Rise of Sangh; Birth of Militant nationalism in India
Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangha was built in 1925 to emancipate an essentially “Hindu” country from the tutelage of foreign rule and to unite the entire nation with Dharmic ideology whose contents are difficult to distinguish from the ancient Hindu epics and scriptures. Its enthusiastic leadership believed that the reunited and rejuvenated Hindu society will not only preserve the ancient cultures but would bring the colonial rule in the end. However due to the growing antagonism between Hindus and Muslims in the 30’s the second objective slowly faded away from its organisational manifesto and this organisation gradually became a proponent of militant nationalism which at length forced it to part away from the Independence struggle. The conspicuous absence of RSS from freedom movement, the indifference of its leadership to the active anti colonial movement led by Mahatma Gandhi proves that the organisation was silently preparing itself for the bigger struggle in post Independence India, the exploration for an essentially Dharmic India.
Arya Samaj and Shuddhi Movement
Long before Hindu Mahasabha and Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh came into its founder’s inception, Western India saw the first effort to wake up the Hindus against the Six hundred years of persecution and the threat of forced conversion by the Christian missionaries when Dayananda Saraswati founded Arya Samaj in 1875.Arya Samaj leaders launched relentless campaigns in Bombay province to bring those who once converted to Islam departing from their early Hindu faith. Arya Samaj aimed to bring Hindus back to the Vedas and build a society based upon the religious dogmas according to ancient scriptures. Revivalist movement like Arya Samaj forged a Hindu identity to create a notion of collectivity against the threats posed by Islam and Christianity. A prominent tool of their movement was “Shuddhi”, the purifying ceremony to bring the converted Muslims back to Hinduism which brought Arya Samaj in direct confrontation with Muslims in particular. Apart from Shuddhi, Arya Samaj leaders used to organize “Bahasbaazi”, the debate between Hindu and Islamic philosophy. Due to these incidents in the late nineteenth century, a major part of Indian educated society slowly sleep walked to a world full of hatred and rigidness in religious liberalism. Arya Samaj was less interested in cultivating the Hindu Vedantic philosophy than ensuring that converted ones comes back to their early faith. A number of Arya Samaj enthusiasts will later become eminent members of RSS,Hindu Mahasabha and VHP in later years to come.
1916; Prelude to war that never ended
1916 has been a milestone year in Indian History. While the western world was busy in fighting the first bloodiest battle ever fought in human history, India witnessed a truce signed by Congress and Muslim league by the introduction of Lucknow Muslim pact where congress agreed with Jinnah’s demand of separate electorate. Apparently the Hindus and the Muslim world came closer with each other when Mahatma Gandhi led his arms in support of Khilafat movement. Soon after Gandhi linked the non cooperation movement with the Khilafat. A series of boycotts were passed in the special Congress session in Calcutta (4th to 9th September’1920) which was passed through a narrow margin of seven votes in the subjects committee. Delegations from Bengal and Central provinces opposed vehemently over the boycott of the legislative bodies which were to be formed by the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms. Many Maharashtrian congressmen openly questioned the motives and means of non cooperation movement. Following the meeting Gandhi assembled the Home rule leaguers and changed its name and creed. Nineteen of its members mostly from Bombay province immediately resigned. These incidents can aptly be described as the beginning of a new era of nationalism which will have massive influence on India’s future political movements. Ironically, in late december’1920 in the Nagpur Congress where Gandhi will emerge as the monumental supreme figure of Congress, we can see the first batch of its volunteers in Khaki Shorts and khaki shirts, an uniform which would become a symbol of radical patriotism in coming decades.
