Constructing RSS Role In The Freedom Struggle

A response to the essay, 'Don’t Foist Fear Onto Nationalism', by C.K Saji Narayan published in Outlook’s Republic Day special issue.

The ideologues of the RSS clan are working overtime to create a narrative of latter's participation in India's anti-colonial freedom struggle. This project got impetus after the electoral victory in 2014 of RSS/BJP which was celebrated as the return of the Hindu rule after 1000 years. While attempting it they are least bothered about the contemporary history as it unfolded and have no regard even for the facts available in the RSS archives. The latest to undertake this task is C. K. Saji Narayanan ('Don’t Foist Fear Onto Nationalism' in Outlook, February 5, 2018) who is more brazen to prove that RSS was in the thick of the freedom struggle.

Saji claims that founder of RSS, KB Hedgewar was a staunch nationalist, suffered imprisonment during the British rule and "directed all RSS shakhas to celebr­ate the Congress’s 1929 resolution on 'total independence' by hoisting the national flag on January 26, 1930, and spreading the message of freedom". He also tells us  that "during Quit India, RSS volunteers also gave their lives in the Chimur agitation in Vidarbha—while unfurling the freedom flag, an RSS volunteer was shot dead by the police…The fourth sarsanghchalak, Prof Rajendra Singh, too is known for having taken part in Quit India. Till independence, every swayamsevak had to take a pledge with the words “Desh ko swatantra kar” (free the country)". According to Saji many of the socialist and Congress underground leaders took refuge in the houses of RSS leaders, "Aruna Asaf Ali and Jayaprakash Narayan were housed in Delhi sanghchalak Lala Hansraj Gupta’s residence; Achyut Patwardhan and Sane Guruji were sheltered at the residence of Pune sanghchalak Bhausaheb Deshmukh; and Krantiveer Nana Patil at Aundh sanghchalak Pt S.D. Satwalekar’s house".

Before scrutinizing RSS claims regarding the freedom struggle in the light of pre-Independence RSS documents, one may ask Saji that RSS leaders like Hansraj Gupta, Bhausaheb Deshmukh and Satwalekar who offered their residences as safe haven to the freedom struggle leaders, how that became possible? If these RSS leaders were participating in the freedom struggle then they also should have been underground and their houses under close watch of the British police.  

We are told that Hedgewar joined the call of the 1929 Lahore Congress that on each January 26, National Flag; the Tricolour should be unfurled publicly. RSS under the command of Hedgewar refused to follow it. Instead  he ordered on January 21, 1930 to all the RSS shakhas to worship "rashtriye dhwaj arthat bhagwa dhwaj (national flag i. e. saffron flag)". This order is available in a collection of Hedgewar's letter published by RSS titled Dr. Hedgewar: Patrroop Veyaktidarshan, published in 1981. In fact, RSS hatred for this symbol of the united freedom struggle of the Indian people was unambiguous. Just on the eve of Independence when nation was getting ready to watch Jawaharlal Nehru to unfurl it on the ramparts of Red Fort for the first time in history, the RSS English organ Organizer in its issue of August 14, 1947, denigrating the National Flag wrote that it would "never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country."

Hedgewar jailed as congressman.

We are told that Hedgewar as RSS leader went to jail in 1921 and 1931 during Khilafat Movement and Salt Satyagrah launched by Gandhi. The fact is that both the times he went to jail as a Congressman as we will know from the RSS archives itself. According to the biography of Hedgewar penned by HV Seshadri, published by RSS in English (1981) he was jailed for delivering an inflammatory speech in favour of the Khilafat Movement.  He was subsequently sentenced to one year’s rigorous imprisonment. There were two significant incidents regarding this jail term. First, Hedgewar touted as script disciplinarian hired a costly lawyer to defend him, thus openly violating the directive of Gandhi and the Congress that all those arrested would not offer defence. Secondly, despite one year’s imprisonment with hard labour in the Ajani Jail, on the day of his release on 12 July 1922, the same biography tells us "when he removed the prison uniform and tried to wear his old cloths, his old shirt and coat felt too tight! He had gained 25 pounds (11+ kilograms) in weight, in spite of the rigours of the prison life". It was first and last time in the history of the jailed freedom fighters that a political prisoner gained weight of more than 11 kilograms while serving the British jail. How it happened the clue is provided in this biography itself. He was on friendly terms with the ferocious British jailor, Sir Jathar.

The second jail term was the outcome of a plot. The Hindi biography authored by C. P. Bhishikar and published by the RSS discloses that Hedgewar ordered that "Sangh will not participate in the [Salt] Satyagrah". However, he joined the Satyagrah with an ulterior motive which was "that with a freedom loving, self-sacrificing and reputed group of people [of the Congress] inside with him there, he would discuss the Sangh with them and win them over for its work.” It is clear that Hedgewar chose to go to jail this time not because he had faith in the cause but in order to break the ranks of the Congress cadres. Bhishikar admitted that after establishing RSS in 1925 Hedgewar "in his speeches used to talk only of Hindu organization. Direct comment on the government used to be almost nil".

Non-cooperation and Quit India Movements (QIM) were two great milestones in the history of the Indian freedom movement and how nationalist Golwalkar hated these can be known by the following comments of his which are being reproduced from the collection of Golwalkar's writings (Shri Guruji Samagr Darshan, vol. 4 published by RSS): "Definitely there are bound to be bad results of struggle. The boys became unruly after the 1920-21 movement…But these are inevitable products after the struggle…After 1942, people often started thinking that there was no need to think of the law."

Admitting that RSS did not participate in the QIM he said: "At that time too the routine work of Sangh continued. Sangh vowed not to do anything directly. However, upheaval (uthal-puthal) in the minds of Sangh volunteers continued. Sangh is an organization of inactive persons, their talks are useless, not only outsiders but also many of our volunteers did talk like this. They were greatly disgusted too." However, there is not a single publication or document of the Sangh which could throw some light on the great work the RSS did indirectly for the Quit India movement.

According to Savarkar's collected works in Hindi (Samagr Savarkar Wangmaya published by Hindu Mahasabha in 1963) the fraternal organization of RSS, Hindu Mahasabha [HMS] led by the Hindutva icon, VD Savarkar went to the extent of running coalition governments with the Muslim League in Bengal, Sind and NWFP in 1942 when Congress was under ban and patriotic Indians were being shot dead for daring to carry the Tricolour. In Bengal Syama Prasad Mookerjee was deputy CM in the Muslim League ministry. Hindu Mahasabha also organized recruitment camps for the British army in India when Subhash Chander Bose was trying to liberate India militarily. RSS never expressed opposition to these anti-national activities of HMS.

Those Hindutva intellectuals who are busy constructing RSS role in the freedom struggle need to be honest to the pre-Independence RSS documents. Both Hedgewar (RSS chief 1925-40) and Golwalkar (1940-73), were opposed to the united freedom movement as its goal was an all-inclusive India. Golwalkar denounced the freedom struggle   (Bunch of Thoughts, 1966, RSS publication) as "territorial nationalism" which "had deprived us of the positive and inspiring content of our real Hindu Nationhood and made many of the ‘freedom movements’ virtually anti-British movements". It was this ideological commitment to building Hindu rashtr in India that apart from Hedgewar who went to jail as Congressman, Golwalkar, Deendayal Upadhyaya (prominent RSS cadre since 1937) and LK Advani (RSS activist since 1942) never participated in the freedom struggle.

Undoing The Soul Of Democratic Secular India: The RSS Pracharak Batra Way

The RSS brigade is fond of surgical strikes. Though there rages a dispute whether surgical strikes against Pakistan secured any favourable results but so far as its surgical strikes against minorities, specially Muslims and Christians and Dalits are concerned, are paying rich dividends to it. The lynching, maiming and robbing in the name of ‘ghar wapsi’ (forcible conversion to Hinduism), ‘Holy Cow’ and ‘Vande Matram’ as part of this strategy aimed at attacking the human wealth of India. But it is also working overtime to destroy the soul of democratic-secular India by attacking all that has been positive in the Indian education.

It is true that apparently it is busy in waging war against universities like Hyderabad Central University, JNU and Jadavpur University as these Universities heroically resisted the Hindutva take-over by the ABVP and pracharak vice-chancellors. The latest in this deplorable saga is that JNU VC has demanded display of army tank at the Central Universities specially the JNU campus. This demand for symbolic display of this army hardware is a precursor of a scenario when active army columns with tanks will rule such universities as happened in Bangladesh under Pakistani military rule and Indonesia under General Suharto. In fact, this warning was given in clear terms by a perennial hate-monger against right to dissent, G D Bakshi at JNU in the presence of many Central ministers that after “victory over JNU” there “are many forts like Jadavpur and Hyderabad University which our army will capture”.

Apart from physical attacks and threats of elimination to these centres of learning, a more insidious game-plan of RSS is unfolding through RSS pracharak, Dina Nath Batra. He, as a father-figure of the RSS demolition squad against the largely liberal-democratic-secular system of school education which aimed at producing inquisitive young scholars who would question the status quo. Batra has come out with a new HIT LIST to be cleansed from educational content.

According to press reports RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas headed by Batra sent to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) five pages of recommendations for removal of certain contents from school text-books. This Nyas had earlier succeeded in getting removed renowned historian, A K Ramanujan’s book ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation’ from the syllabus of University of Delhi. This work chronicled the hundreds of versions of Ramayana which existed in the Indian past in different regions of India thus challenging the singularity of the text of this Epic which Hindutva brigade wants to declare as a Holy Scripture. The Nyas also forced Penguin India Publishers to withdraw an original amazing work Hinduism titled ‘The Hindus: An Alternative History’ by renowned American Indologist and Sanskrit scholar, Wendy Doniger. The Penguin under immense pressure from the Hindutva organizations did not even bother to inform the author about withdrawal of her book.

It is to be noted that before targetting NCERT text books via Batra, RSS/BJP governments in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and MP have removed/curtailed references even to Gandhi and Nehru and added glorification of personalities like Savarkar. Emboldened by such successes school text books at the national level are the target now.

REMOVE REFERENCES WICH CHALLENGE MALE CHAUVANISM

Some of the items in the Batra HIT LIST are hilarious and exhibit brazen gender discrimination of the RSS.  For instance from a grade IX Hindi book explanatory-note of  a poem by renowned Hindi poet, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar has to be removed as such contents “misguide children and cause the loss of their character”. Another content whose SHUDDHI has been demanded is a chapter on the great Kannada Bhakti poet Akka Mahadevi which describes of an incident in which she took off her clothes in protest. According to Batra such “description of naked women” is an “attack on Hindu culture in the name of women freedom”.

Batra also demands that an extract from the 19th century activist Tarabai Shinde’s milestone book A Comparison Between Women and Men, which attacks patriarchy and is considered the first feminist text in modern India should be removed from class VIII text book. All references to Varna system need to be dropped too.

REMOVE REFERENCES OF VIOLENCE AGAINST MINORITIES

Over-all, the removal/rectifications demanded in the NCERT text-books by Nyas follow a pattern determined by the Hindutva discourse of polarization. Any reference to violence against minorities in the text-books needs to be removed. The references to the apology tendered by former PM Manmohan Singh over 1984 riots (which was in fact, genocide of Sikhs) must be deleted. The objection is to the following text in the class XII political science book. “During his parliament speech in 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed regret over the bloodshed and sought an apology from the country for anti-Sikh violence.”

Another sentence that “nearly 2,000 Muslims were killed in Gujarat in 2002” must be deleted. Demanding no discussion on ‘riots’ the HIT LIST decrees: “Several things (in these books) are baseless, biased. There is an attempt to insult members of a community. There is also an appeasement… how can you inspire children by teaching them about riots?” Thus, recurring violence against minorities is to be kept out of memories of students.

REMOVE REFERENCES TO AMĪR KHUSROW

The Nyas also demands that medieval Sufi mystic Amīr Khusrow (1253-1325) should be identified as a person who “increased the rift between Hindus and Muslims”. There cannot be a lie worse than this one. Amīr Khusrow was the person who laid the foundation of modern Hindi which Hindutva gang identifies with Hinduism and demands it imposition on whole of India as Hindavi. He wrote in Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic and Punjabi. He is credited with the development of qawwali as a singing genre, dastangoi, an art of story-telling and musical instrument like tabla and harmonium. Due to his Sufiism and liberal outlook about Islam he remained an eyesore of Muslim clergy and Delhi rulers throughout his life.

REMOVE TAGORE WRITINGS

The Nyas also demands deletion from school text-books writings and thoughts of one of the greatest literary-cultural icons of modern India, Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore a great poet, dramatist, author, musician, calligrapher, sculptor, orator and painter and recipient of Nobel prize for literature needs to be censured because “an attempt has been made to show a rift between nationality and humanity by citing thoughts of Rabindranath Tagore”.

It is true that Tagore with many great contemporary philosophers of the world like CHJ Hayes, Renan, EJ Hobsbawm and BR Ambedkar condemned the concept of nationalism as it fostered the growth of sectarianism, separation and violence against ‘others’ who were different from ‘us’. According to Tagore: “The idea of the nation is one of the most powerful anaesthetics that man has invented. Under the influence of its fumes the whole people can carry out its systematic programme of the most virulent self-seeking without being in the least aware of its moral perversion, in fact, feeling dangerously resentful if it is pointed out”

Tagore was the person who not only penned National Anthem of India but also of Bangladesh. Tagore despite being opposed to poisonous nationalism was a great patriotic Indian. He returned all awards as protest to the barbarous massacre of Indians at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, by the British army in 1919. While renouncing the awards he wrote to the then Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford: “The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in the incongruous context of humiliation, and I for my part, wish to stand, shorn, of all special distinctions, by the side of those of my countrymen who, for their so called insignificance, are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings.” We need to compare these actions of Tagore with the contemporary RSS leaders who kept mum on this massacre, not only opposed the freedom struggle but joined hands with the Muslim League in dividing the joint freedom struggle on the basis of religion.

REMOVE POEM OF AVTAR SINGH PASH

Batra led RSS outfit also wants removal of renowned Punjabi poet, Avtar Singh Pash’s poetry. The semi-illiterate (a status worst then being illiterate) Hindutva zealots of the Nyas want Pash’s poetry removed who was incidentally, one of the greatest Punjabi poets who wrote heart-touching poetry against those who were trying to divide Hindus and Sikhs in Punjab. He organized a literary-cum-political organization, ANTI-47 FRONT thus inviting the ire of some pro-Bhindranwale elements. He with his close friend, Hans Raj was shot dead on March 23, 1988 in Punjab.

REMOVE GAHLIB’S VERSE & MF HUSAIN’S BIOGRAPHY

The list of Hindutva demands for cuts is longish and described as preliminary only. Remove couplets of Ghalib (‘Hum ko malum hai jannat ki haqiqat lekin/dil ko khush rakhne ko Ghalib ye khyal achchha hai) who defied Islamic clergy throughout his life. Discard the biography of MF Husain whose sketches of Hindu gods/goddesses were once most popular and sought after in the calendar publishing industry of India because the “central government considered his activities a threat to the country’s unity and sovereignty”. Blackout references to some Mughal emperors as benevolent and reference to BJP as Hindutvadi party need to be removed.

ENGLISH WORDS LIKE VICE-CHANCELLOR AND URDU WORDS LIKE MEHMAN NAWAZI TO BE DISCARDED

Nyas also wants language cleansing. English words like vice-chancellor, worker, margin, business, backbone, stanza, royal academy must be dropped. Some of the Urdu/Persian/Arabic words to be removed are, poshaak (attire), taakat (power), ilaaka (territory), aksar (often), imaan (belief), mehman-navaazi(hospitality), sare-aam (openly).Interestingly, if it is the beginning of cleansing of the words from Urdu/Persian/Arabic languages then word Hindu also will have to be dropped. According to Swami Vivekananda, word Hindu was coined by the Persians. The RSS pracharaks seem to be beginning an era of language McCarthyism.

So if we find the Hindutva rulers facilitating the cleansing of minorities on the one hand, we find its ‘professors’ working overtime to turn school education into Daronacharya’s gurukul where only interests and ideas of high Castes would be served, Eklavyas having no place except when the latter cut-off their thumbs.

This Everyday Patriotism Agnipariksha (Trial by Fire) from Hindutva Needs an Innovative Response

On the eve of 71st anniversary of India’s Independence, the government of UP led by a senior leader of Hindu Mahasabha and RSS, Mahant Adityanath Yogi, came out with a shocking order for madrasaas (Islamic seminaries).

These institutiond were ordered to compulsorily observe India’s Independence Day, August 15, and the same compellef  to video-graph the exercise, to be sent to the administration, as patriotism proof.

The order was issued by registrar of UP Madrasa Shiksha Parishad, Rahul Gupta. The circular directed all madrasaas to hoist the tricolour and sing the national anthem at 8 am. The madrasaa gatherings were also asked to be told about the sacrifices of the freedom fighters. The flag hoisting was to  be followed by a speech on the importance of the freedom struggle and the sacrifices made by freedom fighters. It was also ordered that students would have to pay tributes to freedom fighters on the occasion.[1]

When asked why only madrasaas were ordered to celebrate Independence with a list of dos and provide proof of the same and this order was not applicable on the government school, the Basic Education Board secretary, Sanjay Sinha, crossing all norms of decency, fair-play, justice and equal treatment to all citizens, made this shocking statement: "We trust our schools. They are our teachers, our students and so why should we seek any evidence.''[2]

Thus making it clear that madarsa students and teachers were ‘others’ whose loyalty was suspect. This statement not only doubted the loyalty of Muslims attached to madrasaas but is also directed at generating  hatred towards the largest minority of UP. Such a statement coming from a senior UP official could lead to provokrd or perpetrated violence against Muslims in general and is a criminal act under section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code. The police should have filed FIR under the law.[3]

No action was taken by the State which the situation demanded. Even more shameful was the indifferent attitude of prominent Muslim organisations of UP who slept over it, instead of taking recourse to judicial redressal.
 
