Mahasabha and mentor to the founder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), K B Hedgewar.
CHMES,
which was established by Moonje in 1935, will organise a route march
and a salutation programme near the statue of its founder. The statue is
located close to the New Delhi Railway Station. The event is likely to
be attended by several dignitaries. The society's treasurer Atul
Patankar told Catch that BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi has confirmed her participation.
This galaxy includes Hedgewar, his successors M S Golwalkar and Balasaheb Deoras, founder of Jan Sangh - BJP's forerunner - Shyama Prasad Mookerjee and Mookerjee's successor Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, among others.
Moonje is best known for his deep faith in the need for Hindus to militarise, a goal for which he went all the way to Europe, and especially to Italy to seek inspiration from the founder of fascism, Benito Mussolini. Upon his return, he collaborated closely with Hedgewar in shaping the RSS and making military training compulsory for its volunteers.
The school itself has also been in the news for being named in the charge-sheet filed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in the 2008 Malegaon blasts probe. The charge-sheet had claimed that the main accused in the blasts had been teaching at the school. One of these was Lt Col Srikant Purohit, accused of conspiracy for terror and murder, currently lodged in Nasik Central Prison. The charge-sheet had also alleged that conspiracy meetings were held at the school.
The paper says Moonje visited some important military schools and educational institutions there, but the highlight of his visit was the meeting with Mussolini.
Here are a few excerpts -
1. "The deep impression left on Moonje by the vision of the fascist organisation is confirmed by his diary: The idea of fascism vividly brings out the conception of unity amongst people...India and particularly Hindu India need some such institution for the military regeneration of the Hindus...Our institution of RSS of Nagpur under Dr Hedgewar is of this kind, though quite independently conceived. I will spend the rest of my life in developing and extending this Institution of Dr Hedgewar all throughout the Maharashtra and other provinces."
2. In his meeting with Mussolini, Moonje told him, "Every aspiring and growing Nation needs such organisations. India needs them most for her military regeneration...I shall have no hesitation to raise my voice from the public platform both in India and England when occasion may arise in praise of your Balilla and Fascist organisations. I wish them good luck and every success."
3. In March, 1934 Moonje, Hedgewar and Laloo Gokhale had a meeting to discuss the military organisation of the Hindus, along Italian and German lines. Moonje said in this meeting, "I have thought out a scheme based on Hindu Dharm Shastra which provides for standardisation of Hinduism throughout India."
"But the point is that this ideal cannot be brought to effect unless we have our own swaraj with a Hindu as a dictator like Shivaji of old or Mussolini or Hitler of the present day in Italy and Germany...But this does not mean that we have to sit with folded hands until some such dictator arises in India. We should formulate a scientific scheme and carry on propaganda for it".
4. In 1934, Moonje began to work at the foundation of the Central Hindu Military Education Society, whose aim was to bring about military regeneration of the Hindus and to fit Hindu youths for undertaking the entire responsibility for the defence of their motherland, to educate them in the 'Sanatan Dharma', and to train them "in the science and art of personal and national defence".
5. "There is an explicit reference to fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in a document that Moonje circulated among those influential personalities who were expected to support the foundation of the school. It said at the outset:
This training is meant for qualifying and fitting our boys for the game of killing masses of men with the ambition of winning victory with the best possible casualties (sic) of dead and wounded while causing the utmost possible to the adversary. Moonje does not give any clear-cut indication regarding this 'adversary', whether it was the external enemy, the British, or the 'historical' internal enemy, the Muslims."
6. "...from Mussolini's Doctrine of Fascism, I absolutely disbelieve in perpetual peace which is detrimental and negative to the fundamental virtues of man, which only by struggle reveal themselves in the light of the sun, war alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to meet it, Fascism believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of pacifism which is born of renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice."
RSS and the multitude of organisations associated with it have long been accused of having a fascist orientation. Moonje's study of Italy's fascist organisations and the record of his attempts to emulate them through the RSS only further deepen this suspicion.
