Real Face of Sangh Brigade’s ‘Nationalism’

RSS Betrayal of the Freedom Struggle

Indian nationalism rose in the course of the massive movement against British colonialism. But the RSS’ ‘nationalism’ never confronted British rule, but rather saw it as an ally against their ‘real’ enemy – the Muslim people of India!

When Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were embracing the gallows, the RSS ‘heroes’ were mocking the martyrs and helping the British.

Here is a sample from the writings of leaders of the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha that displays their contempt for the anti-British freedom movement:

• “Anti-Britishism was equated with patriotism and nationalism. This reactionary view has had disastrous effects upon the entire course of the freedom movement, its leaders and the common people”. – M. S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 1996, p. 138
• “There are bad results of struggle. The boys became militant after the 1920-21 movement…After 1942, people often started thinking that there was no need to think of the law…”– Golwalkar on the impact of the Non Co-operation Movement of 1920-21 and Quit India Movement of 1942, Shri Guruji Samagra Darshan, (S.G.S.D.), Vol. IV, p.41
• “In 1942 also there was a strong sentiment in the hearts of many. At that time too the routine work of Sangh continued. Sangh decided not to do anything directly.”– Golwalkar on the Quit India Movement of 1942, S.G.S.D., Vol. IV, p.40

The RSS-BJP-ABVP cannot show a single leader of theirs who died, or went to jail fighting the British. The therefore try to borrow icons and bask in that borrowed glory. The greatest such icon in the RSS list is V D Savarkar who is projected as ‘Veer’ Savarkar, but what was his track record?

• He resisted the British before he became a Hindutva leader. But soon after his re-arrest and trial, when he was taken to the Andamans in 1911, he began pledging loyalty to the British and begging for release in a series of “mercy petitions”.
• In a letter dated November 24, 1913, he repeated this petition pleading for release, promising to mend his ways, and become “the staunchest advocate … of loyalty to the Government … where else can the prodigal son return but to the parental doors of the Government?”
• To obtain his release in Jan 1924, Savarkar accepted without any compunction the conditions set out in his release order “that he will not engage publicly or privately in any manner of political activities without the consent of Government”.
• The only political activity which the RSS and Savarkar did indulge in freely, with the blessings of the British, was to foment communal riots. And of course, the height of Savarkar’s career was his role in masterminding the murder of Gandhiji.

Another Sangh hero – Shyama Prasad Mukherjee – refused to resign from the Ministry in Bengal during the Quit India Movement. Not only that, as a Minister in the Bengal Government in 1942, he actively offered help and advice to the British administrators to crush the Quit India Movement. In 1942, he wrote:

“The question is how to combat this movement in Bengal? The administration of the province should be carried out in such a manner that in spite of the best efforts … this movement will fail to take root in the province.”

“As regards India’s attitude towards England, the struggle between them, if any, should not take place at this juncture. …Anybody who plans to stir up mass feelings resulting in internal disturbances or insecurity, must be resisted by any Government…” (Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, Leaves from a Diary, OUP, 1993, pp 175-190)

What is the RSS’ ‘Cultural Nationalism’?

To hide and mask this shameful and anti-national betrayal of India’s anti-imperialist nationalism, the Sangh Parivar came up with the fancy of ‘cultural nationalism’. This cultural nationalism is nothing but communal fascism. They may try to deny this now – but Savarkar’s own words prove this better than anything:

• Savarkar, addressing a students gathering in Kanpur, said: “What is called Nationalism can be defined as in fact the National communalism of the majority community which has been ruling and still aspires to rule this country. Thus, in Hindusthan it is the Hindus, professing Hindu religion and being in overwhelming majority, that constitute the National community and create and formulate the Nationalism of the Nation.” (quoted in A G Noorani, ‘A National Hero?’, Frontline, Oct. 23 – Nov. 05, 2004)

The RSS and Hindu Mahasabha Leaders Wanted India to Be Like Nazi Germany

Both Golwalkar and Savarkar wrote admiringly about Nazi Germany under Hitler, wanting India to be a Hindu-majoritarian fascist state where minorities would be oppressed – not a secular country that Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar sought to create. This is clear from the writings of the Sangh heroes:

• “… the foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment not even citizen’s rights.” – M. S. Golwalkar, We or Our Nationhood Defined, 1939, p. 47-48
• “German race pride has now become the topic of the day. To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic Races – the Jews. …Germany has also shown how well-nigh 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 Hindusthan to learn and profit by” – M. S. Golwalkar, We or Our Nationhood Defined, 1939, p. 35
• “There is no reason to suppose that Hitler must be a human monster because he passes off as a Nazi…The very fact that Germany and Italy has so wonderfully recovered and grown so powerful as never before at the touch of Nazi or Fascist magical wand is enough to prove that those political ‘isms’ were the most congenial tonics their health demanded.” – Savarkar in his Presidential address to the 22nd Session of the Hindu Mahasabha at Madurai in 1940.