Madrassas played a great and heroic role in the struggle for India’s Freedom
 
The madrasas under communal attack in UP and elsewhere have been part of India’s glorious freedom struggle. The renowned historian RC Majumdar who produced tremendous body of research based works on the Cellular Jail found out that the first batch of persons who were  incarcerated there consisted of leaders of thr 1857 Uprising like Maulana Fazle Haq Khairabadi, Maulana Liaqat Ali and Maulana Jafar Ali Thaneshwari who died there while serving life sentences. The second batch of prisoners were Wahabi maulvi revolutionaries who had continued waging the 1857 liberation struggle.[4] VD Savarkar before turning into an apostle of Hindu separatism, in his monumental work on 1857 Uprising, The Indian War of Independence 1857 hugely praised maulvis like Ahmed Shah who “had woven fine and cleverly the webs of the Jehad.”[5]

According to the contemporary documents of the British military archives, in Delhi itself the British army after capturing the city in September 1857 hanged more than 3000 teachers and students of madrasaas. Muslims were not allowed entry into the city till 1859.

During the anti-colonial freedom movement, these were madrasaa maulvis (teachers) like Maulana Shibli Nomani, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Maulana Mohammed Ali, Maulana Hifzur Rehman, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Hafiz Ibrahim, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Habeebur Rehman Ludhianvi and Maulana Madani who with Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel bore brunt of the repression for being part of the freedom movement. Some of these maulvis were incarcerated at Malta and spent half of their lives in the British jails. It is to be noted that these maulvis refused to accept Partition of India on the religious bases despite Congress accepting it.

Madrassas with such a glorious role in the freedom struggle of India with countless martyrs from its past fraternity in the cause of the freedom of India, are being ridiculed and harassed for being ‘disloyal’. The State is out to teach the ‘anti-national’ Muslims patriotism. Let’s compare this fundamental character of madrasaas with the role of RSS and Hindu Mahasabha in the freedom struggle whose children the rule India presently.

The RSS Hatred for the Tricolour
 The RSS since its inception in 1925 hated anything, which symbolized the united struggle of the Indian people against British rule. The case of the Tricolour is the most pertinent one. In December 1929 Congress at its Lahore session adopted ‘Purna Swaraj’ or complete self-rule as the national goal and called upon the people to observe January 26, 1930 as Independence Day by displaying and honouring the Tricolour (the Tricolour was by consensus considered the flag of the national movement by this time). In response to this Hedgewar as chief issued a circular to all the RSS shakhas to worship the bhagwa jhanda (saffron flag) as the national flag.

Golwalkar, the most prominent ideologue of the RSS and Guru of many of present lot of RSS/BJP leaders while addressing a Gurupurnima gathering in Nagpur on July 14, 1946, stated that it was the saffron flag which in totality represented their great culture. It was the embodiment of God: “We firmly believe that in the end the whole nation will bow before this saffron flag.”[6]

Even after independence when the Tricolour became the National Flag, it was the RSS which refused to accept it as the National Flag. Golwalkar while discussing the issue of the national flag in an essay entitled ‘Drifting and Drifting’ in the book Bunch of Thoughts, an RSS publication and collection of writings of Golwalkar, decried Tricolour in the following words: “Our leaders have set up a new flag for our country. Why did they do so? It is just a case of drifting and imitating….Ours is an ancient and great nation with a glorious past. Then, had we no flag of our own? Had we no national emblem at all these thousands of years? Undoubtedly, we had. Then why this utter void, this utter vacuum in our minds?”[7]

The most shocking denigration of the National Flag by the RSS came just on the eve of India’s Independence. The RSS English organ Organizer (August 14, 1947) while demanding hoisting of saffron flag at the ramparts of Red Fort in Delhi, openly denigrated the choice of the Tri-colour as the National Flag in the following words: "the people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour but it never be respected and owned by Hindus. the word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country."

RSS/HINDU MAHA SABHA SHAMELESSLY BETRYED FREEDOM STRUGGLE
The RSS/BJP governors of UP by enforcing celebration of Independence Day on the madrassas of UP are, in fact, attempting to cover-up their betrayal of the glorious united freedom struggle of Indian people. The RSS never participated in the freedom struggle and it was confessed by Guru Golwalkar who was boss of the organization 1940 onward. Non-cooperation Movement and Quit India Movement were two great milestones in the history of the Indian Freedom Movement and here is how he decried these movements.

“Definitely there are bound to be bad results of struggle. The boys became unruly after the 1920-21 movement. It is not an attempt to throw mud at the leaders. But these are inevitable products after the struggle. The matter is that we could not properly control these results. After 1942, people often started thinking that there was no need to think of the law.”[8]

Thus, Golwalkar wanted the Indians to respect the draconian and repressive laws of the inhuman British rulers! Guruji also confessed how RSS kept away from the freedom movement.

“In 1942 also there was a strong sentiment in the hearts of many. At that time, too the routine work of Sangh continued. Sangh vowed not to do anything directly. However, upheaval (uthal-puthal) in the minds of Sangh volunteers continued. Sangh is an organization of inactive persons, their talks are useless, not only outsiders but also many of our volunteers did talk like this. They were greatly disgusted too.”[9]

The Hindu Mahasabha led by RSS beloved, Savarkar, ran coalition governments with Muslim League in Bengal, Sind and NWFP when Congress was banned due to the launch of Quit India Movement. Shockingly, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, another Hindutva icon of RSS/BJP was deputy chief minister in the Muslim League ministry of Bengal.[10]

It must have been the ideological reason that Golwalkar (RSS chief since 1940), Deendayal Upadhyay (prominent RSS cadre since 1937) and LK Advani (RSS activist since 1942) never participated in the freedom struggle.

Even the greatest Hindutva icon of the RSS/BJP, Savarkar wrote 4-5 mercy petitions to the British masters for release from Cellular Jail. Ultimately, he was released after 10 years whereas he had been sentenced for 50 years.

This discriminatory order doubting the patriotism of Muslims imposed by the RSS/BJP rulers of UP for madrasaas has, naturally, terrorized Muslims of UP and a strong sense of despair prevails amongst them. They are scared that this issue like cow will be used to physically target them and another spell of lynching and destruction will follow.

Saddest part is that the Muslim organizations which mushroom in UP and elsewhere have kept mum on this brazen attack. The discriminatory order was not challenged for being a serious cause of spreading hatred against common Muslims. Apart from challenging it, madrasaa administrations should have used this opportunity to the to equip the Muslim audiences with the anti-national history of the RSS/BJP rulers. If they announce that next August 15 (2018), the madrassas would discuss the treacherous anti-national role of the Hindutva gang while following this order, it may be consigned to the dustbin. But for it the madrasaas will have to prepare documents in Urdu specially focussing on the betrayal of freedom struggle by the Hindutva gang. Next August 15 is not too long away, the preparations must start now.

RSS AND CONSPIRACIES: MADE FOR EACH OTHER

RSS and its off springs are master conspirators. In fact, RSS as fountain head of the Hindutva politics is a gurukul of teaching the art of how to conspire and where to execute the conspiracies. It thrives by hatching conspiracies to undermine truth and destroy its adversaries. RSS like any other fascist organization relies on intrigues and it is through conspiracies that it attempts to legitimize its nefarious agenda. The purpose is to turn victims into perpetrators.

The latest expose has come from Kerala. A leading English daily, The Indian Express wrote: “In what could be a major embarrassment for the BJP, a Yuva Morcha [youth wing of the RSS] leader apparently condemned a petrol bomb attack on the party‟s Thiruvananthapuram office on the social media hours before the actual incident took place, triggering speculation that the attack was planned and executed by the saffron party itself.”i The Yuva Morcha leader Jayadev Hareendran Nair, a top RSS functionary in Kerala had put out three Facebook posts on Wednesday (June 7 at 8.01 am, 5.01 pm and 6.31 pm) condemning the attack on the BJP office where as the actual ‘attack’ took place between 8.30 pm and 9 pm. 

There is a long history of RSS and its offshoots using such deceitful tactics. Many of these are documented even in the RSS publications. Central publication house of the RSS, Suruchi Prakashan, Delhi, published a book in 1997, titled Param Vaibhav Ke Path Par (ON THE ROAD TO GREAT GLORY) penned by Sadanand Damodar Sapre, a senior RSS functionary. This book contained details of more than 40 organizations created by the RSS for different tasks but more importantly it described how many of these organizations are run in a clandestine manner in order to execute hidden agendas.  

This publication showed that the whole RSS network ran like a well-organized mafia through its subsidiaries and satellites. There has always been a conscious attempt to create confusion about its different fronts which provide RSS with the opportunity to dissociate with any of these as per its convenience. For instance it used Hindu Jagaran Manch (HJM) for attacking Christians in late 1990s and when public opinion, media, judiciary and Parliament seemed to turn against it, RSS denied any relation with HJM. It created forums like HJM with what intention was made clear in this RSS publication in the following words:  
“From the point of view of Hindu awakening this kind of forums [like Hindu Jagran Manch] at present are active in 17 states with different names like „Hindu Manch‟ in Delhi, „Hindu Munani‟ in Tamilnadu, „Hinduekjut‟ in Maharashtra. These are forums, not associations or organizations, that are why it is not required to have membership, registration and elections.”ii (1) It is clear that such organizations with no record of membership, no registration and no internal elections are created by the RSS. Such an organizational model provides an opportunity to RSS to disown any individual or organization.  

True to its nature RSS takes recourse to conspiracies often. It can be known by the following disclosure in Param Vaibhav Ke Path Par about a case in Delhi immediately after partition: “Swayamsevaks had posed to have adopted Musalman [sic] religion in order to gain the confidence of Delhi Muslim League for knowing their conspiracies.”iii

What these RSS swayamsevaks, impersonating as Muslims on the eve of Independence, were doing was made clear by none other than Dr. Rajendra Prasad who later became first President of the Indian Republic. In a letter to the first Home Minister of India, Sardar Patel, on March 14, 1948, he wrote:  “I am told that RSS people have a plan of creating trouble. 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.”iv  

True to its nature RSS takes recourse to conspiracies often. It can be known by the following disclosure in Param Vaibhav Ke Path Par about a case in Delhi immediately after partition: “Swayamsevaks had posed to have adopted Musalman [sic] religion in order to gain the confidence of Delhi Muslim League for knowing their conspiracies.”iii  

What these RSS swayamsevaks, impersonating as Muslims on the eve of Independence, were doing was made clear by none other than Dr. Rajendra Prasad who later became first President of the Indian Republic. In a letter to the first Home Minister of India, Sardar Patel, on March 14, 1948, he wrote:  “I am told that RSS people have a plan of creating trouble. 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.”iv  

The following passage from the autobiography of the first Home Secretary of UP, Rajeshwar Dayal, ICS, clearly shows the sinister and criminal designs of the RSS to organize a pogrom of Muslims in the western Uttar Pradesh (the largest province in the Indian Union) and thus break the unity of the country just on the eve of Independence.  

“I must record an episode of a very grave nature when the procrastination and indecision of the UP Cabinet led to dire consequences. When communal tension was still at fever pitch, the Deputy Inspector General of Police of the Western Range, a very seasoned and capable officer, B. B. L. Jaitley, arrived at my house in great secrecy. He was accompanied by two of his officers who brought with them two large steel trunks securely locked. When the trunks were opened, they revealed incontrovertible evidence of a dastardly conspiracy to create a communal holocaust throughout the Western districts of the province. The trunks were crammed with blueprints of great accuracy and professionalism of every town and village in that vast area, prominently marking out the Muslim localities and habitations. There were also detailed instructions regarding access to the various locations, and other matters which amply revealed the sinister purport.  

Greatly alarmed by those revelations, I immediately took the police party to the Premier‟s [chief minister‟s] house. There, in a closed room, Jaitley gave a full report of his discovery, backed by all the evidence contained in the steel trunks. Timely raids conducted on the premises of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) had brought the massive conspiracy to light. The whole plot had been concerted under the direction and supervision of the Supremo of the organization himself. Both Jaitley and I pressed for the immediate arrest of the prime accused, Shri Golwalkar, who was still in the area.  

Pantji [G. B. Pant] could not but accept the evidence of his eyes and ears and expressed deep concern. But instead of agreeing to the immediate arrest of the ringleader as we had hoped, and as Kidwai would have done, he asked for the matter to be placed for consideration by the Cabinet at its next meeting. It was no doubt a matter of political delicacy as the roots of the RSS had gone deep into the body politic. There were also other political compulsions, as RSS sympathizers, both covert and overt, were to be found in the Congress Party itself and even in the Cabinet. It was no secret that the presiding officer of the Upper House, Atma Govind Kher, was himself an adherent and his sons were openly members of the RSS.  

At the Cabinet meeting there was the usual procrastination and much irrelevant talk. The fact that the police had unearthed a conspiracy which would have set the whole province in flames and that the officers concerned deserved warm commendation hardly seemed to figure in the discussion.  

What ultimately emerged was that a letter should be issued to Shri Golwalkar pointing out the contents and nature of the evidence which had been gathered and demanding an explanation thereof. At my insistence, such a letter if it were to be sent, should be issued by the Premier himself to carry greater weight. Panditji asked me to prepare a draft, which I did in imitation of his own characteristic style. The letter was to be delivered forthwith and two police officers were assigned for the purpose.  

Golwalkar, however, had been tipped off and he was nowhere to be found in the area. He was tracked down southwards but he managed to elude the couriers in pursuit. This infructuous chase continued from place to place and weeks passed. Came January 30, 1948 when the Mahatma, that supreme apostle of peace, fell to a bullet fired by an RSS fanatic. The tragic episode left me sick at heart.”v  

The whole story of how RSS conspired with other Hindutva organizations to kill Gandhi on January 30, 1948, is available in the National Archives, Delhi. The RSS was banned on February 4, 1948 for murder of Gandhi. The banning order outlining the reason for it was very clear. "Undesirable and even dangerous activities have been carried on by members of the Sangh. It has been found that in several parts of the country individual members of the RSS have indulged in acts of violence involving arson, robbery, dacoity, and murder and have collected illicit arms and ammunition. They have been found circulating leaflets exhorting people to resort to terrorist methods, to collect firearms, to create disaffection against the government and suborn the police and the military."vi  

It was further corroborated by Sardar Patel in a letter (11 September 1948) to the head of the RSS, Golwalkar: "All their [RSS] speeches were full of communal poison. It was not necessary to spread poison in order to enthuse the Hindus and organize for their protection. As a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji. Even an iota of the sympathy of the Government, or of the people, no more remained for the RSS. In fact opposition grew. Opposition turned more severe, when the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhiji's death. Under these conditions it became inevitable for the Government to take action against the RSS…Since then, over six months have elapsed. We had hoped that after this lapse of time, with full and proper consideration the RSS persons would come to the right path. But from the reports that come to me, it is evident that attempts to put fresh life into their same old activities are afoot."vii  

Sardar Patel held Hindu Mahasabha and RSS jointly responsible for the murder of Father of the Nation. He underlined this fact in a letter to the prominent leader of Hindu Mahasabha, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee on July 18, 1948. Sardar wrote: "As regards the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, the case relating to Gandhiji's murder is subjudice and I should not like to say anything about the participation of the two organizations, but our reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities of these two bodies, particularly the former, an atmosphere was created in the country in which such a ghastly tragedy became possible. There is no doubt in my mind that the extreme section of the Hindu Mahasabha was involved in the conspiracy. 

The activities of the RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence of Government and the State. Our reports show that those activities, despite the ban, have not died down. Indeed, as time has marched on, the RSS circles are becoming more defiant and are indulging in their subversive activities in an increasing measure."viii  

It was no different in 1992 when RSS had conspired to demolish a historical mosque at Ayodhya. It had given undertaking to highest court of Justice, the Supreme Court and the then PM, Narsimha Rao that it would not touch the mosque on December 6, 1992. But it remained true to its conspiratorial way and mosque was demolished without any remorse.  

Likewise, there are strong reasons that the burning of a sleeper coach of Sabarmati Express at Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002 in which 59 innocent passengers were burnt alive by a ‘mob of Muslims’ was a Hindutva conspiracy. It triggered genocide of Muslims in Gujarat and ensured victory of Narendra Bhai Modi as CM of Gujarat in December 2002. It was interesting to note that ‘Hindu reaction’ to ghastly killing of ‘kar-sevaks’ at Godhra remained confined to Gujarat only where assembly elections were due. There was no antiMuslim violence in the heavily Hindu populated areas touching borders of Gujarat in MP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Who benefitted by the burning of coach at Godhra is an issue which needs deep study. 

Now with a government mainly constituted of RSS cadres this juggernaut of conspirators is in full steam. The latest conspiracy in Kerala is to defame the left-front government in Kerala and create a situation of instability which can pave way for central intervention. Such nefarious Hindutva politics can be checked only by a united response from Indians who are committed to a democratic-secular India. 