Hedgewar
Keshav B Hedgewar was born in 1889 in a family of Telugu Brahmins which migrated to Kandkurti,a border village of Maharashtra and Andhra fearing the Muslim persecution. When the last of the Bhonsles, Raghuji III died without heir the British annexed the state by the doctrine of lapse in 1853 and the Hedgewars were forced to become priests a less prestigious occupation. But young Hedgewar was not interested in Vedic schools and soon incorporated himself with the modern education. Soon he became an ardent follower of an young doctor Balakrishna Shivram Munje who recently returned from Boer War in South Africa. Hedgewar was sent to Calcutta medical college where he spent six years and became closely associated with Anushilan Samity, the radical reactionaries of Bengal. He returned to Nagpur in 1916 and formed several gymnasiums (an obvious influence of Anushilan Samity of Bengal) which became recruiting hubs for young revolutionaries. The recruits were required to take oath in presence of the pictures of Shivaji Maharaj and Ramdas Swamy, a poet saint of Maharashtra. A book on Mazzini by Savarkar, stories of Bengali revolutionaries and Joan of Arc were distributed among its members. But looking into the public apathy and British iron fist, Hedgewar decided to join Congress. Along with other Tilakites, he too believed that Gandhi was giving too much emphasis on Khilafat. He was deeply shocked when Gandhi refused to put cow slaughter in the agendas of Nagpur session. With the death of Tilak, his followers lost their only leader who could speak openly against Gandhi. But Hedgewar chose to make an experiment and broke the laws deliberately which led him to one year of imprisonment on 14th August’1921. This year was bled with a milestone unfortunate riot which would widen the growing gap between Hindus and Muslim societies further; the Moplah massacre. This incident influenced young Hedgewar’s mind greatly and this was the time he renewed his ideologies from a struggle against the British to a self preservation of Hindus.
Who is a Hindu? The nationalist view:
Hindu nationalists such as Savarkars ardently believed that Aryans were not invaders from outside maintaining that Aryans originated from Sindh valley. To the nationalists the grouping of caste,outcaste,Aryan,non Aryan based upon blood distinction was therefore a doctored idea of the west. The popular nationalistic view was due to the common sufferings caused by the foreign invaders (read Islamic invasion and Christian political and administrative grip) has turned the entire India into an emotional unit. For example, they sited Shivaji as a proponent of Hindu unity accepted by all Hindus of India. The authenticity of this claim was subjected to question but Hedgewar and other nationalists accepted this viewpoint as an essential basis for their doctrine on patriotism. What then was a Hindu? According to Savarkar anyone who loved the land from the valley of Sindh in west to the seas on East qualifies to this respect. Any person of Abrahamic faith according to him has to draw cultural resources from outside this region and this divides the loyalties to the sacred land. On March, 1925 Hedgewar stayed with Savarkar for two days and sought his advice. Soon after Dussera that year, he founded Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh.
The shaping of an organization:
In the beginning years, the RSS activities were quite limited to mere attending the local gymnasiums. They started to meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays for political classes. This later was developed into Buddhik (the intellectual discourses) which became a regular feature. Soon military training was started which was dropped during World War II. Prayers and bugles were soon instituted.The members adopted the Khaki shirt, Khaki shorts,black caps, long socks and shoes as their uniform in April’1926 in the fair of village Ramtek where Hedgewar intended to demonstrate the value of discipline of his newly formed group.
The new organisation was selective about recruiting members. The aspirant had to obtain sponsorship of at least two swayamsevaks of good standings. Members were extensively interviewed by Hedgewar himself and soon a close bond was formed between Hedgewar and the first batch of his recruits who soon became Missionaries when RSS had to spread its ideologies outside Nagpur in the ‘30s.
While RSS maintained strictly no distinction between castes, it was conspicuously evident that in its first meeting in Mohit Wade majority of its early members were higher caste Brahmins. Hedgewar continually tested the reasoning capacity of a Swayamsevak by asking him a series of questions and observed the person’s ability to answer different types of questions. Members were often asked to produce written analysis on given subjects of different aspects. In 1927, RSS began to spread out of its Nagpur Wardha base and concentrated more on central province. In 1928, there were 18 sakhas in Nagpur alone.In a letter to GajananRao Kakar, Hedgewar listed six regular festival of RSS which were Varsha Pratipada (New year of Hindus), Sivaraj yarohanastava (coronation of Shivaji), Shri Gurupurnima, Raksha Bandhan, Vijaya dashami and Maha Sankranthi.Hegdewar believed that too much honor to an individual was dangerous and thus he strictly maintained that members were to take oath in front of a flag. He selected the bhagwa flag, the one which was used by Shivaji, in front of which Swayamsevaks were required to pledge their allegiance.
Partition and the ideological shift:
On June ’21, 1940 Hedgewar died. After thirteen days, Madhab Sadashiv Golwalkar was declared his successor. Golwalkar had translated the Speeches of Swami Vivekananda in Chicago conference into Marathi and wrote a book on philosophy of RSS.”We or our Nation defined.” During his tenure, RSS membership increased exponentially. In 1943, the membership was estimated 76,000 alone, approximately one half was in central province, 20,476 in Bombay and 14,000 in Punjab.
