Legacy of Dr. BR Ambedkar stands irreconcilably opposed to Hindutva

  Legacy of Dr. BR Ambedkar stands irreconcilably opposed to Hindutva

                By B.Sivaraman

                        cpiml.org
                        25 September, 2003

"Inequality is the soul of Hinduism," wrote Ambedkar. He characterized the oppressive caste system as the tyranny of Hinduism. After spending a lifetime in a crusade against the oppressive Hinduism, Ambedkar finally renounced Hinduism, and converted to Buddhism and exhorted his followers to do the same. It is an irony that BJP and other Sangh Parivar outfits are trying to appropriate such a historic personality as Dr. BR Ambedkar.

They have started unveiling Ambedkar photos and statues. Some Sangh ideologues have torn some quotations of BR Ambedkar on Islamic invasions out of context and misinterpreted them to fit Ambedkar in their own anti-Islamic framework. Vinay Katiyar took out an Ambedkar Yatra in UP. Mayawati unveiled a statue of Ambedkar's wife even though her party, the BSP, shamelessly betrayed the Ambedkar tradition by aligning with his arch ideological-political foes, the Hindutva brigade, in a coalition for the sake of power.

To attract dalits to its fold, the BJP made Bangaru Laxman its ornamental chief but he had to ignominiously bow down from office for accepting Tehelka cash bundles. But before his resignation he made a speech in the Nagpur session of the BJP National Council almost equating Ambedkar with Hedgewar. In fact, the actual history convincingly refutes the dirty tricks of the Sangh Parivar.

During the freedom movement, because of the failures and neglect of the Congress a few political streams arose independent of it. Because of the Congress neglect of Muslims and the influence of Hindu conservatism and Hindu dominance in Congress leadership, Muslims rallied independently under the Muslim League. For similar reasons, Sikhs also rallied under the Akali Dal. Brahminical upper caste forces dominated the Congress leadership and the party turned a blind eye to the aspirations of nationalities. In Tamil Nadu, Periyar EV Ramasamy fought against this, first through the anti-Brahmin movement and then went on to represent the nationality aspirations of Tamils.

It was Ambedkar who squarely put social reform on the agenda during the freedom struggle and launched a simultaneous movement against untouchability and the caste order that were the hallmarks of Hinduism, and championed the interests of dalits. In this he was far to the left of Gandhi. On the other hand, far to the right of Gandhian leadership there was first Hindu Mahasabha and later RSS streams, which often collaborated with the British and considered, with open hostility, even Gandhi too liberal. This hostility finally culminated in the assassination of Gandhi by an RSS man Nathuram Godse. Ambedkar was lifelong at loggerheads with the Hindu fundamentalists. Even in his Thoughts on Pakistan,(on which Katiyar's portrayal of him as an anti-Muslim Hindutva figure rests), he ruthlessly critiques the Hindu Mahasabha and Savarkar. He writes: "The Hindu nationalist who hopes that Britain will coerce the Muslims into abandoning Pakistan, forgets that the right of nationalism to freedom from an aggressive foreign imperialism and the right of a minority to freedom from an aggressive majority's nationalism are not two different things, nor does the former stand on a more sacred footing than the latter."(p.10-11) This clearly illustrates his criticism of aggressive mjorotarian nationalism. He furth r criticizes Savarkar, commenting that "strange as it may seem, Mr. Savarkar and Mr. Jinnah instead of being opposed to each other on the two nations issue, are in complete agreement about it". But Ambedkar exposes Savarkar's authoritarian intent: " Mr. Savarkar wants the Hindu nation to be the dominant nation and the Muslim nation to be the subservient nation under it."

Such being the historical evolution of different political streams in India, it is clear that the legacy of Ambedkar and Hindu fundamentalism are irreconcilably hostile to each other. Hindutva forces today are trying to delink Ambedkar from his entire legacy, cover up their hostility towards him and try to appropriate him for electoral use.

The fundamental hostility of the Sangh Parivar against Ambedkar was clearly brought to the fore by the vile campaign unleashed against him by RSS ideologue and presently a BJP minister in Vajpayee's cabinet Arun Shourie through his book Worshipping False Gods. Shiv Sainiks, the soul mates of Hindutva forces, also launched a struggle against Ambedkar's book The Riddles of Hindusim. This is the actual record of Hindutava forces vis-à-vis the heritage of Ambedkar, which they are trying to hide now in order to appropriate his glorious image for their own vested interests.

Ambedkar was the architect of the constitution of India. Sangh Parivar is even opposed to the marginal secular and liberal features of this Constitution and that is why they have formed a committee to tinker with it.
While Ambedkar had total enmity towards Hindu Mahasabha and RSS and other Hindu fundamentalists, he was generally pro-left and, befitting a true democrat in a semi-feudal society, he had a positive attitude towards Marxism though it was unfortunate that the communists in those days failed in their united front tactics and failed to develop a proper relationship with Ambedkar. This was part of their general weakness and shortcomings in India.


The contrast between Ambedkar and Savarkar

Savarkar's strategy of dissolving more than 3,000 castes into one pan-Hindu identity involves pan-Hindu temples, pan-Hindu dinners, inter-caste marriages, anti-untouchability programmes and the removal of injunctions on caste-ridden vocations and sea-voyage. Thus, Savarkar seems to have admonished Hindus to break off the seven shackles that according to him hindered the progress of the Hindu society. Did this programme really denounce Hinduism? The answer to this question has to be in the negative because the anti-caste programme particularly relating to injunctions against inter-caste marriage and advocating vedic rights for the shudras and ati-shudras given by Savarkar did not have vigour and genuine thrust to attack the Hindu shastras and caste system.

Savarkar's contention regarding inter-caste marriages looked to be so casual that he offered only a qualified support to such marriages, thus replacing the need for creating any conscious motivation necessary for the radicalmobilisation of the people towards reaching the desired end. Similarly, Savarkar's attempt to grant the study of vedas and vedic rituals to non-Brahmins though apparently liberal may effectively lead to the Brahminisation of the non-Brahmin castes thus according legitimacy to Hindu shastras.

On the contrary, Ambedkar considers inter-caste marriages as the effective means for abolishing caste system. But Ambedkar is also aware that inter-caste dining or even inter-caste marriages are not enough to eliminate casteism. He was of the opinion that for realising the desired goal of casteless society through inter-caste marriages it is necessary to destroy the belief in the sanctity of Hindu shastras. And for destroying this belief, Ambedkar suggests that people should not only discard the shastras, but they should deny their authority as Buddha and Nanak did. Thus; it can be argued here that socially radical Ambedkar was very unlikely to be attracted by Savarkar whose proposal, according to one of the sincere Savarkarites, contained reformative zeal aimed at revival of Hinduism rather than its denunciation.
(From Appropriating Ambedkar by Gopal Guru,
Economic and Political Weekly, July 6-13, 1991)

Ambedkar was never a Marxist. He could not carry forward his struggle for thoroughgoing abolition of semi-feudalism and against imperialism through a democratic revolution like Mao did in China. He focused mainly on the petty bourgeois and bourgeois intelligentsia from the oppressed communities and worked largely within the system representing their interests in the form of reservation etc. Nevertheless, despite this limitation, he remained an outstanding bourgeois revolutionary democrat who was head and shoulders above many in the Congress leadership and was clearly far more radical than Gandhi.

In the course of his differences against the Congress, he never made any concession to the Hindu Right and always remained hostile to them.
Against Brahminical Hinduism During his boyhood Ambedkar had to suffer lots of personal humiliation due to untouchability. In Chowder Tank satyagraha led by Ambedkar in 1927, the upper caste Hindus attacked him and physically injured him. During the freedom movement Ambedkar emerged as the tallest leader of social reform in India.

Ambedkar asserted: "I was born a Hindu, but never will die a Hindu. What is required is to get rid of the doctrine of 'Chatuvarna'. That is the root cause of all inequality and is also the parent of the case system and untouchability, which are merely other forms of inequality". It is relevant to note here that while both Hedgewar and Golwalkar upheld Manu and thus rationalised the caste system inherent to the Hindu religion, Ambedkar even burnt copies of Manusmruti through a campaign. On December 25, 1927 Ambedkar observed a "Manu Smruti Dahan Din", and publicly burnt Manusmruti. The struggle was known as the "Maha-Sangharsha" of Mahad Satyagraha, and it is an important milestone in dalit struggle against Brahmanism and Brahminical Hinduism. Manuvadis had comspired so that Ambedkar did not get a ground for the meeting, but a Muslim gentleman, Mr. Fattekhan, gave his private land to observe this protest. There was a strong reaction in the Brahmanical press, Babasahib was called"Bheemaasura" by one paper. Dr. Ambedkar justified the burning of Manusmruti in various articles.

