Mohan Bhagwat’s militia menaces the Republic

Despite four years of RSS rule in India via its pocket organisation Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS dream of converting the democratic-secular polity of India into a Hindu rashtra through the ballot box, seems to have fizzled out. The RSS had declared the enthronement of Modi, a hardened practitioner of Hindutva politics, as PM in 2014 as the return of Hindu rule after almost 1,000 years; the last Hindu ruler being Prithvi Raj Chauhan, ruler of Ajmer. It began dreaming of Manusmriti becoming the law of the land. However, with a constitutional edifice in place keeping the Indian Republic functional and somewhat safe from its designs, the RSS project of establishing a Hindu state in India did not succeed. It is true that it was able to undermine sections of the judiciary, administration, police and media, but the Indian constitutional polity, with in-built safeguards against an abrupt change of course, largely did not succumb to the Hindutva juggernaut.

The RSS, including PM Modi, knows that a constitutional coup for establishing the Hindu state of its dreams has not succeeded and is not likely to succeed in future. They could have waited for another victory in the next national elections due in 2019 to make another attempt, but are neither sure of victory or of retaining their Lok Sabha majority. This frustration with the Indian Republic is forcing the RSS to adopt more insidious steps to undo the former.

The latest statement of RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat at Muzaffarpur, Bihar on February 11, that RSS has the ability to prepare an "army" to fight for the country within three days, should be seen in this context. He told the RSS cadres of eastern India that “Sangh will prepare military personnel within three days which the Army would do in 6-7 months. This is our capability. Swayamsewaks will be ready to take on the front if the country faces such a situation and Constitution permits to do so”.

He went on to declare that RSS was following army discipline and its cadres were always happily ready to make supreme sacrifice for their country. Now Bhagwat was offering to safeguard India despite India having one of the largest armies, apart from the Territorial Army, central paramilitary forces, reserve police, home guards and National Cadet Corps.

Unfortunately, many politicians and political commentators did not realise the sinister and anti-Indian Republic politics behind Bhagwat's statement, and criticised Bhagwat only for denigrating the Indian armed forces, whose Supreme Commander the President of India is a seasoned RSS cadre! It is true that Bhagwat put the Indian armed forces in the dock, but Bhagwat's statement was stunning in another respect. If RSS is capable of mobilising its militia within three days for the internal-external security of India, it means the RSS militia already exists. Bhagwat found the Constitution as the only stumbling block! The Indian State should have immediately launched an investigation into the RSS supremo's claim that he could raise battle-ready battalions in three dayscomparable to the professional Indian army. The RSS boss should have been investigated to learn about the strength of this RSS militia, which arms it has been trained in, from where did the finances come to support it, and details of its command hierarchy.

Even a rightist academic, Nitin Pai was worried about Bhagwat's statement and commented "It is wrong and deeply worrisome to suggest that its [RSS] volunteers have any role to play in national defence or internal security. The Republic of India does not and must not outsource its fundamental responsibilities to political organisations." There is no doubt that Bhagwat's threat for taking over the Indian Republic did not happen in isolation or without historical background. The RSS, flag-bearer of Hindutva politics, was born in 1925 out of marriage with Hindu nationalist ideologies propounded by BS Moonje and VD Savarkar, who adored Hitler and Mussolini. The militarisation of Hindus and military take-over of India as a stepping stone to establish Aryan rule over the world has been a persistent project of the Hindutva ideologues.

Let us take a quick glance at the history of the Hindu nationalists' project of militarily controlling India and the world.

SAVARKAR AND GOLWALKAR WISHED FOR ARYAN HINDU RULE

Both the prominent ideologues of Hindutva politics, Veer Savarkar and MS Golwalkar, stood for Aryan hegemony over the world, beginning with India. Savarkar ended his treatise on Hindutva bearing the same title with the words that Hindus of India, "bound together by ties of common blood and common culture, can dictate their terms to the whole world. A day will come when mankind will have to face the force".

Golwalkar too concluded his work on Hindu nationalism with the same imperialist intention when he wrote "Let us rouse ourselves to our true nationality [Hindu], let us follow the lead of our race-spirit, and fill the heavens with the clarion call of the Vedic seers 'from sea to sea over all the land—one Nation', one glorious, splendorous Hindu Nation benignly shedding peace and plenty over the whole world".

BS Moonje, who inspired KB Hedgewar to establish the RSS, was the leading protagonist behind the project of militarisation of Hindus. After visiting military training institutions run by the Fascist Italian government of Benito Mussolini and a personal audience with Mussolini in 1931, he circulated a paper titled ‘Preface to the Scheme of the Central Hindu Military Society and its Military School’ among influential Hindu nationalists. The paper read "This training is meant for qualifying and fitting our boys for the game of killing masses of men with the ambition of winning victory with the best possible causalities (sic) of dead and wounded while causing the utmost possible [sic] to the adversary."

