The inevitable rise of Sangh

[scorpionx]

You may also know, it did made a great reformist impact in Punjab and Hindi heartland even if their proselyting caused religious tensions. I am no lover of Sanghi ideology and rightist history but many times I feel Marxist influenced pieces tries to make mockery of Indian history particularly Hinduism.

I am sorry if the Arya Samaj part looked as mockery to Hinduism. Being an admirer of Dayanand Saraswati myself for his commentaries on Rg it would have been a shame on me if I did that. But on the other hand I don't buy all what he and Arya Samaj say about Indian history. For example, believing in the assertion that aryans actually originated in the valley of Sindh or on Tibetan plateau do not deliver any good to Indian history either,in my opinion.

 

[INDIC]

Please read about the Shikarpur incident.

I don't know about the Hindu nationalistic movement in Sindh but Sindh was the heartland of unionist politics of Muslim Landlords called waderas with no support among Sindhi Hindus. The Sindhi Muslims mainly were the part of rural and undeveloped community and while Hindus formed the educated and businessmen community. Sindhi Muslim's attraction towards Muslim League was because of the same reason that Sindhi Hindus are more prosperous and dominating and by supporting Pakistan movement they thought they will come dominate everything in Sindh although they wanted Hindus to stay with them after partition. But their dream shattered when Muhajirs flocked into Karachi who wiped all Sindhi Hindus from Karachi-Hyderabad while Sindhi Muslims remained mainly a rural population.

For example, believing in the assertion that aryans actually originated in the valley of Sindh or on Tibetan plateau do not deliver any good to Indian history either,in my opinion.

The Arya Samajis believe the words Arya and Hindu are interchangeable, they don't take it as race and consider all Hindus as Aryans.

 

[niaz]

Whatever may be reasons for the rise of Sang Parivar and other Hiduvta parties. Current election is primarily on economic issues alone.

I have been discussing Indian political scene with some of my Indian oil industry friends whom I know for last 30 years. All are emancipated Hidus or Jain and without much religious bias. All of them are going to vote for BJP because they think that Congress have messed up the economy. Governance is another issue.

I therefore conclude that middle class Indian electorate has now matured. Ideology matters far less, what really matters is economic progress and the governance. No matter how much I dislike Narendar Modi; I have to grudgingly admit that his almost 15 years of power have transformed state of Gujarat into an economic power house.

 

[INDIC]

No, the history tend to tinted with romanticism in their view to avoid communal clashes.

A misguided attempt to preserve secularism.

One of the greatest shock in my life was actually reading secularized censored version of Mapilla Rebellion against British rule in school, it was through other literature that I came to know about its true picture years later.

 

[Chronos]

Whatever may be reasons for the rise of Sang Parivar and other Hiduvta parties. Current election is primarily on economic issues alone.

I have been discussing Indian political scene with some of my Indian oil industry friends whom I know for last 30 years. All are emancipated Hidus or Jain and without much religious bias. All of them are going to vote for BJP because they think that Congress have messed up the economy. Governance is another issue.

I therefore conclude that middle class Indian electorate has now matured. Ideology matters far less, what really matters is economic progress and the governance. No matter how much I dislike Narendar Modi; I have to grudgingly admit that that his almost 15 years of power have transformed state of Gujarat into an economic power house.

This was reported in Dawn as well.

wherever the reporter went, Governance and economy were the hot topics.

One of the greatest shock in my life was actually reading secularized censored version of Mapilla Rebellion against British rule in school, it was through other literature that I came to know about its true picture years later.

Another piece of history that is glossed over.

But it is time we moved on from those events and have the maturity to reconcile ancient wounds.

 

[notsuperstitious]

Whatever may be reasons for the rise of Sang Parivar and other Hiduvta parties. Current election is primarily on economic issues alone.

I have been discussing Indian political scene with some of my Indian oil industry friends whom I know for last 30 years. All are emancipated Hidus or Jain and without much religious bias. All of them are going to vote for BJP because they think that Congress have messed up the economy. Governance is another issue.

I therefore conclude that middle class Indian electorate has now matured. Ideology matters far less, what really matters is economic progress and the governance. No matter how much I dislike Narendar Modi; I have to grudgingly admit that his almost 15 years of power have transformed state of Gujarat into an economic power house.

Mmmmm its slighly more complicated than that. I mean many Hindutva supporters were actually not religious and many openly atheists.

So the ideology of Hindutva is not as rooted in Hinduism or some of you like to think.So its not a surprise at all that development is the core issue for right wing hindus, but its not necessarily so for others.

However Sir, in your defence, what is hindutva and what is hinduism confuses the hell out of us as well, so can't blame you

 

[PlanetWarrior]

What

An Indian Muslim hating Pakistan?

