An anonymous caller first asked, “Are you Karan Kharb, the author of Crime Academy?” When I answered in the affirmative, he warned me of “dire consequences” for negatively commenting the Jat agitation in Haryana. “Clearly, you are an RSS man; you will soon repent for it,” and the caller hung up. What fuddled me, however, was not his warning and near abusive language but his calling me an ‘RSS man’ and the implied notion loaded in it. The canard spread by sections of media and the self-serving politics of appeasement in the country is such that whenever the critics fall short of argument, they throw in the RSS googly without ever pin-pointing what is so sinful in this organisation. I am neither a member of RSS, nor that of BJP. Nor do I have any political ambitions.
As an independent citizen of the country, however, whenever I have pointedly asked the critics to specify the ‘evils’ in RSS philosophy, they mentioned two: 1) Godse, the killer of Mahatma Gandhi, was an RSS man; 2) the ‘Hindu Rashtra’ agenda of RSS. Factually, the first allegation is provenly false that has been accepted by the Judiciary as well as by the Nehru led Congress Government as early as early fifties. The second – the concept of ‘Hindu Rashtra’ – is undoubtedly true! Now, even the Supreme Court has reiterated its earlier that “Hinduism is a way of life” that applies to people living in a geographical area sharing common heritage from history and culture. What does that imply if not India being a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ where followers of all religions, sects and castes have equal rights and obligations as citizens of a free nation?
‘Secularism’ is in-built in Hinduism. The age-old dictum of universal fraternity – Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – is a solemn confirmation of that noble principle. India has been cradle of many faiths and religions that have thrived here in harmony with the existing Hindu culture and way of life. Within Hinduism itself there are diverse forms of rituals and yet rather than running in conflict such differences in ritualistic practices have been in absolute sync with the harmonious confluence of various beliefs and practices adding to common national pride.
When RSS was founded in 1925 by KB Hedgewar, the primary aim was promotion of the concept of a United India based on an ideology that was rooted in its age-old culture of universal fraternity, solidarity and equality as one Nation. Today RSS is world’s largest voluntary organisation with many volunteers from Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains working shoulder to shoulder furthering common national Cause. In October 1947, Congress reposed so much trust in the RSS leadership that when Pakistan attacked Kashmir, Sardar Patel asked the RSS Sarsanghachalak, MS Golwalkar to persuade Maharaja Hari Singh to accede to India. The role of Swayamsevaks in rescue operations during natural calamities and disasters has been always laudatory .
Many leaders of Congress have not shied from openly supporting the anti-national sloganeering and demonising Hindus by creating ghosts of a non-existent ‘Hindu militancy’. Without quoting a single example of conviction of any swayamsevak for involvement in anti-national or criminal activity, one of them has even gone to the extent of equating RSS with ISIS! Whereas nobody raised doubts at a ‘Pandit’ being sworn in as the first Prime Minister of the country and Gandhi being called a ‘Mahatma’ and ‘Bapu’ in those early days of Independence, today voices defying and decrying slogans like ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ that inspire citizens and foster national unity are becoming brazenly louder.
Unfortunately, a deep rooted conspiracy hatched by a section of the media and a segment of the Indian polity to destroy the moral fibre of this great Nation by rousing communal passion and destroying mutual trust among communities is clearly discernible. This sinister campaign has painted entities and concepts like ‘Hindutva’, ‘Rashtra’, ‘Bharat Mata’ and ‘RSS’ in such gory shades. All propaganda against Hindutva and RSS is designed to weaken the moral fibre of India as a Nation whereas even the SC’s interpretation of ‘Hinduism/Hindutva’ is no different from that of RSS. The public perception needs to be corrected by exposing the
anti-Hindu, anti-RSS conspiracy through wider debates and sustained mass
education programmes.
The writer Former Colonel at Indian Army and a well-known author