Two concerned governed the policy of Sangh at the peak of World War II,to protect the Hindus in case of the Japanese Imperial army enters India’s north east and to prepare for the imminent communal tensions when it was clear that India could not remain undivided by any means after the war. The leadership understood that it was necessary not to antagonize the Government and in order to achieve it RSS conspicuously avoided any sort of political activities which at length caused attrition between it and the Hindu Mahasabha. The militant cult within RSS were dismayed at this decision. Gopal Godse, a former RSS member and brother of Nathuram Godse once told in an interview,
“with the change of (RSS) leadership in the 40’s, a change came over the working relationship between Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS. This was primarily because the new leadership of RSS could not pull on well with the leadership of Hindu Mahasabha.Nathuram Godse and others felt that this lack of involvement in politics that had come over the RSS was not helpful to the Hindu cause and decided that more militant Hindu volunteers must be organized. Hence in 1942, Hindu Rashtra Dal was formed.”
In the 40’s a number of religiously motivated para military bodies were established. The most famous (or notorious) of those were the Hindu Rashtra Dal by Godse brothers, Ram Sena by B S Munje and the Khaksars. Some of these groups were explicitly meant to fight the British (the Khaksars) while the others chose to remain loyal to the British expecting administrative patronage in the communal warfare in post partition India. After 1937, Savarkar had unquestionable influence on Hindu Mahasabha where he put priority on militarization of Hindu bodies advocated by Munje. Hedgewar put immense importance on military training and discipline. During Golwalkar’s tenure this program was pushed behind the curtains.
Shikarpur Colony case; First blood
For the communal warfare, RSS was long preparing itself drew its first blood. But ironically this was not any Muslim blood that was shaded by RSS. Two deceased were Prabhu Badlani and Vasudev who were making bombs in the house of RaiBahadur Tolaram and accidentally a powerful bomb exploded. All 21 but one involved escaped. He was tortured for several months until he was exchanged for another prisoner of war in 1949. Identity of this mysterious man is still unknown but a substantial amount of rumours indicate to a very striking possibility. Sindh in British India can be assumed as a typical case of the rise of Hindu militancy in India. While the majority of Sindh was actually indifferent to RSS activitie, bigger portion of its contributors belonged to the Maharashtrian community.
Sindh managed to remain a by and large peaceful province during 1920 to 1940 despite the sporadic clashes in larkano and Shukkur. But things became different when an Aryasamaj member and a RSS activist called Rajnath Bishwambhar Puri came to Sindh as a Sanskrit teacher in Navalram Hiranand academy. He was successful in influencing a number of youths among whom some will emerge as future RSS leaders. One of his prominent students was Lal Krishna Advani. Sindhi Hindus fractured relationship with the Congress was the only reason behind their growing emotional bonding with militant nationalism in the form of RSS.
A collective anguish was the trio Gandhi-Nehru-Patel have been indifferent to their precariousness and Congress betrayed the Sindhi Hindus by accepting Sindh as part of Pakistan. Gandhi’s advice to protect them was well received but his suggestion to commit Hijrat (exodus) if they can’t was looked down with contempt by Sindhis. According to Patel “Sindh was a strange place and no principle seem to work there.” And Nehru said,” I do not feel attracted to Sindh.” RSS and Hindu Mahasabha was successful in cultivating this indifferent attitude of Congress head quarter and soon this swelling antagonism against Congress bolstered the militant group’s long cherished hope to convince Hindus in Punjab, Gujarat and Bengal in particular that there is an urgent need of armed response to the communal atrocity committed by Muslim League.
2014; New days ahead
RSS has come a long way down from the days of Hedgewar and today it’s one of the most instrumental machinery in Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial campaign. While RSS top brass openly deny exerting influence on BJP’s political manifesto its obvious presence can be seen on the Ram mandir issue and beef export, a modified version of its long waiting demand to impose ban on cow slaughtering. Thousands of RSS volunteers are storming in Modi’s election rallies, collecting feedbacks from its attendees, asking them which part of the speech they are liking and then passing the feed backs to the RSS head quarter where it is assumed that these data sheets will be shared with the BJP think tanks. For the last two years there has been an exponential growth in RSS Sakhas in the northern zones of India and while denying the fact that it has anything to do with the rise of Narendra Modi, a senior RSS activist keeps on repeating the same old lines as they used to do in the 40’s,
"Far from the perception that seems to be gaining ground, politics is not the core of our activity. The 'shakha' is designed towards character building among youngsters and reaffirming of commitment to nation-building by the elders,"
--------------------------------------------------
Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangha was built in 1925 to emancipate an essentially “Hindu” country from the tutelage of foreign rule and to unite the entire nation with Dharmic ideology whose contents are difficult to distinguish from the ancient Hindu epics and scriptures. Its enthusiastic leadership believed that the reunited and rejuvenated Hindu society will not only preserve the ancient cultures but would bring the colonial rule in the end. However due to the growing antagonism between Hindus and Muslims in the 30’s the second objective slowly faded away from its organisational manifesto and this organisation gradually became a proponent of militant nationalism which at length forced it to part away from the Independence struggle. The conspicuous absence of RSS from freedom movement, the indifference of its leadership to the active anti colonial movement led by Mahatma Gandhi proves that the organisation was silently preparing itself for the bigger struggle in post Independence India, the exploration for an essentially Dharmic India.
