Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (Hindi: राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ, English: National Volunteers' Organisation), also known as the Sangh or the RSS, is a Hindu nationalist organization in India. It was founded in 1925 by Dr. K.B. Hedgewar. The RSS is active throughout India, whilst it operates abroad under many names. In Myanmar it is Sanatan Dharma Swayamsevak Sangh (SDSS), in Mauritius the Mauritius Swayamsevak Sangh (MSS) and elsewhere it operates through the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh.

The general philosophical outlook of RSS is cultural nationalism known as integral humanism, aimed at revitalizing the spiritual and moral traditions of India.^[1] RSS believes that Hinduism is not simply a religion but a way of life.^[2] The proclaimed purpose of the organization is "serving the nation and its people in the form of - Bharata Mata (Mother India) and protecting the interests of the People who treat India as their motherland".

RSS has never directly contested elections, but supports parties that are ideologically similar. RSS endorses the Bharatiya Janata Party, yet at times had refused to do so due to difference of opinion with the party. ^[3]^[4]. The RSS has a hierarchical structure to their organization, with the sarsanghchalak being the highest authority.

The RSS was banned in India thrice during periods in which the government of the time considered them a threat to the state: in 1948 after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, during the Emergency (1975-77) , and after the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition. The bans were subsequently lifted after the Supreme Court of India declined to uphold the bans due to lack of evidence of their involvement in the alleged activities.^[5]

History

RSS was founded in 1925 by Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, a Nagpur doctor, with the aim to unite Hindus.^[6] Hedgewar proposed that Hindus must unite to face challenges and protect the freedom and diversity of Indian civilization. The organization was able to establish itself throughout the country on account of its nationalistic ideology and sacrifices of selfless karyakartas. The "pracharaks" or "full-time workers", who were spread all over the country, and karyakartas helped make RSS the world's biggest social welfare organisation.^[7]. Also, the organization took part in the Indian independence movement.

Activities during partition

The Partition of India was a very traumatic event in the young nation's history with millions of Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims, attempting to escape the violence and carnage that followed.^[8]. The organization gained considerable strength and support because of its relief activities organized for the migrating Hindus, and successful protection of Hindus and Sikhs in the Hindu-Muslim riots.

Gandhi's assassination and ban

Following Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in 1948 by former member of the RSS Nathuram Godse,^[9] some RSS members were jailed. Godse's connection with the RSS was investigated^[10]; the RSS was suspected of involvement in or incitement towards Gandhi's assassination and was banned on February 4, 1948.

Direct connection between Godse and the RSS was never proved.^[9] RSS Leaders were acquitted of the conspiracy charge by the Supreme Court of India and following an intervention by the Court, the Indian Government agreed to lift the ban with condition that the RSS adopt a formal constitution. The second sarsanghchalak, Golwalkar began drafting a constitution for the RSS which he sent to the government in March 1949. In July of the same year, after many negotiations over the constitution and its acceptance, the ban on RSS was lifted.^[6]

Organisation

The RSS has an estimated 4.5 million active members.^[11] The RSS organises itself hierarchically.

Sarsanghchalaks

The Sarsanghchalak is the head of the RSS organization. The individuals who have been Sarsanghchalkas are:

The position is decided by nomination by predecessor. The current sarsanghachalak of RSS is K. S. Sudarshan.

Shakha

Most of the organisational work of the RSS is done through the coordination of shakhas or branches. These shakhas are run every morning (prabhat shakha), evening (sayam shakha) or night (ratri shakha) for 1 hour in public places and are open to people of all castes, creeds or social and economic status. Currently more than 60,000 shakhas are run throughout India. Apart from 42,000 daily gatherings, there are about 5,000 weekly and 2,000 monthly gatherings conducted throughout the length and breadth of the country.^[12]

These shakhas are usually operated in playing grounds without any offices. At the end of the shakha the prayer "Namaste Sadaa Vatsale Matrubhoome" (which means "My salutation to you forever, loving motherland") is recited.