It is not to be missed here that what Moonje meant by 'adversary' was not the external enemy, the British, but the Sangh's ‘historical’ internal enemy, the Muslims. In fact, this School was inaugurated by then Governor of Bombay State, Sir Roger Lumley in 1935. Moreover, this School helped the British in supplying Hindu youth for World War II. It may be noted that it is this military school, which was found to have trained persons which were involved in training/undertaking terrorist activities against minorities in India.

It is not for the first time that Bhagwat has talked about Hindutva-militia connections. While addressing a meeting of the RSS top level cadres on January 10, 2011 at Surat, Gujarat, he made a significant statement saying that "of the majority of the people whom the government has accused (in various blast cases), a few had left voluntarily and a few were told by the Sangh that this extremism will not work here so you go away".

It was a candid admission by the supremo of the RSS, who was naturally better informed about the happenings within his organisation, which works in a clandestine fashion that many of these alleged terrorists were part of the RSS. Shockingly, police and intelligence agencies did not question Bhagwat to learn the identity of those terrorists who left ‘voluntarily’ or were asked to ‘go away'. In fact, Bhagwat should have been summoned to seek the names of the ‘terrorists’ not only in order to verify whether the ones so far arrested were the same who were referred to by Bhagwat, but also to know about others who might still be indulging in terrorist activities and have not been brought to book as yet.

RSS BUILDING DEADLY ALLIANCE AGAINST MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS

The world obsessed with Islamist terrorism has not bothered to take any notice of a new terrorism network developing fast in India and its neighbourhood between RSS and two ultra nationalist Buddhist groups of Myanmar and Sri Lanka against minorities in the region. In a startling and focussed disclosure, The International New York Times (October 16, 2014) in an editorial titled ‘Deadly Alliances against Muslims’ wrote: “On his 79th birthday in July, the Dalai Lama appealed to Buddhist extremist groups in Myanmar and Sri Lanka to stop instigating attacks against Muslim minorities that have killed scores. Instead, in an affront to Buddhism’s core message of compassion, leaders of those groups announced an alliance to make common cause against Muslims.

"The time has come to ally internationally,’ Galagodaththe Gnanasara, the leader of the radical Sri Lankan Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena, announced at a convention held in Colombo last month. The guest of honor was Ashin Wirathu, a Buddhist radical whose picture Time magazine put on its July 1, 2014, cover as ‘The Face of Buddhist Terror.’ The government of Prime Minister Mahindra Rajapaksa ignored pleas by Sri Lankan Muslim and Christian civil groups, fearful of more anti-Muslim violence in their country, to deny Mr Wirathu a visa. Granting Mr Wirathu a visa can only reinforce the fears of many Muslims that the government—and perhaps more powerful regional allies—back Bodu Bala Sena, which translates as Buddhist Power Force.

“Last week, Gnanasara claimed he was in discussions ‘at a high level’ with the right-wing Indian Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to form what he called a ‘Hindu-Buddhist peace zone’ in South Asia. A Rashtriya Swayamsevak spokesman, Ram Madhav, promptly denied that there were any such discussions. But Madhav, now general secretary of India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, has written comments sympathetic to Bodu Bala Sena and Wirathu’s group 969 in Myanmar on his Facebook and Twitter accounts."

The International New York Times editorial ended with a serious warning to the then rulers of India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It read: “It is folly for the governments of Mr Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka, President Thein Sein of Myanmar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India, or their political allies, to give even the appearance of tolerating these Islamophobic groups in a region that has too often been convulsed by religious sectarian violence. They should condemn this mad alliance before it can spread further.”

RSS LINKAGES WITH NEO-NAZIS IN EUROPE

Neo-Nazi mass murderer of Norway Anders Behring Breivik glorified Indian ‘Hindu Nationalists'. He opened a Pandora’s Box when he declared ‘Hindu Nationalist’ movement as a key ally in a global struggle to bring down democratic regimes across the world. Just before he went on to massacre a large number of people in Norway, he released a 'manifesto' of 1,518 pages, of which 102 pages dealt with the glorification of Hindutva movement of India. It declared support to 'Sanatana Dharma movements and Indian nationalists in general'. This manifesto also laid down a plan of co-operation between Neo-Nazi movements of Europe and ‘Hindu Nationalist’ organisations of India. It said that it was essential that these two 'learn from each other and cooperate as much as possible' as 'our goals are more or less identical'. This manifesto specially mentioned the fountainhead of Hindutva politics—RSS and its subsidiaries like BJP, ABVP and VHP in this regard. Importantly, the manifesto pledged military support 'to the nationalists in the Indian civil war and in the deportation of all Muslims from India' as part of a larger campaign to 'overthrow of all western European multiculturalist governments.'