As a party participating in democratic electoral politics, why does the BJP want to associate with such an organisation? Backing the CHMES function is a double whammy of sorts, given the terror links that its military school is accused of.
These young men will be celebrating the 143rd birth anniversary of Balakrishna Shivram Moonje, the society's founder. Moonje was also a president of the Hindu Mahasabha and mentor to the founder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), K B Hedgewar.
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Resurrecting another Hindutva icon
Indications are that this event is in keeping with plans of RSS and associated organisations to revive the memories of key members of their pantheon. These organisations and theirs followers have been celebrating the life and deeds of several such leaders on a national level ever since the BJP-led NDA came to power in May 2014.This galaxy includes Hedgewar, his successors M S Golwalkar and Balasaheb Deoras, founder of Jan Sangh - BJP's forerunner - Shyama Prasad Mookerjee and Mookerjee's successor Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, among others.
Moonje is best known for his deep faith in the need for Hindus to militarise, a goal for which he went all the way to Europe, and especially to Italy to seek inspiration from the founder of fascism, Benito Mussolini. Upon his return, he collaborated closely with Hedgewar in shaping the RSS and making military training compulsory for its volunteers.
Bhonsala Military School's sinister connection
The BJP is believed to have sought to distance itself from Moonje for a brief period in recent decades. However, in an indication of the growing significance of his inspiration for the RSS, Sangh-chief Mohan Bhagwat had addressed the platinum jubilee function of the Bhonsala Military School on 21 February, 2012. "We should give top priority to military education to students to make India strong," Bhagwat had said at the function.The school itself has also been in the news for being named in the charge-sheet filed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in the 2008 Malegaon blasts probe. The charge-sheet had claimed that the main accused in the blasts had been teaching at the school. One of these was Lt Col Srikant Purohit, accused of conspiracy for terror and murder, currently lodged in Nasik Central Prison. The charge-sheet had also alleged that conspiracy meetings were held at the school.
Moonje's fascination with Fascism
Moonje's fascination with military training and his admiration of Italy's fascists for the same comes out best in a paper written by Italian scholar Marzia Casolari. Documenting archival evidence, Casolari has presented extensive details of Moonje's trip to Italy between February and March 1931.The paper says Moonje visited some important military schools and educational institutions there, but the highlight of his visit was the meeting with Mussolini.
Here are a few excerpts -
1. "The deep impression left on Moonje by the vision of the fascist organisation is confirmed by his diary: The idea of fascism vividly brings out the conception of unity amongst people...India and particularly Hindu India need some such institution for the military regeneration of the Hindus...Our institution of RSS of Nagpur under Dr Hedgewar is of this kind, though quite independently conceived. I will spend the rest of my life in developing and extending this Institution of Dr Hedgewar all throughout the Maharashtra and other provinces."
2. In his meeting with Mussolini, Moonje told him, "Every aspiring and growing Nation needs such organisations. India needs them most for her military regeneration...I shall have no hesitation to raise my voice from the public platform both in India and England when occasion may arise in praise of your Balilla and Fascist organisations. I wish them good luck and every success."
3. In March, 1934 Moonje, Hedgewar and Laloo Gokhale had a meeting to discuss the military organisation of the Hindus, along Italian and German lines. Moonje said in this meeting, "I have thought out a scheme based on Hindu Dharm Shastra which provides for standardisation of Hinduism throughout India."
"But the point is that this ideal cannot be brought to effect unless we have our own swaraj with a Hindu as a dictator like Shivaji of old or Mussolini or Hitler of the present day in Italy and Germany...But this does not mean that we have to sit with folded hands until some such dictator arises in India. We should formulate a scientific scheme and carry on propaganda for it".