Ambedkar made a scathing attack on Hinduism: "I tell you, religion is for man and not man for religion. If you want to organise, consolidate and be successful in this world, change this religion. The religion that does not recognise you as a human being, or give you water to drink, or allow you to enter temples is not worthy to be called a religion. The religion that forbids you to receive education and comes in the way of your material advancement is not worthy of the appellation 'religion'. The religion that does not teach its followers to show humanity in dealing with its co-religionists is nothing but a display of a force. The religion that teaches its followers to suffer the touch of animals but not the touch of human beings is not a religion but a mockery. The religion that compels the ignorant to be ignorant and the poor to be poor is not a religion but a visitation!"

He added this on the upper castes: "It is your claim to equality which hurts them. They want to maintain the status quo. If you continue to accept your lowly status ungrudgingly, continue to remain dirty, filthy, backward, ignorant, poor and disunited, they will allow you to live in peace. The moment you start to raise your level, the conflict starts. Untouchability is not a transitory or temporary feature; it is eternal, it is lasting. Frankly it can be said that the struggle between the Hindus and the Untouchables is a never-ending conflict. It is eternal because the religion which assigns you the lowest status in society is itself divine and eternal according to the belief of the so-called high caste Hindus. No change warranted by change of time and circumstances is possible." Such being the views of Ambedkar, those who offer political patronage to outfits like Ranvir Sena can have no claim over Ambedkar.
The ideologues of Hindutva are trying to rationalise caste system saying that it is a division of labour. Ambedkar refuted this saying, "Caste System is not merely a division of labour. It is also a division of labourers. It is an hierarchy in which the divisions of labourers are graded one above the other." While the Hindutva brigade is known for defending Manu and the caste system, Ambedkar made a trenchant criticism of the caste system associated with Hinduism: "There cannot be a more degrading system of social organisation than the Chaturvarna. It is the system which deadens, paralyses and cripples the people from helpful activity." He further added, "Caste in the hands of the orthodox has been a powerful weapon for persecuting the reforms and for killing all reform." Relating the inseparable relation between caste system and Hinduism, Ambedkar wrote, "Hinduism is a veritable chamber of horrors. The sanctity and infallibility of the Vedas, Smritis and Shastras, the iron law of
caste, the heartless law of karma and the senseless law of status by birth are to the untouchables veritable instruments of torture which Hinduism has forged against untouchables."

In Buddha and His Dhamma, Ambedkar has enumerated the evils of Hinduism in the following manner: 1) It has deprived moral life of freedom; 2) It has only emphasized conformity to commands; and 3) The laws are unjust because they are not the same for one class as of another. Besides, the code is treated as final. According to Ambedkar, "what is called religion by Hindus is nothing but a multitude of commands and prohibitions." The Sangh Parivar is out to make this code the official code in India under their scheme of authoritarian Hindu rashtra.

Sensing the alienation of dalits, many people, from Savarkar to Gandhi, made token gestures against casteism. The RSS was also forced to come out with some tokenist pronouncements. But Ambedkar put things in the right perspective by saying, "Caste cannot be abolished by inter-caste dinners or stray instances of inter caste marriages. Caste is a state of mind. It is a disease of mind. The teachings of the Hindu religion are the root cause of this disease. We practice casteism and we observe untouchability because we are enjoined to do so by the Hindu religion. A bitter thing cannot be made sweet. The taste of anything can be changed. But poison cannot be changed into nectar."

Ambedkar even made a sarcastic comment against Gandhi: "There have been many mahatmas in India whose sole object was to remove untouchability and to elevate and absorb the depressed classes, but everyone has failed in their mission. Mahatmas have come, mahatmas have gone but the untouchables have remained as untouchables." Ambedkar told dalits that, "You must abolish your slavery yourselves. Do not depend for its abolition upon god or a superman. Remember that it is not enough that a people are numerically in the majority. They must be always watchful, strong and self-respecting to attain and maintain success. We must shape our course ourselves and by ourselves." He further stressed that, "What you have lost others have gained. Your humiliations are a matter of pride with others. You are made to suffer wants, privations and humiliations not because it was pre-ordained by the sins committed in your previous birth, but because of the overpowering tyranny and treachery of those who are
above you. You have no lands because others have usurped them; you have no posts because others have monopolised them. Do not believe in fate; believe in your strength."

It may be recalled that Advani recently raised a controversy over a Buddhist symbol like Ashoka chakra figuring in the national flag and a Buddhist symbol being the national emblem. Regarding their origin Ambedkar explained, "Even though Buddhism is almost extinct in India, yet it has given birth to a culture, which is far better and richer than the Brahminic culture. When the question of the national flag and the national emblem was being considered by the Constituent Assembly we could not find any suitable symbol from the Brahminic culture. Ultimately, the Buddhist culture came to our rescue and we accepted the Wheel of Law (Dhamma-Chakra) as the national symbol." No wonder, a Brahminical high-priest of Hindutva like Advani wanted to do away with these symbols introduced by Ambedkar and his colleagues.

In his slanderous campaign against Ambedkar, the RSS ideologue Arun Shourie questioned the patriotism of Ambedkar. Ambedkar, however, defined patriotism thus, "I do not want that our loyalty as Indians should be in the slightest way affected by any competitive loyalty whether that loyalty arises out of our religion, out of our culture or out of our language. I want all people to be Indians first, Indian last and nothing else but Indians." And despite all his differences with the Congress, Ambedkar remained a staunch nationalist.
For Ambedkar, the conception of a secular state is derived from the liberal democratic tradition of the West.

In contrast to the Gandhian misinterpretation of secularism as 'sarva dharma samabhava', Ambedkar said, "No institution, which is maintained wholly out of state funds, shall be used for the purpose of religious instruction irrespective of the question whether the religious instruction is given by the state or by any other body". He further explained the corruption of the concept of secularism in India, "This country has seen the conflict between ecclesiastical law and secular law long before Europeans sought to challenge the authority of the Pope. Kautilya's Arthshastra lays down the foundation of secular law. In India unfortunately ecclesiastical law triumphed over secular law. In my opinion this was the one of the greatest disasters in the country."

Ambedkar effectively punctured the false supremacy of the narrow Brahminical elite: "In every country the intellectual class is the most influential class. This is the class which can foresee, advise and lead. In no country does the mass of the people live the life for intelligent thought and action. It is largely imitative and follows the intellectual class. There is no exaggeration in saying that the entire destination of the country depends upon its intellectual class. If the intellectual class is honest and independent, it can be trusted to take the initiative and give a proper lead when a crisis arises. It is true that the intellect by itself is no virtue. It is only a means and the use of a means depends upon the ends which an intellectual person pursues. An intellectual man can be a good man but he may easily be a rogue. Similarly an intellectual class may be a band of high-souled persons, ready to help, ready to emancipate erring humanity or it may easily be a gang of crooksor a body of advocates of narrow clique from which it draws its support."

Though changing one's religion through conversion is not going to abolish the semi-feudal inequalities, Ambedkar's decision to convert to Buddhism in the evening of his life - just a couple of months before his demise on 16 December 1956 - only underlined his disgust and bitterness with the highly iniquitous Hinduism. About 2 lakh dalits converted to Buddhism along with him in October 1956. Since then neo-Buddhism has remained a trend. This clearly rattled the Hindutva bosses who are clamouring for anti-conversion legislation in every state.

A thorough democrat

Though Ambedkar headed the committee that crafted the Constitution of the democratic republic of India, he was never fully satisfied with the democracy which came to be established in India. In his opinion, "A democratic form of government presupposes a democratic form of a society. The formal framework of democracy is of no value and would indeed be a misfit if there was no social democracy. It may not be necessary for a democratic society to be marked by unity, by community of purpose, by loyalty to public ends and by mutuality of sympathy. But it does unmistakably involve two things. The first is an attitude of mind, and attitude of respect and equality towards their fellows. The second is a social organisation free from rigid social barriers. Democracy is incompatible and inconsistent with isolation and exclusiveness resulting in the distinction between the privileged and the unprivileged." "Democracy is not a form of government, but a form of social organisation", he asserted.

He further elaborated, "What we must do is not to content ourselves with mere political democracy. We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well. Political democracy cannot last unless there is at the base of it, a social democracy."

Ambedkar underlined the limitations of formal law and Constitution: "The prevalent view is that once the rights are enacted in law then they are safeguarded. This again is an unwarranted assumption. As experience proves, rights are protected not by law but by social and moral conscience of the society. If social conscience is such that it is prepared to recognise the rights which law proposes to enact, rights will be safe and secure. But if the fundamental rights are opposed by the community, no law, no parliament, no judiciary can guarantee them in the real sense of the world. What is the use of fundamental rights to the untouchables in India?" "If I find the constitution being misused, I shall be the first to burn it," he declared.