Present Governor of Tripura, Tathagata Roy, who is a hard-core RSS supporter and perennial Muslim- and secular India-basher, in mid-2017, in a tweet went to the extent of wishing for civil war in India. As justification he quoted from January 1, 1946, entry by Syama Prasad Mookerjee which read that “the Hindu-Muslim problem won’t be solved without a Civil War”. Mookerjee wrote it in context of pre-partition Muslim separatists represented by the Muslim League, but Tathagata Roy made it appear as something necessarily applicable in Independent India. It only showed the leader with RSS roots love for civil war.

Baba Ramdev, the rajpurohit of RSS-BJP governments at the centre and in states was known for yoga and later as a business tycoon manufacturing Ayurvedic products. He is a regular celebrity at all RSS and VHP functions. He also became worried about lack of security in India. In September 2017 he launched his own security firm titled Parakram Suraksha Pvt Ltd. According to a report by news agency ANI, Acharya Balakrishna, managing director of Patanjali (business firm of Ramdev) while launching this venture said, "Security is a very important issue either for a man or a woman. Our aim is to prepare individuals for self and country’s security and for this we have formed Parakram. This will help develop military instinct in each and every citizen of the country so as to awaken the spirit and determination for individual and national security…Swami Ramdev has hired retired Army and police personnel to train young interested recruits and plan to make a mark in security". [Emphasis added]

The fact must not be overlooked that RSS-trained and controlled rulers at the Centre and the States have been consciously facilitating a process in which anarchy prevails in different parts of the country. It is being done to make the democratic institutions of the country redundant. Thus, presenting India as a failed democracy which could be saved only by the intervention of the RSS militia. They are replicating what Hitler and Mussolini did in the past. Before capturing power, both indulged in large scale violent activities to demolish the democratic constitutional structures in their respective countries. All know that anarchy is a prerequisite for rule by dictators.

There is no shortage of examples to show this evil character of the RSS; as a harbinger of anarchy (see box). When India's Independence was at a nascent stage, the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by the Hindutva criminals. The first home minister of India Sardar Patel told the then RSS chief Golwalkar that it was due to hatred and poison spread by RSS that Gandhi became a victim of assassination. Sardar Patel in a letter dated September 19, 1948 told Golwalkar, "As a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji. Even an iota of the sympathy of the Government, or of the people, no more remained for the RSS. In fact opposition grew. Opposition turned more severe, when the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhiji’s death." [Emphasis added]. RSS in alliance with other Hindutva organisations forced the first law minister of India, Dr BR Ambedkar to resign as he proposed some reforms favouring Hindu women in the Hindu Personal Laws. In 1966 RSS with other organisations stormed Parliament and rampaged through the capital of India, which was put under curfew. The residence of K Kamraj, the Congress President, was set on fire. In the subsequent police firing, many protestors died.

This love for anarchy continued to flourish after Modi's ascendancy to power. Violence including lynching of Dalits and Muslims in the name of the cow (despite BJP governments in Goa and other North Eastern States allowing sale of beef officially) and attacking universities and minorities in the name of Tiranga Yatras (which RSS never waved during the British rule) continues unabated. How anarchy is ingrained in the RSS cadres can be understood by two examples from Haryana, which is ruled by seasoned RSS swayamsevaks. They let Haryana burn for 10 days, during the Jat reservation stir in February 2016 and then allowed convicted rapist Baba Gurmeet Singh's followers to go on a rampage at Panchkula in September 2017. The latest case of wide-spread anarchy was witnessed when in RSS/BJP-ruled states, mobs were allowed to indulge in violence protesting against a film which was passed by the Censor Board. RSS believes that with anarchy rampaging in the country, rule by its militia will get legitimacy.

So 15 months before the next general elections in India, there is talk of taking over the internal as well as external security by a non-state player, RSS. This threat has ominous signals for the continuation of the Indian Republic. It makes clear that RSS has lost hope of its cadres winning the next elections, and is not so subtly threatening to take over with its privately trained militias. Only future will tell us whether India has had its last general elections, or RSS is forced to retreat on its threats. It all depends on who succeeds—RSS or patriotic Indians who will rise to save the Indian Republic from the Hindutva onslaught. I am very sure that common Indians with a glorious heritage of challenging the mightiest are going to frustrate all attempts of the Hindutva gang to destroy the Republic. The Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Jains are waiting to confront the mercenaries of the RSS.