RSS - Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar
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year. And another co-incident is that Babasaheb Ambedkar also floated an organization called Samata Sainik Dal (SSD) in September/October, 1927 to match the caste Hindu move. He also renounced Hinduism and embraced Buddhism on October 14 in 1956. On this important day for RSS while greeting RSS, I thought of writing something on a relevant subject: RSS – Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar as now a days RSS often quote Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar, both apparently were the bête-noire of RSS, in pursuing their agenda sincerely or otherwise, it is difficult to know. But prime facie it seems that there was no bonhomie among them. The socio-political scenario in the country is such that it is just not possible to ignore Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar even if one wants to do that.
RSS has come a long way and by now is one of biggest and vocal organizations of not only India but also of the world. Though RSS love to call itself a cultural outfit yet its front political organization, BJP is ruling the country for the last successive 12 years under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, apart from earlier stints under PM Atal Bihar Vajpayee at New Delhi and about 25 States of India that is Bharat, the Union of States. Obviously the RSS Centenary is big
event fully supported and owned by the ruling, BJP. PM Narendra set the ball in motion by praising and supporting RSS from the ramparts of Red Fort on August 15 in his address to nation this year. PM Narendra Modi has written various articles under his hand and seal in appreciating and supporting RSS and its leadership; particularly its Sarsanghchalal, Mohan Bhagwat. GOI has issued commemorative stamps and coins to celebrate the RSS Centenary. On the other hand, the opposition parties led by the Congress Party has denounced and criticized the RSS and the BJP not only on account of ideological differences but also the role played by RSS and BJP in dividing the country on communal basis and their agenda of amending or diluting the secular and socialist credentials of the constitution of India. RSS claims to be a true nationalist organization that fought for the independence of the country from the British Rule. It undermines the Muslim minority by calling them the heirs of Mughals, the tyrant rulers who persecuted Hindus and demolished temples. On the contrary, Congress party and other opposition parties denounce and criticize RSS for the narrow nationalism and also its negative role in the freedom movement of India with particular reference to its not hoisting the national flag (Tri-colour) at the RSS Headquarters in Nagpur till early 2000s and opposing the constitution of India and it chief architect, Babasaheb Ambedkar. They held RSS responsible for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by one of their alleged cadre, Nathu Ram Godse. With the changing political and socio-cultural landscape of the country under the aegis of the Constitution of India, RSS, apparently, has been changing its track to suit them for carrying their agenda of Hindutava. In the process, they find it difficult to disown both Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar. Their
mentors like Veer Savarkar and Guru Golwalkar were dead against the mission and thought of both Gandhi and Ambedkar. RSS has started, of late, to embrace Mahatma Gandhi consciously but selectively as Father of the Nation’ and Babasaheb Ambedkar as Father of the Indian Constitution. RSS’s media mouthpieces and intellectual machinery burn mid-night oil to read and study Gandhi and Ambedkar to find something or the other which may be projected as their support and endorsement of RSS and its agenda. But somehow it is not cutting much ice, as of now. It is increasingly becoming a controversial issue.
As regards RSS and Mahatma Gandhi, of course, Gandhi met RSS
leadership as and when required particularly in the run up to getting
independence from the British rule and avoiding partition of the country and
also maintaining communal harmony between the Hindus and Muslims. But there was
hardly any meeting of minds as RSS believed in monolithic nationalism as
against Gandhi’s patriotic approach. Mahatma Gandhi described the Sangh as a
"communal
body with a totalitarian outlook" as described by Jai Ram Ramesh
of Congress Party. The renowned historian and columnist, Ramchandra Guha has
clearly brought out these differences in one of his articles in the Independent.
I quote from his article, “While Gandhi was ambivalent about the RSS, the
Sangh, for its part, deeply distrusted him. In early September 1947, the
Mahatma had gone on fast in Calcutta, seeking to stop the violence between
Hindus and Muslims. His attempts at peace-making were mocked in an article in
the RSS’s magazine, Organizer. ‘Nero fiddled when Rome burnt’, the Organizer
remarked: ‘History is repeating itself before our very eyes. From Calcutta
Mahatma Gandhi is praising Islam and crying Allah-o-Akbar and enjoining Hindus
to do the same, while in the Punjab and elsewhere most heinous and shameless
barbarities and brutalities are being perpetrated in the name of Islam and
under the cry of Allah-o-Akbar”. Guha further wrote, “Golwalkar had once told Gandhi
that the Sangh was ‘enemy to no man’. That, characteristically, was a lie. His
book Bunch of Thoughts had explicitly identified three internal enemies of the
nation, that allegedly posed a great menace to national security. These were
identified by the RSS chief as Muslims, Christians and Communists respectively.
Twenty years after Partition, Golwalkar remained extremely paranoid about
Indian Muslims, speaking (without evidence) of their being countless ‘Miniature
Pakistans’ all over India”. Guha is categorical in his assertions on RSS and
Mahatma Gandhi, “The seventeenth-century French writer La Rochefoucald famously
defined hypocrisy as ‘the tribute that vice pays to virtue‘. On October 2nd,
Indians will find this maxim vividly and variously illustrated, as RSS
pracharaks from the Prime Minister downwards shall line up to pay tribute to a
man the RSS vilified in his lifetime, and for whom—despite all their in
public—they still have deep reservations, since he lived (and died) in the
belief that India was not a Hindu country but belonged equally to people of all
faiths.”
