Many a
social and political processes related to projection of some icons and
undermining of the others have intensified during last few years. Even during
the last regime of NDA led BJP rule from 1998, Savakar’s portrait was unveiled
in the Parliament. At one level the game of undermining some icons and
projecting icons is a part of various political streams and RSS seems to be the
past master in the same. One recalls its machinery has been putting forward
some names. bypassing others and undermining some others. Since the time Modi
has come to power as Prime Minister Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse is
being upheld by many from RSS combine. One BJP MP called him a patriot and other
BJP MP said that Godse chose the wrong target, instead of Gandhi; he should
have chosen Nehru as his target. There are demands from various quarters to
allot land for raising his statues in different places.
Times
and over again Sardar Patel is projected vis a vis Nehru. In one of the
speeches Modi said Patel should have been the first Prime minister of India
instead of Nehru. Various ‘word of mouth’ propaganda to denigrate Nehru has
been the consistent activity of many. Again to undermine Nehru Modi said something
which was not true. He said that Nehru did not attend the funeral of Sardar
Patel. This again is a blatant lie. As far as Mahatma Gandhi is concerned this
present ruling dispensation has projected him but only for the values of cleanliness.
One knows that the stature of Mahatma is such that even those who do not
believe in his inclusive nationalism have also to pay obeisance to him at home
as well as abroad. To circumvent this problem while the core essence of
Gandhi’s struggle for Hindu Muslim unity is sidelined, the teachings of the Mahatma
for National Integration are give a go bye and he is projected for only for swachhta abhiyan (cleanliness drive).
Currently
major concerted efforts are being made to highlight Ambedkar. There are
statements that Ambedkar and Hedgewars’ (The founder and first supreme leader
of RSS) values were similar, both were against untouchability for example. RSS
mouthpiece Organiser (English) and Panchjanya (Hindi) have come out with the
special supplements on the life of Ambedkar, presenting his teachings in a
distorted manner to create the illusion that there was similarity between the
teachings of RSS ideology of HIndutva and Ambedkars values. Ambedkar had
contributed in various ways for social justice and democratic values and struggle
for annihilation of caste was the foremost amongst the movements launched by
him. Incidentally one need to recall
that in contrast to Ambedkars Annihilation of caste, RSS has floated and
organization called ‘Samajik Samrasta
Manch’ (Social Harmony Forum) which works for bringing harmony between
castes without challenging the very existence of caste, which was the prime
motive of Ambedkar.
One
can see two trends in the exercise being done by the RSS combine. On one hand
since RSS never participated in the freedom struggle as an organization, it has
no icon to present as a freedom fighter. This is why they have to stretch their
myth making to project Savarkar as being a freedom fighter. The case of
Savarkar is peculiar. He was initially working against the British rule but
after he was jailed in Andaman’s, he buckled under pressure and turned from
anti British revolutionary to the one who apologized to British and later never
participated in any anti British agitation. That’s all RSS combine has to show
for their participation in freedom struggle. Even Savarkar was not the part of
RSS, but ideologically Savarkar and RSS both held Hindutva, Hindu nation as
their goals.
As
many in the RSS combine revere Godse, he always slips in as the major icon for them.
Godse was initially trained in RSS Shakhas and later he went onto become the
Secretary of Pune Branch of Hindu Mahasabha. Since many BJP leaders have
background in RSS shakhas, and are on same page as Godse as far as Hindu Nationalism
is concerned, they do come out to praise Godse. These two, Savarkar and Godse are
projected to show their allegiance to the ideology of Hindu nationalism in
contrast to Indian nationalism, which is the core part of Indian Constitution.
This is necessary for them as they are projecting themselves as biggest
nationalists unmindful of the fact that their nationalism is Hindu Nationalism
and not Indian Nationalism. They want to derive legitimacy from Savarkars’ initial
anti British role. The later part of Savarkar where he kept aloof from freedom
movements is the exact way in which RSS also kept aloof from freedom movement.
At
another level they want to contrast Patel with Nehru. It is meant to undermine
Nehru. Patel and Nehru, both were close allies on most of the issues related to
freedom movement, both were the major followers of Gandhi, who was their mentor
and they were collaborating with each other in the national movement and later
as part of the first Cabinet of Independent India. RSS combine cannot swallow
the uncompromising stand taken by Nehru during his long years of Prime
Minister-ship on the issues of secularism and his long association with these
principles in a forthright way so they want to contrast him with Patel, who was
also a deeply secular person.
At another level there are some in-house icons which are propped
up or are undermined. RSS second Sarsanghchalak Golwalkar has been a great
influence on generations of RSS workers. His book, ‘We or Nationhood defined’,
shaped the thought process of many of them. He went to the extent of upholding
Hitler’s method and type of nationalism expounded by him. His book used to be
available in RSS shops for long time. One of his quotes sums up the RSS
ideology very well, writes Golwalkar “German national pride has now
become the topic of the day. To keep up the purity of nation and its culture, Germany shocked
the world by her purging the country of semitic races-The Jews. National pride
at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how neigh
impossible it is for races and cultures, having differences going to the root,
to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by. (We or Our nationhood
Defined P. 27, Nagpur 1938). From more than a decade ago RSS started feeling
embarrassed about this due to electoral-political compulsions and started
making arguments that this book was not written by Golwalkar. It was withdrawn
from market. Here electoral expediency shaped their decision.
At
another level they have been projecting Deendayal Upadhayay as the major
figure. Deendayal Upadhdyay is the ideologue who had coined “integral humanism’
as the concept, this essentially talks about upholding status quo of social
relations of caste in particular. This is done to give a subtle message of
deeper agenda of the RSS politics. The play with the icons goes with the long
term program of the cultural and social manipulation for building a society
with the hegemony of Hindutva politics, a politics which derives its name from
a religion but at core is the political agenda of elite of the Hindu society,
irrespective of the fact that some from the lower strata of society are also
co-opted for this political agenda. It’s due to this that RSS focuses a lot on
propagating the culture of a variety which is sectarian and backward looking,
the agenda of Hindu Nationalism.
