Brought up in the virulent RSS culture of hate and violence, this is the albatross of history that will continue to hang around his neck
It seems a matter of few days before Narendra Modi puts on the crown of Delhi. He claims to be an ardent proponent of Hindu nationalism therefore it becomes imperative to understand the philosophical and historical bases of this brand of nationalism.
Historically, Hindu nationalism emerged as an organised force in the first quarter of the twentieth century but today we shall restrict to only that brand of Hindu nationalism which was espoused by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in which Modi had his political education and training.
The Hindu nationalist ideal conceived and propagated by the RSS was the result of the peculiar circumstances of that time. In other words, its growth was not organic but a reaction to what a small section of the Hindu community felt about itself. I say ‘small’ because the RSS struggled to sell itself in the late 1920s in the Central Provinces and took another two decades to register its presence in northern India, and that too mostly in urban or semi-urban areas.
What were those ‘peculiar circumstances’? There was actually a wave of Hindu- Muslim hatred and violence in the 1920s, which was exacerbated by the rise of Khilafat Movement (1919-22), the Moplah Revolt (1921) and the consequent sprouting of bigoted Hindu communal organisations such as ‘Shuddhi’ and ‘Sanghathan’ and their Muslim counterparts like ‘Tanzeem’ and ‘Tabligh’. The discourse of Hindu nationalism as created by the RSS was ‘reactionary’ because it was based on the hatred towards the Muslims who were labelled as ‘The Other’. With one broad stroke the RSS painted the entire Muslim community as a ‘threat’ to the ‘fearful’ Hindu community. To address this fear factor, the RSS made use of the Hindu religion to organise and revitalise the Hindu community in which the policy of opposing the Muslims and their religion became the core of its creed. One manifestation of this Hindu assertion assumed the form of playing loud music in front of the mosques particularly at the prayer times during the passage of Hindu religious processions. It was an old controversy yet it served the RSS purpose because the communal cauldron was boiling in those years. This controversial RSS practice was defended by the Hindu nationalist press such as the Poona weekly, the Mahratta as not a denial of ‘pleasure or privilege’ but of “rights immemorially enjoyed by the whole Hindu community.” Instead of restraining such happenings from causing unnecessary frictions, which all leaders are expected to, Dr Hedgewar, the founder of the RSS personally indulged in this offensive practice. BV Deshpande and S R Ramaswamy state in “Dr Hedgewar: The epoch- maker” that “Because of the in- built fear of the Muslims among the Hindus, the band troupes sometimes shirked to play before the Masjids. On such occasions, Doctorji himself would take over the drums and rouse the dormant manliness of the Hindus.”
What Germany got in the form of Nazis and Italy in the garb of Fascists in the 1930s, India produced its equivalent in the form of the RSS in the 1920s. The only difference between the two being that the tragedy those ill-fated European countries had to bear in the first half of the twentieth century, India, in the form of Narendra Modi, who has been an ‘RSS man’, is poised to experience at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
The Hindu nationalist press consciously presented the Hindus as a stigmatised community that had lost its ‘vigour’ and ‘manliness’, and therefore had to bear ‘insult’ and ‘humiliation’ at the hands of the Muslims. Just imagine how one such newspaper ‘Swatantra Hindusthan’ pumped up the Hindu emotions: “The fact is that ever since the Hindu society became dead to its sense of honour and self- respect, any community can insult it with impunity…. If the Hindus at all want to survive such humiliations, they ought, without delay, to organise themselves into a compact whole and be prepared to act in the world more manfully than they have hitherto done.”
In this way, the ground was prepared for the establishment of a purely Hindu body that was religiously motivated and organised on militant lines to take on the Muslim ‘menace’. Thus, emerged Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, a Brahman from Nagpur, who formed the RSS in 1925 and in addition to assuming the grand title of ‘Sarsangchalak’( the absolute leader); he also instituted the policy of “ekchalak anuvartita” i.e. following one leader as the central philosophy of the RSS discipline. This policy was indicative of the fact that from the beginning, the party was not to be groomed in a democratic culture in which the rank and file set the agenda but to be run in an autocratic manner in which the dictator at the top was to be looked upon as the unquestionable source of perfect wisdom. What Germany got in the form of Nazis and Italy in the garb of Fascists in the 1930s, India produced its equivalent in the form of the RSS in the 1920s; the only difference being that the tragedy those ill-fated European countries had to bear in the first half of the twentieth century, India, in the form of Narendra Modi, who has been an ‘RSS man’ is poised to experience at the beginning of the twenty- first century.
To mobilise the Hindus to the cause of militant nationalism, the RSS intelligently used the already existing popular institution of ‘akhara’ where the members were taught the art of wrestling and other quasi- military practices such as drills, the use of sticks for defence and offence. The emphasis on the learning and use of violent means was intentional because the RSS presented itself as a counter point to ‘ahimsa,’ the ‘feminine’ philosophy of ‘non- violence’ so arduously preached by Gandhi. The strategy proved quite effective because many Hindus joined the RSS due to the attraction of the ‘akharas’, whose number grew in the RSS heartland of the Central Provinces and Berar from 466 in 1921 to 1338 in 1931.
The Hindu nationalist ideal conceived and propagated by the RSS was the result of the peculiar circumstances of that time. In other words, its growth was not organic but a reaction to what a small section of the Hindu community felt about itself.
The recruits were enrolled in the grassroot political unit called ‘shakha’ with an eye on the educated youth where, in addition to physical drill, lathi training, singing and ideological discussions; all members were to “congregate and pray together for fifteen minutes every day.” The members of the RSS were classified into two categories: the first level members called ‘swayamsevaks’ were ordinary people, who had jobs, families, etc to look after but had to attend their respective ‘shakhas’ daily and were under oath to serve the organisation as and when required. The second and higher level members called ‘pracharaks’ were the ‘ideal’ full time, unpaid workers, who, while living in party’s accommodation did the organisational work and generally either remained unmarried or lived a life of celibacy which is termed ‘brahmacharya’ in Hinduism. The trait of ‘brahmacharya’ was also practised by Gandhi in the later part of his life and the author of “RSS: Spearheading national renaissance” while recalling a visit of Gandhi to an RSS camp at Wardha in 1934 states that when Gandhi “came to know that Doctorji (Hedgewar) had neither taken to any profession nor to a married life, he explained ‘Ah, that explains the remarkable degree of your success in such a short time.” Incidentally, Narendra Modi has also served as a ‘pracharak’ in the RSS and although it is imprudent to comment on the personal life of a public figure yet his reported separation from wife for decades without a record of any indulgent affair being unearthed by the ever intrusive press tempts one to assume that true to the spirit of an ‘ideal’ RSS ‘pracharak’, he might have been living the life of a ‘brahmacharya’ during all these years.
It is a fact that RSS was a religiously inspired militant organisation. It is also a fact that its agenda was communal, and its target was the Muslim minority community.
That Modi was bred and brought up in the virulent RSS culture of hate and violence can also not be denied. This is the albatross of history that will continue to hang around his neck during the premiership. Whether he succumbs to this burden or not, only time will tell.
