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The Menace called RSS


Book Review


Title: The RSS: A Menace to India
Author: A G Noorani
Publisher: LeftWord Books, Delhi, 2019
Pages: 547

India is passing through a painful phase, arguably the most challenging one in its post-Independence history. The nation’s very fabric is under threat of being ripped apart. It may no longer be what the Preamble to its Constitution claims: a secular republic among other things.
India has one of the best Constitutions according to many experts. That Constitution is likely to be dumped soon. Slowly and not so clandestinely, many of its principles are being undermined by the present dispensation. That dispensation is controlled by an organisation which dons a cultural garment: the RSS.
What is the RSS? Whose culture does it seek to uphold? Why does it claim to be a charitable organisation when it comes to paying the income tax? Why does it harbour so much hatred in its subterranean layers? How did it come to accrue so much political clout recently? A G Noorani’s “magisterial study” [as The Hindu review calls it] gives scholarly and illuminating answers to these and many other questions. If you wish to understand the RSS from a researcher’s point of view, this is the just the right book for you.
The RSS sprang from the conviction of people like Hedgewar, Savarkar and Golwalkar that India belonged primarily to the Hindus and that others, particularly the Muslims and the Christians, might live here as subordinates of the majority community who were the only rightful citizens here. These pariah citizens were originally Hindus and so they can return to their original faith [ghar wapsi] and enjoy better citizenship; better, not full, as they would be regarded as a special caste. Noorani says that today the RSS has enough funds to offer a price of Rs 5 lakh to every Muslim who returns to the fold and Rs 1 lakh to every Christian. Why the Christian is so cheap is not mentioned, however.
The RSS has a clear vision and crafty schemes. The vision is nothing short of Akhand Bharat, a grand unified India that will bring back Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to its geographical expanse. The schemes are already afoot under the able leadership of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Most of the institutions that matter in the country have already been infiltrated with RSS men. Noorani lists many of those institutions and the persons who head them now. “By the end of 2018, the Modi government had worked hard to turn institutions upside down, planting favourites from the RSS wherever possible especially in ones which would shape public opinion.”
Modi manages to get the support of even educated people in this process. It is “not because of their erudition but their appeal to national pride,” says Noorani. “The RSS injects an inferiority complex in the minds by playing on historical falsehoods and then pleads for restoration of ‘national pride’ by suppressing Muslims and Christians.”
A lot of evils are being perpetrated and justified in the name of that national pride, a brilliant phantom conjured up by the RSS. “The RSS was conceived in sin; the sin of criminal violence,” writes Noorani referring to the organisation’s origins. Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of non-violence was ridiculed by the founders of the RSS as effeminate. Gandhi himself became their greatest enemy. Just to defeat the Gandhian vision for India, the RSS joined hands with the British whenever that suited the organisation.
Opportunism is the lifeblood of the organisation. Any value or principle may be sacrificed if expediency required that in the process of working towards the sole objective of creating the Akhand Bharat. Today there are whole armies fighting this subtle war [not so subtle anymore] against sizeable sections of the country’s citizens. Noorani mentions many of them such as ABVP, VHP and Bajrang Dal. They know when, where and how to strike. They have also been taught that they are fighting a new Kurukshetra battle in which the majority are the Pandavas. Devious strategies were part and parcel of the Pandava arsenal.
Noorani’s book lays bare the entire anatomy of the RSS with menacing ruthlessness. Read it at your own risk.


Comments

  1. जितेन्द्र माथुरJanuary 23, 2020 at 8:56 AM

    Your last line is the most important one - read it at your own risk. I have read n number of articles of Mr. A.G. Noorani over the past few decades. I appreciate his rational line of thinking and his ability to analyze the things with utmost objectivity. I will be able to comment on the book after reading it only albeit I have got a glimpse of it through your article.

    RSS is no longer the RSS of yesteryears which controlled BJP. Now it does not have any say either in the BJP or in the (union) government. The political party as well as the government is controlled by Modi-Shah duo only in entirety and they do not pay two hoots to what the RSS thinks or says. This Gujarati duo is not interested of the philosophies of RSS. Its sole interest in keeping and expanding its power only. RSS is as good a tool for Modi-Shah as the (formerly autonomous) institutions of India to further their own agenda which, strictly speaking, is a single point one. The prime minister of India has aggrandized his personality much beyond his party as its parent organization, that is, RSS. Now he does not listen to RSS. RSS listens to his dictates instead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 23, 2020 at 9:35 AM

      Noorani does touch upon Modi's dictatorial style. He discusses Shah too with candour. RSS leaders like Bhagwat are also not spared.

      Ultimately it's Modi-Shah that run the country today. But the RSS seems to love what they're doing.

      Delete

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