The Many Faces Of The RSS

“If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country,” said B. R. Ambedkar in Pakistan or the Partition of India. Ambedkar was the first thinker in India to produce a critique of V. D. Savarkar’s Hindutva and Hindu nation, as well as barrister M. A. Jinnah’s ideas of nation. His book is a scathing critique and a tormenting of the ideas of nation and nationalism that were being advocated by the Congress, the Hindu Mahasabha, Gandhi, and many others. Sadly, the book never became part of higher studies, and the so-called intellectuals of this nation systematically bypassed this book, even though it is an important political commentary of that time. All camps, including the Congress, the Jana Sangh, the Socialist, and the Left have been hand in glove not to make the book an important pedagogic exercise and enthuse new ideas of thinking, but indulged in “Protected Ignorance”. The book also offers a critique of making a nation, and thereby, how nationalism gets constructed in colonial India. Does it help to foreground the critique of the present related to the organisation, like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)? The answer is positive, but it all depends on one’s consciousness. The consciousness of belief in divine and sacred is the consciousness of “protected ignorance,” which has been a guarding principle in India by the very followers of Hinduism, irrespective of their claims.

The RSS is one of the oldest functioning organisations in India. It was founded by the Brahmins in the city of Nagpur. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar is attributed as a founder, but in reality, it was a group of Brahmins who formulated this organisation, which included B. S. Moonje, and Savarkar’s relative, etc. It’s a well-recorded history. All were affiliates of the Hindu Mahasabha that changed Hindu Raj to Hindu Rashtra (nation). The organisation went on to become a big imagined realist that impacted the Indian political scenario. The RSS has always claimed that it’s a cultural and social organisation, but it is no hidden fact that its cadres and members are part of the political outfit, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and take part in all activities in every respect all the time, including political mobilisation. The Congress, under the leadership of M. K. Gandhi, was also a representative of the larger interests of the Hindus, and this space became a tussle between the Congress and other political parties in post-Independent India. The RSS and its political outfits also have been part of this tussle. There has been a parallel development happening under the leadership of Ambedkar. He established the Samata Sainik Dal with an objective to propagate equality, spread consciousness against caste oppressions, and protect untouchables from the tyranny of atrocities. Thus, the objectives of both organisations were diametrically opposed to each other. It may be noted that after the assassination of Gandhi, the then Congress government, and more specifically its home minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, imposed a ban on the RSS. The ban was lifted after a year. Neither Patel nor the Congress ever explained why the ban was lifted on the RSS. It is shrouded in mystery, and no claimed “intelligentsia” attempted to find an answer. In the Deccan Herald (September 29, 2022), it is mentioned that there was a tacit agreement between Sardar Patel and the then RSS leadership that it would not take part in political activities. This report proves that the RSS was basically aimed at pitching itself as the representative of the Hindus by replacing the Congress. It also shows a tacit collaboration between the two that continued as an unsigned bond due to the changing position from Hindu Raj to Hindu Rashtra.

A friend of mine once wrote in a WhatsApp group about how the chiefs of the RSS were the most educated lot, compared with the chiefs of other outfits. My candid reply was that the founding president of the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Peoples Party of India (democratic), Samajwadi Party President, and many such political as well as social organisations’ presidents were/are highly educated and intellectually very powerful. The myth of being ‘educated’ and ‘intelligent’ was systematically inscribed in the public sphere by the Brahmanical polity, and RSS was its integral part. As and when the father or elder person would ask a question about possible employment, the young RSS-trained Brahmin member would instantly reply: “Yes, there are seats of employment, but it is reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes” (this was before the implementation of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation). The answer is a well-informed propaganda that gets carried by the shakhas of the RSS. During the height of the anti-reservation stir in the 1980s, the Republican Party leader Barrister B. D. Khobragade had bitterly criticised the government for the anti-Scheduled Caste attitude of the people and the government. Khobragade organised a pro-reservation summit at Nagpur’s Kasturchand Park; leaders such as Ram Vilas Paswan of the Janata Dal, Surajbhan of the BJP, and all other party leaders were invited to take a stand in favour of reservations for the SC/STs. Nevertheless, no statement of any remorse from the RSS leadership ever came not only on anti-reservation violence, but also on atrocities; there is neither an expression of regret nor any support for justice espoused from the RSS.