Even the RSS uniform and salute are copied from Hitler’s brigades, as well as, of course, their actions like the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat, 2002. The new RSS brown pant uniform is also inspired by the brown uniforms of Hitler’s brigades.

On National Unity and National Symbols

The Sangh Parivar is forever blaming Indian Muslims for Partition, and accusing them of lack of patriotism. They demand that mosques display the national flag, to prove their nationalism, and that whoever wished to live in India, must sing Vande Mataram or say Bharat Mata ki Jai. But what is their own track record of respect for national unity and national symbols?

On Two-Nation Theory

Dr Ambedkar correctly identified that Savarkar and Jinnah had the same position on the two-nation theory. In ‘Thoughts on Pakistan’, Ambedkar wrote, “…strange as it may seem, Mr. Savarkar and Mr. Jinnah instead of being opposed to each other on the two nations issue, are in complete agreement about it…Mr. Savarkar wants the Hindu nation to be the dominant nation and the Muslim nation to be the subservient nation under it.”

Savarkar proved himself as a firm advocate of the two-nation theory in his presidential address to the Hindu Mahasabha in December 1939, where he declared:

• “We Hindus are a nation by ourselves … we Hindus are marked out as an abiding Nation by ourselves’’ (see Indian Annual Register, 1939, Vol II).
• Again later he reiterated, “I have no quarrel with Mr Jinnah’s two-nation theory. We, Hindus, are a nation by ourselves and it is a historical fact that Hindus and Muslims are two nations” (Indian Annual Register, 1943, Vol II).

What About Vande Mataram? We challenge the RSS to show us a single document of the RSS prior to 15 August, 1947, in which the words ‘Vande Mataram’ are even mentioned. The fact is that as long as this song had any association with the Indian freedom struggle against the British, the RSS had no use for it. Post-independence, they value this song only for its communal associations and divisive potential, since the song was originally part of the novel Anandamath, which had anti-Muslim overtones.

The RSS Hated The Tricolour Flag

Today, the RSS and BJP carry the tricolour in their hand while carrying out violence. But what did the RSS say about the national tricolour, on the eve of India’s Independence?

• “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 mouthpiece Organiser on the eve of India’s independence, August 14, 1947)
• “It (the tricolour) can never be recognised as the National Flag of Hindusthan … the authoritative flag of Hindusthan our Motherland and Holyland, … can be no other than the Bhagava (saffron flag)… Hindudom at any rate can loyally salute no other Flag but this Pan-Hindu Dhwaja, this Bhagava Flag as its national Standard.” (Savarkar, reacting to the decision to adopt the tricolour flag as the Indian flag, quoted in A G Noorani, ‘A National Hero?’, Frontline, Oct. 23 – Nov. 05, 2004)
• RSS hoisted the tricolour on Republic Day at its Nagpur office for the first time, 52 years after independence -http:// timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Tri-colour-hoisted-at-RSS-HQ-after-52-yrs/articleshow/1561733136.cms
• Even today, the ‘Bharat Mata’ in RSS offices and on its website, does not carry the tricolour, but only the saffron flag!

RSS Views on India’s Constitution

Dr Ambedkar drafted India’s Constitution to protect the rights of Indian citizens, especially of oppressed sections and minorities in an unequal society. He stressed that a great effort would be needed to turn India into a real democracy, with real equality, in which ‘Constitutional morality’ would be the guiding principle of society.

Dr Ambedkar had mobilised people to burn the Manusmriti, as the fountainhead of obnoxious anti-dalit and anti-women views and practices that continue to govern society.

In contrast, the RSS wanted the Indian Constitution to be based on Manusmriti! The RSS was also opposed to any hint of equality and rights for women.

“The worst about the new constitution of Bharat is that there is nothing Bharatiya about it…Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worship-able after Vedas for our Hindu Nation and which from ancient times has become the basis of our culture-customs, thought and practice. This book for centuries has codified the spiritual and divine march of our nation. Even today the rules which are followed by crores of Hindus in their lives and practice are based on Manusmriti. Today Manusmriti is Hindu Law”. (VD Savarkar, ‘Women in Manusmriti’ in Savarkar Samagar (collection of Savarkar’s writings in Hindi), vol.4, Prabhat, Delhi, p. 416)

“But in our constitution there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing”.

Who was the Organiser referring to when it claimed that the Manusmriti was admired the world over? It was Ambedkar who, in his writings, had revealed the ideological link between the Manusmriti which had inspired the German philosopher Nietzsche, who in turn inspired Hitler. The RSS leaders were in turn inspired by Hitler and Mussolini.

