Author: Makkhan Lal
Publication: Bharatiya Pragna
Date:
Arjun Singh's outburst against the
RSS is not only childish, but also reveals his ignorance about the
workings of Sangh Parivar. The very concept of the RSS is lost on
him. The Sangh resembles the vast umbrella which Hindu Dharma offers
to all faiths and beliefs and enables all to develop with full freedom.
This dharma accommodates those who believe in one God, in two and
those who live by several.
Even atheists have a place and get
equal love and acceptability. It is precisely this liberty which
defies all efforts to put Hinduism in a set mode. The RSS subscribes
to this philosophy. The Parivar is a conglomeration of the big Hindu
family, each stream having its own policy, programme and approach.
The RSS is not a monolithic manifestation of an ideology but a complete
philosophy in itself.
Singh wants all RSS members from
government service weeded out. But once he begins his purge he will
horrified to learn that the RSS does not have the provision of membership.
It does not charge a membership fee and never issues membership cards.
So, how he propose to deal with this abstract enemy? People support
the RSS for what it stands for-Bharat Mata-and does not consider
anyone worthless or untouchables. It is this approach which brings
out the contrast between the Sangh and its detractors.
The Communists have card carriers
and non-card carriers. It was recently reported that even a veteran
like the late Hiren Mukherjee had to wait for his party to renew
his card every year. We must not forget that the CPI (undivided)
was founded in 1924 and the RSS in 1925. In the last 80 years, the
communists, despite all the money they got from Moscow and Beijing
and the patronage received from successive Congress regimes, are
nowhere near the RSS in terms of size and reach.
Like Hinduism, which has taken so
much battering over the past 1,000 years, the RSS has suffered more
privation and persecution than any mass movement in the past half
a century. Yet, what sustains it is the support, both overt and covert,
which it gets from crores of nationalist Indians.
So, Singh will be left groping in
the dark. It would be better if the minister realizes that with friends
like the Marxists, he really needs no enemies. While speaking at
the concluding session of the recent CABE meeting, he said that "alien
ideology has no place in this country". He does not have to look
far. He just has to look under his bed where the Reds have taken
residence.