It is often questioned why the RSS has so far had no head belonging to the other community? Or the same question is raised when it comes to the head of the temple or a math. As a part of counter questioning, another pinpointed question is raised—“Why is no person from the scheduled caste communities ever the RSS head or made a temple priest?” Let’s assume the scenario that a person of the scheduled caste community or the OBC communities is made the chief, does that change the character and ideology of the RSS? The answer is a straight no. Because the ideological foundation of the organisation is based on the philosophy of Hindu Rashtra. Savarkar is an ideological base and is an interlocutor that gets modified by Golwarkar Guruji, whose “Bunch of Thoughts” offers a very clear clarification. When it was published, no one took its cognisance. The RSS, otherwise, functions without “written papers”. Zot in 1978 is the first powerful critic of the RSS in Marathi by Raosaheb Kasabe, a noted Ambedkarite political thinker, activist, and prolific academic. It took considerable time for others to write on the RSS till the agitation of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid movement in India.

The very functioning of the RSS and its structure is highly Brahmin-centric, and others are simply participants or obedient soldiers who are ready to follow commands and be commanded by authority. This culture of authoritarian functionalism of the RSS is generally compared with the dictatorial organisations in Europe, which became the land of enlightenment for modern democracies. This completely bypasses the deeply-rooted Indian connections. For example, noted German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was influenced by the Manusmriti to propose the construction of a “superman”. Ambedkar bitterly criticised this ‘inspiration’, but also differentiated that Manu’s superman is based on birth, whereas Nietzsche’s superman is based on qualities. Rig Veda and Manusmriti being the inspirational text for the Aryan brotherhood, Chapters 7-10 of Manusmriti, are pivotal to understanding how a ruler has to behave and enact rules to have control over the subjects, and how a Varnashrama Dharma has to be part of dutifulness. All draconian majors of functionality of control exist in the Manusmriti and Arthashastra.

The RSS could not lure staunch followers of Ambedkar due to their rejection of the culture of myths and the embedded hierarchy that exists in the caste structure. Ambedkar is the only critic of the religious ideologies, and he maintained that Hinduism is all about the assemblage of caste, and it cannot survive without caste. The ingrained hate and anger against Ambedkar are diligently maintained in the discourse of the Congress, the Left, and the RSS, which strengthens the caste dynamics and the following of the rituals and beliefs in the sacred and divine. A noted journalist from Mumbai, Raju Parulekar, who was an ardent follower of Anna Hazare, and later transformed himself to a conscious citizen of the republic of the Government of India, has maintained in many public appearances that Bal Thackeray blocked the other backward caste people from leaning towards the ideologies of Jyotirao Phule and Ambedkar, and hence, the process of societal transformation in Maharashtra got blocked. The same strategy is being used by the RSS. The Brahmanical forces, right from the colonial times, propelled Brahmanical cultural nationalism, and the political outfits had their tacit support for such projects. The RSS cadre constantly maintained that we have to bring back our Vedic civilisation. What are the values and achievements of the Vedas or the Vedic civilisations? Identifying the Vedic civilisation archaeologically does not become part of the training process as it is non-existent. Their training goes with the presupposition that you have to be committed to Mā Bhārati. Though Savarkar maintains the idea of fatherland, the RSS, realising that the connotation of the nation has to be identified with the idea of motherland, and accordingly, emotional and false pride are injected in the minds of youths and the larger public at large under the identity of being Hindu. Their definition of nation and nationalism is narrated very systematically in such a way that the non-Brahmins are made to believe that the Vedas and the practices of yadnya (sacrifice) are a great expression of civilisational continuity, and forced to believe in the mythic all the time The RSS’ advocacy of science and rationalism are deeply rooted in their belief in the divine and sacred, and hence, what is narrated as science is a myth. There is no attempt on the part of the RSS to follow Article 51 of the Constitution for spreading scientific temperament. The rationalist movement against blind faith and against the claimed godmen has been very strong in the city of Nagpur. It was led by Shyam Manav, a well-known rationalist. In western India, it was led by Govind Pansare from Kolhapur, a well-known trade union leader and part of the Left party, and Narendra Dabholkar, a well-known person from Pune. When Pansare and Dabholkar were assassinated, silence was maintained by outfits like the RSS. Moreover, no rational and scientific movements would be supported by the RSS. This has led to a constant conflict between the RSS and the Ambedkarites. Principally, ideological opposition to the RSS has always been Ambedkar. Hence, the RSS judged the impact and intricacies offered by Ambedkar in Annihilation of Caste and crafted their agenda and functioning to counter the solutions and remedies offered by Ambedkar. It is the singular organisation that laboriously worked against Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste project.