4. In 1934, Moonje began to work at the foundation of the Central Hindu Military Education Society, whose aim was to bring about military regeneration of the Hindus and to fit Hindu youths for undertaking the entire responsibility for the defence of their motherland, to educate them in the 'Sanatan Dharma', and to train them "in the science and art of personal and national defence".
5. "There is an explicit reference to fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in a document that Moonje circulated among those influential personalities who were expected to support the foundation of the school. It said at the outset:
This training is meant for qualifying and fitting our boys for the game of killing masses of men with the ambition of winning victory with the best possible casualties (sic) of dead and wounded while causing the utmost possible to the adversary. Moonje does not give any clear-cut indication regarding this 'adversary', whether it was the external enemy, the British, or the 'historical' internal enemy, the Muslims."
6. "...from Mussolini's Doctrine of Fascism, I absolutely disbelieve in perpetual peace which is detrimental and negative to the fundamental virtues of man, which only by struggle reveal themselves in the light of the sun, war alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to meet it, Fascism believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of pacifism which is born of renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice."
RSS and the multitude of organisations associated with it have long been accused of having a fascist orientation. Moonje's study of Italy's fascist organisations and the record of his attempts to emulate them through the RSS only further deepen this suspicion.
As a party participating in democratic electoral politics, why does the BJP want to associate with such an organisation? Backing the CHMES function is a double whammy of sorts, given the terror links that its military school is accused of.
March 18, 2012
RSS's Chief Bhagwat's speech at Bhonsala Military School on Militarised Hinduism
From: Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 12, Dated 24 Mar 2012
Military Medium for the Parivar
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s speech at the Bhonsala Military School, calling for a more militant Hinduism, smacks of an ideology crisis in the Sangh, says Rana Ayyub
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ONE OF the most baffling aspects of the 2008 Malegaon blasts probe was the cropping up of the name of the Bhonsala Military School. The Nashik-based military academy was started by Hindu Mahasabha founder Dr BS Moonje. The chargesheet filed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in 2009 cited several witnesses from the school who had confirmed that the main accused in the blasts case had indeed been teaching at the school. One of the main accused was Lt Col Srikant Purohit, who had provided training sessions at the school.
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In fact, it was TEHELKA that had first named the school in its report on the narco analysis test of two of the accused in the 2008 Nanded blast. The accused on whom the narco tests were done had spoken about a certain military officer, whose alias was Mithun Chakraborty, having given them training in the handling of IEDs.
According to the narco report, the bomb planter Himanshu Panse and the co-accused Maroti Wagh had said that they had received training at the school for 40 days. They had then returned to Pune in 2003 and executed a bomb blast at the Gausiya Masjid in Parbhani. (Nanded Blast: The Hindu Hand by Shashwat Gupta Roy, 30 December 2006).
Thereafter, TEHELKA had also published investigative reports naming several ex-military men from the school and their involvement in the Malegaon blasts, which was later confirmed by the ATS. That the investigators had not done their bit in exposing the involvement of other elements from the military is a question that TEHELKA had raised in many of its previous reports in which it had also published transcripts of tapes that had thrown up names of several armymen. The reason that the school is back in public memory is a recent statement made by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on the school’s platinum jubilee year. In his speech, he said that the country is in need of more such schools and that they had already given two such proposals for the states of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
The aim of the school itself makes for a startling read. It says: “The training is meant for qualifying and fitting our boys for the game of killing masses of men with the ambition of winning victory with the best possible causalities [sic] of dead and wounded while causing the utmost possible to the adversary... to bring about military regeneration of the Hindus and to fit Hindu youths for undertaking the entire responsibility for the defence of their motherland... to educate them in the ‘Sanatan Dharma’, and to train them in the science and art of personal and national defence.”
It did not, therefore, come as a surprise that Bhagwat used the platinum jubilee celebrations of the school to raise the emotive issue of Hindutva once again. “India was better off under the British rule”, and that “military schools run under the aegis of Hindutva institutions are the need of the hour,” he said.
