Author:
Publication: Vigil Online
Date: April 17, 2005
URL: http://www.vigilonline.com/news/plain_speak/ps_view.asp?plainSpeakId=83
On Saturday, the 16th April I finally
got to see the much-talked about, much debated 'Walk the talk' episode
which featured the RSS Sarsanghachalak; and truth to tell, Shri Sudarshan
was his natural self - blunt, transparently honest and without a malicious
or self-serving bone in his body. Truth also to tell there was nothing
in what he said that was earth-shaking, cataclysmic or even mildly offensive.
He spoke about several issues, several individuals and all of them in response
to pointed questions that demanded his opinion or judgment. More to the
point, he did not say anything that was not already known or that which
was already not in the public domain. It is interesting that all reactions
to Shri Sudarshan's interview have been only on Sudarshan's views about
the NDA government and the need for the current leadership in the BJP to
step aside to make way for new.
Of all that has been written, spoken
or whispered about Shri Sudarshan's plainspeak, the most startling was
the column which called upon the RSS to introspect. Some opinions have
been expressed by this columnist as though they were absolute truths beyond
the pale of critical scrutiny. Let me first paraphrase these opinions and
then see if there is any merit to them. Let me also first make the disclaimer
that looking at this particular column critically is by no means an attempt
to look critically at either Vajpayee or Advani. That is not the purpose
of this Vigil Plainspeak. So what are the assertions made here?
* The BJP (read Vajpayee and Advani
because this essay is in their defense) gave the RSS a 'soft landing' in
national life.
* Vajpayee realized that his responsibility
was to give the RSS a soft landing and so he went about carefully cultivating
a trans-RSS image.
* (But before we accept this absolute
truth we must surmise that the BJP (read Advani) realized that only Vajpayee
could work hard at cultivating this trans-RSS image and so the reins of
the party and this monumental responsibility to cultivate the trans-RSS
image was solemnly handed over to Vajpayee by Advani)
* He obligingly and carefully nurtured
this trans-RSS image to procure for the BJP a trans-ideological support
base. (Don't you all think there is far too much trans and transcending
here folks?)
* And lest we forget, this trans-RSS
image was intended to procure a trans-ideological support base which in
turn was intended for government formation which in turn was intended only
to give the RSS a 'soft landing in national life' which in turn was intended
to enable the RSS to 'fulfill its agenda'. And this is the house that Jack
built.
* The direct fruit of this 'soft
landing' was the gains for the RSS "in terms of popular acceptance transcending
its ideological confines."
* This 'soft landing' ended the
isolation of the RSS and gave it 'general acceptability'.
* The RSS agenda, according to
the columnist, is no longer nation-building which will materialize as a
Hindu Rashtra but to make India a 'global power'.
* To make India a global power
the RSS needs to go beyond ideology because ideology creates 'fault lines'
(that slip folks, is Freudian), and general acceptability can be procured
only by trans/transcending ideology and the BJP's political mission was
to transcend ideology in order to give the RSS a soft landing in national
life to enable the RSS to fulfill this agenda. (The sequence of intentions
should now be clear to all you folks)
* This country has a 'historic
impulse to disunite'.
* Did Shri Sudarshan think of all
this when he gave this interview, is the indignant question, does the RSS
have any idea of the "the vital contribution that the BJP makes here to
the RSS agenda"?
* No, he didn't, no it doesn't.
* So time for the RSS to introspect.
Because these opinions come from
a highly respected RSS thinker the temptation is to accept these opinions
uncritically as absolute truths. Perhaps the intelligent among us will
indeed do so but then I am a bear with little brain and I have all these
questions tossing and turning within me.
Let me begin with the most pressing
and the least complicated and then go on and on and on to more complex
issues.
1. What is 'soft landing'? If its
opposite is 'hard landing' I also don't know what 'hard landing' is.
2. Has the RSS really gained 'general
acceptability' and has its isolation ended? Has the BJP succeeded in getting
the TDP, the Trinamool, the NC, the JD (U), the DMK and other Dravidian
parties to accept the RSS?
3. Forget these self-serving political
parties, has the image of the RSS suffered unfairly in the eyes of the
politically conscious Hindus because it is the parent of the BJP which
failed to fulfill even one political Hindu aspiration?
4. Is the RSS Hindu or secular?
If it is 'Hindu' then if this columnist is right then the wider acceptability
of the RSS must make Hindu, Hindutva, Hindu issues, Hindu concerns and
Hindu sensibilities also generally acceptable. Are they now generally acceptable?
5. Is the columnist telling us
that the RSS wants to make India a global power? If yes, does it want India
to become global power as a 'secular country' or as a Hindu nation? More
importantly is the columnist re-interpreting the RSS agenda?
6. What is the RSS agenda? To make
this country of Hindus a Hindu nation or a global power which demands Trans-ideological
support and acceptability?
7. 'Fault-lines' signify earth-quakes
and calamitous natural disasters. If ideology creates 'ideological fault-lines'
and 'ideological confines' which in turn cause calamitous social and national
unrest resulting in isolation, what is it that the columnist is saying
that the RSS must do to end its isolation and free itself from the suffocating
'confines' of ideology. ('Confines' like 'fault-lines' are a dead give
away of the mental connections we make with regard to ideology). Give up
its ideology thus cementing the fault-lines and breathe in the open air
or get its instrument the BJP to give up its ideology?
8. If indeed the RSS can be enabled
to make India a global power only by a de-ideologised BJP, then why is
the RSS so dis-enchanted with the BJP and the NDA government? And why are
political Hindus angry and disillusioned?
9. Why was Modi denied a visa to
travel to the US and why did the UK government refuse to have any official
contact with Modi?
10. Why is 'saffron' a dirty word?
If my little brain understands this
correctly, this country has a historic impulse to disunite. The RSS parivar
can prevent this from happening only by gaining a wider acceptability for
its nation-building task. This threat of disintegration is brandished by
every secular politician and intellectual who wants to secularise this
country. The same self-serving argument is being made here too. The RSS
can gain general acceptability at nation-building to stave off this 'historic
impulse to disunite' from realizing itself only if it owns up to a de-Hinduised
BJP. To do that, it must de-Hinduise its ideology and its agenda. To de-Hinduise
this nation, you must de-nationalise the Hindus first. I think the process
has begun and is gathering momentum. It is not the RSS which needs introspection,
it is we the political Hindus who need to introspect and introspect in
depth and nuance.