RESURRECTING PANDIT DEENDAYAL UPADHYAY WHO DIED A MYSTERIOUS DEATH FOR SHUDDHI OF INDIAN MUSLIMS

PM Modi a senior seasoned swayamsevak of RSS who describes himself as ‘Hindu nationalist’ misses no opportunity to denigrate minorities of India specially Muslims. The latest was when on September 25, 2016 while addressing a national level BJP conclave at Kozhikode, Kerala he did not forget to share his belief with his captive audience about Muslims being ‘other’ or ‘different from ‘us’ borrowing directly from RSS archives. For him Muslims were not like any other citizens of India but a problem and to put across his message with more clarity he quoted a senior ideologue of the RSS, Deendayal Upadhyaya (1916-1968).[i] According to Modi: “Fifty years ago, Pandit Upadhyaya said 'do not reward/appease (puraskrit) Muslims, do not shun (tiraskrit) them but purify (parishkar) them'. Do not treat Muslims like vote ki mandi ka maal (vote banks) or ghrina ki vastu (object of hatred). Unhe apna samjho (regard them as your own)"[ii]

This statement of Modi was widely reported by media. But the most shocking aspect was that Hindi word ‘parishkar’ which means ‘to purify’ was changed to ‘empowerment’ by English media and ‘sashaktikaran’ by the Hindi media. Even media houses which are supposed to be objective did it[iii] and same was with the print media[iv] except few exceptions like The Tribune and The Telegraph. It is to be noted that in none of the Hindi/Sanskrit to English dictionaries ‘parishkar’ is translated as ‘empowerment’. Why this ‘creativity’ was done in changing the meaning of a word spoken by PM Modi is not difficult to explain. The media is working overtime to present Modi as a great democrat despite his Hindutva and anti-democratic/secular leanings.

It is to be noted that at a time when Indian defences are being breached by the terrorists from Pakistan (Pathankot and Uri) in which dozens of brave India soldiers have laid down their lives, different parts of the country like Haryana and Maharashtra are witnessing Caste-wars and Karnataka and Tamilnadu water-wars, when Dalits and minorities across the country are facing unparalleled persecution, heinous crimes against women have crossed all limits and unemployment and rise in prices is all time high in last five years, PM Modi instead of concentrating on talking on the above problems chose to talk about Muslims.

It is to be noted that Deendayal was not against minorities specially Muslims and Christians only. As a Hindutva zealot and ideologue he believed in Casteism, converting democratic-secular India into a Hindu state, centralization of powers and defended non-participation in anti-British freedom struggle. He propounded the theory of ‘Cultural nationalism’ which was Hindu nationalism, a part of Hindutva ideology.

MUSLIMS AS A ‘COMPLEX PROBLEM’
It is to be remembered that Deendayal throughout his life treated Muslims not as equal citizens and part of Indian polity but as a ‘complex problem’. According to him, “after independence many important problems had to be faced by the government, the political parties and the people…But the Muslim problem is the oldest, the most complicated and it assumes ever-new forms. This problem has been facing us for the last twelve hundred years.”[v]

This hatred for Indian Muslims was, in fact, continuation of Hindutva brigade’s inimical attitude towards Islam and Muslims. The most prominent ideologue of the RSS, MS Golwalkar who personally groomed Deendayal as a politician had earlier described Muslims as ‘Internal Threat No. 1’. Christians were declared to be ‘Internal Threat No. 2’.[vi] According to him these two communities could not be described as minorities.

DEFENCE OF CASTEISM
Deendayal was a votary of Casteism describing it as not only natural but also practical. He went to the extent of equating it with swadharma (one’s own religion). In fact, he declared inequality to be natural to human society, thus treating Casteism also as a natural institution. Defending Casteism he said: “Even though slogans of equality are raised in the modern world, the concept of equality has to be accepted with discretion. Our actual experience is that from the practical and material point of view, no two men are alike… Considerable bitterness could be avoided if the idea of equality as conceived by Hindu thinkers is studied more carefully. The first and basic premise is that even if men have different qualities and different kinds of duties allotted to them according to their qualities or aptitudes, all duties are equally dignified. This is called swadharma, and there is an unequivocal assurance that to follow swadharma is itself equivalent to the worship of God. So, in any duties performed to fulfill swadharma, the question of high and low, dignified and undignified does not arise at all. If the duty is done without selfishness, no blame attaches itself to the doer.”[vii]  

QUESTIONING FREEDOM STRUGGLE
Deendayal joined RSS when he was 26 years old and India was facing one of the most brutal repressions unleashed by the British rulers. Like any other leader or cadre of the RSS, Deendayal too did not participate in the freedom struggle for the obvious reason that it was a united struggle of people of all religions for a democratic-secular India and not an exclusive Hindu project. He denigrated the glorious freedom struggle in the following words:  

“we were obsessed by the misleading notion that freedom consisted merely in overthrowing foreign rule. Opposition to a foreign government does not necessarily imply genuine love of Motherland…During the struggle for independence great emphasis was laid on the opposition to British rule…It came to be believed that whoever opposed the British was a patriot. A regular campaign was launched in those days to create utter dissatisfaction against the British by holding them responsible for every problem and misery which the people in our country had to face.”[viii]

ONLY HINDUS FORM THE NATION
Deendayal did not subscribe to the idea of Indian nationalism and stood for Hindu nationalism. He refused to accept Muslims and Christians as co-nationalists despite residing in India for hundreds of years. According to him only Hindus could be the flag-bearers of Indian nationalism as only they worshipped the Motherland. For them Motherland was like the goddess Durga wielding ten weapons. Hindus formed a stable nation as only they had common view of life. For him, “Hindutva alone is the basis of nationalism in Bharat […] It is altogether wrong for the Hindus to prove their nationhood by European standards. It has been accepted as axiomatic for thousands of years.”[ix]

HARMFUL FEDERALISM
Deendayal like KB Hedgewar, founder of RSS and Golwalkar loved centralization of power and hated federalism as an integral part of Indian Constitution. According to him, “ethos of Bharat is such that a Unitary form of government would fit in and that in the very first article of the Constitution, a clear statement that ‘Bharat shall be a Unitary State’ was essential.”[x]

MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF DEENDAYAL UPADHYAYA
On February 1, 1968, the dead body of Deendayal was found under mysterious circumstances at Mughalsarai railway station in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Late Balraj Madhok, a senior RSS/Bhartiya Jan Sangh (BJS) leader who preceded Deendayal as president of Bhartiya Jana Sangh, levelled serious allegations against a few of his old colleagues of RSS/Jana Sangh for conspiring to kill Deendayal. In his autobiography he stated: “He was killed by a hired assassin. But conspirators who sponsored this killing were those self-seekers and leaders with criminal bent of mind of Sangh-Jan Sangh”[xi]

He went on to the extent of pointing fingers towards former Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and late Nana Deshmukh, a senior RSS ideologue, as the main conspirators in the murder of Deendayal.

According to the autobiography, the murder of Deendayal was not undertaken by Communists or some robber but planned by those who were kept out of the leading positions of the BJS by Deendayal as president. It is to be noted here that Deendayal after taking over as president of BJS from Balraj Madhok in December 1967, had kept out both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nana Deshmukh from important posts. According to Madhok, Deendayal was murdered because, “he was constantly ensuring that ill-reputed people should get no career advancement in BJS, so that the reputation of the organization is not tarnished. For this reason,  some characterless selfish people were finding him a stumbling block in their  path of self-seeking fulfillment.”[xii]

It is really unfortunate that present RSS/BJP regime in India led by PM Modi instead of strengthening Indian democratic-secular polity are resurrecting Hindutva ghosts and ideologies from the past which have been inimical to our polity. Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya’s Hindutva politics needs to be consigned to dustbin. However, Deendayal’s mysterious murder needs answer from our PM and RSS, they should not shy away from sharing facts on this murder with the nation.

Sources:
[i] Deendayal Upadhyaya hailed from a Brahmin family of Mathura district in UP, came in contact with RSS in 1937, became swayamsevak in 1942 was a loyal follower of Golwalkar who became its Sarsanghchalak in 1940. Deendayalas a whole timer of the organization figured prominently in the RSS hierarchy and held crucial posts. He was editor of RSS Hindi organs like Panchajanya and Swadesh, and his services were lent to Bhartiya Jana Sangh, the political outfit created by RSS. He rose to be the presidency (December 1967) of it but died on 1 February 1968, under mysterious circumstances at Mughalsarai railway station in eastern Uttar Pradesh.122
[ii] The Telegraph, Calcutta, September 26, 2016.
[iii] http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pm-narendra-modi-addresses-bjp-conclave-in-kozhikode-highlights-1466220
[iv] http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/muslims-vote-bank-modi-bjp-pandit-deendayal-upadhyaya/
[v] BN Jog, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya: Ideology & Perception-Politics for Nation’s Sake, vol. vi, Suruchi Prakashan, Delhi, 73. 
[vi] MS Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts (chapter xvi), SS Prakashana, Bangalore, 177-195.
[vii] C. P. Bhishikar, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya: Ideology and Perception: Concept of the Rashtra, vol. v, Suruchi, Delhi, 169.
[viii] Ibid., 11.
[ix] Ibid., 27.
[x] Ibid., 179.
[xi] Balraj Madhok, Zindagi Ka Safar—3: Deen Dayal Upadhyay Ki Hatya Se Indira Gandhi Ki Hatya Tak, Dinman Prakashan, Delhi, 22, 23.
[xii] Ibid., 145.

PM MODI'S FAVOURITE MINISTER ATTEMPTS CRUCIFIXION OF DEMOCRATIC-SECULAR INDIA AT THE ALTAR OF HINDUTVA BIGOTRY

HINDUTVA JUGGERNAUT RUNS AMOK

PM Modi's pet bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad to be operational in 2022 may never materialize as by then BJP/RSS may not be ruling India and hopefully national priorities would change for more earthly causes. 'Achche-din' promised by Modi immediately after taking over as PM in 2014 may be decades away, however, the Hindutva juggernaut under the present BJP/RSS rulers is running amok despite India still being committed to a democratic-secular polity. Ironically, the Hindutva rulers who took oath to remain faithful to the democratic-secular Constitution of India continue indulging in nefarious anti-national activities crossing all limits. In fact, there seems to be a competition going on amongst them that who would inflict the maximum damage to the present constitutional polity of India.

MAKING OF A HINDUTVA ZEALOT

The latest character from this Hindutva demolition squad to decry and denigrate Indian constitutional polity is Anantkumar Hegde, blue-eyed boy both of RSS and PM Modi and a minister in latter's cabinet. Hegde who learnt Hindutva tricks of polarization while threatening to convert the Guru Dattatreya Baba Budan Dargah in the Baba Budan Giri range of Chickmagalur into the 'Ayodhya of the South' declared war on the Indian Constitution. It is to be noted that he was made a central minister despite the fact that he was caught on camera hitting a doctor, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against a wall. Hegde was furious because he felt the doctors were not paying enough attention to his mother, who had suffered multiple fractures after a fall at home. He also gave a call for uprooting Islam.

HEGDE DENIGRATES SECULARISM

This Hindutva champion while addressing a public meeting (December 24, 2017) organised by the Brahman Yuva Parishad in Koppal district of Karnataka declared that the BJP had come to power to "change the Constitution” which it would do in the “near future”. He was immensely scornful of the principle of secularism. According to him secularists were “people without parentage or who don’t know their bloodline. They don’t know themselves. They don’t know their parents, but they call themselves secular. If someone says I am secular, I get suspicious. I hope there are no secularists here”. While denigrating secularists he brought in the issue of their parenthood, declaring the former as illegitimate children. Thus he not only spread canard against the present upholders of democratic-secular India but also denigrated great leaders like Bhagat Singh, Chandershekhar Azad, Ashfaqullah Khan, MK Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Sardar Patel, Dr BR Ambedkar, Abul Kalam Azad, Subhashchander Bose, Jawahar Lal Nehru who lived and died for an all-inclusive India.

BYE-BYE TO INDIAN NATIONALISM

He made it clear that though word secular was part of Indian Constitution but "this will change in the near future". India of Hegde could not be an all-inclusive India but where people would identify themselves as per the religions they professed. Hegde stressed that "if someone says I am a Muslim, or I am a Christian, or I am a Lingayat, or I am a Hindu, I feel very happy because he knows his roots". According to Hegde's take there are no Indians but Hindus, Muslims, Christians and so on. Thus Hegde presented himself as a votary of religious based identity of Indians like the Muslim League.

LOVE FOR MANUSMRITI

As if all this was not enough he went on to glorify Manusmriti as ancient Hindu law. Defending BJP/RSS love for Manusmriti, Hegde declared: “They talk about Manusmriti today, but it’s ancient. Today, what is being used is Ambedkar Smriti, and before that was the Parashar Smriti. Smriti simply means ancient laws. If you don’t know history, you are foolish.”

Hegde, in fact, was underlining an old demand of RSS of replacing democratic-secular Constitution of India with a Hindu rashtra where Manusmriti which decrees a sub-human status to Hindu women and Sudras would be law of the land. When the Constituent Assembly of India passed the Constitution of India on November 26, 1949, RSS was not happy. Its organ, Organiser in an editorial on November 30, 1949, complained: "But in our Constitution there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. 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. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing."

By demanding promulgation of laws of Manu in an Independent India RSS was simply following its mentor, philosopher and guide VD Savarkar who argued: "Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worship-able after Vedas for our Hindu Nation and which from ancient times has become the basis of our culture-customs, thought and practice. This book for centuries has codified the spiritual and divine march of our nation. Even today the rules which are followed by crores of Hindus in their lives and practice are based on Manusmriti. Today Manusmriti is Hindu Law."

The glorification of Manusmriti in a programme of an organization of Brahmins by Hegde was quite meaningful. As per the Manu Code if Sudras are to be given most stringent punishments for even petty actions sitting with the people of high Cates, the same Code of Manu is very lenient towards Brahmins. Shloka 380 in Chapter VIII bestowing profound love on Brahmins decrees: “Let him never slay a Brahmana, though he have committed all (possible) crimes; let him banish such an (offender), leaving all his property (to him) and (his body) unhurt.”

PRESIDENT OF INDIA & SUPREME COURT MUST INTERVENE

It is shocking that a central minister is brazenly declaring his and his BJP/RSS government's plan to undo democratic-secular India. It is anti-national declaration, betrayal of the ideals of the freedom struggle, sabotage of the wisdom of the Constituent Assembly of India and open defiance of dozens of decisions of the Supreme Court in which highest court of justice decreed secularism and democracy as 'basic features' of the Indian polity. The Supreme Court of India must take a suo motu cognizance of Hegde's crime and order filing of a case against him for planning subversion of the Indian polity. Moreover, President of the Indian Republic, a Dalit icon, must order the removal of Hegde from the Modi government and order his punishment for anti-national call.

Sadly, with ministers like Anantkumar Hegde around, no foreign enemy is required to destroy democratic-secular India. It is high time that custodians of Indian polity should take stern action against this subversion from within.

LINKS:

• http://www.hastakshep.com/englishopinion/bye-bye-democratic-secular-india-16324
• https://www.academia.edu/35517497/PM_MODIS_FAVOURITE_MINISTER_ATTEMPTS_CRUCIFIXION_OF_DEMOCRATIC-SECULAR_INDIA_AT_THE_ALTAR_OF_HINDUTVA_BIGOTRY
• http://ummid.com/news/2017/December/27.12.2017/on-anantkumar-hegde-secular-india-remark.html
• http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/12/27/pm-modis-favourite-minister-attempts-crucifxion-democratic-secular-india/ 

MUSLIM WOMEN, PRO-TRIPLE TALAQ ISLAMIC CLERGY, HINDUTVA & SUPREME COURT

Indian Supreme Court (hereafter SC) in a historic judgment with far reaching consequences for Indian Muslim women declared Triple Talaq (TT) illegal, against Constitution of India and against the tenets of Islam. The TT is an old practice amongst a section of Muslims in the world, more prevalent in India in which  a Muslim husband would give instant divorce to his wife by uttering word 'talaq' three times in quick succession. The SC Constitution Bench on TT was headed by the Chief Justice, J S Khehar (to retire on August 25) and consisted of Justices Rohinton F Nariman, Uday U Lalit, S Abdul Nazeer and Kurian Joseph. This judgment was delivered by 3-2 majority since Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice S Abdul Nazeer jointly held that legally Muslim Personal Law which included TT enjoyed constitutional protection and was beyond the scope of judicial scrutiny. They suggested that a separate law was needed to make it redundant. In brief, all Justices were in agreement that TT needed to go.[i]

Justice Joseph in his illuminating separate judgment while holding the sanctity of Personal Laws completely disagreed with the CJ and brother Justice Nazeer that TT enjoyed constitutional protection. He differed with Justices Nariman and Lalit too, who held that Personal laws were subject to judicial scrutiny. He held that this issue was well-settled in Shamim Ara ruling by the Court in 2002 in which it was held that TT lacked legal sanctity. The most crucial sentence in his judgment read: “What is held to be bad in the Holy Quran cannot be good in Shariat and, in that sense, what is bad in theology is bad in law as well.”

TALAQ OPTIONS FOR MUSLIM MALE

It may be noted that instant TT also known by the nomenclature, Talaq-e-Bid'at (bad divorce) has been banned by this judgment of the SC but Muslim husbands continue to enjoy two other kinds of right to divorce, Talaq Ahsan and Talaq Hasan. As per Talaq Ahsan, a Muslim husband can divorce his wife by pronouncing talaq once every month in three consecutive months and this would be signified by menstruation cycles. According to Talaq Hasan, husband can divorce wife by pronouncing talaq “during successive menstruation cycles with no intercourse during any of the three cycles.