Another senior RSS functionary Prakash Pathak went a step further in announcing the setting up of a military facility especially for women in Nashik. He added that the school run by the Central Hindu Military Education Society had received proposals from various BJP-ruled states such as Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and also Uttarakhand.
There has been an increasing disenchantment within the rank and file of the RSS over a lack of ideology. The announcement made by Bhagwat was more hypocritical than radical. The Gujarat government — if its own education department is to be believed — has no such provision for a military school, especially with the kind of infrastructure a school of this nature requires. Further, as a state minister in the Gujarat government added: “We already have a Sainik School in Sabarkantha, why would we build another one?”
It is also interesting to see the statement in the light of what the RSS says in its organisational mouthpiece: that the BJP should follow on the lines of the Narendra Modi-style of governance in Gujarat. Something that has not gone down well with a section of leaders both within the BJP and the RSS.
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As a senior RSS leader said, “Just a couple of months ago, the RSS was trying to pull up Modi for his arrogance and this sudden change of stance only shows a strategy of convenience.”
WHILE BHAGWAT avers that the ideals of Dr Moonje needed to be affirmed with the opening up of many more such schools, there’s another side to the story. Moonje’s grandson Anand Moonje, a one-time director of the school, claims to have been removed from the school only because he exposed corrupt practices in it. Anand, who now runs a flying academy, had clashed with the school management over the manner of its functioning. “I realised that the school was only interested in funds. The Sangh did not care about ideology, all it cared about was its image,” he says. “I exposed the rampant corruption in the school, but senior leaders, including Bhagwat, chose to look the other way. I have papers to prove that land bought in the school’s name was being misused. But they decided to overlook my suggestions.”
Anand is also angry about the dismal condition of his grandfather’s statue in front of the New Delhi Railway Station and had written to Bhagwat about it. “During AB Vajpayee’s regime, he and LK Advani had launched a biography in which my grandfather was portrayed in a derogatory manner. And suddenly you want to be an opportunist and use his name.”
At a time when a section of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar is mulling over the strategy to be adopted for elections in the next two years, this could be a curtain raiser. It knows that the promise of starting such schools could help in reaching out to its cadres. Perhaps a clearer picture would emerge once the RSS wraps its three-day convention in Nagpur on 17 March.
What would be interesting to see is how it adapts to the demands of a section of the BJP that clearly seems to be at odds with the stance of the Sangh Parivar.
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Rana Ayyub is Assistant Editor, Mumbai with Tehelka.
rana@tehelka.com
March 09, 2012
Bhonsala Military School - Militarising Minds, Hindutvaising the Nation (Subhash Gatade)
(sacw.net - 9 March 2012)
[. . .] The platinum jubilee of Bhonsala Military School, which was founded in 1937 by the Hindu Mahasabha leader Dr B S Moonje who also happened to be founder member of RSS, present before us a similar occasion.Apart from the fact that it has of late found itself on the wrong side of law, where its premises have been used to hold training camps of Hindutva terrorists or the likes of Lt Col Purohit, getting initial exposure to the sectarian agenda here, or its officials being taken to Bombay for interrogation by the anti-terrorist squad, a close look at the goings on in the institute, the work of indoctrination packaged as education, its vision of ’regenerating India’ makes it amply clear that the seven plus decadal journey of the institution, has made no difference to its core weltanshauung.
http://www.sacw.net/article2575.html
[. . .] The platinum jubilee of Bhonsala Military School, which was founded in 1937 by the Hindu Mahasabha leader Dr B S Moonje who also happened to be founder member of RSS, present before us a similar occasion.Apart from the fact that it has of late found itself on the wrong side of law, where its premises have been used to hold training camps of Hindutva terrorists or the likes of Lt Col Purohit, getting initial exposure to the sectarian agenda here, or its officials being taken to Bombay for interrogation by the anti-terrorist squad, a close look at the goings on in the institute, the work of indoctrination packaged as education, its vision of ’regenerating India’ makes it amply clear that the seven plus decadal journey of the institution, has made no difference to its core weltanshauung.
http://www.sacw.net/article2575.html
February 22, 2012
India: Militarise education says RSS Chief
From: Indian Express
Military education for kids need of the hour: Mohan Bhagwat
Agencies : Nashik, Tue Feb 21 2012, 14:00 hrs
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has stressed the need for imparting military education to students citing "rising" threat to internal security.
