For decades considered to be working behind thick veils of secrecy바카라impenetrable and impervious to light바카라the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has lately found itself in the centre of much public attention. With the Narendra Modi government in its fourth year바카라as muscular a presence as ever바카라interest in the ruling BJP바카라s ideological fountainhead has only burgeoned. For the first time perhaps, it seems to be reciprocating바카라by encouraging a kind of wider engagement, inviting other voices to a tentative dialogue, eager to dispel the fear.
바카라Mainstreaming바카라, though, will call for clarity on a host of questions. Does the Sangh interfere in governance? Does its political writ outline the limit of possibility for any government under its broad mandate? Does its Hindutva agenda, with the final goal of an Akhand Hindu Rashtra, form the governing spirit for regimes otherwise sworn to India바카라s secular Constitution? Does that not make for a split personality? If its cadres help the BJP during elections, can it claim to be apolitical, and merely a cultural and social organisation? How did its chief Mohan Bhagwat claim the RSS is capable of raising a fighting force for the country in three days? Does its authority, such as it is, lie outside and parallel to India바카라s statuted frameworks?
Rahul Gandhi made a scathing attack on the RSS in Europe, comparing it to the Muslim Brotherhood
On the social side, is the RSS anti-Dalit, anti-Muslim? Does the 바카라fringe바카라 accused of lynching in the name of gau raksha derive their sense of entitlement from the Sangh? What its stand on reservations? Several in the BJP believe Bhagwat바카라s statement asking for a review of the reservation policy in the middle of 2015 Bihar elections perhaps cost the party.
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And then, what drives RSS cadres to work in remote tribal areas, run Ekal Vidyalayas, or provide relief during disasters, like in Kerala now and a string of places over the decades? What leads some affiliates to take an almost Gandhian line in economic policy, quite at variance with the freemarket-loving political wing? What is the nature of their collective being? Which is the real Sangh? Or is all of it real, making the Sangh parivar one of the most complex and enigmatic organisations?
Weeks before Congress president Rahul Gandhi made a scathing attack on the RSS in Europe, comparing it to the Arab world바카라s Muslim Brotherhood, Sangh leaders had been working on an outreach programme to explain their perspective on issues and their ideology. In a first-of-its-kind programme, the Sangh has announced a lecture series바카라바카라Future of Bharat: An RSS perspective바카라바카라to be held from September 17 to 19 in the capital, which will be addressed by Bhagwat. Rahul Gandhi may be invited along with other political leaders and prominent citizens, to interact with Bhagwat, and try and understand the Sangh. Almost as a prelude, industrialist Ratan Tata shared a stage with Bhagwat in Mumbai last week and, of course, in June former president and long-time Congressman Pranab Mukherjee made a splash by addressing new 바카라graduates바카라 at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur.
바카라There바카라s a growing eagerness among large sections of society, including intellectuals and the youth, to understand the RSS perspective. There has been a lot of debate over the RSS and its role. The RSS realises that it바카라s time to address these in public,바카라 Sangh prachar pramukh (publicity in-charge) Arun Kumar said at a briefing this week. He, of course, attributed Rahul바카라s statements to 바카라ignorance바카라.
바카라To understand the Sangh, he has to understand India first. He himself has said he바카라s trying to understand India. Let him figure India out first. He perhaps doesn바카라t even understand the Muslim Brotherhood or ISIS, how much the world is affected by them and by terrorism. If he did, he wouldn바카라t have made the comparison,바카라 the RSS spokesperson added.
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On Rahul바카라s part, the comparison seems part of a well-formulated strategy바카라rather than stemming from 바카라ignorance바카라. He has been consistently attacking the RSS for being divisive and spreading hatred. On August 28, after the arrest of five civil right activists, he had another dig at them (see 바카라Handcuffs Can Buy Them Silence바카라, p.33). He has repeatedly pointed to a pervasive institutional capture by the RSS. He even launched a 바카라Save the Constitution바카라 campaign, claiming all institutions like the Supreme Court were under threat, of being destroyed with figures close to Sangh ideology installed everywhere.
As a political voice, Rahul is expected to err on the side of rhetorical overstatement. But on the question of RSS, he would find a degree of consonance in several quarters. Eminent historian Prof Irfan Habib, for one, believes the comparison with the Muslim Brotherhood is perhaps not appropriate. 바카라Actually, the Muslim Brotherhood is a milder organisation. It바카라s not a terrorist organisation. It바카라s close to the ruling AKP in Turkey, and Hamas in Gaza is its branch,바카라 says Habib.
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He then refers to Sardar Patel바카라s famous points of critique. 바카라They swear by Sardar Patel but he바카라s the man who banned the RSS after Mahatma Gandhi바카라s assassination. He wrote in a letter to M.S. Golwalkar (then RSS chief) how RSS men had attacked Muslims and distributed sweets after Gandhi was killed,바카라 says Habib. In the letter, written on September 11, 1948, Patel appreciated the work done by young RSS men during Partition violence바카라바카라protecting women and children바카라. Then Patel added: 바카라But the objectionable part arose when they, burning with revenge, began attacking Mussalmans. Organising Hindus and helping them is one thing but going in for revenge for its sufferings on innocent and helpless men, women and children is quite another thing.바카라
This, then, is the core of the issue바카라what Habib calls the RSS바카라s 바카라very tolerant view바카라 about violence against others. Referring to the reality of cow lynchings and such like, he is sceptical of what the lecture series could achieve. 바카라If the formal RSS comes out and engages, it doesn바카라t mean much. It is its subsidiaries that comprise the gau rakshaks, etc. It has been the same since colonial times, even though they didn바카라t have so many subsidiaries then. That part remains secret바카라more in the character of Ku Klux Klan, not the Muslim Brotherhood,바카라 he adds.