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I leave it here and move on to my next prop, RSS and
Babasaheb Ambedkar. There is nothing common or complementary between Babasaheb
Ambedkar and RSS both with regard to polity and society. Babasaheb Ambedkar was
not only social reformer but also a political player of the highest caliber. He
was a man of vision with an open mind. In the process of exercise of owning
Ambedkar and his legacy, RSS often quote his visit to RSS Sakha sometime in
1940. RSS claimed that in his address, Dr. Ambedkar said, "Although there
are differences over certain issues, I look at the Sangh with a sense of
affinity." It meant nothing and only showed that Babasaheb was a gentleman
to the core of his heart and he said this with all humility and courtesy towars
his hosts that RSS. I take the liberty of taking shelter under a well written
piece on the issue by one of my senior acquaintances, S.R. Darapuri, a retired
IPS and ADGP of UP. With regard to the RSS brand of nationalism, he said, “Dr.
Ambedkar never supported the RSS brand Hindu nationalism. His nationalism was
based on the concept of liberty, equality and fraternity of all citizens but
the ideology of RSS is quite the opposite. He was against nationalism based on
any kind of racial and religious discrimination. He had said, “Some people say
that they are Hindu, Muslim or Sikh first and then Indian. But I am an Indian
from beginning to end.” Ambedkar never subscribed to communal and divisive
tendencies which S.R. Darapuri has explained as, “Dr. Ambedkar was not in
favour of a sectarian but a secular nation. Dr. Ambedkar was opposed to the
entry of religion into politics. He considered religion to be a private belief
and was in favour of keeping it away from the affairs of the state. Coming to
the eradication of untouchability, the approaches of RSS and Ambedkar are
opposed to each other as S.R. Darapuri said, “When I look at the problem of
untouchables, I think it is deeply related to the question of reorganization of
Hindu society. If untouchables are to be a part of Hindu society, it is not
enough to remove untouchability, for that you have to destroy Chaturvarnya.”
Similarly on caste discrimination, RSS adheres to the status quo whereas
Ambedkar stood for total reform and transformation as, “ Sangh and
Ambedkar have completely different views on the issue of eradicating caste
discrimination. Babasaheb was in favour of caste annihilation whereas the Sangh
is in favour of caste harmony (as the status quo) and not the destruction of
castes. Sangh considers Manusmriti as the holy book of Hindus whereas Babasaheb
considered it to be a very anti-Dalit book.” One of the important and topical
issues which RSS often love to raise is Hindu Rashtra. On this also the learned
analyst Darapuri said, “Sangh is wholeheartedly engaged in the establishment of
Hindu Rashtra through Hindutva (Hindu political ideology) while maintaining the
caste system whereas Babasaheb was staunchly opposed to the establishment of
Hindu Rashtra. In fact, Dr. Ambedkar came to the conclusion in 1940 that “if
Hindu Raj becomes a reality, it will undoubtedly be the greatest calamity for
this country… [it] will be a threat for liberty, equality and fraternity.
Accordingly, it is incompatible with democracy. Hindu Raj should be stopped at
any cost.” Last one but not the least is
the issue of Indian culture, Darapuri Sahib has explained it, “There is no
doubt that Babasaheb had full faith in Indian culture but that culture is
totally different from the culture defined by RSS. RSS defines Indian culture
as Hindu culture whereas Indian culture is a mixture of different cultures. In
this, there is a set of cultures like Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Christian,
Parsi etc. RSS considers Hindu culture to be superior to other cultures.”
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All said and done, BJP and its ideological parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has come a long way from comparing India's first law minister and father of the Indian constitution, Babasaheb Ambedkar to a 'Lilliput' in 1950. RSS’s Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and PM Narendra Modi have a complete change of heart, apparently, with regard to Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation and Babasaheb Ambedkar, Father of the Constitution of India, if we go by the recent statements of these two most important and highly placed leaders of the country. Let us take them on their face value to avoid any negative fallout as projected by the opponents. RSS, to my mind, is a powerful outfit with a total wherewithal to take the caravan of India forward in the years to come, if they really intend to
do that. For this RSS has to change and transform its social and communal outlook with regard to the Dalits and Muslims. On the other hand, the opponents of RSS should stop harping on negative aspects of RSS’s role in the freedom movement. I personally support and endorse the Samarasta agenda of RSS but it should come out of the cozy drawing rooms and reach the masses. For this the first requisite is to discard and abandon Manuwadi thinking.
I could have written more as to what is the way forward but
decided to stop here as the blog has come lengthy because of the quotes from
Ramchandra Guha and S.R. Darapuri with whom I tend to agree on most of the
points. I will pick up threads again and would write soon – Decoding RSS and its
Sarsanghchalak, Mohan Bhagwat with particular reference to their journey from
the Bunch of Thoughts to the RSS Centenary in 1925.
मस्जिद तो बना दी शब भर में ईमाँ की हरारत वालों ने
मन अपना पुराना पापी है बरसों में नमाज़ी बन न सका
इक़बाल बड़ा उपदेशक
है, मन बातों में मोह लेता है
गुफ़्तार का ग़ाज़ी बन तो गया, किरदार का ग़ाज़ी बन न सका
