Ram Puniyani
(Asian independent) After RSS was formed it went on creating many organizations steeped in its ideology of Hindutva or Hindu Nationalism, a concept based on Aryan race, Brahminical values and the land from Sindhu to Seas. It has given birth to many organizations which are more than 100. Many other organizations have sprouted which may not be a formal part of Sangh Parivar, as known popularly, but are having the same ideology. These include many others like association of Sadhus and sants outside the VHP, the cow vigilantes and those out to initiate violence at the drop of hat in the name of Hinduism. It seems that by now many such aggressive organizations are spouting things which go much beyond what limits RSS wants to put on its followers.
For Cow vigilantes Modi had given a statement that murder in the name of cow is not acceptable, and just a few hours later a Muslim man was done to death on this issue. Apart from the phenomenon which is continuing. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the significance of love, harmony, and brotherhood are central to the teachings of Lord Christ. He also urged people to strengthen these values.” Just a couple of days later the vigilante groups and even Bajrang Dal groups attacked a person in Ahmedabad who had dressed as Santa Clause and was distributing gifts. A video is going viral where two men dressed as Santa Claus being beaten up by hooligans at the Kankaria Carnival in Ahmedabad. This probably is the first year where people dressed as Santa Clause are being hauled up.
Already we had seen that Carol Singers were beaten up and since BJP came to power Carol singing has been stopped in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Bajrang Dal has also issued warnings to Hindus for their attending Christmas parties. How come these acts at the time of Christmas are seeing a new low currently?
Recently we also saw the claims on mosques that there was such a temple so it must be dug up a la Babri Masjid style. Seeing the spate of such made up claims, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat himself said that we should not keep looking for Shivling under every mosque. It is amazing that the claim is made, and dispute created in Kashi where a fountain looking structure is claimed to be a Shivling and demand for converting the mosque into a temple boosted. After the Sambhal claims, the violence followed.
Probably shaken by this and the feeling that the Supreme Leader of the supra political outfit felt it will bring loss of face for ‘RSS Combine’ and so he gave a sane looking call, “The Ram Temple was about faith, and Hindus wanted it built. But raising disputes about new sites out of hate is unacceptable,” he said. “Some people think they can become leaders of Hindus by creating new controversies. How is this allowed?”
And lo and behold most of the fringe organizations of Hindutva politics are coming forward to oppose it. One knows that RSS is a strict disciplinarian organization, and its members do not violate the commands of its leader. So who are these Senas, Dharma Sansads springing up by a dozen and going against the appeal of Bhagwat?
To cap it all, RSS’s unofficial mouth piece Organizer itself came forward to articulate the fringe elements’ demands and wrote that “Temple restorations are a quest for our identity! (TOI Dec 27, 2024). It also claims that temple restorations are for our national identity and to seek civilizational justice.
How come the hate is so pervasive that it is crossing the limits set by its own leaders? Is it that the leaders like Prime Minister Modi want the actions leading to hate to continue, as it strengthens their politics? If not then why are the perpetrators of violence are enjoying impunity? Why does the whole system from spreaders of hate speech, to those responsible for maintaining law and order and even to some extent even the judiciary have a soft corner for these criminal elements.
Having enjoyed the impunity for destroying Babri Mosques and lynching in the name of cow/beef or on killings and torture on the charge of ‘love-jihad’, now they know they can get away with their illegal acts. They feel that law may be bent to ensure that they are exonerated.
The phenomenon of Organiser opposing Bhagwat arouses curiosity. Is there a split within RSS on the issue? Bhagawat trying to talk peace and harmony and the managers of Organiser feeling that the path of Hate and violence should be pursued to its fullest depth.
There is another aspect which needs to be understood. When such phenomenons are unleashed for political benefits, initially the leaders congratulate themselves for their success in the electoral arena. From top to bottom diverse elements spring up and as Mr. Bhagawat said some of them ape for higher political position and influence. They are the one’s continuing their earlier political roots of which were sown by their leaders. One recalls that previous top RSS leader K. Sudarshan, who later became RSS Chief, was on the stage when Babri mosque was being demolished. This has been a classical case of crime and no punishment.
All the guilty of this dastardly crime of babri demolition were finally given ‘not guilty’ chit and the judge who did this for the communal politics, got a plum job after his retirement.
As they say, ‘as you sow, so you reap’, the demolition of Babri process as a whole tells us that it was not just a spreading of fake narratives of temple destructions, and many myths against Muslims. The result is there for us to see, where even the Supreme authority of RSS is not being listened to. The anti Christian campaign is just a continuation of the decades old propaganda against Christians that they are converting by force, fraud and allurement.
The likes of Bhagwat and Modi are witnessing right in front of their eyes that the Genie can be unleashed from the bottle, but to put it back is a task, which is close to impossible.
