HVK Archives: The man behind RSS
The man behind RSS - Rashmi Das
The Observer
()
January 30, 1999
Title: The man behind RSS
Author: The Observer
Publication: Rashmi Das
Date: January 30, 1999
The secularist tradition of writing history took great pains to
obscure from public notice, persons, events and totems which
were representative of the Hindu psyche. This fact is exposed
by G S Hingle in his book Hindutva Reawakened in which he
attempts to undertake the project of interpreting history in the
tradition of the Hindu nationalists.
The book essentially dwells on one man - Dr Keshav Baliram
Hegdewar popularly known as Doctor Sahab.
Employing a psycho-historical approach, the author traces the
growth of Doctor Sahab's perceptions from infancy to maturity
and the crystallisation of his thoughts in the form of an awe-
inspiring organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or the
RSS.
Born in a pious Deshasth Brahmin family, young Keshav grew up in
Maharashtra listening to the tales of Chatrapati Shivaji and the
Maratha resistance against the tyranny of the Mughal emperor,
Aurangazeb. Young Keshav often pondered as to how a handful of
Muslims could rule India for thousand of years, desecrate
temples, indulge in loot and plunder. These questions were to
pester Keshav relentlessly in his adult years and became an
important basis of his political methodology and ideology.
His political annointment took place during his sojourn in
Calcutta for academic purposes. Doctor Sahab was drawn towards
the extremist school of nationalism. Tilak's declaration
"Swaraj is my birthright", Aurobindo's prescription that
political freedom is the life breath of a nation and his advice
that social reforms, industrial expansion and moral improvement
without political freedom was futile, propelled Doctor Sahab to
join hands with the Bengal revolutionaries and the Anushillan
Samiti.
According to Hingle, the indispensability of Muslim cooperation
in the national struggle was another factor .which made Doctor
Sahab join the extremist ranks.
This did not, however, mean that the extremist were not desirous
of the Muslim support. But for them it was not a precondition.
Hingle goes on to add historical analysis that led Doctor Sahab
to conclude that natural cooperation of both the sections of
Indian nation was only an advantage and not a necessary
condition for nationalism.
To demolish the myth about his intolerance, Hingle documents how
Doctor Sahab nursed back Maulana Liaqaut Husain back to health.
The Maulana in turn as a mark of respect gave up beef eating and
was found holding the bhawa flag in all public meetings. This
incident was to form the basis of Doctor Sahab's conception of
Muslims being bound by Hindu cultural chord. The failure of
emigre revolutionaries to stir up uprising throughout the
country and the emergence of Gandhi and his method of creating
mass participation through insistence on truth (satyagraha) led
Doctor Sahab into the vortex of Congress politics.
However, three factors the Moplah rebellion, the Khilafat
agitation and the demand foil expunging certain paragraphs of
the soul stirring national song Vande Mataram from being sung at
the Indian National Congress's sessions - weaned away Doctor
Sahab from the Congress.
"Appeasement of militant Muslim communalism could not be a
profitable piece in politics. It could neither abrogate the
facts of history nor provide a solid base for national
integration in the future" said Doctor Sahab. He withdrew from
the field of active politics to deepen his study about India, to
contemplate about the mechanisms and ideas which would bring
national regeneration.
At the theoretical level Doctor Sahab came up with two theses.
The first was related to Hindu-Muslim relation based on
settlement and non-appeasement. Islam which came to India
through the gazis or the missionary warriors with Quran in one
hand and sword in another, failed to Islamise India. This
happened not because Islam had gone humane in the land of Ekam
sat vipra vahudha vadant, but due to Hindu resistance. Doctor
Sahab concluded that the failure of the Congress to arrive at a
settlement with the Muslims, instead of following a policy of
appeasement, would seriously imperil the future of India as a
single nation.
The second theses was related to the moral corruption of the
Hindu society manifested in medieval caste practices,
superstitions, and its history of treachery.
His keen study of history led him to conclude that a renewal of
national genius could come with the reinstation of the noble
values imbued in the ancient tradition of the Hindus. There was
a need for an organisation where training in spiritual and
militant nationalism could be given through debate, argument and
discipline.
In 1925 on the day of the Vijaya Dashmi, this vision took the
shape. The RSS was formed. Away from public glare a handful of
Doctor Sahab's disciples dedicated themselves to the Sangha in
the presence of the Bhagwa dhwaj, symptomatic with valour and
sacrifice.
The seed sprouted into a giant tree.
Today the RSS has more than 35,000 regular shakhas and more than
10 lakh swayamsevaks.
The book follows the style of a biography and reveals that the
author has an intimate knowledge of the RSS and also a deep
involvement with the protagonists. It provides valuable
insights into the understanding the RSS's point of view about
society and nation, the knowledge of which becomes. important,
considering the dominant position it has come to occupy hi
Indian polity today.
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