Title: Whither RSS
Author: Tarun Vijay
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 12, 2000
Dr Anil Batra got his
MBBS and MD degrees from the Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi.
His mother dreamt of
her only son setting up a clinic and working towards a prosperous future
but Dr Batra set a condition for marriage: he would tie the knot with a
girl who was willing to serve tribals in Orissa. He met his match and the
couple opened a dispensary in a tribal pocket in that state. Dr Batra would
often seek financial assistance from his rich Delhi friends for his free
medicare service.
Dr Vishwamitra was born
after four sisters. His family had come from Pakistan as refugees and his
mother struggled to educate them. But after becoming a doctor, Vishwamitra
settled in a remote Meghalaya village, Laikor. He set up a medical centre,
married a Khasi girl and dedicated himself to social service. In neighbouring
villages, they are now known as the doctor couple.
Girish, Mangesh and Sailesh
are three brothers, post-graduates in computer-science, physics and arts.
All three were meritorious students. Their father is a mechanical engineer
at the Benaras Hindu University. Well-to-do family. Educated. The brothers
could have led well-settled lives that most people yearn for, but became
social workers instead. Their mother has now adjusted to the reality and
proudly declares, My sons are RSS pracharaks.
All the above examples
are of men related to the Rashtra Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS), against which
the country s comfort-loving, political parasites are working. Girish,
Mangesh, Anil Batra and Vishwamitra are not alone in their struggle. They
are part of thousands, who include a large number of educated women working
in places like Arunachal, Tripura and Okha. They are charged with a passion
to make India the most prosperous, powerful and respected country in the
world. They have a pan-Indian vision and contrary to perception, are not
working towards making Muslims and Christians poor or Hindus rich. The
photographs of Abdul Kalam and Haniffuddin can be seen along with those
of Guru Gobind Singh, Shivaji, Lachhit Borfukan, Birsa and Gandhi at any
RSS office these days. Because we have been taught at the Sangh that whoever
is in India is an Indian.
It is unfortunate that
most writers and so-called intellectuals who condemn RSS scarcely know
the organisation. They have neither seen the RSS closely, nor read about
it. They assume without any basis that the Sangh wants to drag India back
to the bullock-cart age. They think a Sanghi is one who grows a choti,
wears a dhoti, avoids non-vegetarian food, doesn t watch films, hates computers,
ill-treats his woman and demolishes mosques. Most people consider him little
less than Indian Taliban.
In other words, a Sanghi
does not perform any noble acts all his life, is semi-literate and a rowdy.
And everybody has the right to abuse a Sanghi using vulgar language (mostly
in English).
These people should be
told that the maximum number of inter-caste marriages in the country takes
place in families connected with the RSS, and computer scientists related
to the Sangh hold top posts in some of the world s most respected software
companies. One of the world s best-organised internet websites belongs
to the US-based RSS body, the Hindu Student s Council. RSS is probably
the first organisation in the country to hold conferences of its workers
world over through its own cyber unit. Among the RSS functionaries are
famous scientists like Rajju Bhaiya, who was a favourite disciple of Bharat
Ratna and Nobel Prize winner, Professor CV Raman. Rajju Bhaiya s students
have earned fame in the field of space science and nuclear research.The
shameless critics of RSS should learn to see some positive aspect in the
organisation and be reasonable when judging it. But these people deliberately
propagate lies and give lectures on why the entire nation must join hands
to fight the RSS. Such fanaticism should be laughed at as there are more
important tasks to be completed. Had the people lent an ear to their propaganda,
the Sangh and its sister units would not have gained its present strength.
RSS activists are not
working to bring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power as their goal
is larger and nobler. The Sangh has no political goals, as its work is
not limited to a five-year-span; it has to work towards a better India
a task that has no limits. But when parties like the BJP come to power,
the RSS becomes a victim of great confusion, greater malice. The RSS only
pities politicians who seek to exploit their links with it..
Take the example of Gujarat.
The issue involved the state and central BJP. The RSS was unnecessarily
dragged in. An impression was created that the proceedings in Parliament
were paralysed because of the RSS and caused great damage to the country.
RSS chief Rajju Bhaiya had already clarified that he did not expect any
favours from the government and hadn t sought lifting of the ban. The organisation
isn t concerned as its goal is different. One only hopes that after the
withdrawal of the RSS circular, the Houses will run peaceful and purposefully.
The RSS is not the issue.
The issue is the country s culture, conduct and perspective. In other words,
Indianism, which is what Hindutva is. This does not mean that Muslims should
convert to Hinduism or Christians should go to temples. What it does mean
is that you can be what you like but share the same vision of Dr Abdul
Kalam and the martyr Haniffuddin. This vision is the driving force behind
the RSS. That is why it reaches first to serve people in times of crises,
be it a natural calamity or re-construction after military conflict.
RSS workers did not differentiate
between Hindus and Muslims when Andhra Pradesh was hit by a cyclone, Latur
was devastated by an earthquake, Uttarkashi was reeling under nature s
fury or when a plane crashed at Charkhi-Dadri. From Port Blair to Dwarka
pracharaks went to these places and worked selflessly. It is unfortunate
that the modern generation of bureaucrats, editors, journalists and products
of the electronic age are mostly from English medium public schools who
think that people talking Hindutva are idiots and communal.
There was a time when
bringing out newspapers named The Hindu and The Hindustan Times was considered
patriotic and a matter of pride. Today s generation will hate to bring
out newspapers with such names. These people like to call them selves Marxists
and take pride in proving at a Presidency College debate that the demolition
of a Shiv temple was justifiable, or arguing that no temples were destroyed
in Kashmir, or even if they were, it was an act by Hindus to malign the
Muslims. These are the people who conspire to bring down the NDA government
and for this, any issue ranging from Kargil to Bihar to CTBT can be exploited.
It is learnt that Harkishan Singh Surjeet drummed into Sonia Gandhi that
the Gujarat issue, too, can be used as a tool to beat the Government with,
and a drama was enacted accordingly. But, the fact is that these people
hardly know anything about the RSS. Even as these forces get Atal Bihari
Vajpayee to ban the RSS nationwide, they will dig up another reason to
trouble this Government the next day. There is no remedy as we can educate
the illiterate, and not the educated illiterate.
