RSS is the Real Controller of India

By Sajjad Shaukat

Taking cognizance of various developments such as unprecedented rise of Hindu extremism, persecution of minorities, forced conversions of other religious minorities into Hindus, ban on beef and cow slaughter, inclusion of Hindu religious books in curriculum and creation of war-like situation with Pakistan, analysts have still been opining that being the leader of the BJP, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is implementing the fundamentalist agenda of his party with the support of other Hindu fanatic outfits. But, a Mumbai-based writer, author and lawyer, A. G. Noorani in his article, “Modi’s loyalties,” published in Pakistan’s leading daily, Dawn on October 10, 2015 proved with authentic events and arguments that Hindu fundamentalist party, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the real controller of India and BJP is only a show piece.

In the article, A. G. Noorani said, “It was an unprecedented journey; but caused little surprise. On September 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Nagpur, the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, to present himself before the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Almost his entire council of ministers and the BJP’s parliamentary board were there to demonstrate their accountability to the RSS. On Oct 2, a dozen or so junior ministers of state got into a huddle with senior RSS functionaries in New Delhi in what was described as a regular review meeting. A press release issued thereafter revealed: The prime minister said he was proud to be a Swayamsevak and he had reached where he had because of the values he had imbibed as a member of the RSS.”

A. G. Noorani elaborated, “Modi is a lifelong RSS activist (pracharak), having left his family to dedicate himself to the organisation. It, in turn, ensured his rise to the post of the highest executive of the country. The entire exercise was a flagrant violation of the fundamentals of the parliamentary system. The prime minister is accountable only to parliament and to no outside body. As a member of the ruling party, he participates in its deliberations but receives no mandate from it.” The writer pointed out, “When responsible government was introduced in 1937, under the Government of India Act 1935, Mohammad Ali Jinnah strongly criticised the Congress high command for giving directives to the Congress ministries in the provinces.”

A. G. Noorani revealed, “The BJP general secretary Ram Madhav is an RSS man who was seconded to the BJP along with many others. He wrote recently—the RSS model is unique. It has a parivar [family] of 40-plus organisations. The RSS is their ideological fountainhead. It is also the BJP’s muscle; it provides the cadres and foot soldiers who are indispensable at election time. Bhagwat disapproves of the personality cult which Modi and his men have built up ever since he became prime minister. Immediately after his trip to Nagpur, a BJP leader disclosed on Sept 5, that the message which Modi had received there was that no matter how big or popular you are, you cannot be bigger than the RSS. It has in the past sacked two presidents of its political wing -one was the president of the BJP’s ancestor the Jan Sangh, Mauli Chandra Sharma, who was sacked in 1954, the other was a former president and founder of the Jan Sangh who was expelled by L.K. Advani in 1973. In July 2005, as president of the BJP, Advani was administered a heavy dose of the same medicine. Three designated mandarins were despatched from Nagpur by the RSS chief to ask him to put in his papers. His crime was that he had written in praise of Jinnah in the condolence book at his mausoleum in Karachi.”

He wrote, “The stark reality is that the BJP can never be a right-wing party in the traditional sense. Its ideology binds it to the RSS which also controls it organisationally. The RSS has riveted its control over the BJP installing its trusted men to run the secretariat. The then RSS chief M.S. Golwalkar articulated the organisation’s ideology, indicating its strategy as far back as in 1949. “We have kept before ourselves the ideal of Bhagwan Shri Krishna who held a big empire under his thumb but refused to become an emperor himself. In 1944, the British decided that the RSS was a politico-commercial organisation which concentrated on the formation of a militant body on fascist lines.”

He explained, “The word ‘fascist’ was aptly chosen. As Donald E. Smith says in his classic India as a Secular State—The leader principle, the stress on militarism, the doctrine of racial-cultural superiority, ultra-nationalism infused religious idealism, the use of symbols of past greatness, the emphasis on national solidarity, the exclusion of the religious or ethnic minorities from the nation-concept—all of these features of the RSS are highly reminiscent of fascist movements in Europe. A responsible correspondent reported in August that the RSS membership is growing at 10,000 to 15,000 recruits every month and says it has reached every district except parts of Kashmir and Assam. The RSS influence on governance was obvious when Atal Behari Vajpayee was prime minister. It successfully vetoed Jaswant Singh’s appointment as finance minister. The RSS shadow lurks ominously on issues dear to it. Ram Madhav specifically mentioned Kashmir as one of them; which implies also relations with Pakistan.”

A. G. Noorani concluded by writing, “There are clear limits to the BJP’s ideological evolution. They were well described by Walter K. Anderson, a scholar who served in the State Department, in his book The Brotherhood in Saffron, which was co-authored by Shridhar D. Damle. It is questionable if the BJP could survive politically without the RSS cadre, and the cadre will not stay unless the leadership of the party stays firmly in the hands of the ‘brotherhood’.” However, these new revelations prove that all the extremist parties like VHP, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and other extremist outfits including his own ruling party are subsidiaries of the RSS, while under the influence of RSS; Prime Minister Modi has been rapidly radicalizing India.

While, the constitution declares India to be a secular state, granting equal rights to the religious minorities, but in practice, ideology of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) prevails. Hindu politics and culture dominated by the fundamentalist parties—under the control of RSS have been propagating Hindutva. Provocative utterances of their extremist leaders have resulted into unending violence against the Muslims and Christians including other minority groups. It is mentionable that forced conversions of other religious minorities into Hindus also continue.

In this regard, Bajrang Dal, an offshoot of the RSS, converted at least 57 Muslim families (200 people) into Hindus at a ‘Purkhon Ki Ghar Vapsi’ (Coming home of the ancestors) or Shudhi (Purification) ceremony in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Previously, in early September 2014, Christians were also forcefully converted to Hindus which created unrest among Christian clergy. Four months ago, a similar event in Aligarh saw Christian families converting to Hinduism. However, since installment of BJP government in the center, RSS and its offshoots have accelerated their efforts for minorities’ conversion into Hindus. As regards persecution of minorities in India, Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Testimony by Human Rights Watch presented before US Senate Committee (2014) on atrocious attitude of Hindu majority has highlighted the plight of minorities in India.

But, it is strange that US government denied visa to Modi on the basis of his involvement in Gujrat pogrom, however, after his election as Indian prime minister, American changed to his favour. Undoubtedly, more than 2500 Muslims were massacred in 2002 in the BJP-ruled Indian state of Gujara where Modi was Chief Minister. In relation to that massive genocide, both Human Rights Watch in 2002 and Amnesty International in 2003 charged the “Gujarat state administration” for involvement in “a massive cover-up of the state’s role in that massacre” and pointed out numerous police officials—specifically ministers, high officials and leaders of the VHP, BJP and Bajrang Dal as participants.” And RSS was the real force behind that tragic episode. In fact, Modi who was also a volunteer worker of the extremist Hindu terrorist outfit RSS since 8 years of age is a natural born Hindu extremist, while RSS involved in Muslim genocide, rape of women, demolition of mosques and alive burnings of the innocent persons.

It is noteworthy that particularly, on the basis of anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan slogans, BJP got a land sliding triumph in the Indian elections 2014, and enabled BJP hardliner, Narendra Modi to become Indian prime minister who was so far seemed to be implementing his party’s extremist agenda by giving impetus to Hindu chauvinism—not only against other minorities, but also against Pakistan, as under his direction, New Delhi has intensified unprovoked firing at the Line of Control in Kashmir and Working Boundary across Pak-Indian border. Now, these latest revelations clearly prove that the Indian Prime Minister Modi follows the instructions of the RSS which is the main decision-making party and real controller of India, while the BJP and other fanatic outfits are only a show pieces.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com