Arya Samaj and Shuddhi Movement
Long before Hindu Mahasabha and Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh came into its founder’s inception, Western India saw the first effort to wake up the Hindus against the Six hundred years of persecution and the threat of forced conversion by the Christian missionaries when Dayananda Saraswati founded Arya Samaj in 1875.Arya Samaj leaders launched relentless campaigns in Bombay province to bring those who once converted to Islam departing from their early Hindu faith. Arya Samaj aimed to bring Hindus back to the Vedas and build a society based upon the religious dogmas according to ancient scriptures. Revivalist movement like Arya Samaj forged a Hindu identity to create a notion of collectivity against the threats posed by Islam and Christianity. A prominent tool of their movement was “Shuddhi”, the purifying ceremony to bring the converted Muslims back to Hinduism which brought Arya Samaj in direct confrontation with Muslims in particular. Apart from Shuddhi, Arya Samaj leaders used to organize “Bahasbaazi”, the debate between Hindu and Islamic philosophy. Due to these incidents in the late nineteenth century, a major part of Indian educated society slowly sleep walked to a world full of hatred and rigidness in religious liberalism. Arya Samaj was less interested in cultivating the Hindu Vedantic philosophy than ensuring that converted ones comes back to their early faith. A number of Arya Samaj enthusiasts will later become eminent members of RSS,Hindu Mahasabha and VHP in later years to come.
1916; Prelude to war that never ended
1916 has been a milestone year in Indian History. While the western world was busy in fighting the first bloodiest battle ever fought in human history, India witnessed a truce signed by Congress and Muslim league by the introduction of Lucknow Muslim pact where congress agreed with Jinnah’s demand of separate electorate. Apparently the Hindus and the Muslim world came closer with each other when Mahatma Gandhi led his arms in support of Khilafat movement. Soon after Gandhi linked the non cooperation movement with the Khilafat. A series of boycotts were passed in the special Congress session in Calcutta (4th to 9th September’1920) which was passed through a narrow margin of seven votes in the subjects committee. Delegations from Bengal and Central provinces opposed vehemently over the boycott of the legislative bodies which were to be formed by the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms. Many Maharashtrian congressmen openly questioned the motives and means of non cooperation movement. Following the meeting Gandhi assembled the Home rule leaguers and changed its name and creed. Nineteen of its members mostly from Bombay province immediately resigned. These incidents can aptly be described as the beginning of a new era of nationalism which will have massive influence on India’s future political movements. Ironically, in late december’1920 in the Nagpur Congress where Gandhi will emerge as the monumental supreme figure of Congress, we can see the first batch of its volunteers in Khaki Shorts and khaki shirts, an uniform which would become a symbol of radical patriotism in coming decades.
