MG Vaidya
When the news of the so-called interview given by Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the blasts in the Samjhauta Express (Feb-2007), Hyderabad Mecca Masjid (May 2007) and Ajmer Dergah (Oct 2007) appeared in the newspapers, I must admit, that I was not much surprised. As the elections to the Lok Sabha are coming closer, such conspiratorial depravities are bound to come forth.
Calibrated Conspiracy
It will be interesting to note the facts of this so-called interview which was published in the Caravan Magazine on February 1, 2014. Leena Geeta Raghunath, claiming to be a practising lawyer had approached Aseemanand who is lodged in Ambala jail in Haryana and told him that she wanted to help him. Aseemanand refused her proposal, saying that he had his own counsel who is looking after his case. This was on January 9, 2014. But, extra-ordinary philanthropic compassion of this lady did not deter her. She again called him after eight days i. e. on January 17, and offered her services to the Swamiji but the Swami declined.
I wonder whether the lady is a real lawyer or a fake one. Generally journalists are not allowed to meet the alleged culprits in the jail. I twice had been imprisoned but none other than the intimate relatives were allowed to meet the prisoners, much less a jouralist. However legal counsels get the permission to see their clients. But no genuine lawyer would condescend to become a hired agent for a collusive endeavour. If Leena Raghunath is really a lawyer by profession, she to use the mildert term, has disgraced her profession. And the whole community of lawyers would be ashamed of her.
RSS & Violence
Aseemanand, it is reported, had told this female advocate that he had consultations with Shri Mohan Bhagwat, now the Sarsanghachalak, but then General Secretary and Shri Indresh Kumar, who at present is a member of the RSS National Executive. It is alleged that both these high RSS functionaries supported his plan of bomb-blasts and even egged him on to carry them out. I am connected with the RSS for more than eight decades. We have never been asked to even think of such evil activitis. RSS as an organisation from its inception is incessantly involved in character building of the Hindu youth. Neither basic philosophy of the RSS nor its activities are pro-violence. There are certain isms that glorify violence and there are, in our country too, a few movements that take pride in violent activitics. Naxalites, PWG, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hijbul Mujahidin, Simi etc, are familiar names.
I tried to figure it in my mind as to who should and could have hatched this conspiracy and I thought that this must be the handiwork of the ruling Congress party. Mark that Ambala is located in the state of Haryana, where, the Congress party is running the government. Without the State’s involvement, a correspondent of a paper cannot reach an alleged guilty party. My guess was confirmed by Rahul Gandhi’s speech, delivered in Gujrat on February 8. He said there that “the RSS is a poisonous ideology. He (Modi) has been in the RSS all his life. It was the RSS ideology that killed (Mahatma) Gandhi.” He further said “Sardar Patel devoted his entire life to the Congress… He (Modi) has not read all that.”
Facts of History
According to me, it is not Modi but Rahul Gandhi who has forgotten the history. It is also natural, because Rahulji is a young man with little experience and knowledge. For his benefit and also for those that will be voting for the first time, this April, I may put down certain facts.
It is true that Gandhiji was killed on January 30, 1948. It is also true that the Govt suspected the role of the RSS in that brutal episode. Shri MS Golwalkar alias Shri Guruji, the then Sarsanghachalak, was arrested in the midnight between January 31, and February 1. Do you know under what article of the Cr-PC? The arrest was under Art. 302, as if Shri Guruji had personally gone to Delhi and fired at the Mahatma! But very shortly the government regained its sense and the arrest was shown under preventive detention law.