Scholar Walter Andersen, who has authored a definitive book on the RSS, is inclined to exonerate the Sangh of direct complicity in lynchings and such violence. The leadership of both the RSS and the BJP are embarrassed by these incidents, he says. 바카라I have spoken to top leaders who say such violence should be prohibited. The ousting of former VHP chief Pravin Togadia is an example. RSS leaders I spoke to said Togadia was taking rash steps, and advocating violence for cow protection. His actions were affecting RSS바카라s efforts to be more acceptable. The RSS is an evolutionary group, not revolutionary,바카라 says Andersen.
Political scientist Suhas Palshikar lights upon a parallel aspect. 바카라If a comparison has to be made, it should be with Christian missionary organisations. The RSS undertakes missionary type of activities with their work in tribal areas and social and cultural spheres,바카라 he says.
That philanthropic bit got inadvertent notice in flood-affected Kerala last week when a WhatsApp audio, purportedly recorded by a commoner, asked for contributions to Sangh affiliate Seva Bharati. Though the audio got a lot of flak when it was revealed to be by a BJP IT cell honcho, even critics conceded Seva Bharati does exemplary relief work. In Karnataka바카라s flood-affected Kodagu, it even teamed up with an Islamic NGO for humanitarian work.
Palshikar does find Rahul바카라s continuing broadside on the RSS 바카라remarkable바카라. Instead of trying to avoid controversy, he has taken the issue by the horns바카라바카라an important political initiative바카라, considering the currently weak position of his party, Palshikar says. 바카라At one level, I appreciate his effort. It drives home the point that the RSS controls the BJP. He바카라s forcing it to come out from behind the mystical curtain it operates from. The RSS wants to bring together all Hindus for political purposes. Yet it calls itself a cultural organisation, and talks about nationalism. What is nationalism? Isn바카라t it about politics,바카라 asks Palshikar, currently chief editor, Studies in Indian Politics.
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He also finds its attempt to engage with the public interesting, saying it was not part of Sangh culture earlier. 바카라Talking about their work and popularising themselves was not important for the RSS earlier. It바카라s only now that they have started becoming conscious about the public opinion. It has become more political, so to say,바카라 Palshikar says. An agitational politics to popularise Hindutva ideology having found a great degree of success, it바카라s now striving for a further acceptance and mainstreaming.
바카라There바카라s no doubt that the September conclave has been carefully timed just before the elections. The RSS claims they are not bothered about politics but these elections are more crucial than any other for them. After the proximity to state power, it바카라s important for them that the BJP continues in power. This public interaction is the beginning of the 2019 campaign,바카라 says the political scientist.
BJP general secretary Muralidhar Rao, an old Sangh hand who did time first with the ABVP and then the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM), pooh-poohs Rahul바카라s attack as deliberate misinformation. 바카라Rahul understands the strong anti-ISIS sentiments in the West, and wants to encash on it. He wants to create a perception in the western liberal, democratic world that RSS stands for something and the Congress is its antithesis. It바카라s a completely wrong picture,바카라 explains Rao.
바카라Even Nehru may have differed with the RSS but never termed it anti-national. Or he wouldn바카라t have invited the RSS for the Republic Day marchpast in 1963. There can be ideological differences but that doesn바카라t mean one can compare RSS to the Muslim Brotherhood. That organisation is banned in many countries,바카라 Rao tells Outlook. Indeed, there are other crucial differences, and not just one of degree. The Brotherhood, or even ISIS, are by nature internationalist, whereas national boundaries are an article of faith for the RSS.
Rao talks about three attempts by the Congress to ban the RSS바카라each time it failed to defend the move in court. 바카라In over 70 years, they have not been able to convince the courts바카라not even when they had 400 MPs,바카라 the BJP office-bearer says. 바카라Even now Rahul cannot defend what he has said on foreign shores. It is despicable.바카라 Rao believes Rahul is in a hurry to capture the vacant anti-BJP space. 바카라There is no acceptable leader yet (to lead the Opposition against the BJP), and no endorsement of his leadership either. He wants to become a hero in that space,바카라 he adds.
Keeping up the artillery fire on the RSS has been a long Congress pastime. Nehru may have kept communication lines open, but critics abounded even after him. Vijay Chauthaiwale, another BJP leader from the Sangh stable, talks of Subhadra Joshi (MP) who used to target the RSS regularly at the peak of the Indira Gandhi era.
바카라The so-called liberals and pseudo-secularists become INSecure when they see the RSS gaining greater acceptability. It바카라s not enough for Rahul to attack the BJP, you see. It has to be the RSS바카라a message to the Muslims to come closer to the Congress. He doesn바카라t seem to care that it portrays India in a very poor light. Such sweeping remarks about unemployment, ISIS and Muslim Brotherhood are in very poor taste,바카라 says Chauthaiwale, in-charge of foreign affairs in the BJP.
R. Balashankar, RSS ideologue and member of BJP바카라s central committee on training, says the best way to treat Rahul바카라s statements is to ignore them. 바카라He seems to be practising a new election strategy, like in the US, of saying atrocious things just to grab headlines. What he said about the RSS, Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS is absurd. The situation in India is completely different. People, including Muslims, are not becoming terrorists because of unemployment,바카라 he tells Outlook. 바카라The BJP should ignore him. Or else he gets what he wants바카라headlines.바카라 He바카라s right there. The rhetoric is getting him바카라and the RSS바카라headlines, and at an interesting turning point in Indian politics.