VICTIM MUSLIM WOMEN BEFORE SUPREME COURT

This path-breaking judgment came in while adjudicating appeals by five Muslim victims of TT, namely, Shayara Bano, Afreen Rehman, Gulshan Parveen, Ishrat Jahan, Aatiya Sabri and one NGO (Muslim Women's Quest for Equality) which was representing other Muslim women victims. The SC held hearing continuously between May 11-18, 2017 and had reserved judgment for August 22, 2017.

BECOMES AN ISSUE FOR ALL

One important aspect of hearing of this case by SC was that apart from legal counsels of the appellants and government counsels, Lawyers of Jamiat Ulama, All India Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) who defended TT and one RSS organization put in their points of views before the SC. The RSS organization was represented by senior lawyer, Ram Jethmalani. MPLB  was represented by Kapil Sibbal where as senior politician-lawyers Arif Mohammed Khan and Salman Khursheed helped SC in understanding the issue. The latter two were vocal in opposing the TT. Renowned legal luminary and women activist, Indira Jaising appeared for the NGO and stressed the fact that TT was continuation of violation of the Human Rights of Muslim Women. 

DIVERSITY OF THE BENCH AND JUDGMENT

Interestingly, this SC Bench and judgments on TT represent the diversity for which India is known. It is true that SC Justices deliver judgments rising above Caste-creed-regional considerations. The five member Bench consisted of Justices following five prominent Indian religions, Sikhism, Islam, Hinduism, Christian and Zoroastrianism. While Justices belonging to the last three religions upheld the fact that TT is totally unconstitutional, Justice Joseph declared TT to be in contravention of Quran and Islam. Thus he echoed the sentiments of vast majority of Muslims of India who decried this practice despite it being vociferously supported by a section of Muslim clerics. On the other hand, CJ Khehar and Justice Nazeer declared it to be part of Muslim Personal Law and inviolable.

After this judgment the issue has now been shifted to the arena of Modi government and Parliament with conflicting opinions over the issue whether a law is needed to execute SC judgment.

FUTURE PROSPECTS

There is no doubt that this decision will go a long way in emboldening not only Muslim women but Indian women in general to demand legal equality and discarding laws which make gender inequality and repression continue unhindered. But, as Indira Jaising, a leading constitutional lawyer and activist who brilliantly argued before the SC for victim Muslim women warned that there should be no complacency on the part of the women fighters for equality of status. She hoped that this judgment would open the floodgates for changing anti-women personal Laws in other religions also. According to her, "Several provisions of Hindu law, Muslim law, Christian law or Parsi law are unconstitutional. There are several writ petitions pending before the Court, which states that temple entry must be permitted to women in Sabarimalai. Obviously, the same question will arise then."

Naturally, the appellant Muslim victims of dehumanized practice of TT are overjoyed with this judicial victory. Shayara Bano echoing the sentiments of all other appellants said: "I welcome this judgment and completely endorse it. It is a historic day for Muslim women. We need to understand the plight of Muslim women in Indian society. This decision must be accepted and immediately applied." The leading counsel of her defence team, Amit Singh Chaddha described this judgment as a big step forward in the fight of Indian women for gender equality.

President of the Muslim Women Personal Law Board, Shaista Amber described it as historic judgment which was not only victory of all Indian women but also of Islamic principles of equality.

A leading male voice against TT, Arif M Khan whose assistance was sought by the SC in this case while hailing this judgment said: " This judgment will change the lives of not only Muslim women who despite heavy odds have fought and won this long arduous battle but will inspire other Indian women as well who are facing discrimination at home or at places of work. Their faith in our Constitution and judicial system will be redoubled and now they will fight back any oppression with more vigour and energy."

Another senior lawyer and activist, Rebecca John was glad that SC judgment "is a good and progressive one, which was long overdue for Muslim women, who have fought long and lonely battle. If anyone has to be celebrated for this, then it has to be the petitioners and those who stood by them all this while. I welcome the fact that a regressive unjust practice has been set aside." 

RSS/BJP WELCOMES JUDGMENT

This judgment was celebrated by RSS/BJP leaders also. PM Modi tweeted, "Judgment of the Hon'ble SC on Triple Talaq is historic. It grants equality to Muslim women and is a powerful measure for women empowerment." BJP chief Amit Shah did not lag behind and declared welcoming the verdict said that it "marks the beginning of a new era of pride and equality for Muslim women. The BJP welcomes the respects the expansion of Muslim women's rights and sees today's court order as a step towards a determined New India." UP CM Yogi Adityanath commented that this judgment "will allow Muslim women to her justice". Senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar who looks after Indian Muslims hoped that thus Muslim women would join the mainstream. The gist of these patronizing comments was that it was one step in the direction of stopping appeasement of Muslims. 

This love of RSS/BJP for Muslim women has to be compared with what Hindutva criminals did to Muslim women in pre/post-Ayodhya Mosque demolition period and 2002 genocide of Muslims in Gujarat out of thousands of communal attacks on Muslims in different part of India. A leading English daily (Hindustan Times, March 21, 2002) narrating the criminal deeds of Hindutva gang in Gujarat wrote in an editorial, "daughters were gang raped in front of their fathers and then their heads bashed in. their fathers were doused with petrol and set on fire". These leaders conveniently forgot that one appellant in the present case before SC was Ishrat Jahan whose namesake was killed in a fake encounter on June 15, 2004. Investigations continue and there is no hope of getting the killers punished. In a similar but more blood chilling case Qauser Bi wife of Sohrabuddin was alleged to have been raped, strangulated and burnt by the police on September 25, 2005 in Gujarat, exactly two days after her husband's killing by the Gujarat police. Incidentally, Modi was CM of Gujarat during all these incidents.

WHO IS SHAMED MOST?

If any organization which has accrued maximum shame in this case is the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and its leadership. According to historian and social activist, SI Habib, ''These women first knocked on the doors of the All India Muslim Personnel Board [AIMPLB], who ignored and mocked them. This situation would not have arisen had the AIMPLB, who claim to be leaders of Indian Muslims, had acted on the issue long back. Instant triple talaq is an un-Islamic practice. And the triple talaq that Quran recommends is a complicated and complex method that all the maulvis simply ignore".  

They waited for 70 years in declaring it as 'bad divorce', even then did nothing about discarding it. The height of absurdity was that they still kept on calling it Divine and continue to do it even after the present SC judgment. 

This lot of Islamic clergy remained indifferent to the fact that TT played havoc with the lives of women, most of them young, who were devout Muslims. These 'learned' Islamic scholars have no heart to feel the pain and suffering of victim Muslim women. They seem to be totally oblivious of the reality that all Islamic/Muslim countries discarded this atrocious practice long ago. Even in India a tiny section of Muslims take recourse to it. They are much worried about inviolability of Quran but remain ignorant of the fact that Holy Book does not allow it. Whoever tried to practice TT during the times of Prophet and first four caliphs were duly punished.  

It is sad that such Islamic scholars who believe that only they have the franchisee of Islam and Shariah have turned Islam into a draconian anti-Muslim women religion. According to them the only task assigned to Islam in India is to cage Muslim women, humiliate and denigrate them. They keep on chanting about equality, justice and well-being from house-tops and minarets as fundamental principles of Islam but these are not for Muslim women, these are reserved for Muslim males only. With them around, the Hindutva gang is bound to succeed in denigrating Islam and its followers. If Muslims have become laughing stock it is due to such 'imams' or gurus of Islam. The fact is that just ended deliberations in the SC on TT have totally unmasked the anti-Muslim agenda of these Believers.

Source/s:
[i] According to social activist Ovais Sultan Khan, "There is a lot of noise as to who deserves credit for the decision but the credit must go to the Supreme Court bench of Justice R Dave and Justice AK Goel, which had taken suo motu cognisance and instituted a public interest litigation, ‘Muslim Women’s Quest For Equality’ in 2015, while delivering a very regressive judgment against Hindu women and girls. Because of this ‘judicial Muslim appeasement’, everyone ignored the plight of the deprived Hindu women and girls. The agenda was to rescue the Muslim women from triple talaq, and it became the foremost issue for 1.3 billion Indians."

68TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION: WHEN NATION CELEBRATED ITS ADOPTION, RSS MOURNED IT

An amazing fact about the Indian Constitution adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India (CA) on November 26, 1949 is that out of 35 constitutional polities born after World War II, India is the only country which survives with its Constitution. All other countries fell prey to totalitarianism, civil war and military take-over. It is not that Indian democracy had smooth sailing, the constitutional structure had no infirmities and Indian polity was able to do justice to the Havenots but it is here that a Constitution based on liberal democracy and secularism continues to survive. Its emphasis on all-inclusive polity assuring social, political and economic justice was, in fact, continuation of the anti-imperialist legacy.

It took 2 years, 11 months and 18 days of hard work that CA adopted the Constitution on 26 November, 1949 and the 284 members signed the document when it was drizzling outside. It was also decided that the whole Constitution would be enforced on January 26, 1950 to be celebrated as the Republic Day. This great accomplishment was celebrated not only in India but the world over. In almost all parts of India there were jubilant scenes celebrating the occasion.

However, there was a significant exception. The Hindutva camp led by RSS which had consciously denigrated anti-British freedom struggle mourned this historic achievement. THREE DAYS after the CA passed Constitution the RSS English organ, Organizer on November 30, 1949, in an editorial rejected it and demanded MANUSMRITI as constitution. It read:

“BUT IN OUR CONSTITUTION, THERE IS NO MENTION OF THE UNIQUE CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN ANCIENT BHARAT. 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. BUT TO OUR CONSTITUTIONAL PUNDITS THAT MEANS NOTHING”.

Even after Independence RSS kept on denigrating the Constitution of India. MS Golwalkar, Guru to most of the present Hindutva rulers including our PM and the most prominent ideologue of the RSS rejected in totality the Indian Constitution in the following words:

“OUR CONSTITUTION TOO IS JUST A CUMBERSOME AND HETEROGENEOUS PIECING TOGETHER OF VARIOUS ARTICLES FROM VARIOUS CONSTITUTIONS OF WESTERN COUNTRIES. IT HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WHICH CAN BE CALLED OUR OWN. IS THERE A SINGLE WORD OF REFERENCE IN ITS GUIDING PRINCIPLES AS TO WHAT OUR NATIONAL MISSION IS AND WHAT OUR KEYNOTE IN LIFE IS?”[i]

This hatred towards democratic-secular Indian Constitution is overflowing in everyday prarthana (prayer, must for every RSS member) of RSS which worships Hindu Rashtra and pledges to accomplish a Hindu state. It reads:

“AFFECTIONATE MOTHERLAND, I ETERNALLY BOW TO YOU/O LAND OF HINDUS, YOU HAVE REARED ME IN COMFORT/O SACRED LAND, THE GREAT CREATOR OF GOOD, MAY THIS BODY OF MINE BE DEDICATED TO YOU/I AGAIN AND AGAIN BOW BEFORE YOU/O GOD ALMIGHTY, WE THE INTEGRAL PART OF THE HINDU RASHTRA SALUTE YOU IN REVERENCE/FOR YOUR CAUSE HAVE WE GIRDED UP OUR LOINS/GIVE US YOUR BLESSINGS FOR ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT." [ii]

Importantly, the RSS organ Organizer in its issue on the very eve of Independence, dated 14 August, 1947, rejected the whole concept of a composite nation (under the editorial title ‘Whither’):

“LET US NO LONGER ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE INFLUENCED BY FALSE NOTIONS OF NATIONHOOD. MUCH OF THE MENTAL CONFUSION AND THE PRESENT AND FUTURE TROUBLES CAN BE REMOVED BY THE READY RECOGNITION OF THE SIMPLE FACT THAT IN HINDUSTHAN ONLY THE HINDUS FORM THE NATION AND THE NATIONAL STRUCTURE MUST BE BUILT ON THAT SAFE AND SOUND FOUNDATION. THE NATION ITSELF MUST BE BUILT UP OF HINDUS, ON HINDU TRADITIONS, CULTURE, IDEAS AND ASPIRATIONS”.

RSS not only decried democratic-secular Indian polity but all those symbols which represented an all-inclusive India. It was ruthless in denigrating TRI-COLOUR or NATIONAL FLAG. On the eve of independence the RSS mouth-piece, Organiser, in its issue dated August 14, 1947, rejected this choice in the following harsh words:

“THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE COME TO POWER BY THE KICK OF FATE MAY GIVE IN OUR HANDS THE TRICOLOUR BUT IT WILL NEVER BE RESPECTED AND OWNED BY HINDUS. THE WORD THREE IS IN ITSELF AN EVIL, AND A FLAG HAVING THREE COLOURS WILL CERTAINLY PRODUCE A VERY BAD PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT AND IS INJURIOUS TO A COUNTRY.”­

If RSS is dead against the democratic-secular Constitution of India and all symbols related to it, then question arises that why RSS cadres PM Modi and many of his colleagues are celebrating the 68th anniversary of Indian Constitution. As masters of DOUBLE-SPEAK these Hindutva rulers are buying time and waiting for an opportune moment to strike from within. In last three and half years they have been destroying democratic institutions of Indian polity one by one, just waiting to demolish democratic-secular Indian polity as a whole. This plan was outlined by Guru Golwalkar long back in 1940. Golwalkar while delivering a speech before the 1350 top level cadres of the RSS at Resham Bagh, RSS headquarters in 1940 declared:

“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”.[iii]

All those who are concerned about the future of democratic-secular Indian polity must come together to resist the anti-national agenda of RSS. Indian Constitution today faces most critical challenge to its existence. The Hindutva rulers are openly declaring that they would over-throw democratic-secular Indian Constitution. It is first time in the history of Independence India that a national leader like Narender Bhai Modi as CM of Gujarat called himself a ‘Hindu nationalist’.[iv] He is our PM now.

All patriotic Indians should unite to smash the Hindutva conspiracy to destroy a historic democratic-secular polity, the only one which survives out of nations born after the World War II.

Sources: 
[i] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu, Bangalore, 1996, p. 238.
[ii] RSS, Shakha Darshikha, Gyan Ganga, Jaipur, 1997, p. 1.
[iii] MS Golwalkar, Shri Guruji Samagar Darshan (collected works of Golwalkar in Hindi), vol. 1, Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, p. 11.
[iv] Modi as CM of Gujarat interviewed by Reuters at former’s residence at Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat, July 12, 2013.

HUMAN LIFE BRICKS AND MUD IN AYODHYA

A visit to Ayodhya, more than a month after the December 6 tragedy, reminds one of the hunted city. It is a city under siege by paramilitary forces. They are on high alert. What is to be guarded now? Nobody knows. The deep wounds of carnage and plunder are still visible.

The walls of Ayodhya are still covered with sectarian war cries in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, etc. The claims of the champions of Hindutva,  that the police and military are with them are still engraved on the walls of the city-mocking the secular state. 

You have to be in Ayodhya to realize that the tragedy was far more than the demolition off a mosque. Away from Ayodhya, the only dimension off the tragedy which we heard related to the demolition of a structure of bricks and mud. We overlooked the human tragedy, the human carnage and plunder caused by zealots of Dharma. Ayodhya symbolizes the fact that human flesh is the cheapest commodity around.

While moving towards Ayodhya, you chance upon a refugee camp just on the outskirts of the holy cit. It is being run at Badu Bua ki Masjid (Old Aunt’s mosque), which houses an orphanage too. More than 1500 refugee, males, females and children of all age groups are packed like sardines here. A similar number of refuges have been sheltered in Quresh nursery camp in Fazibad. Most of them are wage-earners, petty shopkeepers, vendors, cycle repair walls, rickshaw-pullers and their dependents. They are being fed and clothed through community donations. The state was gracious enough to donate 130 blankets.

Soul chilling: The stories of barbaric destruction and sadistic killings are should-chilling. Everything which belonged to approximately 4500 inhabitants belonging to the minority community in Ayodhya was singled out to be burnt. The vandals at work had minute details of such properties, assets and religious place. They were very methodical in destroying properties.

Incidentally, the crusaders of Hindutva did not even spare a “good Musalman” by the name of Husni Vilaiti Haider. Son of the big zamindar of Ayodhya, he had led delegation of Muslims to Murli Manohar Joshi offering themselves for kar seva some weeks back. He had also donated a large chunk of land to the VHP trust for Ram Mandir. But these credentials did not apparently wash. Hundreds of refugees are ready to vouch for the bitter truth that the provincial police force was not a silent spectator. They actively joined the kar sevak. The policy control room of Ayodhya was taken over by kar sevaks on December 4 itself, they allege. The wireless sets were at their disposal.

Local Help: However, it is really heartening to know from the terror-stricken refugees that local residents of Ayodhya were not involved in any of these barbaric deads. In fact, dozens of local Hindus took all kinds of risks to save Muslim neighbors.  Many refugees acknowledge the help of one Yadav Pahalwan of Mohalla Shikhana. But by December 3, most of such “bad elements” had been neutralized by kar sevaks through threats, bashing and social boycott. Yadav Pehlwan was also taught a lesson. He was attacked and injured.

You enter Ayodhya. Though day curfew was relaxed a couple of days back, nobody seems to be around. After going around quite a few damaged monuments, shops and houses, one comes across a big house, near from the demolished Babri Masjid, which seems to have been “bombarded”. All walls standing almost infact while all roofs have fallen. You prepare to take snaps. Suddenly you see a middle aged women searching for something in the rubbles. You are told that it was once here home.