Not only Guruji but hundreds of RSS workers were also arrested. About twenty thounsand houses of RSS activists were thoroughly searched but not an iota of evidence was found to implicate the RSS. Those who were responsible for the murder of th Mahatma were apprehended. They were given punishment by the Court. After six months detention all RSS men were released. But the ban on the RSS continued. So Sangh started a Satyagraha. More than 70 thousand Swayamsevaks participated in it. Then two mediaors came forward to resolve the impasse. First was Shri GV Ketkar, Chief Editor of the Kesari. On his request Satyagraha was suspended. But still the ban continued. Then came Shri TV R Venkatram Shastri, former advocate General of the then Madras Presidency. He made the RSS submit its Constitution in writing to the government Respecting his old age and his fatherly figure, this too was done, although the RSS was not banned bacause it had no written Constitution. Even then the ban was not lifted. The government appears to be thinking that as the RSS chief has caved in, in respect of the submission ot the written Constitution, it will be fruitful to put more pressure on him. But Shri Guruji refused to have any correspondence with the Government. Now the Government came into a fix. The ban could not be continued. It had to be lifted. So Government found out a mediator in the person of Shri Moulichandraji Sharma. He met Shri Guruji in Seoni Jail (MP). But Guruji refusd to give anything in writing to the Government Sharmaji returned to Delhi empty-handed. Then a via media was adopted. Guruji will not address the Government but Sharmaji will ask for his clarifications on certain issues. This was accepted, and Shri Guruji wrote a letter to Moulichandraji which begins with the words, ‘My dear Pandit Moulichandraji.’ This happened on July 10, 1949. Sharmaji carried this letter to Delhi and on July 12, the Government controlled All India Radio announced that the ban on the RSS has been lifted. What Shri Guruji wrote in that letter to Moulicandraji is just the replica of his statement that he made in the Press-conference in Delhi on November 2, 1948. I will plead with Rahul Gandhi to explain why his great Grandfather’s Governmnet should have to remove the ban on such a ‘poisonous’ organisation and allow it to function in its own way? Will Rahulji show a little bit of courage to sligmatise even in mildest terms, the Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru for his reckless action?
Sardar Patel and RSS
It is also to be noted that not all Congressmen were anti-RSS. Their assessments differed. Just a day or two before Gandhiji’s assassination, Nehru in a public speech in Amritsar had declared that his Government would uproot the RSS lock, stock and barrel. One Shri Govind Sahay also, who was Parliamentary Secretary in UP Government, had published a booklet describing the RSS as a fascist organisation and sought a ban on it. Gandhiji’s murder provided them with a golden opportunity. But Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who was the Deputy PM in Nehru’s Cabinet and many other Congressmen held quite a different view. In a speech, Sardar delivered in Lucknow, he praised the RSS. The January 7, 1948 issue of the daily The Hindu carries the report of this speech in which he said-
“In the Congress those who are in power feel that by virtue of their authority they will be able to crush the RSS. You cannot crush an organisation by using the ‘danda’. The danda is meant for thieves and dacoits. After all the RSS men are not thieves and dacoits. They are patriots who love their country.”
For the benefit of Rahulji I will remind him that on the oceasion of the Republic Day Parade on January 26, 1963, this ‘poisonous’ RSS was invited by the Government to participate in the ceremonial march! And Rahul Gandhi, do you know as to who had invited the RSS? It was Pt Nehru’s, your great Grandfather’s Government!
One More Proof
Dr. Bhagwandas, who was awarded the Bharat-Ratna by the Govt. and who is also known as revered father of Dr Shri Prakash who was our ambassador in Pakistan and also minister in the Central Cabinet, writes about the RSS :
“I have been reliably informed that a number of youths of the RSS… were able to inform Sardar Patel and Nehruji in the very nick of time of the Leaguers intended “coup” on September 10, 1947, wherby they had planned to assassinate all Members of Government and all Hindu Officials and thousands of Hindu Citizens on that day and plant the flag of “Pakistan” on the Red Fort.
“…It these high-spirited and self-sacrificing boys had not given the very timely information to Nehruji and Patelji, there would have been no Government of India today, the whole country would have changed its name into Pakistan, tens of millions of Hindus would have been slaughtered and all the rest converted to Islam or reduced to stark slavery.
“…Well, what it the net result of all this long story? Simply this- that our Government should utilise, and not sterilise, the patriotic energies of the lakhs of RSS youths.”
The moral inshort, is, as the LS elections are approaching, all such non-sensical false stories are bound to crop up. Have we not seen that on the eve of the Assembly elections of the four States, a responsible(?) Congrss functionary has said, that the RSS imparts to its cadre how to make bombs. We have seen what the result was of such crude inventions. The same is likely to be repeated in the L. S. elections also.
(The writer is senior columnist)
Protest march by Muslim women in defence of Indresh Kumar
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