"Even 64 years after Independence, India is being threatened by China and Pakistan....with rising concern over internal security, we should give top priority to military education to students to make India strong," Bhagwat said.
He was addressing the platinum jubilee function of Bhonsala Military School here last evening.
"Current education system is business oriented...Foreigners have adopted our education system and our police-makers are imitating theirs..This should be rectified," Bhagwat said.
Bhonsala Military School was founded in 1937 by the staunch Hindu leader Dr B S Moonje who also played a role in mentoring Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) founder K B Hedgewar.
"The Bhonsala Military School was founded by Moonje in a view to protect the nation and has been acting as a feeder institute to fulfil backlog of military officials," the RSS chief said.
Senior RSS functionary Prakash Pathak informed that the BMS was going to start a similar facility exclusively for girls in Nashik.
The BMS run by the Central Hindu Military Education Society (CHMES) is also mulling to set up a flying club and a pilot training institute besides a centre for service preparation and aeronautic engineering education.
"We are receiving proposals from the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand for setting up military schools there and will soon take a call on them," Pathak said.
Bhagwat also released a book 'Smaran Samaranche' written by city-based Girish Takale.
Earlier, BMS students called "ramdandis" held a march to mark the occasion.
Military education for kids need of the hour: Mohan Bhagwat
Agencies : Nashik, Tue Feb 21 2012, 14:00 hrs
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has stressed the need for imparting military education to students citing "rising" threat to internal security.
"Even 64 years after Independence, India is being threatened by China and Pakistan....with rising concern over internal security, we should give top priority to military education to students to make India strong," Bhagwat said.
He was addressing the platinum jubilee function of Bhonsala Military School here last evening.
"Current education system is business oriented...Foreigners have adopted our education system and our police-makers are imitating theirs..This should be rectified," Bhagwat said.
Bhonsala Military School was founded in 1937 by the staunch Hindu leader Dr B S Moonje who also played a role in mentoring Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) founder K B Hedgewar.
"The Bhonsala Military School was founded by Moonje in a view to protect the nation and has been acting as a feeder institute to fulfil backlog of military officials," the RSS chief said.
Senior RSS functionary Prakash Pathak informed that the BMS was going to start a similar facility exclusively for girls in Nashik.
The BMS run by the Central Hindu Military Education Society (CHMES) is also mulling to set up a flying club and a pilot training institute besides a centre for service preparation and aeronautic engineering education.
"We are receiving proposals from the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand for setting up military schools there and will soon take a call on them," Pathak said.
Bhagwat also released a book 'Smaran Samaranche' written by city-based Girish Takale.
Earlier, BMS students called "ramdandis" held a march to mark the occasion.
October 30, 2008
Serving Army officer being questioned Malegaon case for Hindutva links
Times of India, 30 October 2008
ATS to question serving Lt-Col in Malegaon case
NEW DELHI: After the arrest of retired army men for allegedly training Hindu radicals, Maharashtra's anti-terrorist squad is set to question a
serving Lieutenant-Colonel on links with those held for the Malegaon blasts.
Sources said cops have approached the Army authorities for permission to question the young officer from Maharashtra, currently posted in Madhya Pradesh.
This would be the first instance where a serving defence personnel is being suspected of links with a terror plot, that too one with Hindu conspirators.
The officer, sources said, was close to Ramesh Upadhyaya, the retired army major who has been detained in connection with the Malegaon blasts. The contact predates the officer's joining the army.