Part of it was destroyed on December 5, on the 6th evening it was plundered and on the forenoon of the 7th it was blasted with the help off petrol bombs and chemicals.

The tasks was accomplished by the same group which was seen demolishing the Babri Masjid the day before. It was led by a bearded chap who used to command the group through a whistle. She also recounts that on December 7 she and her family members were rescued by the Hindu CRPF officer who hid them in truck and took them to safety in Faizabad. She returned with her teenage son to Ayodhya only on the 29th December and was the first family to do so.

She is bewildered at the turn of events. But she is sure of one thing – “Whatever may be hardships, we shall stay here. Let us see for how long Congress and BJP keep on playing this game. We shall not leave. It is our motherland. It is our home. Why should we go? It is not somebody’s freedom. It is belongs to others, it belongs to us also. We were born here, we have lived here and we will die here.”

There are others too who are returning to the heap of rubble that had been their home, and that will hopefully be their home again.

HINDUTVA RULE & ANARCHY ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: FROM DEMOLITION OF AYODHYA MOSQUE IN 1992 TO HARYANA VIOLENCE 2017

Is it coincidence that wherever we have BJP governments mobs rule/destroy unhindered?

In December 1992 despite restrictions imposed by The Supreme Court and UP BJP governments undertakings to Supreme Court and Government of India that peace would be maintained in Ayodhya during 'kar seva',  thousands were allowed to gather at Ayodhya and India witnessed demolition of a 400 hundred year old mosque. This criminal act, even as 3,000 paramilitary forces looked mutely on, deeply fractured Indian society, causing a schism even the worst enemies of India could not accomplish.

In 2002 in Gujarat similar, sinister pattern was repeated. Mobs led by Hindutva criminal organizations were allowed free reign. The result? A genocidal carnage of Muslims. What happened in Gujarat in 2002 was editorially commented by a leading English daily, Hindustan Times (March 21, 2002) in the following words:

 "Daughters were gang raped in front of their fathers and then their heads bashed in. their fathers were doused with petrol and set on fire.  Their property was looted. Their businesses were destroyed. And the police stood by and did nothing."

In February 2016, the violence allowed to spill over in Haryana was another example of this trait of BJP governance. Haryana turned into a war zone as caste wars were allowed free reign. The mobs were allowed to burn public property and Haryana simmered --held to ransom by the rule of the mob- for 11-12 days. The Army had to be called which fired on its own people, 30 people were killed in the violence, property worth of thousands of crores of rupees was looted/burnt and innocent Indian women were violated.

It has happened again in Haryana. The supporters of one baba Ram Rahim when found guilty of raping two sadhvis by the CBI court went on a bloody rampage. The RSS/BJP baba friendly government despite restrictions on gatherings allowed lakhs of baba's supporters at Panchkula and what Nation witnessed is shocking. Railway stations, government offices, bus stands, public/private vehicles and infrastructure were burnt/looted not only in Haryana but also adjacent Punjab. It was clear that if Punjab & Haryana High Court had not intervened, the sponsored mobs would have lynched the CBI judge and razed the CBI court building.

The media became a special target of the mob violence (such large scale violence against media happened after demolition of mosque at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 too) in which large number of correspondents were maimed and press vehicles destroyed.

The RSS claims that it is the largest Hindu organization in the world and India. It is fond of circulating photos of its cadres doing 'service' during tragedies and likewise happenings. These RSS cadres were missing in Haryana in 2016 and even during the currents reign of killings and destruction. The RSS needs to tell us, where were they? Were they instigators?

RSS/BJP rulers want anarchy to prevail so nobody questions them about poverty, unemployment, price-rise and violence. They believe that by creating anarchy the can establish Hindutva State. In fact RSS/BJP rulers should also be charged for abatement of violence and destruction of public property.

It is intriguing that brand ambassador of Haryana another baba, Ramdev was missing when Haryana burnt in February 2016, and is missing now also. He should have been around with his Yoga gimmicks for establishing peace in the region.

HATRED FOR GANDHI IS A FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENT OF HINDUTVA DISCOURSE

Amit Shah on Gandhi: ”bahut chatur baniya tha woh”

Amit Shah is no ordinary Indian ruler. He is the President of the BJP which rules the Centre and a majority of the Indian States. Most importantly, he is the other half of our PM, Modi; they together rule as the most powerful duo ever to rule India after independence. Additionally, he is a senior RSS functionary. With this bio-data Amit Shah is naturally the ideological face of the Hindutva ruling elite and his utterings hold the status of holy words for his followers.

Recently, he was in Chhattisgarh to speak to “eminent persons” for strengthening the BJP in the State where Assembly elections are due in 2018. While philosophising on the irrelevance of the Congress, belittling its rule in the freedom struggle, he went to discuss Gandhi. According to him Gandhi, to quote original words in Hindi, “bahut chatur baniya tha woh”.1 Its English translation would be, “he was a very clever baniya (merchant or moneylender)”. These words for Gandhi make one thing clear that Shah was treating Gandhi not as a leader of the composite Indian nation on whose call Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and others came out in millions to oppose the foreign rulers, thousands of them laying down their lives for the freedom. On the contrary, Gandhi was a ‘baniya’, a caste/group among Hindus. It needs to be noted here that by this categorisation Shah, in fact, borrowed the language of M.A. Jinnah who always referred Gandhi as ‘Hindu baniya’ who represented only Hindus. So in the vocabulary of this Hindutva icon, Shah, Gandhi was reduced to the status of a Hindu leader which the Muslim League always propagated and propagates even today. Shah even disregarded the fact that Gandhi was murdered by the Hindutva zealots because he was not acting as a leader of the Hindus only but wanted an all-inclusive India.

Shah’s denigration of Gandhi was not limited to his political identity. The Hindi idiom which he used for Gandhi, ”bahut chatur baniya tha woh”, has sinister hatred overflowing in the phrase which non-Hindi (or Urdu)-speaking people will not be able to understand. In Hindi “tha woh” phrase is used for servants, persons of lower status, those who are considered not respectable or very intimate friends. For elder persons, for respectable persons, we always use “the ve” It is shocking that Amit Shah, himself a baniya, uses such words for another baniya, a fellow Gujarati, that too an elderly person who is no more. It is in contravention of both the Gujarati and baniya ethos. The baniyas are known for their cultured and refined use of words as they aim at winning hearts in order to reach to the pockets of customers. It seems Shah’s hatred for Gandhi, grown out of Hindutva beliefs, has made him oblivious of the civilised behaviour practised by the baniyas.

The RSS’ hatred for Gandhi is as old as the formation of the RSS itself. Dr K.B. Hedgewar, the founder of the RSS, was a Congress leader but parted company with the latter in 1925. After meeting Hindutva icon V.D. Savarkar, he realised that Gandhi was the biggest hurdle in the Hindutva project of organising Hindus separately. According to an RSS publication, since Gandhi worked for Hindu-Muslim unity, “Doctorji sensed danger in that move. In fact, he did not even relish the new-fangled slogan of ‘Hindu-Muslim unity”.2Another RSS publication corroborates the fact that the main reason behind Hedgewar’s parting with the Congress and formation of the RSS was because the “Congress believed in Hindu-Muslim unity”.3

The RSS launched its English organ, Organiser, in July 1947 and a perusal of its issues till the murder of Gandhi on January 30, 1948 shows a flood of articles and sketches inimical to Gandhi. The RSS seemed to be competing with the Hindu Mahasabha leader, Savarkar, and the Muslim League organ, The Dawn, in denigrating Gandhi. The first Home Minister of India, Sardar Patel, whom the RSS often praises, was forthright in holding the RSS and Hindu Maha-sabha responsible for creating an environment of hatred against Gandhi which resulted in the latter’s murder. He underlined it in a letter (July 18, 1948) to the prominent leader of the Hindu Mahasabha, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee: “As regards the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, the case relating to Gandhiji’s murder is subjudice and I should not like to say anything about the participation of the two organisations, but our reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities of these two bodies, particularly the former, an atmosphere was created in the country in which such a ghastly tragedy became possible. There is no doubt in my mind that the extreme section of the Hindu Mahasabha was involved in the conspiracy.”4

Eight months after Gandhi’s assassination, Sardar Patel, in a letter (September 11, 1948) to RSS chief Golwalkar, was straightforward in telling that it was due to the communal poison spread by the RSS that “the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji. Even an iota of the sympathy of the Government or of the people, no more remained with the RSS...Opposition turned more severe, when the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhiji’s death.”5

The RSS may be displaying a photo of Gandhi in some of its programmes and may describe him as Mahatma but its hatred keeps on recurring; it is shaswat, perennial. After the Modi Government came to power in 2014, the RSS/BJP leaders have been demanding national recognition, as freedom fighters, for the killers of Gandhi. Temples are coming up with the images of Godse who was the main killer of Gandhi. The Hindutva organisations have been celebrating the killing of Gandhi as the ‘vadh’ of a demon at the altar of HinduRashtra. It is to be noted that Nathuram Godse and others who conspired to kill M.K. Gandhi, claimed to be ‘Hindu Nationalists’.

If you believe that all this is happening without the knowledge of the RSS/BJP‘s top leadership, you are grossly mistaken. A prominent Hindutva organisation, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), allied to the RSS, has been regularly holding national conventions for ‘Establishment of a Hindu Nation’ in India. In 2013 one such convention was held in Goa. It is to be noted that members of one avatar of the HJS, Sanatan Sanstha, have been found indulging in bomb blasts at Muslim institutions and are under investigation for the murder of renowned secular intellectuals like Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar. This convention started its proceedings with a felicitation message from the then CM of Gujarat, Narendrabhai Modi, wishing the HJS all success in its project of turning India into a Hindu Nation.

Shockingly, from the same dais in this convention from where Modi’s felicitation message was read, one of the prominent speakers, K.V. Sitaramiah, declared that Gandhi was ‘terrible, wicked and most sinful’. Rejoicing at the killing of M.K. Gandhi, he went on to declare, “As Bhagwan Shri Krishna said in the Gita, Paritranaya Sadhunam Vinashaya Cha Dush-kritam/Dharamasansthapnaya Sambhavami Yuge-Yuge (For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born in every age) on...30th January 1948 evening, Shri Ram came in the form of Nathuram Godse and ended the life of Gandhi.”6

K.V. Sitaramiah has also authored a book, titled Gandhi was Dharma Drohi and Desa Drohi, in which the text at the back cover, quoting from the epic Mahabharata, demands that ‘Dharma Drohis must be killed’, ‘Not killing the deserved to be killed is a great sin’ and ‘where the Members of Parliament seeing clearly allow to kill Dharma and truth as untruth, those members will be called dead’. 

With this legacy of hatred towards Gandhi, Amit Shah’s oration about Gandhi being a “chatur baniya” was not an aberration. It is, in fact, the second killing of Gandhi. The RSS reserved extreme hatred for Gandhi because his idea of India was diametrically opposite to the Hindutva vision about India. Gandhi proved to be the greatest stumbling block to the following vision of the RSS about the future of India: “Let us no longer allow ourselves to be influenced by false notions of nationhood. Much of the mental confusion and the present and future troubles can be removed by the ready recognition of the simple fact that in Hindusthan only the Hindus form the nation and the national structure must be built on that safe and sound foundation...the nation itself must be built up of Hindus, on Hindu traditions, culture, ideas and aspirations.”7

Interestingly, Gandhi’s opposition to the two-nation theory brought both the RSS and Muslim League, flag-bearers of Hindu and Muslim separatism respectively, together in denigrating him. Pakistan, entangled in its existential crisis, may have stopped bothering about Gandhi but with the resurgence of Hindutva politics in India, Gandhi remains a potent danger to the Hindutvavadis. He was assassinated long ago but his idea of a democratic-secular India needs to be buried. The RSS, presently, is working overtime on this project.

Sources: 
1. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/amit-shah-on-mahatma-gandhi-bahut-chatur-baniya-tha-he-knew-congress-weakness-4696862
2. H.V. Seshadri (ed.), Dr Hedgewar, the Epoch-Maker: A Biography, p. 61.
3. H.V. Pingle (ed.), Smritikan: Parm Pujiye Dr Hedgewar ke Jeevan kee Vibhinn Ghatnaon kaa Sankalan, p. 93.
4. Letter 64 in Sardar Patel:Select Correspondence 1945-1950, Volume 2, Navjiwan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1977, pp. 276-277.
5. Cited in Justice on Trial, RSS, Bangalore, pp. 26-28.
6. http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/16527_mohandas-gandhi-was-terrible-wicked-and-most-sinful.html
7. Editorial ‘Whither’ in Organiser, August 14, 1947.

WHITHER INDIA: GOOD TERRORISM OF DECEMBER 1992 VERSUS BAD TERRORISM OF MARCH 1993 AT BOMBAY

With the announcement of quantum of punishment to the perpetrators of March 1993  serial blasts in Bombay by Judge GA Sanap of the special Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act [TADA] court on September 7, 2017, probably, the longest terror case trial in India comes to close. In the first phase of this trial Judge PD Kode of Special TADA Court had sentenced 12 convicts to death and 20 to life term on September 12, 2006. With the latest judgment 100 of the 123 accused have been punished.

WELL-DONE! The Muslim terrorists who killed 257 and maimed hundreds of innocent residents of Bombay in March 1993 have been punished. Many of them have been sent to gallows, awarded life sentences and so on. But what about those terrorists who butchered 575 and maimed hundreds of people of the minority in December 1992/January 1993 in the same city. In fact, some of the instigators later occupied high constitutional offices in democratic-secular India. This is true of "Khalistani terrorists" also. They were hanged or killed on roads but for 1984 massacre of Sikhs Indian State is yet to conclude its process of finding the real culprits.

Sadly, with regards to communal and Caste violence, India has two kinds of laws, one for minority/Dalits and other for majority/high Castes. Whenever former suffer Indian State plays a game of forming COMISSIONS-COMMISSIONS to ensure that the heinous crimes against minorities and Dalits disappear from the public memory. In this regard the 1992-93 Bombay violence can be an interesting case for study. But if violence is believed to be perpetrated by minorities/Dalits, the punishment is instant. This latest judgment ensures punishment for March 1993 perpetrators but despite Justice BN Srikrishna Commission Report holding almost all Hindutva organizations responsible for killings of minority people in December 1992/January 1993, the indicted perpetrators were not even questioned what to talk of arresting them.

One unfortunate aspect of our post-Independence governance has been that whenever the country witnesses the large-scale violence against minorities and Dalits, the search for perpetrators continues endlessly and criminals rarely punished. Major incidents of violence against minorities like Nellie massacre (1983), Sikh massacre (1984), Hashimpura custodial massacre of Muslim youth (1987), pre/post-Ayodhya mosque demolition violence against Muslims (1990-92), Gujarat carnage (2002) and Kandhmal cleansing of Christians (2008) are testimony to this reality.

The status of anti-Dalit violence is no different. The major incidents of persecution and massacre of Dalits; 1968 Kilvenmani massacre, 1997 Melavalavu massacre, 2013 Marakkanam anti-Dalit violence, 2012 Dharmapuri anti-Dalit violence (all in Tamil Nadu), 1985 Karamchedu massacre, 1991 Tsundur massacre (all in AP), 1996 Bathani Tola Massacre, 1997 Laxmanpur Bathe massacre (all in Bihar), 1997 Ramabai killings, Mumbai, 2006 Khairlanji massacre, 2014 Javkheda Hatyakand, (all in Maharashtra), 2000 Caste persecution in (Karnataka), 5 Dalits beaten/burnt to death for skinning a dead cow 2006, 2011 killings of Dalits in Mirchpur (all in Haryana), 2015 anti-Dalit violence in Dangawas (Rajasthan) are some of the thousands of incidents of the Dalit persecution most of the perpetrators remain unidentified. Moreover, in almost all the anti-Dalit violence cases, the culprits have been acquitted or released on bail despite murder charges against them.

As a Nation wedded to exalted ideals of democracy, secularism and egalitarianism we must never shy away from critically investigating this kind of dichotomy, unless, we feel that we have already lost battle to religious bigotry and Casteist hegemony.

GENOCIDE OF ROHINGYAS IN MYANMAR: THE HINDUTVA IMPRINTS

Currently, one of the worst post-World War II genocides is underway in India's neighbourhood.  In Rakhine Province of Myanmar (Burma) cleansing of people belonging to the Rohingya Tribe (mostly Muslims and few Hindus and Buddhists), has been going on for last two decades. But this cleansing project of Rohingyas is in full steam now by the Myanmar army and foot-soldiers of the Fascist Buddhist organizations with coming to power of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Prize recipient for fighting against military rulers of the country. Ironically, this Nobel laureate now supervises genocide of Rohingyas in collaboration with the country's army and fascist Buddhist cadres.

The rampaging killer/raping/maiming/burning gangs sponsored by the Burmese State, Army and Fascist Buddhist organizations have evoked worldwide condemnation including severe repudiation from world forums including UN. However, Indian PM Modi who visited Myanmar recently instead of expressing concern on the cleansing of Rohingyas expressed solidarity with the Killer State. He and Myanmar's State Counsellor and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a joint statement said, "It is important to maintain security and stability along the long land and maritime borders of India and Myanmar...India stands with Myanmar over the issue of violence in the Rakhine state which has led to loss of innocent lives." This statement remained silent on the mass cleansing of the Rohingyas but expressed grave concern on the 'terrorist' activities of a section of Rohingyas in self-defence. In a more shocking development the RSS/BJP Indian Government has issued instructions to deport nearly 40,000 Rohingyas who escaped to India while under attack for being security threat.

