ALI SUKHANVER

‘Mr. Modi cannot wash his hands off. This is a Fascist ideology, supported by the BJP and Narendra Modi. He is carrying forward the agenda of RSS. The political agenda of the RSS is to divide the nation and to remain in power and to seek power and I think he is badly exposed,’ these are the words of Rita Bahuguna Joshi in response to a question asked by someone from the ANI.

The question was; how would you clarify the difference between Mr. Modi and the RSS’. Rita Bahuguna Joshi belongs to the Congress party and is ranked high among mild and moderate Indian politicians. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh commonly known as the RSS is an organization which claims to struggle for giving India back its ‘lost identity’ as a Hindu state.

The RSS was founded in 1925 as an anti-colonial organization. It claims to promote a fundamentally different vision that draws on a mixture of Hindu legends and ancient Indian history.

The philosophy followed by the RSS and Mr. Modi is known as the Hindutva philosophy but the modern and moderate members of the Indian society name this philosophy as the Hindutva Terror; a philosophy which has simply become a serious threat to all those who are not Hindus by creed. While discussing RSS and BJP and their linkage with Mr. Modi, it must be kept in mind that Hindutva is something altogether different from Hinduism. It was Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who first time coined the term Hindutva. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was an Indian pro-independence activist, lawyer, politician, poet, writer and playwright. He advocated dismantling the system of caste in Hindu culture, and reconversion of the converted Hindus back to Hindu religion. His concepts of the Hindutva are narrated in his book ‘Essentials of Hindutva’. RSS General Secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji once explained the Hindutva philosophy for common people in very simple words, Hindustan means land of Hindus; so anyone living here is automatically a Hindu first.”

A report published in the Reuters titled ‘Battling for India’s soul’ says, An ascendant Hindu nationalist group wants minority Muslims and Christians to accept that India is a nation of Hindus, and is pushing some of them to convert. The move against the Muslim and Christian minorities in India is being fully supported and supervised by the RSS.” In short the joint agenda of the RSS, the BJP and of Mr. Modi is just to push India into a hell of a civil war against the minorities in India including the Muslims and the Christians. No one knows what would be the end-state of this war against minorities but one thing is very much clear that RSS, BJP and Mr. Modi; all are dreaming of changing the secular society of India into a Hindu extremist society.

‘RSS is not just antithetical to Muslims’ is the title of an article written by Shamsul Islam and published in the Daily Indian Express a few month back. He is a world-known scholarly figure and teaches political science at the University of Delhi. In this article he said giving reference to the Organiser of 14^th August, 1947, Just on the eve of Independence when Indians were celebrating the newly freedom, the paper denigrated the choice of our National Flag in the following words, ‘The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour but it never be respected and owned by Hindus.

The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.’ RSS hated every symbol of democratic-secular Indian polity.” Shamsul Islam further says, The animosity of RSS towards the Muslims proceeds long before Godhra/Gujarat 2000 carnage had happened. Both Savarkar (Hindutva 1923) and Golwalkar (We or Our Nationhood Defined 1935) had declared Muslims and Christians foreigners to be thrown out of the Hindu Nation and denied Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism as independent religions.”

A very detailed report was published in The Hindustan Times a few months back on the ideology followed by the RSS. The report said, The RSS is the ideological parent of the BJP. The Modi government has appointed RSS sympathizers to prominent positions in recent months. This includes the chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India, the chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research and a board member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India. BJP president Amit Shah and seven members of Modi’s cabinet also joined the RSS in their youth.

Home minister Rajnath Singh, who was once an RSS official and went on to lead the BJP, is now pushing for a nationwide ban on cow slaughter.” According to different Indian analysts, most of the ministers in the cabinet had their political consciousness shaped by the RSS and its affiliates. Modi spent his formative years as a full-time volunteer in the group, which he credits for his work ethic, discipline and success. Hostility to the minorities has never been the part of any religious philosophy. Even Hinduism does not support maltreatment with the minorities. From where do the Hindu extremist elements like the RSS, the BJP and honorable Mr. Modi get this dirty food for thought, certainly a difficult question.