Hedgewar
Keshav B Hedgewar was born in 1889 in a family of Telugu Brahmins which migrated to Kandkurti,a border village of Maharashtra and Andhra fearing the Muslim persecution. When the last of the Bhonsles, Raghuji III died without heir the British annexed the state by the doctrine of lapse in 1853 and the Hedgewars were forced to become priests a less prestigious occupation. But young Hedgewar was not interested in Vedic schools and soon incorporated himself with the modern education. Soon he became an ardent follower of an young doctor Balakrishna Shivram Munje who recently returned from Boer War in South Africa. Hedgewar was sent to Calcutta medical college where he spent six years and became closely associated with Anushilan Samity, the radical reactionaries of Bengal. He returned to Nagpur in 1916 and formed several gymnasiums (an obvious influence of Anushilan Samity of Bengal) which became recruiting hubs for young revolutionaries. The recruits were required to take oath in presence of the pictures of Shivaji Maharaj and Ramdas Swamy, a poet saint of Maharashtra. A book on Mazzini by Savarkar, stories of Bengali revolutionaries and Joan of Arc were distributed among its members. But looking into the public apathy and British iron fist, Hedgewar decided to join Congress. Along with other Tilakites, he too believed that Gandhi was giving too much emphasis on Khilafat. He was deeply shocked when Gandhi refused to put cow slaughter in the agendas of Nagpur session. With the death of Tilak, his followers lost their only leader who could speak openly against Gandhi. But Hedgewar chose to make an experiment and broke the laws deliberately which led him to one year of imprisonment on 14th August’1921. This year was bled with a milestone unfortunate riot which would widen the growing gap between Hindus and Muslim societies further; the Moplah massacre. This incident influenced young Hedgewar’s mind greatly and this was the time he renewed his ideologies from a struggle against the British to a self preservation of Hindus.
Who is a Hindu? The nationalist view:
Hindu nationalists such as Savarkars ardently believed that Aryans were not invaders from outside maintaining that Aryans originated from Sindh valley. To the nationalists the grouping of caste,outcaste,Aryan,non Aryan based upon blood distinction was therefore a doctored idea of the west. The popular nationalistic view was due to the common sufferings caused by the foreign invaders (read Islamic invasion and Christian political and administrative grip) has turned the entire India into an emotional unit. For example, they sited Shivaji as a proponent of Hindu unity accepted by all Hindus of India. The authenticity of this claim was subjected to question but Hedgewar and other nationalists accepted this viewpoint as an essential basis for their doctrine on patriotism. What then was a Hindu? According to Savarkar anyone who loved the land from the valley of Sindh in west to the seas on East qualifies to this respect. Any person of Abrahamic faith according to him has to draw cultural resources from outside this region and this divides the loyalties to the sacred land. On March, 1925 Hedgewar stayed with Savarkar for two days and sought his advice. Soon after Dussera that year, he founded Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh.
The shaping of an organization:
In the beginning years, the RSS activities were quite limited to mere attending the local gymnasiums. They started to meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays for political classes. This later was developed into Buddhik (the intellectual discourses) which became a regular feature. Soon military training was started which was dropped during World War II. Prayers and bugles were soon instituted.The members adopted the Khaki shirt, Khaki shorts,black caps, long socks and shoes as their uniform in April’1926 in the fair of village Ramtek where Hedgewar intended to demonstrate the value of discipline of his newly formed group.
The new organisation was selective about recruiting members. The aspirant had to obtain sponsorship of at least two swayamsevaks of good standings. Members were extensively interviewed by Hedgewar himself and soon a close bond was formed between Hedgewar and the first batch of his recruits who soon became Missionaries when RSS had to spread its ideologies outside Nagpur in the ‘30s.
While RSS maintained strictly no distinction between castes, it was conspicuously evident that in its first meeting in Mohit Wade majority of its early members were higher caste Brahmins. Hedgewar continually tested the reasoning capacity of a Swayamsevak by asking him a series of questions and observed the person’s ability to answer different types of questions. Members were often asked to produce written analysis on given subjects of different aspects. In 1927, RSS began to spread out of its Nagpur Wardha base and concentrated more on central province. In 1928, there were 18 sakhas in Nagpur alone.In a letter to GajananRao Kakar, Hedgewar listed six regular festival of RSS which were Varsha Pratipada (New year of Hindus), Sivaraj yarohanastava (coronation of Shivaji), Shri Gurupurnima, Raksha Bandhan, Vijaya dashami and Maha Sankranthi.Hegdewar believed that too much honor to an individual was dangerous and thus he strictly maintained that members were to take oath in front of a flag. He selected the bhagwa flag, the one which was used by Shivaji, in front of which Swayamsevaks were required to pledge their allegiance.
Partition and the ideological shift:
On June ’21, 1940 Hedgewar died. After thirteen days, Madhab Sadashiv Golwalkar was declared his successor. Golwalkar had translated the Speeches of Swami Vivekananda in Chicago conference into Marathi and wrote a book on philosophy of RSS.”We or our Nation defined.” During his tenure, RSS membership increased exponentially. In 1943, the membership was estimated 76,000 alone, approximately one half was in central province, 20,476 in Bombay and 14,000 in Punjab.