The inimical attitude of the Indian rulers towards Rohingyas is neither accidental nor sudden. It does not seem to be the fall-out of some grave security threat which might have cropped up in the recent past. We need to investigate whether this cleansing got impetus with the political ascendancy of fascist Buddhist organizations in Myanmar and Hindutva fascist organizations in India. 

The world obsessed with Islamist terrorism has not bothered to take any notice of a new terrorism network developing fast in India and its neighbourhood between Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and two ultra nationalist Buddhist groups of Myanmar and Sri Lanka against minorities in the area. In a startling and focussed disclosure The International New York Times (October 16, 2014) in an editorial titled ‘DEADLY ALLIANCES AGAINST MUSLIMS’ disclosed how fascist Buddhist groups in the region; Sri Lankan Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena, Myanmar's Wirathu Group 969' [run by Ashin Wirathu  a so-called monk from Myanmar  who has preaching hatred toward Muslims and is the spiritual leader of a movement to boycott Muslim businesses] were in contact “at a high level” with the right-wing Indian Hindu group Rashtriya Swayam Sevak to form what he called a “Hindu-Buddhist peace zone” in South Asia which meant a Muslim-Christian free zone in the area. The editorial concluded with the following alarming words:

 "It is folly for the governments of Mr. Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka, President Thein Sein of Myanmar [both headed their respective countries in 2014] and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India, or their political allies, to give even the appearance of tolerating these Islamophobic groups in a region that has too often been convulsed by religious sectarian violence. They should condemn this mad alliance before it can spread further."[i]

This network though prioritizes Islamic/Muslim threat as the main concern but also treats Christians and other ethnic minorities as dangers and wants to control them. They refused to accept that this region was multi-religious area. Ashin Wirathu is committed to get rid of Muslims and other minorities of the area. They have killed hundreds of Muslims, raped Muslim women, burned hundreds of mosques and destroyed large number of Muslim properties and businesses.

For public consumption RSS has denied the claim of Gnanasara that they were in discussions “at a high level” with the right-wing Indian Hindu group Rashtriya. Rashtriya Swayam Sevak spokesman, Ram Madhav, promptly denied that there were any such discussions. But according to NYT Madhav, a senior RSS/BJP ideologue of India's ruling oligarchy, "has written comments sympathetic to Bodu Bala Sena and Mr. Wirathu’s group 969 in Myanmar on his Facebook and Twitter accounts". He lauded the plan of “Hindu-Buddhist peace zone” in South Asia which means an area free of minorities specially Muslims. In his posting [March 28, 2013 on Facebook] agreed with the propaganda that

“The Muslim population in Sri Lanka is growing fast…There are mosques and madrassas sprouting everywhere in the country. A rough estimate suggests that of the 1.2 million Muslim populations every 50 households have a mosque. In Colombo itself a new magnificent mosque is coming up, so are in many other places. Increasing number of burqa-clad women and skull cap-wearing men can be sited [sic] on the streets of Sri Lankan cities and towns now.”

Ram Madhav also noted that Muslims in Sri Lanka have been insisting on halal products. He noted approvingly that “the Bodu Bala Sena essentially talks about protecting the Buddhist culture of the country from foreign religions. By this it also means the Christian missionaries who are trying to convert people”.

He was happy to note that “the Bodu Bala Sena has maintained that Hindus and Buddhists of the country should work together on these issues.” He ended by commending, “So far, the issues raked up by the BBS are worthy of active and sympathetic consideration. Bodu Bala Sena is able to capture the attention of the Buddhist population of Sri Lanka.” It was atrocious on the part of Ram Madhav, a leader of the 'largest Hindu organization in the world' to overlook the fact that the Sri Lankan State in connivance with such Buddhist fascist organizations of Sri Lanka killed, raped and maimed lakhs of Hindu Tamils in the area. In one of the Tweets he wrote: “BODU BALA SENA - A NEW BUDDHIST MOVEMENT IN SRI LANKA Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) - a Buddhist organisation many wish”.  

It is to be noted that RSS historically has been close to the ruling military dictators in Myanmar who have encouraged characters like Ashin Wirathu to propagate hatred for minorities in the country. How close RSS was to the military junta which now shares power with Aung San Suu Kyi can be known by the following report which appeared in the official organ of the RSS, Organizer dated February 28March 5, 2000:

“The 50th anniversary of the Sanatan Dharma Swayamsevak Sangh (SDSS-The RSS counterpart in Burma) was held at the National Theatre on Mayoma Kyaung Street, Yagnon, recently. Secretary-2 of the State Peace and Development Council, Lt. Gen. Tin Oo attended the meeting. The programme was attended by ministers and senior military officers. Minister for Commerce, Brig. Gen. Pyi Sone; Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Maj. Gen. Sein Htwa; Minister for Health, Maj. Gen. Ket Sein were among the prominent persons who attended the function…The Secretary-2 delivered speech at the function.”

This report appeared with two photographs. In one photograph five military Generals including second in command of the military junta, Lt. Gen. Tin Oo, were seen standing on the stage in the midst of SDSS leadership wearing khaki shorts. In the other photograph leading lights of the Burmese military junta were seen sitting in the front row of the auditorium.

This terrorist network exposed by the New York Times may have many other layers as was made clear by neo-Nazi mass murderer of Norway, Breivik who glorified Indian ‘Hindu Nationalists.[ii] He opened Pandora’s box when declared ‘Hindu Nationalist’ movement as a key ally in a global struggle to bring down democratic regimes across the world. Just before he went to massacre a large number of people in Norway he released a 'manifesto' of 1,518 pages, of which 102 pages dealt with the glorification of Hindutva movement of India. It declared support to "Sanatana Dharma movements and Indian nationalists in general." This manifesto also laid down a plan of co-operation between neo-Nazi movements of Europe and ‘Hindu Nationalist’ organizations of India. This neo-Nazi document emphasised that it was essential that these two "learn from each other and cooperate as much as possible" as "Our goals are more or less identical'. This manifesto specially mentioned the name of the fountain head of the Hindutva politics like RSS and its subsidiaries like BJP, ABVP and VHP in this regard.[iii]

Importantly, the manifesto pledged military support "to the nationalists [RSS] in the Indian civil war and in the deportation of all Muslims from India' as part of a larger campaign to 'overthrow of all western European multiculturalist governments."

Imagine if such conspiratorial revelations were made against some Muslim/Christian/Sikh individuals or organizations, the Indian intelligence agencies would have dug the areas inhabited by them to find out the linkages. Unfortunately, these startling disclosures about RSS’ linkages with a developing terror nexus internationally, are no cause of worry for the Indian State. This silence gives the conspirators legitimacy to play havoc with the region.

The International Court of Justice at The Hague must immediately constitute a team to unearth the nefarious role of fascist religious and cultural organization behind genocide of Rohingyas in Myanmar. Apart from looking into the role of such organizations in this genocide, this UN organ must also find out whether this cleansing is taking place to facilitate the capture of oil resources in this region and land grab by the Chines and Indian corporate giants. [iv]

Sources: 
[i] https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/opinion/deadly-alliances-against-muslims.html?_r=0
[ii] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/norwegian-mass-killers-manifesto-hails-hindutva/article2293829.ece
[iii] [ http://ibnlive.in.com/news/norwegian-killer-anders-breiviks-manifesto-supports-hindutva/170496-3.html  ]
[iv] https://qz.com/1074906/rohingya-the-oil-economics-and-land-grab-politics-behind-myanmars-refugee-crisis/

EVERYDAY AGNIPRIKSHA OF UP MADRASAAS TO PROVE PATRIOTISM: HINDUTVA ATTACK MUST BE FACED INNOVATIVELY

On the eve of 71st anniversary of India’s Independence, the government of UP led by a senior leader of Hindu Mahasabha and RSS, Mahant Adityanath Yogi, came out with a stunning order for madrasaas (Islamic seminaries). They were ordered to compulsorily observe the Independence Day, August 15, and the same had to be video-graphed to be sent to the administration as a proof. The order was issued by registrar of UP Madrasa Shiksha Parishad, Rahul Gupta. The circular directed all madrasaas to hoist the tricolour and sing the national anthem at 8 am. The madrasaa gatherings were also asked to be told about the sacrifices of the freedom fighters. The flag hoisting was to  be followed by a speech on the importance of the freedom struggle and the sacrifices made by freedom fighters. It was also ordered that students would have to pay tributes to freedom fighters on the occasion.[i]

When asked why only madrasaas were ordered to celebrate Independence with a list of dos and provide proof of the same and this order was not applicable on the government school, the Basic Education Board secretary, Sanjay Sinha, crossing all norms of fair-play, justice and equal treatment to all citizens, made a shocking statement: "We trust our schools. They are our teachers, our students and so why should we seek any evidence.''[ii] So making it clear that madarsa students and teachers were ‘others’ whose loyalty was suspect. This statement not only doubted the loyalty of Muslims attached to madrasaas but also aimed at creating hatred towards the largest minority of UP. Such a statement coming from a senior UP official could lead to violence against Muslims in general and was a criminal act under SECTION 153 A. The police should have filed FIR under it.[iii] No action was taken by the State which was expected but more shameful was the indifferent attitude of prominent Muslim organizations of UP who slept over it, instead of taking recourse to judicial redressal.

MADARSAAS PLAYED GREAT HEROIC ROLE IN INDIA’S FREEDOM STRUGGLE

The madrasas under communal attack in UP and elsewhere have been part of India’s glorious freedom struggle. The renowned historian RC Majumdar who produced tremendous research based works on Cellular Jail found out that the first batch which was incarcerated there consisted of leaders of 1857 Uprising like Maulana Fazle Haq Khairabadi, Maulana Liaqat Ali and Maulana Jafar Ali Thaneshwari who died there while serving life sentences. The second batch of prisoners were Wahabi maulvi revolutionaries who had continued waging the 1857 liberation struggle.[iv] VD Savarkar before turning into an apostle of Hindu separatism, in his monumental work on 1857 Uprising, The Indian War of Independence 1857 hugely praised maulvis like Ahmed Shah who “had woven fine and cleverly the webs of the Jehad.”[v]

According to the contemporary documents of the British military archives, in Delhi itself the British army after capturing the city in September 1857 hanged more than 3000 teachers and students of madrasaas. Muslims were not allowed entry into the city till 1859.

During the anti-colonial freedom movement, these were madrasaa maulvis (teachers) like Maulana Shibli Nomani, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Maulana Mohammed Ali, Maulana Hifzur Rehman, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Hafiz Ibrahim, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Habeebur Rehman Ludhianvi and Maulana Madani who with Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel bore brunt of the repression for being part of the freedom movement. Some of these maulvis were incarcerated at Malta and spent half of their lives in the British jails. It is to be noted that these maulvis refused to accept Partition of India on the religious bases despite Congress accepting it.

Madrasaas with such a glorious role in the freedom struggle of India with countless martyrs from its past fraternity in the cause of the freedom of India, are being ridiculed and harassed for being ‘disloyal’. The State is out to teach the ‘anti-national’ Muslims patriotism. Let’s compare this fundamental character of madrasaas with the role of RSS and Hindu Mahasabha in the freedom struggle whose children the rule India presently.

RSS HATRED FOR TRICOLOUR

The RSS since its inception in 1925 hated anything, which symbolized the united struggle of the Indian people against British rule. The case of the Tricolour is the most pertinent one. In December 1929 Congress at its Lahore session adopted ‘Purna Swaraj’ or complete self-rule as the national goal and called upon the people to observe January 26, 1930 as Independence Day by displaying and honouring the Tricolour (the Tricolour was by consensus considered the flag of the national movement by this time). In response to this Hedgewar as chief issued a circular to all the RSS shakhas to worship the bhagwa jhanda (saffron flag) as the national flag.

Golwalkar, the most prominent ideologue of the RSS and Guru of many of present lot of RSS/BJP leaders while addressing a Gurupurnima gathering in Nagpur on July 14, 1946, stated that it was the saffron flag which in totality represented their great culture. It was the embodiment of God: “We firmly believe that in the end the whole nation will bow before this saffron flag.”[vi]

Even after independence when the Tricolour became the National Flag, it was the RSS which refused to accept it as the National Flag. Golwalkar while discussing the issue of the national flag in an essay entitled ‘Drifting and Drifting’ in the book Bunch of Thoughts, an RSS publication and collection of writings of Golwalkar, decried Tricolour in the following words: “Our leaders have set up a new flag for our country. Why did they do so? It is just a case of drifting and imitating….Ours is an ancient and great nation with a glorious past. Then, had we no flag of our own? Had we no national emblem at all these thousands of years? Undoubtedly, we had. Then why this utter void, this utter vacuum in our minds?”[vii]

The most shocking denigration of the National Flag by the RSS came just on the eve of India’s Independence. The RSS English organ Organizer (August 14, 1947) while demanding hoisting of saffron flag at the ramparts of Red Fort in Delhi, openly denigrated the choice of the Tri-colour as the National Flag in the following words: "the people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour but it never be respected and owned by Hindus. the word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country."

RSS/HINDUMAHA SABHA SHAMELESSLY BETRYED FREEDOM STRUGGLE

The RSS/BJP governors of UP by enforcing celebration of Independence Day on the madrassas of UP are, in fact, attempting to cover-up their betrayal of the glorious united freedom struggle of Indian people. The RSS never participated in the freedom struggle and it was confessed by Guru Golwalkar who was boss of the organization 1940 onward. Non-cooperation Movement and Quit India Movement were two great milestones in the history of the Indian Freedom Movement and here is how he decried these movements.

“Definitely there are bound to be bad results of struggle. The boys became unruly after the 1920-21 movement. It is not an attempt to throw mud at the leaders. But these are inevitable products after the struggle. The matter is that we could not properly control these results. After 1942, people often started thinking that there was no need to think of the law.”[viii]

Thus, Golwalkar wanted the Indians to respect the draconian and repressive laws of the inhuman British rulers! Guruji also confessed how RSS kept away from the freedom movement.

“In 1942 also there was a strong sentiment in the hearts of many. At that time, too the routine work of Sangh continued. Sangh vowed not to do anything directly. However, upheaval (uthal-puthal) in the minds of Sangh volunteers continued. Sangh is an organization of inactive persons, their talks are useless, not only outsiders but also many of our volunteers did talk like this. They were greatly disgusted too.”[ix]

The Hindu Mahasabha led by RSS beloved, Savarkar, ran coalition governments with Muslim League in Bengal, Sind and NWFP when Congress was banned due to the launch of Quit India Movement. Shockingly, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, another Hindutva icon of RSS/BJP was deputy chief minister in the Muslim League ministry of Bengal.[x]

It must have been the ideological reason that Golwalkar (RSS chief since 1940), Deendayal Upadhyay (prominent RSS cadre since 1937) and LK Advani (RSS activist since 1942) never participated in the freedom struggle.

Even the greatest Hindutva icon of the RSS/BJP, Savarkar wrote 4-5 mercy petitions to the British masters for release from Cellular Jail. Ultimately, he was released after 10 years whereas he had been sentenced for 50 years.

This discriminatory order doubting the patriotism of Muslims imposed by the RSS/BJP rulers of UP for madrasaas has, naturally, terrorized Muslims of UP and a strong sense of despair prevails amongst them. They are scared that this issue like cow will be used to physically target them and another spell of lynching and destruction will follow.

Saddest part is that the Muslim organizations which mushroom in UP and elsewhere have kept mum on this brazen attack. The discriminatory order was not challenged for being a serious cause of spreading hatred against common Muslims. Apart from challenging it, madrasaa administrations should have used this opportunity to equip the Muslim audiences with the anti-national history of the RSS/BJP rulers. If they announce that next August 15 (2018), the madrassas would discuss the treacherous anti-national role of the Hindutva gang while following this order, it may be consigned to the dustbin. But for it the madrasaas will have to prepare documents in Urdu specially focussing on the betrayal of freedom struggle by the Hindutva gang. Next August 15 is not too long away, the preparations must start now.

Sources: 
[i]http://www.hindustantimes.com/lucknow/up-madrasas-told-to-celebrate-independence-day-videograph-event/story-RgKM1mPcBLnn2TdjgaHprL.html
[ii] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/independence-day-celebrations-no-video-proof-for-primary-schools-in-up/articleshow/60036015.cms
[iii] Ingredients of Section 153A: · The act of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste, community or any other group. · Acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different groups or castes or communities, if the acts disturb public tranquillity. · Acts causing fear or alarm or a feeling of insecurity among members of any religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community by use of criminal force or violence against them.
[iv] RC Majumdar, Penal Settlements in Andamans, Government of India, Delhi, 1975, 143.
[v] VD Savarkar, The Indian War of Independence 1857, Rajdhani, Delhi, 88.
[vi] MS Golwalkar, Shri Guruji Samagar Darshan (collected works of Golwalkar in Hindi), Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd., volume I, p. 98.
[vii] MS Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu, Bangalore, 1996, pp. 237-238.
[viii] SGSD, volume IV, 41.
[ix] Ibid., p. 40.
[x] Samagar Savarkar Wangmaya (Collected Works of Savarkar), Hindu Mahasabha,  Poona, 1963,  479-480.

