RSS centenary: A century of deceit, asatya and himsa

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), was founded in Nagpur on 27 September 1925, which coincided with the Dussehra festival. Its founder Keshav Ram Hedgewar was influenced to start a new organisation after reading a manuscript on Hindutva written by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

The other founding members of the Sangh were also Brahmins like Hedgewar — B.S. Moonje, L.V. Paranjpe, R.B. Paturkar, Appaji Joshi, Ganesh Savarkar (brother of V.D. Savarkar), B.B. Tholkar and Madhavrao Muley. All other members, called swayamsevaks, were also Brahmin.

In tune with Savarkar's theory that Hindus were one nation, all members of the RSS were asked to take the following pledge: 'Remembering Almighty God and my forebears, I take this oath. For the betterment of my sacred Hindu religion, Hindu culture, and Hindu community, I will devote myself to the prosperity of my Holy Motherland. I swear that I shall serve the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh with my body, my mind, and my money. I will be faithful to this oath throughout my life.'

In its formative years, the RSS was a private militia of upper caste Hindu men. It resolutely kept away from the nationalist struggle for Independence. Its leaders claimed to train its members for an eventual fight against "internal enemies" — Muslims — whom Hedgewar referred to as "snakes". Until the mid-thirties, the RSS was confined to Nagpur and adjoining areas of the then Central Provinces. Swayamsevaks dressed in khaki shorts and shirts, similar to the colonial police, and wore black caps.

The RSS adopted the bhagwa (saffron) of Peshwa rulers as its flag as it initially dreamed of reviving the glorious rule of Peshwas one day. Hedgewar died in 1940, and was succeeded by M.S. Golwalkar as sarsanghchalak.

The RSS grew immensely under his leadership, but remained on the periphery of Indian politics as a militant Hindu group which still kept away from the freedom struggle but developed a reputation for inciting communal riots or spreading hatred against Muslims. This suited the British policy of 'divide and rule' aimed at perpetuating their reign and, when the time came, to split India into two.

Within a few months of Independence, Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, was assassinated by Nathuram Godse and his accomplices, all devoted followers of Savarkar. On 4 February 1948, within five days of the assassination, Golwalkar was arrested and the RSS banned as, the government order said, 'the objectionable and harmful activities of the Sangh have, however continued unabated and the cult of violence sponsored and inspired by the activities of the Sangh has claimed many victims.

'The latest and the most precious to fall was Gandhiji himself..it is the bounden duty of the government to take effective measures to curb this reappearance of violence in a virulent form. As a first step to this end, they have decided to declare the Sangh as an unlawful association.'

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Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was home minister as also deputy prime minister, held both the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha responsible for the murder of the Mahatma. On 18 July 1948, he wrote to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the leader of Hindu Mahasabha and also a Union minister: 'There is no doubt in my mind that the extreme section of the Hindu Mahasabha was involved in the conspiracy [to kill Gandhi].'

Patel also wrote to Golwalkar in September 1948, replying to the latter's appeal to release him and lift the ban on the RSS saying, ‘It was not necessary to spread poison in order to enthuse the Hindus... As a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji. Even an iota of sympathy of the Government, or of the people, no more remained for the RSS. In fact, the opposition to the RSS turned more severe, when the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhiji’s death.

Golwalkar sought meetings with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, but his request was turned down. He then wrote to them that 'the RSS agrees entirely in the conception of a secular state for India' and that 'it accepts the National Flag of the country'. The ban on the RSS was finally lifted on 11 July 1949, almost a year-and-a-half after it was imposed.

A few days earlier, on 29 June, Nehru wrote to Patel, 'You mentioned specially the case of Golwalkar and Tara Singh [leader of Akalis]. I agreed with you that there was no particular point in keeping them in detention and further we might also remove the ban on RSS.' After the PM's approval, the home ministry ordered the lifting of the ban.

The government communiqué read, 'The RSS leader has undertaken to make loyalty to the Union Constitution and respect for the National Flag more explicit in the Constitution of the RSS and to provide clearly that persons believing or resorting to violent and secret methods will have no place in the Sangh.

'The RSS leader has also clarified that the Constitution will be worked on a democratic basis...the Government of India has come to the conclusion that the RSS organisation should be given an opportunity to function as a democratic, cultural organisation owing loyalty to the Indian Constitution and recognising the National Flag, eschewing secrecy and abjuring violence and secrecy.'

The RSS spokesmen also made public pronouncements that 'social work in which the Sangh was engaged made it obligatory for the organisation to keep itself aloof from politics'.  

Mukherjee resigned from the Nehru cabinet in April 1950 and after meeting Golwalkar, decided to float a new political party with help from the RSS. Golwalkar was initially lukewarm to the idea, but Patel's death in December 1950 expedited matters. Earlier, Golwalkar had thought that the Nehru-Patel differences would split the Congress and the RSS could carry the right wing of the Congress with it. But in the changed circumstances, he had no option but to consent to the formation of a new political party — Jan Sangh — with Mukherjee as its founder president.

The Jan Sangh was officially launched on 21 October 1951, barely two months before the first general elections in December 1951. The RSS men were placed in key positions in the infant party. So the journey of the BJP, in its first avatar of Jan Sangh, began by breaking a promise to the nation that the RSS would not indulge in political activities.

The next seven decades and more witnessed many more broken promises (asatya) and violence (himsa) by the RSS against women, Dalits and minorities, including the murder of Graham Staines and his two children (1999), demolition of the Babri Masjid (1992), the pogrom in Gujarat (2002), and much more, beginning with attacks on the Constitution and the revolutionary Hindu Code Bill. 

Praveen Davar is an ex-Army officer and former secretary, AICC