Upadhyaya, who along with one Chaturvedi from Nashik specialized in scouting for youth who could be motivated to take up cudgels for the 'Hindu cause', was associated with Bhonsala Military School, a right-wing institution in Nashik which claims to have its alumni at high positions in the military.
Whether the Lt Col also attended the Nashik school, founded by B S Moonje, an admirer of Lokmanya Tilak who joined the Hindu Mahasabha after getting disillusioned with Congress, could not be confirmed.
But questioning of Upadhyaya and his co-suspects, Sadhvi Pragya and Sameer Kulkarni, in the Malegaon blast case, point to the retired major and Chaturvedi tapping into the feeling of grievance against the killings of Hindus in terror attacks. Both Sadhvi Pragya and Kulkarni, a front-ranking figure with Abhinav Bharat — another right-wing institution Upadhyaya is associated with — are learnt to have spoken with anger against serial blasts and attacks on prominent Hindu places of worship like Varanasi and Ayodhya.
Though yet to confess, they have also said parties like Congress and Samajwadi Party were engaged in politics of appeasement instead of taking a tough stand against terrorism. While this is an echo of of the language that BJP uses to castigate its ''secular'' opponents, the disillusionment of the suspects with the entire political class came off clearly during their questioning, sources said.
While Upadhyaya's role may lead authorities to run a check on some of the defence personnel with the Bhonsala Military School, sleuths are examining the possibility of Hindu radicals scouting for recruits for their cause among NCC cadets and members of civil defence. They are looking for any pattern where an effort was made to detect and recruit fellow travellers from Maharashtra which provided the first 'Hindu' militants.
ATS to question serving Lt-Col in Malegaon case
NEW DELHI: After the arrest of retired army men for allegedly training Hindu radicals, Maharashtra's anti-terrorist squad is set to question a
serving Lieutenant-Colonel on links with those held for the Malegaon blasts.
Sources said cops have approached the Army authorities for permission to question the young officer from Maharashtra, currently posted in Madhya Pradesh.
This would be the first instance where a serving defence personnel is being suspected of links with a terror plot, that too one with Hindu conspirators.
The officer, sources said, was close to Ramesh Upadhyaya, the retired army major who has been detained in connection with the Malegaon blasts. The contact predates the officer's joining the army.
Upadhyaya, who along with one Chaturvedi from Nashik specialized in scouting for youth who could be motivated to take up cudgels for the 'Hindu cause', was associated with Bhonsala Military School, a right-wing institution in Nashik which claims to have its alumni at high positions in the military.
Whether the Lt Col also attended the Nashik school, founded by B S Moonje, an admirer of Lokmanya Tilak who joined the Hindu Mahasabha after getting disillusioned with Congress, could not be confirmed.
But questioning of Upadhyaya and his co-suspects, Sadhvi Pragya and Sameer Kulkarni, in the Malegaon blast case, point to the retired major and Chaturvedi tapping into the feeling of grievance against the killings of Hindus in terror attacks. Both Sadhvi Pragya and Kulkarni, a front-ranking figure with Abhinav Bharat — another right-wing institution Upadhyaya is associated with — are learnt to have spoken with anger against serial blasts and attacks on prominent Hindu places of worship like Varanasi and Ayodhya.
Though yet to confess, they have also said parties like Congress and Samajwadi Party were engaged in politics of appeasement instead of taking a tough stand against terrorism. While this is an echo of of the language that BJP uses to castigate its ''secular'' opponents, the disillusionment of the suspects with the entire political class came off clearly during their questioning, sources said.
While Upadhyaya's role may lead authorities to run a check on some of the defence personnel with the Bhonsala Military School, sleuths are examining the possibility of Hindu radicals scouting for recruits for their cause among NCC cadets and members of civil defence. They are looking for any pattern where an effort was made to detect and recruit fellow travellers from Maharashtra which provided the first 'Hindu' militants.
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