RSS NEEDS TO BE INDIANIZED

In the aftermath of demolition of mosque at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, a leading English daily of India editorially commented that double/treble speak was understatement in the case of RSS. The RSS ideologue, Rakesh Sinha’s write up (‘Of swayamsevaks and intellectuals’ IE, March 24, 2017) only reaffirms this judgement. The facts become the first casualty for any organization practising this trait. 

The RSS always claimed to be a cultural organization but this RSS ideologue tells us that ‘RSS dominates India’s politics’. When did India vote for RSS? He is perhaps referring to BJP’s victory in recent UP election and takes it as RSS victory. Fine but he is oblivious of the fact that BJP+allies secured around 40% of the polled votes and almost 60% votes polled went to the parties which declared BJP as the main adversary. Even in 2014 parliamentary elections NDA had secured around 33% votes. Despite securing minority votes it is claimed that India is under the hegemony of RSS.

Indians are expected to ‘de-colonize’ their minds and believe that RSS vision of Hindu rashtra is not antithetical to a democratic-secular India, it participated in the anti-colonial freedom struggle, it does not discriminate against minorities, it has never rebelled against the state or used anarchist methods and it does not want to impose any uniformity.

Let’s compare these claims with the RSS own documents. Constituent Assembly of India passed Indian Constitution on November 26, 1949. RSS was not happy. Its English organ, ORGANIZER in an editorial titled ‘Constitution’ on November 30, 1949, rejected it because “there is nothing Bhartiya about it” and demanded promulgation of MANUSMRITI which decrees sub-human status to Sudras and women complained.

ORGANIZER just on the eve of Independence (14 August 1947), demeaning the choice of the National Flag wrote that Indian rulers “may give in our hands the Tricolour but it never be respected and owned by Hindus. the word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country."

In the same issue of Organizer, RSS rejected the vision of an all-inclusive democratic-secular and demanded a Hindu polity. In an editorial titled ‘Whither’ it said, “in Hindusthan only the Hindus form the nation and the national structure must be built on that safe and sound foundation the nation itself must be built up of Hindus, on Hindu traditions, culture, ideas and aspirations”.

So far as democracy is concerned it was as early as 1940 that Golwalkar addressing the 1350 senior most RSS cadres declared that “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”. This slogan borrowed from 20th century Nazi and Fascist parties of Europe RSS always believed in hegemony and exposes latter’s claim that it does not want ‘excessive uniformity’.

There cannot be a more brazen lie to claim that RSS participated in the freedom struggle. In fact, even founder of RSS Dr. Hedgewar (RSS chief 1925-1940) and second head of the RSS, Golwalkar (1940) did not make this claim. A biography of RSS published by RSS informs that “after establishing Sangh [1925] Doctor Saheb [Hedgewar] in his speeches used to talk only of Hindu organization. Direct comment on Government used to be nil”. Golwalkar confessed that due to keeping aloof of the RSS from the freedom struggle, “upheaval (uthal-puthal) in the minds of Sangh volunteers continued. Sangh is an organization of inactive persons, their talks are useless, not only outsiders but also many of our volunteers did talk like this. They were greatly disgusted too”. Can RSS share name of a single leader/cadre who participated in the freedom struggle?

RSS hatred for minorities specially Muslims and Christians can be measured by Golwalkar’s writings. Before Independence he declared, “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 [sic] problem…That alone keeps the nation safe from the danger of a cancer developing into its body politic of the creation of a state within a state”. This hatred hardened after Independence. The ‘Holy’ book for the RSS cadres, Bunch of Thoughts, has a long chapter titled ‘Internal Threats’ in which Muslims and Christians are described as threat number one and two respectively.

So far as RSS love for Indian State is concerned two crucial documents need to be perused. When Sardar Patel’s ministry banned RSS for facilitating Gandhi’s murder on February 4, 1948, following reasons were given: “Undesirable and even dangerous activities have been carried on by members of the Sangh. It has been found that in several parts of the country individual members of the RSS have indulged in acts of violence involving arson, robbery, dacoity, and murder and have collected illicit arms and ammunition. They have been found circulating leaflets exhorting people to resort to terrorist methods, to collect firearms, to create disaffection against the government and suborn the police and the military.” Patel in a letter to Golwalkar (September 11, 1948) stated, “RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhiji’s death”.

The fact is that if any organization needs to be Indianized it is RSS. It must discard its anti-democratic-secular India agenda.

RAMDEV'S COW URINE THERAPY: INDIAN MUSLIMS ON TRIAL AGAIN

According to press reports Ramdev Yoga guru and Patanjali founder while participating in a TV show (September 30, 2017) said cow urine should be acceptable to Muslims too as something used for treatment. He went to the extent of claiming that "It is written in Quran that cow urine can be used for treatment."

Without going into the debate whether Ramdev was honest in his reference to Quran or not one thing is sure. This Hindutva flag-post, Ramdev, a billionaire baba believes that by adding Muslim/Islamic angle in anything he can be in news and fulfill his design of Muslim bashing. His latest gimmick is asking Muslims to use cow urine therapy. Do all Hindus agree to his this hawkish project of cow urine therapy? Why should not he get it recommended by Dharam Sansad and Ayurvedic Council of India? Why does he not ask RSS/BJP health minister of India to make it compulsory in government hospitals? Can he suggest it to Sikhs/Christians/Jains/Buddhists of India? Why is it that he does not supply cow urine to his friend, Adityanath, another sanyasi and CM of UP so that hundreds of children do not die for want of oxygen and medicines? Baba is not asked whether cow urine is going to be provided free of charge as 'seva' or going to be another item for minting money.

Such inconvenient questions are never asked by channels like India TV owned by Rajat Sharma, an ABVP alumni.

He told Rajat Sharma, a Hindutva co-traveller that “I never think small. I think big. I think about our nation 500 years hence". The issue is that with him around as Raj Purohit of RSS/BJP can we be sure of democratic-secular India surviving for even a decade. He thinks big like PM Modi; Bullet Trains, not bothering about hundreds losing their lives on regular Indian railway network. Ramdev has no bank account but is one of the richest in India owning businesses worth TEN THOUSAND CRORES OF RUPEES. Nobody knows what the value of his assets abroad is.

BTW, this business tycoon baba is also brand ambassador of Haryana but was missing when Haryana burnt for 2 weeks in February 2016, and not long ago, Chandigarh molestation of a Hindu girl by the ward of a senior RSS/BJP leader of Haryana and violence by the followers of baba Gurmeet Singh who was facilitated and financed by RSS/BJP leaders of Haryana.

Ramdev like his RSS mentors must know that Muslim/Islam bashing has its limits.

COW & HINDUTVA: MYTHS & FACTS

The Hindutva juggernaut which rode on with Ram, love jihaad and ghar wapsi on top of it, is riding with cow this time. There have been countless incidents of lynching, maiming and robbing of Muslims and Dalits in the name of saving holy cows. It is to be noted that there are large number of such attacks which go unreported. The videos of such lynching and maiming uploaded on the social media by the perpetrators as instances of latter’s bravado are horrendous and blood curdling comparable only to the violence during Partition. This spectacle clearly shows the collusion of State with the criminals who fear no law. These shameful visuals show how brazenly Hindutva perpetrators make merry, celebrate and enjoy the ‘game’ of lynching. These c          riminals who are out on religious duty of saving holy cows are worldly mortals also. This is proved when we find them robbing the victims before lynching.

This killer cow juggernaut continues to roll down despite our PM, a senior RSS leader, describing most of these lovers of ‘gaumaataa’ in August 2016, as anti-social elements. According to him: “It makes me angry that people are running shops in the name of cow protection…Some people indulge in anti-social activities at night, and in the day masquerade as cow protectors.”[i]

If despite this strong rebuttal by the PM, almost one year back, violence in the name of cow has become more common, covering larger areas of India, more strident and beyond control; it may have either of the two following explanations. Firstly, PM playing to the gallery spoke those words in order to diffuse the social anger against such criminal activities. Secondly, the current cow vigilantes are the ones who are not anti-social elements but fall into the category which has Prime Ministerial approval and sanction as genuine holy cow saviours. There is no doubt, these gangsters have sanction of the RSS and law and order machinery.

Unfortunately, judiciary which is supposed to ensure that Indian rulers govern as per rule of the law and many times calls for scrutiny the issues of public concern before it has so far kept quiet emboldening the criminals. In fact, a judge of Rajasthan High Court instead of looking into the atrocities being committed by the cow saviours (Rajasthan tops in cow violence and recently witnessed horrendous public lynching of Pelu Khan; the perpetrators uploading full video of the lynching)[ii] ordered that cow be made a national animal and anybody found killing it should be given death sentence.[iii]

Indian home minister, Rajnath Singh, a prominent ideologue in the RSS hierarchy, even invented a ‘scientific’ reason for holiness of cow. While referring to a report of the US department of Agriculture he told a gathering of the RSS leaders that “80% of genes found in the cow are found in humans too” he called upon Indians to “save and worship cow”.[iv]

Not surprisingly, as RSS cadre Singh was very selective, partisan and wrong. The findings of a leading English daily of India, based on a world acclaimed journal SCIENCE show that many other animals have greater percentage of genes like human beings. Chimpanzees, cats, mouse, dogs have 96%, 90%, 85% and 84% respectively genes like human beings. These are not only animals but even fruits; bananas having 60% similar genes.[v] It is to be seen when Rajnath Singh is going to announce these species also as HOLY! We also need to know from him whether minorities and Dalits are human beings too to be saved from lynching.

The latest victims have been the beef-eaters of IIT-M (this institute at Chennai continues with older nomenclature of the city Madras) who were victims of murderous attack by the ABVP (RSS student wing) activists in the campus.[vi] The continuing murderous attacks by the Hindutva cadres in the name of cow make one thing very clear that these fascist elements are totally illiterate about present day India and have absolutely no knowledge of India’s history, specially Vedic history which they glorify as golden period.

If somebody is looking for a gurukul or university to graduate in deceit and lies, doubtlessly, the RSS will be his or her best choice. Its mastery over this trait is unparalleled and is proved once again by its criminal disregard of facts on the controversy over beef-eating in Indian history by Hindus of India. It aggressively claims that beef-eating started in India with the arrival of Muslims as rulers who initiated and subsequently popularized it in order to denigrate Hindus and their holy symbols. Golwalkar, a shameless liar while responding to a question, “How did cow slaughter begin in our country [India]?” replied, “It began with the coming of foreign invaders to our country. In order to reduce the population to slavery, they thought that the best method to be adapted was to stamp out every vestige of self-respect in Hindus…In that line cow slaughter also began”.[vii]

Such propaganda helps the Hindutva gang in terrorizing the largest minority and Dalits of India who consume beef and are in its trade. It is to be noted here that since the early 20th century, coinciding with the rise of Hindutva politics, cow has been the most important issue which has triggered the maximum cases of violence against the Muslims and Dalits of the country. It is immaterial to the Indian heirs of Nazi propagandist Paul Joseph Goebbels that the claim that beef-eating started with the arrival of Muslims in India is not even in keeping with the Vedic version of history as narrated by ‘Hindu’ chroniclers..

Swami Vivekananda, regarded as a philosopher of Hindutva by the RSS, while addressing a meeting at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, USA (February 2, 1900) on the theme of ‘Buddhistic India’, declared:  

“You will be astonished if I tell you that, according to old ceremonials, he is not a good Hindu who does not eat beef. On certain occasions he must sacrifice a bull and eat it.”[viii]  

This is corroborated by other research works sponsored by the Ramakrishna Mission established by Vivekananda. According to C. Kunhan Raja, a prominent authority on the history and culture of the Vedic period:

“The Vedic Aryans, including the Brahmanas, ate fish, meat and even beef. A distinguished guest was honoured with beef served at a meal. Although the Vedic Aryans ate beef, milch cows were not killed. One of the words that designated cow was aghnya (what shall not be killed). But a guest was a goghna (one for whom a cow is killed). It is only bulls, barren cows and calves that were killed.”[ix]  

One of the greatest researcher and authority on Indian politics, religions and culture produced a brilliant essay on the subject titled ‘Did the Hindus Never Eat Beef?’ All those who are really interested in understanding the Indian past and wish to challenge the supremacist myth making for cleansing and marginalizing minorities must read this monumental work of Dr. Ambedkar.[x]

Dr. Ambedkar after studying very large number of Vedic and Hindu scriptures arrived at the conclusion that, “when the learned Brahmins argue that the Hindus not only never ate beef but they always held the cow to be sacred and were always opposed to the killing of the cow, it is impossible to accept their view”.

Interestingly, the findings of Ambedkar were that cows were sacrificed and beef consumed because COWS were HOLY. According to Ambedkar: "It was not that the cow was not sacred in Vedic times, it was because of her sacredness that it is ordained in the Vajasaneyi Samhita that beef should be eaten." (Dharma Shastra Vichar in Marathi, p. 180). That the Aryans of the Rig Veda did kill cows for purposes of food and ate beef is abundantly clear from the Rig Veda itself. In Rig Veda (X. 86.14) Indra says: ‘They cook for one 15 plus twenty oxen’. The Rig Veda (X.91.14) says that for Agni were sacrificed horses, bulls, oxen, barren cows and rams. From the Rig Veda (X.72.6) it appears that the cow was killed with a sword or axe.”

Ambedkar concluded his essay with the following words: “With this evidence no one can doubt that there was a time when Hindus, both Brahmins and non-Brahmins, ate not only flesh but also beef.”[xi]

The violence unleashed by Hindutva cadres on vulnerable sections of Indians also underscores hypocrisy as an integral trait of the RSS. In fact, to say that it indulged in double/triple speak would be an understatement in its case. RSS cadres are killing indiscreetly poor Indians, not only for slaughtering cows but for even transporting these animals. At the same time RSS/BJP are ruling single-handedly States of Goa, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal and Manipur where cow slaughter is legal and beef is staple diet. The RSS dictum seems to be that in some areas you will go to hell for slaughtering COWS and in some areas you will rule for slaughtering COWS.

There are studies available which show that ban on cow trade and ban on beef is going to put Indian farmers under more severe burden who are already facing crisis of existence. After Modi government’s coming to power farmers suicides have increased by 30% and ban on cow sale is going to play havoc with farmers.

In fact, Sharad Pawar, a seasoned politician who learnt his politics as a leader of farmers has come out with an amazing proposal. According to him as Modi government is banning cow trade and slaughter under the diktats of RSS, the affected farmers who cannot afford to feed barren cows should leave them with RSS organizations to SERVE these HOLY COWS. It should not be a problem for RSS as it is one of the largest colonizers of land after government in India He has even demanded that RSS should turn its headquarter at Resham Bagh, Nagpur into a GAUSHALA so that individual farmers are not forced to feed such cows.

RSS trained in fascist culture practises multiple agendas with multiple tongues. Whenever one polarizing agenda loses steam or becomes controversially hot the same is abandoned and a new polarising issue is taken out from the hat. Going around polarizing with Ram temple, ghar-wapsi (conversion of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism), love-jihaad, now it is the turn of cow to divide India. The issue of cow as the only issue faced by India today is also an attempt to divert attention from poverty, unemployment, riots, violence against Dalits minorities and women. The RSS/BJP rulers believe that they can fool all the people all the times. They will prove wrong, that is sure, but by the time it happens democratic-secular India is going to have terrible time.

Sources:
[i] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Cow-vigilantes-%E2%80%98anti-social%E2%80%99-Modi-breaks-his-silence/article14556739.ece
[ii] http://indianexpress.com/article/india/alwar-lynching-assault-injuries-behind-pehlu-khans-death-says-doctor-who-conducted-post-mortem-4602917/
[iii] http://indianexpress.com/article/india/declare-cow-national-animal-says-rajasthan-hc-judge-among-a-few-other-things-4683614/
[iv] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3911022/COWS-80-human-India-s-Home-Minister-Rajnath-Singh-joins-cow-vigilantes-stage-claims-humans-cattle-similar-genes.html
[v] http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/health/genetically-speaking-were-all-chicken-banana-too-4363547/
[vi] http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/cattle-trade-rules-iit-madras-scholar-who-took-part-in-beef-fest-beaten-up-by-students/story-NosCMp145iBQXD7tnwbWHJ.html
[vii] MS Golwalkar, Spotlight, Bangalore, Sahitya Sindhu (RSS publication house), 1974, p. 98
[viii] Vivekananda, The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, vol. 3 (Calcutta: Advaita Ashram, 1997), p. 536.
[ix] C. Kunhan Raja, „Vedic Culture‟, cited in the series, Suniti Kumar Chatterji and others (eds.), The Cultural Heritage of India, vol. 1 (Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Mission, 1993), p. 217.
[x] B. R. Ambedkar, ‘Did the Hindus never eat beef?’ in The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? in Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, vol. 7, (Government of Maharashtra, Bombay, 1990, first edition 1948) pp. 323-328.] http://www.countercurrents.org/ambedkar050315.htmAlso see great work by Professor DN Jha, The Myth of the Holy Cow, link: https://archive.org/details/TheMythOfHolyCowJha
[xi] B. R. Ambedkar, ‘Did the Hindus never eat beef?’ in The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? in Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, vol. 7, (Government of Maharashtra, Bombay, 1990, first edition 1948) pp. 323-328.