Ambedkar also had certain premonitions about the rise of authoritarian forces in India which is coming true before our eyes: "On the 26th January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be recognising the principle of one-man-one-vote and one-vote-one-value. In our social and economic life, we shall by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one-man-one-value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril". The Sangh Parivar outfits rally tribals and dalits only to use them to attack Christian missionaries as witnessed in Orissa or to launch pogroms against Muslims as seen in Gujarat, and thereby endanger democracy. To
frustrate the designs of the Sangh Parivar it is necessary that today communists and genuine Ambedkarites should come together to defend democracy from communal fascists, a democracy to establish which Ambedkar fought so hard.
In his last days, Ambedkar raised a note of warning: "The point is that India once lost the independence she had. Will she lose it a second time? It is this thought which makes me most anxious for the future. What perturbs me greatly is the fact that not only India has once before lost her independence, but she lost it by treachery of some of her own people...Will history repeat itself? It is this thought which fills me with anxiety. . Will Indians place the country above their creed or creed above their country? I do not know, But this much is certain that if the parties place creed above country, our independence will be put in jeopardy a second time and probably be lost forever. This eventuality we all must resolutely guard against. We must be determined to defend our independence with the last drop of our blood!" The rise of Hindutva forces who totally cringe before the US imperialism but at the same time are bent upon establishing a fascistic Hindu rashtra has proved how correct this warning was. As Ambedkar called upon us, we must defend this freedom and democracy with the last drop of our blood.

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RSS : DEPTH & BREADTH - Devanuru Mahadeva

RSS : DEPTH & BREADTH

Devanuru Mahadeva

 

 

An English translation of ಆa6 ಎiU ಎiU:: ಆಳ ಮತು..D ಅಗಲ by Devanuru Mahadeva

Originally published as

 

RSS Aaala Mattu Agala written by Devanoora Mahadeva. Published by : Abhiruchi Prakashana # 386, 14 th Main
, 3 rd Cross, Saraswathipura, Mysuru

-9 Cell : 99805 60013 abhiruchiprakashanamysore@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

English translation by Dr. Prashanth N S/daktre.com. Not endorsed by the author & no claims made by translator on accuracy of translation.

 

 

Dedication

In hope that children who are born as citizens of this world may remain so as they grow (older)

 

Attention

 

You too may publish this booklet. You can become the publisher! Any person, organisation, publisher may publish this.

If you are wish, you could send a DD/check/paytm payment to the contact details provided below to bear the expenses for creating a new publication template for the first 8 pages in your name. Else, you may also pay us the entire costs of publishing (in your name) by sending the payment to the contact details below and these will be printed and sent to you. If you wish to print the entire booklet yourself, then you may send Rs. 100 and register yourself with any one of the contact details below, the 64-page content of the booklet (excluding the 8 introductory pages) will be sent to you. The ones who publish (in this manner) need not pay any honorarium to the author. Just send 10 copies once you have published it.

 

An appeal to keep the cost of the book affordable for

booklovers.

Contact:

Abhiruchi Ganesh:                   99805 60013

Mahalingappa Aalabala:       96207 11704

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4

A special announcement

 

The following works too have not been claimed as proprietry works. If you wish to publish these in your personal/ organistional/publishing house name, you may contact us.

 

Booklets by Devanuru Mahadeva

•    ಈಗ 2;,ಾರತ c::i ಾaಾಡು�..D□ (Now India is speaking)

•    ಜ7ಾಂ□ೂೕಲನಗಳ ಮooಾ&ೖ�.J @ಾAಾ (Grand alliance march of people’s movements)

•    ಒಂದು ಪ.Jraಾ�5 (A manifesto)

•    ಮooಾ&ೖ�.Jn ನ!:ನು� (Ways and means for the grand alliance)

 

Shashikant Senthil IAS and AS Puttige’s book

•            7ಾKೕ5 LಾMೕ7ಾ& Nೕ�□ ooಾಗೂ Nಗೂಢ ಅPರಗಳQ (Why I resigned & Mysterious letters)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5

Publisher’s note

 

Devanuru Mahadeva has carefully characterised the depth and breadth of RSS, hovering over our Hindutva State.

This booklet, while painting a true picture of the RSS, implicitly urges us to join in strengthening the unity (of India), the Constitution and our democracy. My gratitude to Devanuru Mahadeva for permitting publication, Mahesha C for DTP, Sandessh (of The Rangu) for page layout, the artist K J Sachidananda for meaningful cover page design, K S Manju of Lakshmi Printers for printing.

 

- Abhiruchi GaneshNote: This page is reserved for publishers who are involved in reprinting. They may use this space for their own publisher’s note of individuals/organisations/publishers.]

6

 

 

 

Foreword                                                                                    10

Where all lies the life of the R.S.S.                                   12

Thus speak the documents                                                   18

Today, in the present…                                                            28

In this background the crux of the religious conversion prohibition act    39

Now                                                                                              45

 

FOREWORD

 

This is an effort at presenting to the people, a careful examination of the true nature and objectives of the RSS. A small step in the direction of awakening people towards understanding how the RSS is persevering in estranging the entire country, and a step towards closing the gap between the widespread comprehension of the nature of the RSS and its true colours.

 

In our folk tales, there is the story of the sorcerer who spread turmoil globally and behaved atrociously, all because he had hidden his life in the form of a parakeet in a distant cave, far beyond the seven seas. Firstly a magician, and furthermore an impersonator. A creature of many appearances. Infinite in disguise. Untouched by any action against him. Because his life- soul is protected from everything far away in the cave. The only way out of this quagmire is to first establish where the life-soul is hidden. We need to look for it. As a part of such a quest for the life-soul of the RSS, I peered into the ancient cesspool from whence the organisation’s ancient origins can be traced. What I saw is hideous. A sliver of that is in this booklet. If this inspires an expansive exposition, I would consider this effort worthwhile.

And now some acknowledgements. My friends Shivasundar, Prasanna N. Gowda, B Sripad Bhat and Prof. Kumaraswamy who provided suggestions and information that enhanced the quality of this tiny booklet, and Suresh Bhat Bakrabylu for Kannada translations of references used, I remain indebted.

-                                                                                                   Devu

 1

WHERE ALL LIES THE LIFE OF THE RSS

Golwalkar was for long the Sarasanchaalaka of the R.S.S (head of the network). The founding father of the R.S.S was Dr.

Hedgewar. Hedgewar himself considered Savarkar as his Guru (reverential form of teacher), philosopher and guide, and Golwalkar, both of whose writings’ extracts are provided below.

 

Golwalkar’s God:

“There is a need for a living God who can arouse all the energy within us. That’s why our elders said: “Our society is our God…Hindu race is itself the (embodiment of) the Viraata Purusha (the Vedic first/primordial man), a form of the omnipotent”. Although they did not use the word ‘Hindu’, the description below that appears in the Purusha Sukta clarifies this - Sun and the moon are the eyes of the Lord, after mentioning that the stars and the skies originate from his navel

- it goes on to describe the brahmin as his head, the king as his arms, the Vaishyas, his thighs and the Shudra, his feet. The people who follow this four-category system constitute the Hindu race, and our God. That is what is meant here”.

(Ref: Golwalkar, Chintana Ganga, 3rd Reprint, p.29.

Publisher: Sahityasindu, Bengaluru)

Golwalkar’s ‘Constitution’:

While noting the widespread presence of people brimming with Hindu pride, he notes that “a Philippine courthouse is home to a marble statue of Manu. “The first, the greatest and the wisest law-giver of mankind” it says below the statue.”

(Ref: Golwalkar, Chintana Ganga, 3rd Reprint, p.12.

Publisher: Sahityasindu, Bengaluru)

 

In the views of V.D.Savarkar:

“In our Hindu Rashtra (State), after the Vedas, the Manusmriti is the holiest religious text. From ancient times, it has enshrined the moral principles guiding our culture-traditions, thoughts and actions. It has codified and consolidated centuries of our country’s spiritual and divine journeys. The Manusmriti is the basis for the rules and regulations that millions of Hindus follow even to this day in their daily life. Today, the Manusmriti is the Hindu law.

(Ref: V.D.Savarkar, ‘Women in Manusmriti’ Savarkar Samagra, Vol. 4, Prabhat Publishers, Delhi. Extract translated into Kannada by Suresh Bhat, Bakrabailu)

 

Golwalkar on the Ambedkar-led Indian Constitution:

“Our Constitution too is just a cumbersome and heterogeneous piecing together of various articles from various Constitutions of the Western countries. That’s it…Some lame principles form the United Nations Charter or from the Charter of the earlier League of Nations and some hotchpotch of features from the American (US) and British Constitutions”

Ref: Golwalkar, Chintana Ganga, 3rd Reprint, p.245.

Publisher: Sahityasindu, Bengaluru)

 

In the editorial appearing on Nov 30, 1949 in “Organiser”, the mouthpiece of the RSS:

On Nov 26, 1949, upon the dedication and unveiling of independent India’s new Constitution, the following criticism of the Constitution appeared - “In our Constitution, there is no trace of ancient Indian constitutional laws, institutions, nomenclature and phraseology. Manu’s laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity (among Hindus). But to our constitutional pundits all these mean nothing” (Extract translation: Suresh Bhat, Baakrabylu)

 

About the union of states:

Poison seed: “It is evident from the union of states format of our Constitution that the conviction that ours is a harmonious unitary nationhood has not taken root within the framers’ minds. They have called our country a ‘union of states’…amidst today’s union (of states) format are hidden seeds of separatism”

(Ref: Golwalkar, Chintana Ganga, 3rd Reprint, p.229.