“Our Constitution too is just a cumbersome and heterogeneous piecing together of various articles from various Constitutions of the Western countries. It has absolutely nothing which can be called our own. Is there a single word of reference in its guiding principles as to what our national mission is and what our keynote in life is? No!” (MS Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu, Bangalore, 1996, p. 238)

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BJP’s Mann Ki Baat on Caste and Constitution

Time and again, BJP and RSS leaders have made statements revealing their real attitudes towards caste and the Constitutional rights of the oppressed castes.

Madhu Mishra, leader of the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh Mahila Morcha was suspended from the BJP for her remarks at a Brahmin Mahasammelan (Brahmin Conference) calling for a war on the Constitutional rights of Dalits. While BJP was forced to suspend her, the fact remains that her words reveal the BJP’s and RSS’s anti-Dalit, anti-Constitution ideology. She had said “Aaj tumhare sar par baithkar, samvidhan ke sahaare jo raaj kar rahe hain, yaad karo, who kabhi tumhare joote saaf karte the, aaj tumhare huzoor ho gayen hain. Kyun? Hum bant gaye hain, hum vibhajit ho gaye hain. Mere chhote bhai Satish Gautam (BJP candidate from Aligarh, also a Brahmin) ko shayad aaj se 40 saal baad ka Bharat dikh raha hai ki tumhare bacche kahin phir ghulam na ho jayen, kahin phir huzoor na kehne lagen unhen, jinhen tum apne barabar me bithana pasand nahin karte. Utho, jaago, jab tak apne adhikar le na lo, tab tak Sathish Gautam ki tarj par yuddh karte raho.” (Remember, those who are ruling over you with the help of the Constitution, once used to polish your shoes. Now, they are your masters. This is because we have become divided. My younger brother Satish Gautam (BJP candidate from Aligarh, also a Brahmin) can perhaps see and India 40 years from now, when heaven forbid your children will become slaves once again, will have to call those ‘huzoor’ (Sir) whom you do not like even to have sit next to you. Wake up, arise, wage war like Sathish Gautam until you achieve your rights.)”

RSS and BJP leaders have often made statements against caste-based reservations. In January 2016, senior BJP leader and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said that Ambedkar had backed a “rethink on caste based reservations” and that “we have done nothing” in this direction. In Raipur in August 2015, RSS leader MG Vaidya called to abolish caste-based quotas, claiming that ‘caste has now become obsolete’. The RSS has recently adopted a ‘resolution on social justice’, ostensibly affirming reservations as necessary for social justice. But they have added a rider: ‘affluent sections should not get reservation benefits.’ Now, they have yet to clarify what they mean by ‘affluent sections’? Are they just saying that Jats should not demand reservations? Or are they hinting that ‘creamy layer’ among SC/STs should not get reservation?

RSS outfits in the US campaign to delete mentions of caste-based discrimination from US textbook chapters on India. And RSS outfits in the UK campaign against a UK law on caste based reservations. In the last UK Parliamentary elections, the Conservative Party candidate in Harrow East, a constituency with a large Indian community, campaigned specifically on a promise to ‘work with the Dharmic community’ (sic) to overturn legislation outlawing caste discrimination which was recently passed in Britain after a campaign by Dalit organisations. Leaflets issued by a Sangh Parivar group urged their supporters to vote Conservative and vote for Cameron to overturn the anti-caste legislation.

BJP’s Bihar leader and Modi Government Minister Giriraj Singh, had called the Ranveer Sena chief Brahmeshwar Mukhiya ‘Bihar’s Gandhi.’ Brahmeshwar is notorious as the ‘Butcher of Bihar’s Dalits’, whose Ranveer Sena massacred Dalit and oppressed caste women and children in the 1990s.

Responding to the Haryana Government’s failure to protect Dalit kids from being burnt alive in Faridabad, Modi Cabinet Minister VK Singh said, “If someone throws stones at dogs, will you hold the Government responsible?”

Modi’s Ministers Bandaru Dattaraya, VK Singh, Smriti Irani and Venkaiah Naidu have all called Rohith Vemula ‘anti-national,’ and have implied that he lied about his identity as a Dalit son of a Dalit mother. For all these Ministers, it is clear that Ambedkarite activism is ‘anti-national’. Rohith’s father abandoned his mother and their children when he realized that she is Dalit; yet the BJP Government insists that Rohith must be known by his anti-Dalit father not his courageous Dalit mother.

“ Hamare shastron ke hisab se gau ka jeevan bahumoolya hai ” (“According to our scriptures, the life of a cow is of immeasurable value”) – this is what VHP leader Acharya Giriraj Kishore, in 2002, said as he defended the VHP’s lynching of five dalit youths in Jhajjar, who were accused of killing a cow. Today, the BJP tries to appeal to Dalits to share in their hatred against Muslims who are lynched for ‘killing cows.’ The truth is that the sanghi brigade organizes the lynching and murder of both Dalits and Muslims – on the pretext of ‘killing cows.’ It also organizes fake rape charges against Dalit and Muslim men who have eloped with caste Hindu women, beating and torturing the women till they make false statements against their lovers or husbands.