DC Edit | Time For RSS To Uphold India’s Unity In Diversity
As a right-wing network driven purely by volunteers, of whom the most prominent one is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS did have its detractors who suspected its paramilitary airs
You can love it, or you can hate it, but you can hardly ignore the RSS. A centenary is an event to be celebrated. On crossing the milestone of 100 years, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh must feel particularly pleased given its history pockmarked with bans, restrictions and a variety of reactions, from appreciation to denigration.
As a right-wing network driven purely by volunteers, of whom the most prominent one is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS did have its detractors who suspected its paramilitary airs. An avowed upholder of traditional Indian values, it has also been seen as a threat to the democratic, pluralistic and secular India.
What it has achieved in its existence — from the time it was founded on Vijaya Dashami in 1925 when India was taken up with the fight for independence from its British colonial masters — lies in its growth into the ideological fount of the BJP. Its influence has been noticeable in social and political aspects of life in India that is well into the modern age now with an economic heft that could not have been imagined three decades ago when it emerged from its protectionist shell.
In its history, the RSS has often been criticised for being a divisive force that may have spawned the idea of a Hindu Rashtra even as it engendered the Sangh Parivar. The work of its volunteers in natural calamities has, however. come in as often for high praise, much as the disciplined ways of its members have been lauded for the organisation standing up as a unified one in these disjointed times.
Its chief Mohan Bhagwat’s customary address on its founding day contained what many may have been wanting to hear. He said Hindu society guarantees national unity and development while asserting that it is an inclusive force free from the divisive mentality of “us and them.” The advice tendered that Indians should not disrespect the beliefs, icons or places of worship for others should also be welcomed.
The diversity of India, as manifested in multiple languages, religions and lifestyles that vary in generational tiers from those being rooted in ancient spiritualism to the modern happy-go-lucky youth, has been pointed out often enough whenever it appeared that social unity was being threatened by divisiveness over religion.
As its long-term helmsman, Bhagwat could point out that social unity is the most important factor in a nation’s progress, and the hope is that this will trickle right down to the last man in the shakha. Of course, the organisation is also used to seeing official hostility creep into its opponents, as evidenced in RSS volunteers being detained in Chennai on Vijaya Dashami for holding a shakha to mark the centenary, but without prior police permission.
The aspect of RSS ideology to do with its “nation first” approach cannot be faulted as the Prime Minister pointed to when lauding the organisation for nation-building. It might just be a little late in the day for debate over its role in the freedom movement. What matters more in modern India is greater tolerance for diversity, which includes a place also for the RSS. In this era of polarisation, we can do with less divisions and divisiveness, be it because of the left, the right or the centre of political thought and ideology.