Publisher: Sahityasindu, Bengaluru)

 

“…for this reason, we must deeply bury for good all this talk of a federal format of our Constitution. We must erase the every existence of all ‘autonomous’ or semi-autonomous ‘states’

Golwalkar was for long the Sarasanchaalaka of the R.S.S (head
of the network). The founding father of the R.S.S was Dr.
Hedgewar. Hedgewar himself considered Savarkar as his Guru
(reverential form of teacher), philosopher and guide, and
Golwalkar, both of whose writings’ extracts are provided below.
Golwalkar’s God:
“There is a need for a living God who can arouse all the
energy within us. That’s why our elders said: “Our society is our
God…Hindu race is itself the (embodiment of) the Viraata
Purusha (the Vedic first/primordial man), a form of the
omnipotent”. Although they did not use the word ‘Hindu’, the
description below that appears in the Purusha Sukta clarifies
this - Sun and the moon are the eyes of the Lord, after
mentioning that the stars and the skies originate from his navel
- it goes on to describe the brahmin as his head, the king as his
arms, the Vaishyas, his thighs and the Shudra, his feet. The
people who follow this four-category system constitute the
Hindu race, and our God. That is what is meant here”.
(Ref: Golwalkar, Chintana Ganga, 3rd Reprint, p.29.
Publisher: Sahityasindu, Bengaluru)
Golwalkar’s ‘Constitution’:
While noting the widespread presence of people brimming
with Hindu pride, he notes that “a Philippine courthouse is
home to a marble statue of Manu. “The first, the greatest and
the wisest law-giver of mankind” it says below the statue.”
(Ref: Golwalkar, Chintana Ganga, 3rd Reprint, p.12.
Publisher: Sahityasindu, Bengaluru)
In the views of V.D.Savarkar:
“In our Hindu Rashtra (State), after the Vedas, the Manusmriti
is the holiest religious text. From ancient times, it has enshrined
the moral principles guiding our culture-traditions, thoughts
and actions. It has codified and consolidated centuries of our
country’s spiritual and divine journeys. The Manusmriti is the
basis for the rules and regulations that millions of Hindus follow
even to this day in their daily life. Today, the Manusmriti is the
Hindu law.
(Ref: V.D.Savarkar, ‘Women in Manusmriti’ Savarkar Samagra,
Vol. 4, Prabhat Publishers, Delhi. Extract translated into Kannada
by Suresh Bhat, Bakrabailu)
Golwalkar on the Ambedkar-led Indian Constitution:
“Our Constitution too is just a cumbersome and
heterogeneous piecing together of various articles from various
Constitutions of the Western countries. That’s it…Some lame
principles form the United Nations Charter or from the Charter
of the earlier League of Nations and some hotchpotch of
features from the American (US) and British Constitutions”
(Ref: Golwalkar, Chintana Ganga, 3rd Reprint, p.245.
Publisher: Sahityasindu, Bengaluru)
In the editorial appearing on Nov 30, 1949 in
“Organiser”, the mouthpiece of the RSS:
On Nov 26, 1949, upon the dedication and unveiling of
independent India’s new Constitution, the following criticism of
the Constitution appeared - “In our Constitution, there is no
trace of ancient Indian constitutional laws, institutions,
nomenclature and phraseology. Manu’s laws were written long
before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws
as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the
world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity
(among Hindus). But to our constitutional pundits all these
mean nothing” (Extract translation: Suresh Bhat, Baakrabylu)
About the union of states:
Poison seed: “It is evident from the union of states format of
our Constitution that the conviction that ours is a harmonious
unitary nationhood has not taken root within the framers’ minds.
They have called our country a ‘union of states’…amidst today’s
union (of states) format are hidden seeds of separatism”
(Ref: Golwalkar, Chintana Ganga, 3rd Reprint, p.229.
Publisher: Sahityasindu, Bengaluru)
“…for this reason, we must deeply bury for good all this talk
of a federal format of our Constitution. We must erase the every
existence of all ‘autonomous’ or semi-autonomous ‘states’
within the one state, Bharat…Let us re-examine and re-draft the
Constitution to establish this unitary form of Government…”
(Ref: Golwalkar, Chintana Ganga, 3rd Reprint, p.474.
Publisher: Sahityasindu, Bengaluru)

Inspiration for the R.S.S…

“RSS inspired by one flag, one leader and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva in each and every corner of this great land.”

(Golwalkar’s declaration to 1350 top-level leaders of the RSS at Madras, 1930. This is a fascist and Nazi ideology)

 

About Hitler’s Nazi and fascist ideology

“German race pride has now become the topic of the day.

To keep up the purity of the race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic Races—the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by.”

(Ref: Golwalkar’s ‘We or our nationhood defined’, 1939)1

 

“It is worth bearing well in mind how these old Nations solve their minorities’ problem…Emigrants have to get themselves naturally assimilated in the principal mass of population, the

1 Translator’s note: directly excerpted from English version of the book available online. Original acknowledges Suresh Bhat, Bakrabylu for translation into Kannada

National Race, by adopting its culture and language and sharing in its aspirations, by losing all consciousness of their separate existence, forgetting their foreign origin. If they do not do so, they live merely as outsiders, bound by all the codes and conventions of the Nation, at the sufferance of the Nation and deserving of no special protection, far less any privilege or rights. There are only two courses open to the foreign elements, either to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as the national race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at the sweet will of the national race. That is the only sound view on the minorities’ problem. That is the only logical and correct solution. That alone keeps the national life healthy and undisturbed. That alone keeps the Nation safe from the danger of a cancer developing into its body politic of the creation of a state within the state.”

 

 (Ref: Golwalkar’s ‘We or our nationhood defined’, 1939)1

The very fact that Germany and Italy has so wonderfully recovered and grown so powerful as never before at the touch of Nazi or fascist magical wand is enough to prove that these ideologies were the most appropriate tonics their health demanded.”

(Ref: V.D.Savarkar’s presidential address at the 1940 Hindu Mahasabha in Madurai. Excerpted portion translated (into Kannada) by Suresh Bhat, Bakrabylu)

 

Independence:

“That the underlying inspiration for the very existence of our independence is the protection and propagation of our nationalist values, i.e., our religion and our culture, is our historical traditional view”

(Ref: Golwalkar, Chintana Ganga, 3rd Reprint, p.425.

Publisher: Sahityasindu, Bengaluru)

2

THUS SPEAK THE DOCUMENTS

In the chapter “Where all lie the life of the RSS”, the excerpted writings reveal some of the thoughts and viewpoints of Golwalkar and V.D.Savarkar. Thurs far, only the documents have spoken. No sensible Brahmin, let alone the ‘others’ will ever accept this demonic past of the RSS.

Golwalkar gave the name ‘Bunch of thoughts’ to his book. The Kannada translation bears the name ‘Chintana ganga’. So be it; upon looking for anything resembling ‘thoughts’ (or ‘Chintana’) in the book, not even a little is seen. All they contain are three things and dangerous beliefs. That too, dangerous beliefs from the past. For about 100 years now, the RSS and their associates have continuously persevered to build today’s reality out of these (dangerous) beliefs from the past.

First among the RSS’s beliefs - the social order appearing in the ‘Purusha sukta’ is a God for them. The social order with the brahmin as the head, king as the arms, vyshya as the thighs, and the shudra as the feet, is the God for the RSS. This for Golwalkar is an embodiment of God; he calls it the “living God”. This view is the bedrock of the RSS’s beliefs. And this - for them - is the very realisation of God!

Ok, in order to examine this Chaturvarna system embodied God’s behaviour, it is sufficient to look at our own body’s head, arms, thighs and feet. The body’s head i.e., the mind commands and the arms, thighs and feet follow suit by serving at these commands. If we apply this to our society, as per the orders of

he Brahmin (the head), the Kshatriya (the arms) must rule. Likewise, the Vyshya must do commerce, so must the Shudra serve everyone. This is social justice and social harmony according to the RSS. This is an embodiment of their God, indeed a living God.

In order to indoctrinate young children’s minds, in the states ruled by the BJP (which is within the RSS family), they have begun teaching the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna, an incarnation of God himself declares “Chaturvarna orignated from me”. When was the (Bhagavad) Gita composed? Or in its original text, was there the mention of Chaturvarna by Krishna? Or is this inserted into the Gita later on? If it is inserted, when did this happen? All these will have to be definitely examined.

With regard to this, speaking on the authenticity of the Gita, Swami Vivekananda noted “…until Shankaracharya’s wrote a detailed commentary on the Gita and spread its fame widely, people were unaware of its details. Long before Shankaracharya, many (scholars) opine that the commentary on the Gita called Bodhayana Vritti might have been around… however, the commentary Bodhayana wrote on the Vedantaic sutras (laws) I have looked for across the Indian sub-continent and I have not found it…when even the ancient Bodhayana commentary on the Vedanta sutras itself is shrouded in uncertainty, given that his scholarly reputation rested on his authoring this work, it is futile to try to establish the existence of the Bodhayana commentary on the Gita. Indeed, some infer that Shankaracharya himself was the author of the Gita, and that it was he who interpolated it into the Mahabharata.” (Swami Vivekananda Kriti Shreni, Vol 7, pp 80-81, Sri Ramakrishnashrama Publications). Isn’t Vivekananda’s own words sufficient to show that the attributions to God were effected in later days by interpolation of these into the text to legitimise the discrimination and slavery of the Chaturvarna system? All these are not important for these people! These are also wasted on them. Their beliefs are history, their words are scriptures! Truth is unnecessary. Their convictions are the truth. Their beliefs must become the present (reality). The more these harm our Constitution, the more they relish in this as if it is victory (for them).

Hence, for this particular Hindu stock, which hopes for a child born in India as a ‘global citizen’ to be tightly bound into the Jaati-varna system and wishes for it to remain within its confines until its death, contemporary India’s Constitution drafted under the leadership of Ambedkar with its civil and humanist ideals, is actually a nightmare. This is ruining their sleep. RSS and their parivara (family/affiliates/associates) are involved in indefensible acts to destroy our Constitution.

Unconscionable acts towards this end. Not just a few!

The RSS parivara is enlisting support in a fight to uproot the very foundation of our Constitution, its federal structure, that our country is a union of states. For the RSS, pluralism is rupture, separationist, a poisonous seed. Golwalkar has declared ‘we must deeply bury for good all this talk of a federal format of our Constitution…Let us re-examine and re-draft the Constitution to establish a unitary form of Government’.

Furthermore, one flag, one nation ideology, and Hitler’s one race, one leader all-powerful authoritarian governance is their goal.

Let’s recall: Indira Gandhi of the (Indian National) Congress too was briefly dictatorial. This was only for a brief period, and her dictatorship was only administrative.

Let’s recall: During Indira’s brief dictatorial stint, the judiciary, executive, the press, and autonomous institutions were not rendered impotent as today. However, under Modi’s rule today, the judiciary, executive, the press and autonomous institutions are struggling for survival. The dream rule of the RSS has begun to annex all spaces of our society. This means that they (seek to) rule over (political) party, society, culture, executive…all of these. This is universal and unrestricted authority! Let us remember this.

And all this for what (purpose)? Could be to establish a Chaturvarna-based social order, or to create a Constitution based on the laws of Manu, or in hope of making Sanskrit the lingua franca (everyday language) of our country, or may be just for the high they get from retrieving the dark past and bringing it into our present. With regards to making Sanskrit as our lingua franca, Golwalkar has already declared that “until the time that Sankrit attains this, Hindi must receive the highest priority” on p.122 of his book, ‘Chintanaganga’! All of this is surely grotesque!

Consider the third of the beliefs of the RSS - that of the Aryan supremacist race. This has been their personal obsession. Here too, RSS considers Hitler, the cruel dictator and perpetrator of Aryan supremacist racist thought, as their idol. In his eugenics thinking, going one step ahead of Hitler, Golwalkar declared that in the perpetual Bhaarata (India), Aryan eugenic experiments have been happening since ancient

times. Addressing students of Gujarat University, Sri Golwalkar said “Today cross-breeding experiments are being done only on animals. The courage to do these experiments among human beings does not exist among today’s so-called scientists. If some human cross-breeding is seen today it is the result not of scientific experiments but of carnal lust. Now let us see the experiments our ancestors made in this sphere. In an effort to better the human species through cross-breeding the Namboodri Brahamanas of the North were settled in Kerala and a rule was laid down that the eldest son of a Namboodri family could marry only the daughter of Vaishya, Kashtriya or Shudra communities of Kerala. Another still more courageous rule was that the first off-spring of a married woman of any class must be fathered by a Namboodri Brahman and then she could beget children by her husband. Today this experiment will be called adultery but it was not so, as it was limited to the first child.”2

Here is an irony. After publicly showcasing his knowledge of genetics in his Gujarat University speech and after its subsequent appearance in the RSS’s official publication Organizer, Golwalkar retracted it! By then, however, it had already been published and got documented. A question arose on whether it is true or false. Does it become a false & made-up story merely on account of his retracting it? His presentation had the seductive appeal of candour that captivates one’s minds. His exposition was as if it were his own first-person

2 Translator’s note: Instead of back-translation to English from the author’s Kannada version (translated by Suresh Bhat, Bakrabylu, the same excerpt reproduced by the author from Golwalkar’s speech appearing in Organiser, January 2, 1961, p.5 is excerpted here.

account. This duplicitous manner of presentation of Golwalkar’s sows the seeds of falsehoods that spawn and prosper like weeds all over. These weeds of falsehoods live on till they are extinguished by an examination of facts, spreading wildly across the length and breadth of the country via Whatsapp, Facebook, news media and in public discourse. This art of making up false narratives and sowing these into right into our minds is the gift of Sri Golwalkar! The RSS and its parivar persevere at sowing seeds of false narratives relentlessly… without pause.

Firstly, the RSS which believes that the Chaturvarna system is its God, tries to wipe out other religions that originated in India such as Jainism, Buddhism, Lingayat, whose very origins are out of contempt for the Chaturvarna system; they incapacitate these religions to protect and preserve the Chaturvarna system. They do this by claiming these (religions) as their own thus expropriating these too into the Chaturvarna system. On the other hand, in order to crush Islam and Christianity, which cannot be claimed into the exclusively Hindu Chaturvarna system, they unleash their parivar to attack them. These assaults are diverse. They come in many disguises and are not of recent origin. Inherent to the origin of these assaults is their tendency for deceit and duplicity. An illustration of this: On 14 March, 1948, in a letter written by Rajendra Prasad, the President (of India) to prime minister Nehru and home minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel where he warns - “I have been informed of the plans by the RSS to stir up trouble among the masses. They have got a number of men dressed as Muslims and looking like Muslims who are to create trouble with the Hindus by attacking

them and thus inciting the Hindus. Similarly, there will be some Hindus among them who will attack Muslims and thus incite Muslims. The result of this kind of trouble amongst the Hindus and Muslims will be to create a conflagration.”3 Such was the nature of their deceit then. How much more can we expect in this day? How many more disguises?

RSS’s hate for Islam and Christianity is mainly because they just cannot amalgamate into and reconcile with the Chaturvarna social order. Both these are bites that the exclusively Hindu Chaturvarna system cannot swallow. RSS’s attitude towards these two is to bend them to shape and render them lifeless and without any rights, by hook or crook. Golwalkar has outlined this with great clarity on p.47 of his book ‘We or our nationhood defined’ - “…. (people who have migrated from outside) must naturally assimilate into the the national race, by losing all consciousness of their separate existence, forgetting their foreign origin….There are only two courses open to the foreigner. Either they ought to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as the national race may allow them to do so and to leave the country at the will of the national race…” such is his depraved racist attitude, a mere duplicate of Hitler’s.

3 Translator’s note: Reproduced the original (in English) instead of translation; sourced from (Dr. Rajendra Prasad to Sardar Patel (March 14, 1948) cited in Neerja Singh (ed.), Nehru-Patel: Agreement Within Difference— Select Documents & Correspondences 1933-1950, NBT, Delhi, p. 43) as reproduced in this thread & triangulated from other online sources & checked with back-translation from author’s version in Kannada

A nice illustration of how the RSS and their progeny create deception: the defamatory propaganda they are indulging in about Tipu Sultan. Tipu Sultan’s reign was from 1782 to 1799. The Sangh Parivar’s RSS scholars contend that Tipu Sultan was involved in the religious conversion of 69,000 Hindus in Kodagu (then Coorg) into Islam. Examine the population details of Kodagu district in the state gazetteer any which way mathematically and the population of Coorg at the time never crosses the upper limit of 69,000. If their contentions are true, then shouldn’t Kodagu be entirely Muslim by now? However, Kodagu’s muslim population stands at about 15% today. The RSS scholars are blind to this, nor does it puzzle them. Sow the seeds of deceit, and watch it grow. Tragically, these seeds of deceit are growing. The RSS and its family are even harvesting this crop of chicanery. It is evident from these that there is no Godliness in them. Deceit is their deity. It appears that these factories of deceit have strangled their own conscience.

Ok, if we must consider the truth to this, have all the Christians and Muslims in India immigrated from outside the country? Are the majority of them not those who were crushed by the caste and Chaturvarna system and hence converted?

Even so, is it not the case that in the early stages of Islam’s arrival in India, the Aryan Brahmins of north India were the pioneers in converting to Islam lured by power, administrative authority, military honours and status? Are there not many such converted Aryan Brahmins among the Muslims of Pakistan, whom the RSS hates? They dont want any of these facts. At least, look at the origins of the erstwhile Hindus, today’s Muslims? Are their origins not Aryan? Again, they dont wish to

engage with any of this. Their desire is for everyone to kowtow to the exclusively Hindu Chaturvarna stock. That’s the reason why the exclusively Hindu Chaturvarna RSS pretends to be the sole representative of the widespread majority Hindu religion, deceiving the large number of liberal majority Hindus, instigating hate and in the process enticing and recruiting them as foot-soldiers in its assault on muslims and christians.

Looking into the RSS draws our attention to a few other matters that invite close inspection. RSS is not alone in this pursuit for exhuming and awakening ghosts from our past and driving them into our present lives. There is an entire line-up of its progeny that have awakened in its shadow. RSS’s principal publishing house’s 1997 publication ‘Param Vaibhav Ke Path Par’ carries all the details. Among its progeny are BJP, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Hindu Jagaran Manch, Samskaara Bharati, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, etc., constituting about 40 organisations which are mentioned in the book. This is the number as on 1996. How many more have these spawned is not known. The ‘Daram Sansad’, a large Hindu religious assembly too comes under the umbrella of the RSS. Sri Rama Sene, an offspring of Karnataka’s Bajrang Dal too is among these. Despite all these being offsprings of the RSS, whenever these RSS-fledgelings indulge in their usual rampages and bring disrepute, the RSS’s standard practice is to deny any relationship with these. These organisations are viscerally linked to the RSS.

The most dreadful thing about the RSS is the ways and means they use in indoctrinating the volunteers who come into their fold. In the words of Golwalkar:

“The moment we become a part of an organisation and accept its norms, there is no more a question of choice in our lives. Do as you are instructed. Play Kabaddi if you are told to. Conduct a meeting if you are asked to…for instance, some of our friends were told to work in political activity. They don’t die for politics like fish without water. If they are told to withdraw from politics then they will not object. Their discretion is unnecessary.”

(From Golwalkar’s speech at Sindi in Wardha on March 16, 1954)

Here, Golwalkar negates the need for discretion. He also declares the lack of (individual) choice in this matter. The difficulty here is that young children are brought in and coerced into joining the organisation. They are not preparing people.

They are creating inhuman robots in the name of Swamaymsevaks (RSS volunteers). How to protect the children ensnared by the RSS?

The wider Hindu society needs to speak up in these troubled times, instead of standing idly by and witnessing all these barbaric acts by the Chaturvarna Hindu stock, which is actually a minority within the wider Hindu society but operates amidst them like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The wider humane Hindu society constituted of all the eight castes including Brahmins, Adivasis and all others needs to be galvanised.

3

TODAY, IN THE PRESENT…

 

Today, the BJP, one of the offsprings of the RSS, is at the helm of power at the Center and in some states. In our Karnataka too, by any means whatsoever, it has seized power. During the 1975 Emergency, the BJP infiltrated the Jayaprakash Narayan-led movement opposing Indira Gandhi's authoritarian rule. Since then its character has completely changed. BJP, once rejected by society, started to be accepted. The RSS members of the then Jana Sangh (later to become the BJP), who joined the Jayaprakash Narayan’s newly formed Janata Party promised giving up of dual membership (in RSS as well as Janata Party).

Prominent among those who made such promises were A.B.Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and (then) RSS chief Bala Saheb Devaras. Trusting their lofty reputation, JP believed them. Even if they all happily all and sundry within the Janata Party, the never shed their core RSS affilations, did not give up their dual membership in the RSS and broke their promises. JP was double-crossed and his trust was betrayed. Lamenting on this betrayal during his later years, Jayaprakash Narayan recalled, 'They betrayed me'. (During the emergency of 1975, when Jayaprakash Narayan was under house arrest in Chandigarh, the government appointed M. G. Devasahayam, the District Collector, for supervising JP’s

house arrest. In course of the daily companionship, he became close to JP. Their association continued after his release (from house arrest). The aforementioned words appear in an interview given by Mr. MG Devasahayam to Ajaz Ashraf. It has been published in newsclick online newspaper on 26th June, 2019.)

From there on, RSS and BJP Sangh Parivar’s fraudulent rackets spread across the length and breadth of the country. And finally BJP even managed to come to power in an atmosphere of confusion, suspicion and hatred, by portraying Pakistan as an eternal enemy State and propagandizing that Pakistan is the cause of even petty riots, instigating people one against another, creating an atmosphere of fear in society, and sometimes even causing riots themselves and blaming it on Muslims. And now, Hinduism, an umbrella faith for hundreds of rich and diverse sects and traditions, is lamenting like Jayaprakash Narayan once did, on the deceit.

Before coming to power, what were the number of promises the BJP made? What were the disguises it wore? Was it one or two you ask? They claimed they would bring back black money stashed away abroad by Indians illegally and promised to deposit 15 lakh rupees in the account of all Indians. Narendra Damodardas Modi himself said this. Who got it? If it came, where did it go? Then Modi promised to create crores of jobs every year. He has increased unemployment to unprecedented levels! Who will speak up? Who shall ask these questions? We will double the income of farmers, they said. They could not even retain the existing income. They made us bite the dust.

They are not allowing anything to remain. They make a life by selling public assets to the private sector. Foreign debt has never been higher. With their smooth-talking and sand castles, they bankrupt India. Unperturbed by rising unemployment or price-rise during their rule. They lit the fire of hatred between communities, watched it simmer and then boil over, and satiating people with this hate - this is their rule. Even those who voted the BJP into power and put them on the throne are having to regret it.

Consequently, the feeling of sovereignty among our citizens has deteriorated. Leaders elected into power by the people are no more accountable to the trials and tribulations of the very people who elected them. The reason for this is evident in the nature of political parties in today’s India, (1) 'Individual controlled' party politics (2) 'Family controlled' party politics (3) 'Non-constitutional association/organization controlled' party politics - these three types of parties are in power in one or the other side in India. All three forms are fatal to democracy. In the country’s driving seat today is the BJP, a party controlled by a non-constitutional association/organization. Just as the loyalty of those elected by these three parties is more to the person/ family controlling their party than to the interest of the electorate who elected them, the loyalty of the representatives of the party controlled by the extra-constitutional association/ organization is more to that extra-constitutional association.

This is more dangerous to democracy than anything else. Today

there can be no other reason why BJP legislators, members of Parliament, ministers or any big, small or petty leaders clamor for the attention of the RSS which controls its BJP politics, trying to impress them outdoing one another’s antics in the bargain.

Another salient feature to be noted in party politics controlled by non-constitutional associations and organizations, for example, Modi who became the Prime Minister after obtaining a majority to the BJP is projected as a strong leader. But he is a mere figurehead. The main deity, the RSS is comfortably seated in the Nagpur temple. While the figurehead parades across the length and breadth of the country. It thrives on extollatory cries of “Jai Jai” of the people. The skills needed for the figurehead are the art of performing to the masses and the sophistry to create emotional distractions when problems are spiraling out of control under his rule, the charm to fool people and of course the ultimate loyalty to the idol in the inner sanctum. That's all it takes. Isn't this what is happening today?

And another disaster for our democracy is that the leadership

of such a party controlled by non-constitutional association/ organisation, is decided as if it were like giving out holy flower adorning Gods in ritual offering which is given out to select devotees. Everything is like a game of puppets! A new puppet with more colour, sans skill or background in politics, and one which shall dance without protest to the beat, a puppet that can enthral audiences even more than the currently performing one, that one then enters the stage. It becomes the leader. The earlier one playing leader is tossed into a corner. If this is the case of those elected by the citizens? This is a fraught with danger. More than other development, this is the greatest threat to our democracy today.

Together, these have made people's lives miserable. If the

Prime Minister led by the BJP, a party controlled by a non- constitutional association/organization-controlled party, had the

needed competencies, unemployment would have reduced. Price rise would be under control. Government would not have run by selling public wealth. Foreign debt would not have increased so much. India's autonomous institutions would not have been rendered defunct and impotent. In this world of Prime Minister Modi, Ambani's total wealth before COVID-19 struck in 2020 was 2.86 lakh crore. In just two years (June 10, 2022) it has risen to 8.03 lakh crore rupees! Adani's total wealth, on the other hand, was 69 thousand crores in 2020 before COVID-19. Adani’s wealth was not even a quarter of Ambani's! However, Adani’s wealth has increased to 7.80 lakh crore rupees in just two years (June 10, 2022). (Reference: Forbes Magazine) Not just one or two? Being pulled in multiple directions by wide-ranging inequalities, India is flapping about like a kite without a thread. However, it seems that this government is only there to give all the concessions and subsidies to the wealthy, cut taxes for them, pay off thousands of crores of debt, literally writing off the debt and even allow them to borrow again. Who is this government for? It appears that the entire population of the country needs to sit and brood over this.

But no matter what happens, no matter if the citizens are struggling with problems, no matter what incidents occur or events transpire, no matter if the country is shattered, chanting tunes of patriotism, the laws and amendments being brought in by the non-constitutional association/organisation controlled party, the BJP reek of the Chaturvarna system, infiltration of the laws of Manu, subversion of Indian constitution, intolerance of Islam and Christianity, along with Aryan supremacy. At any cost, these ingredients are a must. If you look for these, you will keep on finding them. The Karnataka ‘Right to Freedom of Religion Act' does superficially look like an Act. If you look within, inside it is the destruction of the Indian Constitution and the establishment of the laws of Manu (Manudharmashastra). We all talk about our constitutional freedoms. But the RSS constructs altogether another meaning for 'freedom'. Guruji Golwalkar of the RSS has declared in his work 'Chintanaganga' that the 'primary reason' for the existence of 'freedom' is to protect and propagate our nationalistic values, i.e. our 'dharma' and 'culture'. Guru Golwalkar’s words are the equivalent of the Constitution for the BJP, an offspring of the RSS. Here, we must recognize that Golwalkar's view of 'Dharma' is drawn exclusively from a small minority group of Hindus who advocate for the Chaturvarna system and not from among the diverse traditions of the wider Hindus; if this small minority Hindu system gives unto itself the status of being the torchbearer for the entire religion, is this morally justifiable? This should be interrogated, and if the entire religion can be defined by what Sri Golwalkar says, then what should be the status of individual liberty, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion provided to us by the Constitution of India? Moreover, should those India’s majority HIndus who were previously relegated to be Shudras in the Chaturvarna social system, become Shudras again? Should they spend their life as the servents of Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas? We have to confront these issues head on. In his book, ‘Chintana Ganga’, Golwalkar seeks to bury the

federal system of India as a union of states. In one swoop, BJP

buried the federal system - by introducing Goods and Service Tax (GST). On the face of it, GST appears to be an economic reform. But what of its impact? The states of the union by agreeing to this new regime have ceded their financial autonomy to the Centre. We are now in a situation where, the states own wealth is placed at the foot of the center and they have to then beg for their share from the centre. Somehow, the central BJP government, by burying the federal system has fulfilled their Guru Golwalkar’s desire and paid obeisance to him - by taking the very life of the federal system which is the most important feature of our constitution! Also, staring at us now are the efforts to make Hindi the lingua franca as the first step towards achieving the goal of making Sanskrit eventually into the common language of our country. These are all small steps towards eventually realising their anti-pluralist aspiration of one nation, one language, one race, one leader, etc.

In the case of education too, it is the same story. RSS always lasts its hands first on education and history. An example of this hatred is the instance of omission of this sentence from the 6th standard text book: “Tipu Sultan fought many battles against the British. He tried to oust the British from the country by allying with the French". Likewise, Tipu's forays into sericulture, land reform, small-scale loans in instalments to farmers, construction of coin mint etc. were abandoned. Similarly, unable to bear the text in the 6th class text, 'Rise of New Religions' wherein Jain and Buddhism are introduced as religions, the Karnataka government has changed it to Jain and Buddhist sects (of Hinduism) and moved it to 8th class! The true religions of India such as Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Lingayatism have become bites that can’t be swallowed for thethe smaller Chaturvarna Hindu group. RSS is working hard to wipe out the true religions of India, which all reject the Chaturvarna system.

This revisionism of textbooks is new. When the BJP-led NDA came to power in 1998, the government of India's human resource development minister Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi included 'Priesthood and Ritualism' into school curriculum.

During his time, astrology began to be taught instead of science-based astronomy. Learning how to perform the Putrakameshthi Yajna, a (Vedic) ritual to get a male child was also introduced. They are inculcating unfounded beliefs and foolishness into children's minds. Recalling Golwalkar’s call for involvement in RSS activities to be essentially devoid of any critical thinking and discernment, once they are in power, they have set about implementing this in children’s education.

Recently, CBSE has removed several topics from their syllabus. Of these, topics such as democracy and diversity, impact of globalization on agriculture, popular (mass), movements and communalism were removed from the Class 10 syllabus. It is for this kind of school curriculum excisions that the RSS has nurtured one of its offsprings, the ’Shiksha Sanskriti Uttahn Nyas'. It has consistently been pressurizing NCERT to remove from textbooks, allusions to ‘the former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s magnanimous apology for the Sikh riots’, and the ‘killing of around two thousand Muslims in the 2002 Gujarat riots'. This is their chicanery. Who knows what’s in store for the way they shall choose to paint the unseen past when they can make what we all all seeing in the present itself disappear?

If this continues, there shall come a time when we will read read in our textbooks, depictions of the RSS founder Hedgewar, who spurned India's freedom struggle, and Savarkar, hailed as a ‘Veer’ (hero) today, who was released from jail only after he wrote an apology letter to the British colonial government, as the people who brought independence (from the British) to India. Not only that, the story of Godse who killed Gandhi may morph into a legend of him being a 'Hindu Dharma defender'. What of the yet to come RSS and its associates’ spawns and the unfolding saga!

How much more to hammer on about this? Realising the supreme aryan race - is that enough? Erasing the label Adivasi, the RSS is bringing into circulation instead, ‘Vanavasi’, for the indigenous peoples. The very people who wrested everything from the indigenous people (Moolanivasi) now seeks to build upon that legacy by taking away their names too. The reason is simply this: As long as the indigenous people (Moolanivasi) continue to exercise their identity, they will continue to feel aliens on this land. In line with this, recent DNA studies at Rakhigarhi on the ancient fossil DNA has revealed that the complete absence of any Aryan or Vedic lineage within the genealogy of the people of the Indus valley civilization.

Shocked by this, the RSS has begun naming the ‘Indus valley civilisation’ as 'Saraswati civilization'. So, what if we accept that the Aryans who came from elsewhere? India’s land embraces the children born in her as her own. Moreover, in India, ancestries of the Dravida, Aryan, Islamic and Christian are all inextricably mixed. This being the case, why is the RSS so restless? Why is it unable to live in the present? It seems to ha e been caught in some kind of an obsession over the Aryan race.

 

Also, let’s consider the boys from Sri Rama Sena and Bajrang Dal who are making a racket about hijab, halal, ban on sales, azaan etc.? Are these not mostly youth from the disadvantaged communities at the grassroorts? Should our country’s development goals not focus on creating jobs according to their strengths? The BJP administration, an RSS offshoot wants none of this. For the RSS and BJP, the shudras ought to be their foot-soldiers, their situation should remain insecure, and they should be relegated to being the servants as per the Chaturvarna practice. Akin to the condition of contract labourers. With the dismantling of the earlier land reforms which had ensured that the land shall being to the one who tills it, won't the landless shudra servant system be implemented again? By not filling up the vacant posts in government departments, not filling the backlog posts and giving away various public servcies to the private sector where there is no reservation in jobs, is it not an effort at making the reserved classes unemployed and reverting back into the shudra servitude? We see the same in the case of the central government’s efforts at suppressing of rights of workers'.

Based on data from the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a research institute, it has been reported that over 2 crore women have disappeared from the Indian labour force between 2017 and 2022. Is this natural, coincidental or merely part of the strategy to implement the RSS hidden agenda of 'women stay at home'? These doubts and suspicions obviously arise.

Amidst all of this they are privatizing education and weakening public education. As a result, across rural areas, education of girls is diminishing. While this much is known, all the unknowns haunt us. What ought to be done? And how? Are there any clear answers to this? The thieves are in the town, what do we do? How do we defend? Firstly, the entire town wakes up. At night the youth take turns patrolling and keeping watch in the mohallas. Women carry chilli powder with them.

This is the kind of this awakening and vigil we all need. Because, these thieves can come in different guises; they may come for temple maintenance for instance. Fake news can be spread. Hymn singing can be organised. An entire community can be hooked in through an emotional issue that they respond to just like a fish is caught by a hook. The only way out is to first uncover the plot. This requires us to be vigilant. Further, at least now, the sane voices which are a scattered few need to speak up about right and wrong. Words like love, tolerance, justice etc. need to be heard from within our society.

4

IN THIS BACKGROUND THE CRUX OF THE RELIGIOUS CONVERSION PROHIBITION ACT

The government of Karnataka recently tabled the 'Karnataka Religious Freedom Protection Bill 2021' in the legislative assembly, got it passed in a rush, got the approval of the cabinet to implement it through an Ordinance, and secured the governor’s assent to it and now it has become a law. This Act is called 'Protection of Right to Religious Freedom'. But if you look deep within, it is replete with prohibitions against religious conversion. There is not even a whiff of either religion, freedoms, rights or any protection in this act. Although named after freedom, the act only offers ways to demolish freedoms. That's why people have begun referring to it popularly as the 'Prohibition of Conversion Act' in line with its actual intent!

In the history of India, never before have there been instances of any ruler, king or emperor having enacted a law prohibiting conversion. India is the land of all creeds, sects and, spiritual experiments. This is Indian culture. This is the heritage of India. This is what is Indianness. Historians say that 'war ends in marriage'. Even in Indian mythology, gods and goddesses fight and lose and win, and finally get married and mingle with each other and live together. But these so-called 'devout' people are living in a state of intolerance, hatred, casteism and amidst the perverse and denigrating stratification of society by birth. The elected BJP government, harboring within itself the true ambitions of the RSS, and especially mandated to establish the reign of the Chaturvarna system, is now operating towards steering the country towards this past. This too is part of the same plot towards revival of this dark past.

