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| Image Courtesy here |
Though
Pranab Mukherjee not-so-subtly denounced the basic tenets of RSS in his speech
at the RSS training camp today, his description of the RSS founder Hedgewar as
a “great son of Mother India” betrays the ambivalence of the former President’s
attitude to the fundamentalist organisation. Is he suffering from senility?
Probably yes. Or he may be playing a wily political game at which he was always
an expert.
Is Hedgewar great in any way? He founded an
organisation on the principle of hatred. Hatred cannot make anyone a “great son
of Mother India” unless you subscribe to the right wing policies that have come
to dominate Indian politics from 2014.
Hedgewar hated Muslims. That hatred was and
still is the raison d'être of RSS. Hedgewar hated Indian National Congress
simply because it stood for secular inclusiveness. His hatred of the Congress
and what it stood for made him and his organisation a tacit supporter of the
British Raj.
When the Congress passed the Purna Swaraj
resolution in 1929 and asked Indians to celebrate 26 Jan 1930 as Independence
Day, Hedgewar issued a circular asking all the RSS shakhas to hoist the saffron
flag instead of the Tricolour. From 1931 even that flag was not hoisted. RSS
didn’t want anything to do with the independence struggle.
Hedgewar prohibited RSS from joining Mahatma
Gandhi’s Dandi Yatra (though he personally participated). He didn’t want RSS to
be associated with the freedom movement. By 1934, Hedgewar’s RSS had become so ‘antinational’
that the Congress had to prohibit any of its members from becoming members of
the RSS.
It is argued by many historians that the RSS
was founded in 1925 with the blessings of the British government which wished
to keep the Hindus and Muslims as mutual enemies. It fitted well with the
British “divide and rule” policy. The way Hedgewar kept his Sangh away from the
freedom struggle corroborates this view.
Yet our former President, a Congressman,
wrote that Hedgewar was a “great son of India.” Dear Pranab Da, have you lost
your senses? Or are you playing a wily political game at this ripe old age?
Nice .
ReplyDeleteThanks, Aditya.
DeleteI think, it was a political move. He has nothing to lose. He wanted to make a statement. He has succeeded in getting headlines.
ReplyDeleteI too smell something fishy. [When I brought in the 'fish' metaphor, a friend joked: "That's natural, he's a Bengali. :) ]
DeletePranab da is a seasoned and articulate politician who has understood that a President rises above party politics and uses every fora to engage people of all traits while leveraging his eminence to make them see his point. A bouquet was offered to Ayub Khan and Bhutto so a bouquet to Hedgewar to make someone listen to him appears to be statesmanship
ReplyDeleteI can accept that view though I can't accept Hedgewar's image as a great son of India.
Delete