With a very loud and clear message, the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh, ideological guide of BJP and the Modi government, usually
busy in constructive and nationalist works, held a public lecture and
discussion progression at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan. The venue was the grand
Nehruvian laboratory, a symbol of Indian state power, typically the parade
ground of constitutional VIPs.
Today, surprisingly for the first time ever, the ‘patriotic
and nationalist’ RSS, faced three banns, since Independence, habitually trolled
and abused by the Darbar of Delhi ‘sultanate’, demonstrated that it is trying
to come out from Hedgewar Bhavan to Vigyan Bhavan to teach them some lessons of
nationalism and tolerance.
Mohanrao Bhagwat, sarsanghchalak, was the main speaker and
he was the main attraction. He took the initiative to tell the nation about the
misconception about RSS and told the nation that RSS believes in unity,
inclusiveness and it never hated any community. Bhagawat tied to clear the
misunderstandings in the mind of Hindus that Hindus and Hindutva cannot be
hardliners. It is the mudslinging by the vested interests to link the Hindus
with lynching. It will be in the interest of the nation if wider society
participates in RSS ideals,
It was the opposition parties which always try to defame RSS
and Hindus as a part of violent mobs as a symbol of Hindutva that are today
such a dreadful advertisement by the opposition to please Muslims. He also
cleared the misinterpretation about the ideologue MS Golwalkar’s observation
that Muslims are the ‘internal enemy’.
Not only the RSS is defamed but also it is the left
controlled media, which always accuses Hindu organizations like the Bajrang
Dal, VHP, and other Hindu groups as the violent Parivar outfits on the ground
in the frame of mind to follow their leaders. These elements never criticize
parties like Muslim League, which were responsible for the division of the
nation and pogrom and displacement of lakhs of Hindus. Now, will the anti-RSS
brigade shun on their prime and relentless hate campaign to appease the
‘Mussalman’?
After listening to the discussions of Vigyan Bhavan, this
anti-RSS brigade must rethink about their hate campaign against the RSS and the
cows. Bhagwat declared that RSS prefers ‘yukt’ or united. This shows RSS is
above the narrow campaign of the secularists, Communists and Islamists.
For decades the RSS has been treated as ‘untouchable’, it
still faces the hate campaign. Yet today, having elected to the top of power in
Raisina Hill, the RSS feels politically and socially it has been accepted by
the masses and it is the right time to tell the nation about its principles.
But Bhagwat’s Gorbachev moment could not be intended for nation breaking and
suicidal publicity like Gorbachev. Strong Hindu Rashtra with full faith in the
Constitution of India.
Specific questions arise. The Muslims and the secular
parties will shun their deep-rooted hate for BJP and RSS. Will they change?
Muslim clerics and intellectuals should persuade the Muslims to change their
outlook towards RSS and BJP in elections and make them more acceptable among
minority constituencies for a greater share in political representation?
Will Muslims also rethink about their first loyalty to their
holy lands lie outside India, which made India for them as secondary land, and
they are seen as secondary citizens of India. Ironically, the RSS Hindutva and
nationalist icon Late Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s formulation of “punyabhumi”
and “pitrabhumi expressed the same views” about Muslims.
Will the secular and communist outfits who always criticize
Hindu outfits of ‘love jihad’ and ‘ghar wapsi’ campaigns, change their
attitude? Will the anti-Sangh outfits accept that the Ram Mandir issue is an
issue of faith but not a merely legal dispute? Will they convince their
followers and Muslims to sing Vande Mataram? The head of the parivar has
clarified its aim; but still, don’t know if opponents are willing to change.
Evidently, all want the RSS to change but others are not
ready to change because their business of hate and lies will be shut. Today,
the Hindutva Parivar's is the biggest nationalist force behind PM Modi, whose
persona dwarfs all the secular and Lenin pariwar. It is very clear the anti-RSS
outfits are anxious for their dominating share of media space, not only to
affirm their importance but also to relocate them in an election year when
coalition dealings are in the air and political outcomes remain unsure.
Yet the attempts by RSS leaders at Vigyan Bhavan are not
enough. The real problem is, will the opposition manage to pull off a
deep-seated rethink on all its mindset, from poisoning the religious
minorities, especially Muslims, to Dalits to its views on correcting the
history or indeed to its meaning of nationhood? Moreover, will the secular and
left parivar stacks agree to this call for an ideological revamp?
If, after the RSS’s Vigyan Bhavan moment, aggressive
opposition stop its usual hate campaigns then the real aim of the conclave will
be futile: and the cunningly astute opposition political parties to win again
in 2019 will defeat a genuine reach-out or even glasnost.