Ever since the RSS has been riding the seat of power, the idea of the Indian knowledge system is being pushed, imposed, and advocated in educational institutions. Such a project, despite being a good initiative, supported pushing of Sanskrit texts and the Brahminical system of knowledge, and it blatantly advocated the Vedas, Upanishads and the Gita. Thus, there is no mention or advocacy of non-Vedic traditions like Buddhism and Jainism. It proposes to keep out both, along with the Islamic and Christian systems of knowledge. Teaching ancient texts is not bad, but while teaching texts, the idea of divine and sacred should not become an entry point. Ambedkar’s critique of these textual traditions should also be included in the teaching modules. Author Bhanwar Meghwanshi, in his autobiography, mentions how his teacher was teaching geography in the classroom. While teaching about the sun as a solar planet, as described in the school textbook, but the same teacher would narrate about the sun as a fireball and how Hanuman had held it in his throat. Thus, contradictions in the scientific knowledge and the belief system are diligently followed. Another incident Meghwanshi narrated is about how he had prepared food for the visiting RSS workers, and they took away the food on the pretext of getting late, and threw away the food when they came out of his village. The incident shows that the deeply-seated practice of caste and untouchability is entrenched in the minds of the RSS as an organisation that claims Hindu unity and welfare, but had no social agenda of equality as espoused in the Indian constitution. Even a non-RSS person carries a similar thinking. The vicious attitude of the public against women, downtrodden, and Shudra castes does not become an issue of hegemonic cultural perversions. Ambedkar has maintained that Varna is a perversion and hence, caste is a psychotic perversion. At the same time, the RSS would provide tacit support against the erecting images of Phule, Ambedkar, and the Buddha. Their Ambedkar is highly selective, out of context, completely filled with incorrect facts, and killing his ideas in letter and spirit.

Ambedkar discussed nationality in his seminal book Thoughts on Pakistan:

“Nationality is a social feeling. It is a feeling of a corporate sentiment of oneness that makes those who are charged with it feel that they are kith and kin. This national feeling is double edged. It is at once a feeling of fellowship for one’s own kith and kin and an anti-fellowship feeling for those who are not one’s own kith and kin. It is a feeling of “consciousness of kind” which, on the one hand, binds together those who have it so strongly that it overrides all differences arising out of economic conflicts or social gradations and, on the other, severs them from those who are not of their kind. It is a longing not to belong to any other group. This is the essence of what is called a nationality and national feeling.”

Has the RSS converted the social feeling into the Hindu religious identity? Actually, this identity has a pre-RSS history, but continued through the Hindu Mahasabha, which has been analysed by Jyotirmaya Sharma in his book Hindutva. Earlier, Swami Dharma Theertha categorised violence by the Brahmanical cultural polity as “menace” in his History of Hindu Imperialism in 1941. History is a constantly contested category. In recent times, some history books such as Arya Bharat by Harshad Sarpotdar, Ajeya Bharat by Sudha Risbud—both in Marathi—India that is Bharat in English by J. Sai Deepak, are important outcomes of the RSS thinking. Their criticism of colonial scholarship and ideas is a telling example of how it systematically also disowns their own connectivity with the Aryan brotherhood as and when it suits them. These books narrate the history by avoiding the societal and religious conflicts within the Brahmanic and non-Brahmanic traditions. The RSS aims to create a dent in contemporary art practices by organising art workshops based on themes like Ramayana, Mahabharat, and the Gita, or Nayaka, Bhagavata Purana, etc. It wishes to maintain the transcendental aesthetics in a high-handed manner, which is very easy because 90 per cent of the art practices in contemporary Indian art are transcendental aesthetics. Critical social thinking is deliberately given a systemic miss in pedagogy as well as in government patronage.

India’s post-independent achievements are mithyavadi sanskriti (culture of myths), and vitambanavadi sanskriti (culture of defamation). In the culture of myths, the mahakaya, like the Ramayana and Mahabharata, is narrated as historical reality. It is read as shabdapramnya (word as evidence). The sage Valmiki mentions himself as the son of Pracheta (Brahmin), and even then, the Brahmanical culturalist would like to tell the public that Valmiki was a Shudra. An apt example of the mythvadi sanskriti, whereas not speaking or doing anything for the victim of prejudices, caste atrocities, parading necked, abusing publicly, and especially flocking the scheduled castes, Muslims publicly, lynching are the examples of the culture of psychotic perversions and the culture of defamations. The RSS thinks that by creating Hindu nationalism, national feelings such as social and cultural issues can be addressed and will pave the way to brotherhood without addressing the graded hierarchy existing in Indian society. It managed to maintain the “Bhataji-Shethaji” nexus like all other organisations. The worst is that the Shudra communities are the foot soldiers of the syndromes of Brahmanical cultural nationalism, which are the carriers of the violence and rigidity in every sphere of life. Thus, the contradictions, as pointed out by Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly in 1949, continues to carry forward, thereby creating a distaste and alienation for the Indian Constitution that allows every citizen of the Republic of the Government of India to be a responsive citizen, and have a feeling of nation and nationality in the logic of inclusivity, multiculturalism, differential ethnicity, caste, religion, gender and above all compassion.

(Views expressed are personal)

Y. S. Alone is with the Visual Studies School Of Arts And Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi