Hypocrisy of RSS chief

All the heads of RSS have always been saying that RSS is a cultural organisation. And we only do the work of character building in our organisation. We have no connection with politics. This cleverness has been going on since the inception of RSS in 1925. And that is why RSS was never involved in the Indian freedom struggle. On the contrary, it worked to recruit people in the British army and police. Recently, at a book publishing ceremony in Nagpur, Mohan Bhagwat said that “India did not get independence because of a single person”. What is his hint? Everyone knows this. But he should have said that “RSS was never involved in the freedom movement”. On the contrary, in the Quit India Movement of 9 August 1942, Congress resigned from the governments of all the states and because of its involvement in the Quit India Movement, Hindu Mahasabha along with Muslim League had jointly formed governments in Sindh and Bengal. And Shyamaprasad Mukherjee, who was a part of the Bengal government, wrote a letter to the Viceroy asking how the Quit India Movement could be ended. For this he had given information on ten issues in writing.

On 21 October 1951, i.e. within twenty-five years of the establishment of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the then Sangh chief Mr. Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar established a political party named Jansangh. And initially Shyamaprasad Mukherjee was given the responsibility of this party. Despite this party being 100% a political unit of the Sangh, the Sangh’s claim that it is a cultural organization? The reason for establishing Jansangh was that after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, for six months (from February 1948 to July 1948), the then government, and the most prominent name in that was the then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, banned the Sangh in the case of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. And in this regard, correspondence between Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the then Sangh chief Golwalkar is available. And that is why Golwalkar thought that we should have our own political party. And that is the Jansangh of that time and the Bharatiya Janata Party after 1980. But from time to time, the song ‘We have no connection with politics’ from the Sangh’s side continues. And Jansangh had joined the Janata Party in 1977 after dissolving itself in it. But due to the daily interference of the same Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the Janata Party, which is called dual membership in the popular notion (between the Janata Party and the Sangh), the Janata Party disintegrated within nineteen months. And the old Jansangh was brought into existence as the Bharatiya Janata Party on 6 April 1980.

And after that, to bring good days for BJP, Sangh’s pracharaks were sent to BJP to expand BJP. In which the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also one of those pracharaks. Like Ram Madhav to Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Sanjay Joshi, and many more people have been sent by the Sangh to important posts in BJP. And in the current situation, to bring BJP to power from the streets to Delhi, this position has been achieved only and only by communal polarization. For which, from the Ramjanmabhoomi dispute to cow slaughter ban, madrasa, hijab and in many places, all political activities around various religious beliefs like Ramjanmabhoomi are being carried out under a conspiracy by the Sangh. And whenever there are elections from local bodies to national level, the people of the Sangh actively work for the BJP candidates from the Panna level. But we are the cultural organization of the Sangh chief. We just do the work of character building. This tune continues to be sung.

But from 1951 to 14 June 2025, that is, today, from time to time, from 1951 to 1977 Jana Sangh and after 1980 Bharatiya Janata Party, to bring BJP governments to power in India and various states of India, the Sangh helps BJP to rule by putting in all its might through its members. The current BJP national president JP Nadda must have said a million times that “we do not need the help of the Sangh.” And perhaps that is why in the closing ceremony of the Sangh Shikshavarg in Nagpur, Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, while getting irritated, while counting the reasons for BJP’s defeat, has given a statement about the “violence going on in Manipur for more than a year.”

But hundreds of RSS pracharaks have been spread across the North Eastern states for more than 50 years. Manipur is also included in this. And I personally know some of these people. I had once visited a North Eastern state. So I got a chance to meet and talk with them. And since I lived in Calcutta from the 80s to 1997, these people used to meet me while coming and going from the North Eastern states. Except for the prominent names Eknath Ranade and Dr. Lakshmi, Balkishan, Prabhat Awasthi, all are Maharashtrian Brahmins. And what was going on in Manipur before this, did Mohan Bhagwat know more about it than anyone else, why did he remain silent? In fact, most of the disputes in the North Eastern states have started because of the people of the RSS. Because Balasaheb Deoras was the head of the Sangh from Nagpur sixty years ago. Since 1973, he has started entering the tribal areas and giving them a Hindu identity. In reality, the tribals, irrespective of where they live in India, are nature worshippers. And they do not belong to any established religion in the world at present. And this mistake is being made by Christian preachers, Muslims and currently the Sangh is trying to spread this misconception among the tribals by going among them. And the Sangh is also involved in the discontent currently going on in Manipur. Before this, the Sangh has tried the same in Tripura through Sudhir Deodhar. BJP has got immediate benefit from this. But it should not be surprising if discontent arises there too in the long run. Saying this after the defeat of BJP in both the Lok Sabha seats of Manipur in the Lok Sabha elections is like rubbing salt on the wound.

Now, coming to the matter of ‘arrogance’, my close friend Digant Ojha, a senior journalist of Gujarati Loksatta newspaper in Ahmedabad, has said that Narendra Modi is arrogant. And what conspiracy did he hatch to defame Sangh Pracharak Sanjay Joshi, who was specially sent from Nagpur to Ahmedabad, and perhaps even to expel him from BJP? He has also written a booklet on this titled ‘Swayamsevak Number One’. And this booklet was specially released by me in Nagpur. And in this booklet, I have written about how Digantbhai Narendra Modi is behaving with the Sangh, with sufficient evidence.

But on 27 February, after the Godhra incident and the Gujarat riots, Narendra Modi, by claiming to have a 56-inch chest despite having a 44-inch vest, has achieved the status of ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’. Did Mohan Bhagwat not meet Bhagwatji even after Sanjay Joshi returned to Nagpur after coming back from ‘Tere Kuche Se Beshabaru’ due to Narendra Modi’s obstinacy? And are Mohan Bhagwat and other RSS officials not aware of the matter of making a bogus CD to defame Sanjay Joshi and to defame his character? And the balance that Bhagwatji is talking about. Did Narendra Modi tell his ministers in a cabinet meeting after 27 February that “whatever reaction will happen in Gujarat from tomorrow, let it happen. No one will try to stop or interrupt the Hindus.” Was this statement made in the cabinet meeting also for balance? And before that, as soon as the matter of Godhra on 27 February came to light, going to Godhra 200 kms from Gandhinagar and handing over 59 half-burnt bodies to the President of Vishwa Hindu Parishad despite Collector Jayanti Ravi’s refusal, and taking them out in procession in Ahmedabad on open trucks, was that also for balance? Similarly, writing a letter to the Central Government to send the army, not allowing the army to come outside the airport of Ahmedabad for three days was also for maintaining balance as per your saying? And even senior volunteer Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister at that time. And during his visit to Gujarat after the riots, he said to Narendra Modi, “You should have followed the Rajdharma.” Was this also for balance as per your saying?

After that Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister thrice. And in the meantime, in 2013, when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat and when Nitin Gadkari was the National President of BJP, in the election held in the backdrop of Anna Hazare’s so-called Jan Lokpal movement, the way you all gave Narendra Modi a free hand, and he campaigned in the Lok Sabha election as the biggest star campaigner, using his friend Gautam Adani’s private planes, changing clothes ten times a day. And didn’t the Sangh help BJP win more than three hundred seats? Narendra Modi looked very humble then? Then who took the decision to send thousands of volunteers from Maharashtra to Madhya Pradesh to Bengal in the 2019 election? And in that election too Narendra Modi won more seats and became the Prime Minister, so that government became Narendra Modi’s? And did you or any other RSS volunteer not see the corona certificates, the huge hoardings with Narendra Modi’s photo at every petrol pump and important places in the country? And if all this was not enough, Narendra Modi has used the entire 2024 election to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister for the third time, this is Modi’s guarantee. Didn’t any of you see it with utmost arrogance? Now after the seats have been reduced, are you seeing arrogance, Manipur, humility etc.? Seeing Narendra Modi for 11 years as the Prime Minister, and 13 years as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, how do you or any other RSS volunteer, who has been in the cabinet with Narendra Modi for 11 years, like Nitin Gadkari, who has been associated with the RSS since childhood, and Rajnath Singh, who has been associated with the RSS since childhood, feel about Narendra Modi? Don’t you know this? If more than 400 Lok Sabha candidates had won at the behest of Narendra Modi in this election, would you have said what you said, Mohan Bhagwatji?

Dr Suresh Khairnar is Ex. President of Rashtra Sewa Dal