 

The government has put all kinds of obstacles in the act against any individual who seeks religious conversation, all done in the name of protecting the rights to religious freedom; religious conversion is akin to drinking water from the seven oceans. Those who wish to convert to another religions now need to make a declaration in 'Form-I' to the District Magistrate at least 30 days in advance. Likewise, the religious authority who seeks to perform the rites of conversion should also notify his intent in 'Form II'. Then objections are invited. It seems any neighbour, relative, colleague can object to this! How bizarre is this? If conversion is coerced or lured, the only ones who ought to object are those who are actually undergoing it, is it not?What kind of frivolous actions affecting people’s lives by the government?

Besides, if you look at the punishment to be meted out to the one performing the rites of conversion, henceforth no one would probably come forward to perform these anyway. Even where the conversions are voluntary, these are misrepresented mischievously as coercion, fraud, undue influence, enticement and instances of torture to those offering to conduct the conversion rites have increased. So what should those who want to convert willingly do? Perhaps the only way left is for those who wish to convert voluntarily to apply to the District Collector in Form 1 and ironically demand that the State authority make arrangements for such conversion!

It might have been reasonable to have a prohibition law to protect conversion of people who have lost capacity for decision-making due to mental infirmity or and children. The irony is that if women and Dalits seek to convert, their very dignity is under threat by this act of the government. Women, Dalits, people of unsound mind who cannot make decisions, people with disabilities and children are treated the same in the Act. This is evident in the heavy punishment meted out to those who facilitate conversion of women and Dalit people. So, women and Dalits have an unsound mind? Are they to be considered to be disabled? What really is the perception of this government? It appears that this government considers women and Dalits to be unintelligent, without agency to make decisions on their own and without capacity to decision- making capacity. However, this government which enacted this act should remember one thing. They were voted into power by a majority of women and dalit voters. But what did these ungrateful people do? They discriminated against those who elected them and humiliated them by making them second class citizens. Both women and Dalits need to wash off this the stigma and humiliation by wiping out these people in the upcoming elections. Such elected representatives need to be taught a lesson, learn originality and gain an ability to make their own decisions. This gullible lot needs to be enlightened. Both women and Dalits need to wake up and question these elected representatives who raise their hands without discussion in the legislative assembly.

And what is the government really doing about this? These folks speak of freedom of religion in words and in their action ban conversion, in one swoop breaks the very legs of constitutionally granted individual freedom. The right to "religious freedom to adhere to, practice and promote any religion according to one’s conscience" granted by the constitution has been strangled. In addition, women and dalits have been humiliated by making them second class citizens!

The gist of all this will be clear with an example. A farce took place in the House regarding the ban on conversion. Hosdurga BJP MLA Goolihatti Shekhar, otherwise known for his antics of stripping off his clothes, described his mother’s conversion to Christianity. The question why that mother might have gone to Christ does not cross anyone's mind. Couldn't the frustrations of being Goolihatti Shekar’s mother have driven her to Christ perhaps? No one bothered looking her up! So, doesn't she have the "right to freedom of religion to follow, practice and propagate any religion according to her conscience" granted to her by the constitution? None of our MLAs have considered this. The stench of Manudharma of the ancient days reeks through which is built on the principle of 'a woman is subordinate to her father when she is a daughter, subordinate to her husband after marriage, subordinate to her son if she becomes a widow'. All in all, what has happened here is the 'destruction of the Constitution' and along with it the 'establishment of the philosophy of Manudharma'.

The reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) episode too is about the destruction of the Constitution and the establishment of Manudharma. Underlying the idea of reservations and affirmative action is the concept of social justice, with the yardsticks being the closing of the gap in education, social status and lack of representation in the field of education and employment. There was some justice in this. It had character. Prime Minister Modi, the one-man leader of the RSS BJP, in one stroke, implemented 10% reservation for EWS, i.e. 'Economically Backward Classes'. Due to this, the concept of F'justice', which was earlier in the reservation concept, was lost. Its character was also destroyed. Going back a bit, originally RSS let loose several groups that were at the forefront of violent protests against the Mandal Commission that advocated for reservation for backward classes. At that time, an innocent protestor died. With such a background, Modi, after becoming the Prime Minister, implemented reservation for EWS and struck at the Constitution from within. His intention is to make today’s Constitution ineffectual. That's why the group that is more socially advantaged than all other groups, and already has the highest representation in education and employment, gets to benefit from even more opportunities through10% reservations even if their overall population is only only 5%.! This EWS reservation gift is in line with the philosophy of Manudharma,i.e. more credit to the upper social groups! On the whole, they are making Manudharma into current practice. The RSS has created a toxic atmosphere, wherein, calling out unfair laws of the government, the Koogumaaris* of the RSS call them anti- national. Such is the suffering India is in.Koogumari: It is the popular belief of our people that if a Koogumaari comes in front of the house, and if one shouts 'O' or responds by asking 'Who called?', they will bleed to death. For this reason, naale baa (‘Come tomorrow’) is written on the front doors often.

                                                            5

NOW

 

So now, what should we do? To begin with let us consider what’s happening. Seems surprising! The RSS and its endless number of offsprings are working together without division and are busy building inequality and discrimination into our society. What do we make of this? There is really nothing to make of this. Again it is the same idea of reverting to those ancient beliefs from the past in order to destroy the Indian Constitution - society based on Chaturvarna system, Manudharshastra social order, supreme Aryan race. These three are among the retrograde beliefs that are the the very breath of the RSS. That is why they seek to first destroy our intellect. RSS Guru Golwalkar has said this very clearly. Thus an irrational organization which holds onto irrational beliefs that shall not be questioned tends to behave as if it is hypnotized and moves in a herd-like manner responding only to directions from above.

What of the other side? Choosing ideologies that seek to move society forwards, rational thinking, and trusting only after critical questioning? These could only spark new ideas. However, in organizations that aspire for such new directions, there are always differences and fissures. But today in times of the kind of crisis we are in, when RSS and the parivar forces are strong and those standing for status quo too are weak, more responsibility lies associations/organization/entities who wish to see society move forwards. Today, there is a sense of urgency and a special responsibility on these organisations to unmask the various guises of these retrograde groups who have created a big illusion of being the majority, but are actually a minority, which is advocating for the diabolical Chaturvarna system from our ancient past; their true colours need to be revealed to society. For this, in spite of all their other struggles, the ones leading need to be aware.

At least now, organisations that seek to move our society forwards need to coordinate better amounts them, look beyond their small streams and unite into flowing river. For this, they need to let go of of this disease of brahminical superiority. Inflated ego too needs to be jettisoned. One has to humbly accept that there may be many different paths to the goal. Singular rogue leadership has to be discarded. Instead of the pettiness of doing it for one’s own/organisatin’s glory, we should seek a broad-based alliance, for the survival of the constitutional principles, for safeguarding pluralism and our federal system which is the life-soul of India, for participatory democracy in which all the citizens participate, for realizing the culture of tolerance, for the love of equality of coexistence without superiority or inferiority. Justice ought to thrive in our society. Mixing with communities and wider society ought to bring a new lease of life to all of us. We need news ways and means for this.

First of all we need to wake up. The words on our door ought to be clear signal to the RSS Koogumaaris; we shall not respond to their calls when they come knocking, but rather bid them goodbye for the day like in our folk traditions. If we respond to their cries, if we agree with it, our downfall starts from that very instant. Rural country wisdom which says ‘Disruption is the devil, unity is God’ must be embraced. Today, social fragmentation is beyond control. Wickedness is frolicking wearing the mask of religion. Inequality has become the policy! We fear whether the flames that burn on our land will ever stop. Where will this reign take us?

One remembers the story of Suraraja, who got his followers drunk on liqour. He invited them into his palace to get drunk so that they may not raise questions about his rule, forget their problems and be happy, shower him with hail and praise and beat down his opponents in the streets. In their inebriated state, his followers stirred up trouble in the streets. They lose self- control in their intoxicated bliss. The king begins to lose control over the situation. He steps in to control the drunken mob. But the drunken lot, now irretrievably lost to their intoxication, eventually overthrow king! Where discrimination and divisiveness thrive, where the rule of law dwindles - this could be the storyline in store for us. This may be happening today, could happen tomorrow.

Because, this is probably how any frenzy of hatred, any frenzy of bigotry ends. It's like reaping what you sow! The fire of hatred, disaffection and blind beliefs when lit, first burn according to the will of those who instigate it. However, in the end the flames envelope the very persons who gave it life. The demon of hatred when birthed by an evil magician spreads far and wide and dwells upon everything and burps out of satiety only upon swallowing the very creator of such hatred. This is not magic-speak. This is perhaps the way nature ought to be. Todaythis applies to the RSS parivar. Not only for them, but also to anyone who sows seeds of hatred. If we do such things, we too could end up the same. Let us remember this and walk together.