Does not compute! Does... not.... compute! =D

We all do. They destroyed our ultimate aim of Ghazwa-e-Hind

 

[SarthakGanguly]

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.

i. Not exactly. RSS was not built to gain a Hindu only homeland, irrespective of the definition of Hindus. There were other Hindu nationalist organizations that mushroomed after the formation of the Muslim League. RSS had and has Hindu/Dharmic roots but the objective is not to create a ‘Pak’ land for Hindus etc.

ii. Also ancient epics and scriptures are not exactly Hindu so to speak. They can be considered Indian traditions, but Lord Ram for example would not have identified himself as a Hindu. We have given a blanket name to a variety of customs, cultures and practices - Hindu. So the epics of this land belong to all who love and follow the cultural practices, in part or in full. That is what is called cultural or civilizational continuity. Most civilizations can’t boast of that. The other such civilizations having cultural continuity over thousands of years are the Chinese and the Japanese.

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.

i. The antagonism never grew. It was always there. There were ups and downs - since the very beginning.

ii. RSS was not exactly preparing for a Dharmic India, as mentioned before. Also it was not exactly absent from the Independence struggle. It was absent from Gandhi’s struggle/movement. And yes, they were not the same, though at times both converged.

Arya Samaj and Shuddhi Movement

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.

i. I won’t engage in sweet talk. I support Shuddhi and have myself organized and taken part in many such incidents.

ii. The part in bold unfortunately betrays ignorance or blatant bias. It seems that conversions to Islam and Christianity is fine. Only when these people get back to their parent faith, ‘the major part of the Indian educated society slowly sleep walked into a world full of hatred and rigidness in religious....’. Appears as if some conversions are holier than others

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.

One of the first instances of abject surrender of a sacred goal of striving for Independence, regardless of religious affiliations. One of the first instances of appeasement.

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.

Actually the Khilafat Movement actually put a nail on the coffin of Hindu Muslim political unity. I mean what the hell was Mr. Gandhi thinking? That Indian Muslims could be brought into the Indian Independence Movement by wedding it with the restoration of the Khilafat in distant Turkey? Where were priorities? Where was basic common sense. This was an acknowledgement of the fact(actually an assumption) that Muslims had other priorities. Somehow restoring the Khilafat was more or at least as important as the freedom struggle of India. And ironically these were Indian Muslims who Gandhi hoped to tie in (and not Turks)!

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.

I expected the bogey of the Marathi Brahmin class to be raised sooner than later. No RSS article is complete without them As for the last sentence, proud of it.

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.

The first part is entirely accurate historically. The Moplah or Mapillah riots was something else. According to Government records, around 1 lakh Hindus and Christians were killed, or converted. And the most important thing is that this was not the first time the Moplahs wished to spread their message of ‘Peace’. They did this regularly from 1875-76 onwards. 1921 was the last major time they erupted. They established a short lived Islamic State. Thankfully the Brits moved in the pretty much destroyed the fanatics. Under such circumstances I can’t blame the South Keralites for not being anti British during the freedom struggle.

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.

One small correction - readers - please don’t read Islamic and Christian etc... It was and is Islamic invasion and Christian forced conversions. But nationalist views from the Hindutva sector is not confined to this. In fact this forms a very small, almost insignificant part of the Hindutvavadi psyche. Victimhood is not perpetrated by us. City writers and pro Hindutva writers do that. We usually neither consider us victims nor as perpetrators.

For example, they (c)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.

We need to remember that he was from Maharashtra, hence the admiration for Shivaji.

The rest is fine, but there is a vital issue about the philosophy of the organization (RSS)

i. Dogma is not one and final, it is subject to change.

ii. You can love, respect anything or anyone or no one but your primary sense of belonging should be your motherland - that is the idea. The rest are just deductions. This comes from Savarkar’s concept of Punyabhoomi and Karmabhoomi. I would suggest you to read ‘The End of India’ - Khushwant Singh. I hated the book, possibly one of the most prejudiced books ever written by him, but he does quote some good pieces. Interesting read.

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.

i. I will ignore the raising of the Maharashtrian bogey again.

ii. The RSS does not prepare for communal warfare! It prepared people who were part of it to defend themselves when attacked, similar to Anushilan Samiti. There are almost 7 million of us in India. If we resort to warfare, this nation would have long become an inferno. But we value discipline. Probably much more than run of the mill ‘news peddlers’.

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.

That is an utterly ridiculous assertion. The Arya Samaj and the RSS never gained a foothold beyond Karachi. It was impossible for them to vitiate the atmosphere of the entire province alone. They may have just played a small insignificant part but Sindhi Hindus were at the receiving end for decades, even though reason they were persecuted then was perhaps largely for economic reasons. Even then perception is all that matters and this contributed to the rise of the RSS there.

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.

Bingo


Please don’t consider this a rude or an offensive post. I wished to write as blunt as possible. This ensures a better understanding of one’s position and the message one is trying to convey.


Thanks

 

[Yeti]

The Sangh is to unite Hindus and Dharma globally and bring many Hindu groups into the fold under one banner - to give a voice to Hindus on the global scale like Muslims have in the OIC.

Believe me the Sangh is bigger than Congress and BJP and it is to enlighten our future generations on what it means to be 'Hindu'. Let me tell you the media and the NRI community provided much help to Modi in this election, the Hinduja foundation is one of the champions in providing paisa to Temple building in the west.