Two concerned governed the policy of Sangh at the peak of World War II,to protect the Hindus in case of the Japanese Imperial army enters India’s north east and to prepare for the imminent communal tensions when it was clear that India could not remain undivided by any means after the war. The leadership understood that it was necessary not to antagonize the Government and in order to achieve it RSS conspicuously avoided any sort of political activities which at length caused attrition between it and the Hindu Mahasabha. The militant cult within RSS were dismayed at this decision. Gopal Godse, a former RSS member and brother of Nathuram Godse once told in an interview,
“with the change of (RSS) leadership in the 40’s, a change came over the working relationship between Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS. This was primarily because the new leadership of RSS could not pull on well with the leadership of Hindu Mahasabha.Nathuram Godse and others felt that this lack of involvement in politics that had come over the RSS was not helpful to the Hindu cause and decided that more militant Hindu volunteers must be organized. Hence in 1942, Hindu Rashtra Dal was formed.”
In the 40’s a number of religiously motivated para military bodies were established. The most famous (or notorious) of those were the Hindu Rashtra Dal by Godse brothers, Ram Sena by B S Munje and the Khaksars. Some of these groups were explicitly meant to fight the British (the Khaksars) while the others chose to remain loyal to the British expecting administrative patronage in the communal warfare in post partition India. After 1937, Savarkar had unquestionable influence on Hindu Mahasabha where he put priority on militarization of Hindu bodies advocated by Munje. Hedgewar put immense importance on military training and discipline. During Golwalkar’s tenure this program was pushed behind the curtains.
Shikarpur Colony case; First blood
For the communal warfare, RSS was long preparing itself drew its first blood. But ironically this was not any Muslim blood that was shaded by RSS. Two deceased were Prabhu Badlani and Vasudev who were making bombs in the house of RaiBahadur Tolaram and accidentally a powerful bomb exploded. All 21 but one involved escaped. He was tortured for several months until he was exchanged for another prisoner of war in 1949. Identity of this mysterious man is still unknown but a substantial amount of rumours indicate to a very striking possibility. Sindh in British India can be assumed as a typical case of the rise of Hindu militancy in India. While the majority of Sindh was actually indifferent to RSS activitie, bigger portion of its contributors belonged to the Maharashtrian community.
Sindh managed to remain a by and large peaceful province during 1920 to 1940 despite the sporadic clashes in larkano and Shukkur. But things became different when an Aryasamaj member and a RSS activist called Rajnath Bishwambhar Puri came to Sindh as a Sanskrit teacher in Navalram Hiranand academy. He was successful in influencing a number of youths among whom some will emerge as future RSS leaders. One of his prominent students was Lal Krishna Advani. Sindhi Hindus fractured relationship with the Congress was the only reason behind their growing emotional bonding with militant nationalism in the form of RSS.
A collective anguish was the trio Gandhi-Nehru-Patel have been indifferent to their precariousness and Congress betrayed the Sindhi Hindus by accepting Sindh as part of Pakistan. Gandhi’s advice to protect them was well received but his suggestion to commit Hijrat (exodus) if they can’t was looked down with contempt by Sindhis. According to Patel “Sindh was a strange place and no principle seem to work there.” And Nehru said,” I do not feel attracted to Sindh.” RSS and Hindu Mahasabha was successful in cultivating this indifferent attitude of Congress head quarter and soon this swelling antagonism against Congress bolstered the militant group’s long cherished hope to convince Hindus in Punjab, Gujarat and Bengal in particular that there is an urgent need of armed response to the communal atrocity committed by Muslim League.
2014; New days ahead
RSS has come a long way down from the days of Hedgewar and today it’s one of the most instrumental machinery in Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial campaign. While RSS top brass openly deny exerting influence on BJP’s political manifesto its obvious presence can be seen on the Ram mandir issue and beef export, a modified version of its long waiting demand to impose ban on cow slaughtering. Thousands of RSS volunteers are storming in Modi’s election rallies, collecting feedbacks from its attendees, asking them which part of the speech they are liking and then passing the feed backs to the RSS head quarter where it is assumed that these data sheets will be shared with the BJP think tanks. For the last two years there has been an exponential growth in RSS Sakhas in the northern zones of India and while denying the fact that it has anything to do with the rise of Narendra Modi, a senior RSS activist keeps on repeating the same old lines as they used to do in the 40’s,
"Far from the perception that seems to be gaining ground, politics is not the core of our activity. The 'shakha' is designed towards character building among youngsters and reaffirming of commitment to nation-building by the elders,"
--------------------------------------------------
Last edited:
