The latest issue of Outlook is entirely dedicated to the centenary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, RSS, an organisation that claims to be the custodian of India’s culture and morality. I would like to present here only two of the umpteen writers who are presented in the magazine. 1. Anand Kshirsagar Kshirsagar was introduced to RSS as a boy by his family with good intentions. They wanted him to be educated by a Brahmin teacher who would instil in him better Sanskar (manners). The young boy was charmed by the pride of the Hindu identity lent by the organisation, particularly because he came from a Dalit colony in Pune. The upper caste Hindus thought of people like him as “the muck of the city – unseen, unnamed, and best left forgotten.” The RSS seemed to offer him an opportunity to be not only seen but respected too. The boy took his education seriously. “By 15, I had devoured the writings of Savarkar, Golwalkar, Hegdewar, and even Hitler’s Mein Kampf in Marathi,” Kshirsaga...
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