Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s praise for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in its centenary year, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, is being seen both as an outreach to his parent organisation, as well as an acknowledgement in shaping his political journey. Opposition leaders have lashed out at the PM for showering praise on the RSS, which over the years, in their estimation, has been fomenting communal trouble, and is fascist in nature.
They have raised questions regarding the need to pay generous compliments to the organisation on the occasion of the country’s Independence Day. However, the Opposition needs to be reminded that the RSS, which during its long and chequered history may have been banned multiple times by the Congress governments, was invited by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to be a part of the Republic Day parade on the Rajpath way back in 1963, for its civil defence role during the Sino-India conflict in 1962. The RSS has many critics, but simultaneously, its positive contributions cannot be undermined either.
No one can doubt its patriotic and nationalist credentials, even though, there have been doubts over how some of its functionaries have pursued a divisive agenda, which has been detrimental for the unity and integrity of the country. The RSS is an outfit which claims to be a cultural organisation, though Modi in his speech described it as the largest NGO in the world. However, it is well known that culture is another name given to “pursuit of power”, which is also amongst the definitions of politics. And if it is an NGO, it is an entity which has had an overbearing influence on the functioning of the Central as well as State governments.
The RSS also has an international relations wing, which was started by the late Chaman Lal, and which has following in several countries, particularly those which have Indian diaspora. Its objective has been to take the message of Hindutva, and keep the Indian spirit alive abroad. Obviously, the Opposition parties do not endorse its activities and there is no denying that the ideological differences between many political parties and the Sangh are huge. In this context, it is important to point at that the RSS may have favoured the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and later the Bharatiya Janata Party, but it has, on some occasions, also supported the Congress.
Both in 1980 and 1984, the RSS backed the Congress, because it strongly believed that that was the best decision in the interest of the country at that point of time. Senior RSS functionaries have had a close equation with Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, though the ideological differences were always there. In 1979, during an interaction with RSS leaders, Sanjay made it clear that he was not against Muslims, and hence that could not be a common meeting ground.
However, they shared with him his dim view regarding the leftists. Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister had a very good rapport with Bhaurau Deoras, younger brother of the then RSS boss, Balasaheb Deoras. It was at Bhaurau’s instance that Rajiv took so many decisions. It is said that the opening of the locks of Babri Masjid and granting permission to the telecasting of Ramayana were the result of their understanding.
There were many more instances and at least two persons who witnessed them, Anil Bali and Subhash Arya, are still around. The Congress in particular has been harsh on the RSS under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. Many of its leaders do not understand the importance of this outfit and thus make a mistake while judging it. To begin with, the Congress while attacking the government should distinguish between the RSS and the BJP. It should keep its focus on the BJP and try and understand the RSS perspective on various issues, even if it does not agree with most matters.
That would help it politically. Secondly, it is not entirely accurate to state that the Sangh’s role in the freedom movement was nowhere. There may have been no direct Sangh involvement but ideologically many Congress leaders of that time, were close to the Sangh’s thinking and belief. Their understanding of issues was identical to that of Sangh functionaries of the time, but they had joined the political stream to contribute to our freedom struggle.
Leaders such as Dr Rajendra Prasad, Purshottam Das Tandon, Gobind Ballabh Pant, Madan Mohan Malviya and Sardar Patel, had a strong streak of Hindutva in their politics. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee had played a major role in saving Calcutta from going towards East Pakistan and was an exceptional leader, and once a part of the Nehru government.
However, this is a debate which would need to be discussed at length separately. The short point is that why did PM Modi go out of his way and praise the RSS from the ramparts of Red Fort? He had commenced his life as an activist and a worker of the Sangh. He thus owes everything he has to his RSS background and though his stature is taller than anyone else in the Sangh Parivar, he knows the value of the RSS support.
There have been reports that the Prime Minister and the RSS have not been on the same page on several issues. Yes, there could be differences, but it would be inaccurate to assume that the RSS would do anything to undermine Modi. It realises that there can be only one power centre and that cannot be disturbed.