CELEBRATING 'VADH' (KILLING) OF OPPONENTS IS EMBEDDED IN THE HINDUTVA POLITICS | GAURI LANKESH

The Information and Technology minister in Modi's Cabinet, Ravi Shankar Prasad, a seasoned RSS cadre slammed online trolls for expressing happiness over the killing of senior journalist Gouri Lankesh. Prasad in a Twitter expressed his anger against those cheering Gouri’s killing. His Twitter read: “I strongly condemn and deplore the messages on social media expressing happiness on the dastardly murder of Gouri Lankesh.”[i]

Very kind of this minister! But Ravi Shankar Prasad must tell us whom he is advising. Those criminals who are celebrating 'vadh' of Gouri Lankesh, on social media or otherwise, are hardened Hindutva practitioners who believe in converting democratic-secular India into a Hindu Pakistan. The sadist Surat garments trader Nikhil Dadhich who feels honoured for being followed by PM Modi on Twitter, celebrated Gouri's assassination with the following tweet: “Ek kutiya kutte ki maut kya mari saare pille ek sur mein bilbila rahe hain” (a bitch died a dog’s death and the litter began wailing in one voice)." He is RSS cadre, a regular at RSS drills for last so many years. Moreover, he describes himself as 'Hindu nationalist', an epitaph killers of Gandhiji used for themselves.

It has been an old practice of Hindutva practitioners to celebrate the killing of opponents as 'vadh'. They did it after the killings of Narender Dhabolkar, Govind Pansare and Professor MM Kalburgi. In fact, they did the same after the killing of Gandhiji by 'Hindu nationalists'. This debased practice was brought to notice by the first Home Minister of India, Sardar Patel. Sardar in a letter dated 11 September 1948 to the then boss of RSS, Golwalkar wrote: "The RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhiji’s death."

If someone believes that these celebrations took place without the knowledge of RSS/BJP top leadership, you are grossly mistaken. A prominent Hindutva organization, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), allied to RSS has been regularly holding national conventions for "Establishment of Hindu Nation‟ in India. In 2013 one such convention was held in Goa. It is to be noted that members of one avtar of HJS, Sanatan Sanstha have been found indulging in bomb blasts at Muslim institutions and are under investigation for the murder of renowned secular intellectuals like Govind Pansare and Narendra Dhabolkar. This convention started its proceedings with a felicitation message from the then CM of Gujarat, Narendra Bhai Modi wishing HJS all success in its project of turning India into a Hindu Nation.

Shockingly, from the same dais in this convention from where Modi's felicitation message was read, one of the prominent speakers, K.V. Sitaramiah, declared that Gandhi was 'terrible, wicked and most sinful'. Rejoicing the killing of M.K. Gandhi, he went on to declare, “As Bhagwan Shri Krishna said in the Gita, Paritranaya Sadhunam Vinashaya Cha Dushkritam/ Dharamasansthapnaya Sambhavami Yuge-Yuge (For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born in every age) On…30th January 1948 evening, Shriram came in the form of Nathuram Godse and ended the life of Gandhi.”

K.V. Sitaramiah has also authored a book titled 'Gandhi was Dharma Drohi and Desa Drohi' in which the text at the back cover, quoting from the epic Mahabharata, demands 'Dharma Drohis must be killed' and "Not killing the deserved to be killed is great sin". He goes to, the extent of warning members of Indian Parliament that "where the members of Parliament seeing clearly allow to kill Dharma and truth as untruth, those members will be called dead".[ii]

Prasad must talk to his alma mater RSS and other Hindutva organizations to discard this inhuman and barbaric practice.

[i] http://indianexpress.com/article/india/gauri-lankesh-murder-expressing-happiness-on-killing-shameful-ravi-shankar-prasad-to-online-trolls-4831801/
[ii] http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/16527_mohandas-gandhi-was-terrible-wicked-and-most-sinful.html

BETRAYAL OF 1857: KIN OF THOSE WHO SACRIFICED DIE IN PENURY & THOSE WHO SERVED BRITISH CONTINUE RULING INDIA

Delhi as the Capital of India and touted as the heart of India, in fact, is a heartless city. There is endless list of shameful incidents to corroborate this character of the city. This list keeps on expanding at fast rate. The latest is the news that Cyrus,  the last surviving 'prince' of the Oudh (Awadh) dynasty which ruled vast territories later known as United Province and played heroic role in India's War of Independence of 1857 died due to hunger and related issues in the vicinity of the houses of the Delhi elite including Indian rulers, diplomats, businessmen and authors.

According to press reports "the last prince of Awadh, who lived in abject penury, was found dead on September 2 (2017) in Delhi's 'Malcha Mahal', a Tughlak-era hunting lodge, tucked deep inside a patch of forest, overrun by moss and disrepair". Shockingly, the news of the death was broken by a section of the media over two months after a team of police officers found him lying motionless inside the derelict 14th century structure on last September 2.

Ali Raza popularly known as Cyrus and his sister Sakina came to Delhi with their mother, Begum Wilayat Mahal in 1970s. Begum was fighting a long battle with the Uttar Pradesh government for return of their ancestral property in Lucknow and demanding recognition for the sacrifices made by her family during the 1857 War of Independence described as Sepoy Mutiny by the British. With no solution of the problem at Lucknow Begum started camping in a first class waiting room of the New Delhi Railway Station after arriving in Delhi. However, in 1985 she was allotted 'Malcha Mahal' and a paltry monthly allowance of Rs 500 in exchange. Since then family had been staying there.

The family chose a life of isolation and rarely interacted with outsiders despite staying in the vicinity of elite of the city which included rulers of India, industrialists, diplomats, authors and administrators. The 700-year-old dilapidated 'Malcha Mahal' had no electricity, no doors, no windows and no water.

In an interview to The Indian Express in 1997, the Prince had spoken of his sister’s deep distress since their mother died, and her obsession with committing suicide. “My sister is in deep distress and since the Begum died, (she) has been wearing black. She has not combed her hair even once.” Sakina died few months ago. At the time, their mother’s ashes were being kept in a crystal vial in the middle of the large room. According to the Prince, his mother had died by consuming crushed diamonds, extracted from ornaments she never wore in 1993.

He was often seen pouring water in the blue ceramic tea set displayed on a broken table. As per the local police version the prince would wander near the forested areas in Chanakyapuri and, for the past two-three days, there was no movement which was suspicious. Police later found that he was lying dead on the floor inside his house. He was taken to a nearby government hospital (RML) for his post-mortem, where no external injuries were found on his body. There were some contact numbers found from the spot but none of them could be reached. After the mandatory wait of 72 hours when no one came to claim the body the body was handed over to Delhi Waqf Board which organized his burial at Delhi gate Cemetery on September 5.

Thus died the last Prince of Oudh Dynasty popularly known as Cyrus. Ironically, Cyrus (600-530 BC) was the founder of one of the greatest empires in the world history, the Achaemenid Empire. Cyrus was described as King of Persia and King of the Four Corners of the World. This Cyrus of the former Oudh ruling dynasty died a pauper.

Presently, there are no details available about Begum Wilayat Mahal's connections with the great Begum Hazrat Mahal and her son Brijis Qadr who played prominent role in leading the 1857 War of Independence against the East India Company rule. Begum Hazrat Mahal carried on the armed struggle till 1860. She did not surrender and took asylum in Nepal where she died in 1879. However, it is true that Begum Wilayat Mahal demanded compensation from Independent India's government for being member of a family of rebels and her claim was not rejected.  

The story of Begum Wilayat Mahal and her children who hailed from family of rebels of 1857 armed struggle dying as paupers is not an isolated incident. There are thousands of such stories which no historian has bothered to chronicle. It is no more part of Indian nation's narrative.

The saddest part is that neither on the eve of Independence nor while commemorating the centenary of this event in 1956-57, the Indian State bothered about the injustice done to the families who lost everything in this great struggle. The free India's government should have announced the compensation for kin and families of martyrs and restored to them properties/wealth confiscated by the British for 'crime' of joining 'Mutiny'. It should have been the first order.

It did not happen but a more criminal practice was allowed to continue. Those stooges who helped the British in suppressing the 'Mutiny' like rulers of Gwalior, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Rampur, Kashmir, Patiala, Pataudi, Nabha and many more were allowed to retain their own properties. Not only this, these anti-nationals were allowed to continue to possess properties of the rebels which were confiscated by the British and awarded to these princes as rewards. Sadly, if on the one hand India witnessed children/kin of the freedom fighters living a pathetic life and dying like the family of Begum Wilayat Mahal, on the other hand we saw the shocking spectacle of the family members of the stooges enjoying power as chief ministers, ministers, Governors in an independent India. Even the residences of Bahadur Shah (Red Fort etc.), Rani Laxmi Bai (Jhansi fort), Begum Hazrat Hazrat Mahal (Lucknow Residency), to cite few examples out of thousands, were not restored. All these became national properties. Zafar's family ended as being beggars in Burma.  But the stooge princes were allowed to own their estates convert many of these into money minting resorts.

Thus the stooges ruled during the British times and continue to rule the Independent India. And the kin of those who sacrificed everything for freedom continue live as paupers. BHARAT MAATAA KEE JAI!

BJP+RSS DECLARE HOLY WAR AGAINST KERALA

RSS/BJP rulers of India have finally woken up against violence! You are grossly mistaken if you believe that they are seeking forgiveness for large scale killing/raping/maiming/robbing people of the minorities specially Muslims and Christians in 1992-3 (nation-wide carnage of Muslims before and after demolition of a mosque at Ayodhya), 1998 (wide-spread violence against Christians in Gujarat), 2002 (carnage of Muslims in Gujarat) and Kandhmal, Orissa violence of 2007-8 (cleansing of Christians in the area). The RSS/BJP rulers have not expressed intention of discarding or checking the present spate of violence against minorities in the name of cow, love-jihad, ghar wapsi (forcible conversion of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism) and allegiance to Hindutva.

There has been no respite in violence against Dalits too. In fact, in last three years incident of violence against Dalits has galloped by around 300%. The Casteist, criminal and patriarchal elements are having free run in inflicting violence against women.  The same is the fate of peasantry, working class, students and intellectuals. Never in the history of India's independence, these classes were subjected to such brutal denigration and repression in the name of Bharat Mata.

But it is Kerala only where violence is running amok perpetrated by the CPM government of the State against RSS/BJP cadres which has been labelled as 'red terror'. The rulers flying the banner of Hindutva have declared war against Kerala government by launching a strident Jan Raksha Yatra. It is not that only CPM government is under attack. The whole of the Kerala society, its ethos and culture is under attack. The national leadership of RSS/BJP has descended on Kerala to fight Left, to be specific, CPM form perpetrating violence against the anti-national CPM. The UP chief minister Mahant Yogi Adityanath who has many criminal cases pending against him in UP courts is leading the leading commander of the Hindutva juggernaut. According to Adityanath the Left has turned the state into a factory of "jihadi terrorism" which should be matter of serious concern for India as a whole. To quote him, "In the guise of secularism, CPM has turned Kerala into hub of jihadi terror. It must be rejected for which we have come here to create public consciousness".

No proofs are offered in support of the serious allegations against Kerala and its people. Even the home ministry of India which is under the charge of Adityanath's Hindutva co-traveller, Rajnath Singh and other national intelligence agencies like NIA, CBI and IB under him have not prepared any such dossier. If this was so CPM government would have been dismissed long ago by Modi government. But denigration of Kerala publicly continues. In any other country the person/s making such wild allegations would have been hauled up by courts and deposited in safe custody of jails.

Despite this smoke-screen the Hindutva leadership is unable to hide its real design. Adityanath as newly surcharged Hindutva icon spilled the beans. He declared that in Kerala "the red will turn saffron soon". This would be done by converting Kerala into a "Sanatan Hindu Rashtra". The Left would be cleansed as Adi Shankaracharya did in the 8th century by cleansing opponents. According to Adityanath "When the country's religion and culture was threatened by foreign invaders, Shankaracharya launched the movement for the protection of the Hindu religion. Today, time has come to replicate the Shankaracharya movement and Hindu culture must be protected and preserved in Kerala".  

By foreign invaders Adityanath must have meant Buddhism and Jainism (as that period there were no Muslim or Christian 'invader') and what Shankaracharya army did to these religions has been chronicled by the two prominent saints of Hinduism.  According to Dayanand Sarswati, founder of Arya Samaj "For ten years he (Adi Shankaracharya) toured all over the country, refuted Jainism and advocated the Vedic religion. All the broken images that are now-a- days dug out of the earth were broken in the time of Shankar, whilst those that are found whole here and there under the ground had been buried by the Jainis for fear of their being broken (by those who had renounced Jainism)."[i]

Swami Vivekananda while describing cleansing of Buddhism from India wrote: "The temple of Jaganath is an old Buddhistic temple. We took this and others over and re-Hinduised them. We shall have to do many things like that yet.".[ii]

It is surprising that Hindutva bandwagon does not organize anti-beef yatra in Kerala where beef is a secular diet. It does not launch any movement for banning cow-slaughter in the State. It only shows its hypocrisy. The issue of Islamic jehad and Left having a foreign ideology are being used as RSS feels that after Gujarat it is Kerala which could be the laboratory of Hindutva as it has substantial presence of minorities.

It should not surprise anybody that RSS basically representing the hegemonic Brahamanism of the North India historically hated Keralite Hindus and treated them as belonging to inferior race. MS Golwalkar, the RSS Supremo was invited to address the students of the School of Social Science of Gujarat University on December 17, 1960. In this address, while underlying his firm belief in the Race Theory, he touched upon the issue of cross-breeding of human beings in the Indian Hindu society in history. He said:

"Today experiments in cross-breeding are made only on animals. But the courage to make such experiments on human beings is not shown even by the so-called modern scientist of today. 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.”[iii]

The above statement of Golwalkar is highly worrying in many respects. Firstly, it proves that Golwalkar believed that India had a superior Race or breed and also an inferior Race which needed to be improved through cross-breeding. Secondly, a more worrying aspect was his belief that Brahmans of the North (India) and specially Namboodri Brahamans, belonged to a superior Race. Due to this quality, Namboodri Brahamanas were sent from the North to Kerala to improve the breed of inferior Hindus there. Interestingly, this was being argued by a person who claimed to uphold the unity of Hindus world over. Thirdly, Golwalkar as a male chauvinist believed that a Namboodri Brahman male belonging to a superior Race from the North only could improve the inferior human Race from South. For him wombs of Kerala’s Hindu women enjoyed no sanctity and were simply objects of improving breed through intercourse with Namboodri Brahamanas who in no way were related to them. Thus, Golwalkar was, in fact, confirming the allegation that in the past male dominated high Caste society forced newly-wedded women of other Castes to pass their first nights by sleeping with superior caste males.

It is surprising that despite holding such ideas which openly denigrated Hindu women and society of Kerala RSS has been able to create pockets of influence in Kerala. The organization which shamelessly denigrated Hindus of Kerala is presenting itself as saviour of Hindus of Kerala.

There is no doubt that some parts of Kerala are in the grip of horrible political violence. It is a sad scenario for a State which is known for its total literacy, culture, finest gender ratio and all-inclusiveness. The Hindutva leaders present violence one-sided; only its cadres being targetted. It is not true. According to police records accessed by journalist Sneha Mary Koshy of NDTV, "172 political murders have occurred since 2000. Of these, the RSS and the BJP have together lost 65 party workers, while 85 of the CPI (M)’s workers have been killed. 11 activists each of the Congress and the IUML have also been killed in this period."[iv]  The data on killings clearly shows that in since the year 2000 that BJP/RSS sole victimhood is not supported by facts. But one unfortunate aspect of these killings is that almost all victims hailed from poor families.

In fact, it was not long ago that Golwalkar, the most prominent ideologue of the RSS who has been described as 'guru of hate' in an essay titled 'Internal Threats' identified three sections of the Indians as 'Internal Threats' who needed to be neutralized. Muslims, Christians and Communists were declared to be 'Internal Threats' number ONE, TWO and THREE respectively.[v] Muslims and Christians have been perennial targets of Hindutva storm troopers for being 'outsiders' and it is the turn of the Communists now. This guru wrote: "Socialism is not a product of this soil. It is not in our blood and tradition. It has absolutely nothing to do with the traditions and ideal of thousands of years of our national life."[vi]

This semi-literate (a status worst then being illiterate) guru thus denigrated hundreds of great martyrs of India namely Bhagat Singh, Chandershekhar Azad, Sukhdev, Rajguru and Ashfaqullah Khan who sacrificed their lives raising the slogan 'Inquilab Zindabad' and dream of building a Socialist India. Golwalkar while describing Socialism as alien ideology insults even swami Vivekananda who declared "I am a socialist not because I think it is a perfect system, but half a loaf is better than no bread" and described Socialism "as the vanguard of the social revolution that is to follow".'

The political violence in parts of Kerala is not an aberration but part of Hindutva strategy of hegemony over those parts of India where 'other' kind of Hindus reside. The Left, instead of falling into the Hindutva game-plan of tit for tat must concentrate on organizing all sections of Kerala population against the anti-national plan of the "Sanatan Hindu rashtra" where Casteism, racism, inequality and Manu Code will thrive.

Sources:
[i] Swami Dayanand Sarswati, Satyarth Prakash, p. 347.
[ii] Swami Vivekananda, The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, vol 3, Advaita Ashram, Calcutta, p. 264.
[iii] M. S. Golwalkar cited in Organizer, January 2, 1961.
[iv] http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/how-many-political-murders-have-taken-place-kerala-last-17-years-what-numbers-say-66354
[v] MS Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu, Bangalore, 1996, p. 176-201.
[vi] Ibid., p. 200.