These shakhas are the core building blocks of RSS structure. During a Shakha, the activities consist of yoga, games, discussions on broad range of social topics, prayer to Bharat Mata and an inspirational session (baudhik). The RSS uniform consists of a black cap, white shirt and khaki-coloured shorts. On the day of 'Guru Poornima' the RSS volunteers pay tributes to the 'Bhagwa Dhwaj' - the saffron flag, which has considerable symbolic importance.

An RSS volunteer who attends shakha is referred to as a "Swayamsevak". A Swayamsevak is sometimes appointed as a Mukhya Shikshak, meaning group administrator, and is given the task of leading and organizing the Shaka's events.

Ideology

The primarily goal of RSS is the "revival of national consciousness" or "national renaissance" because it feels that centuries of foreign rule has led to self-oblivion overtaking the society. RSS believes in a "burning devotion to the Motherland (India), a feeling of fraternity among all citizens, intense awareness of a common national life derived from a common culture and shared history and heritage", as well as to "activise the dormant Hindu society (of India), realise its past mistakes, to instill in it a firm determination to set them right, and finally to make it bestir itself to reassert its honour and self-respect".^[13] RSS claims that its core ideology is based on Integral humanism and Cultural Nationalism.

Other religions

The Sangh has declared publicly that its Hindutva philosophy states that Hindutva supports the philosophy Ekam Sat Viprah Bahudha Vadanti Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (translated to Truth is One, Sages Call it by Many Names. The Whole Universe is one Family).^[14] However, it feels this society has been threatened by repeated persecution of Hindus, especially by Muslim fundamentalists.

With regards to claims of having an anti-Muslim stance, RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav has stated that such claims are a "distortion of RSS ideology". He asserts that the RSS "believes in the oneness of our culture and the country", and that "any opposition to this view could lead to disintegration as it in fact happened with the Partition. This accent against divisiveness should therefore not be seen as hatred towards any particular religion.^[15].

The RSS denies that they are intolerant of any other religion, citing examples of RSS-dominated communities in India that have lived in relative peace with adherents of other religions.

Caste system

RSS rejects the caste system and believes in equality of all Hindus. Historically, the RSS has had several Dalit and middle caste members in their fold, several of whom are in key positions along their rank-and-file.^[16]. An RSS sarsanghchalak quotes:"All our best attended shakhas are in the poor areas, not in the alienated middle class or rich upper caste suburbs or cities or towns. In simple words, the new Sangh Swayamsevak is mostly a backward caste or Dalit".^[7]

The RSS has recently expressed concern over caste-based political and social conflicts, they have urged Hindus to "get rid of this evil at the earliest".^[17]Their resolution adopted at a national executive meeting said:

The organisation further contends that "caste-based untouchability" and "feelings of high caste and low caste" were the main evils haunting the Hindu society and aims to eradicate Casteism from Indian society. To that end, the RSS has tried to reach out to prominent Dalit (traditionally the "Untouchable" Caste) leaders in India, such as poet and leader of the Dalit activist group "Dalit Panthers" Namdeo Dhasal.^[18] The Dalit Panthers have been traditional adversaries of the R.S.S and peceived them as an "upper-caste" dominated party. However, negotiations with RSS chief K.Sudarshan on August 2006 led to reconciliations, when Sudarshan declared that the RSS categorically rejects all forms of caste discrimination in the organization. He further said:

Namadeo Dhasal said at the meeting with the RSS, "Yes, I do feel that the fight to eradicate caste has to be fought by Dalits and caste Hindus together carrying forward the tradition of Adi Sankara, which got broken somewhere in between."

In addition, the RSS has advocated for training Dalits and other backward classes to be temple high priests (a position traditionally reserved for Caste Brahmins and denied to lower castes). They argue that the social divisiveness of the Caste system is responsible for the lack of adherence to Hindu values and traditions and reaching out to the lower castes in this manner will be a remedy to the problem.^[19]

Appealing for social harmony and Hindu brotherhood, the organisation warned the community against the political parties, which it said had been drawing "political benefits" out of casteism and "Inventing caste based new conflicts in the Hindu society for the sake of political benefits [which has] has become a trend of many politicians these days.^[17]"

Votebank politics

The RSS has spoken out against votebank politics of politicians who encourage caste based rivalries and have urged political parties to keep away from caste based politics and give an Indian culture to democracy.

Islamic terrorism

The RSS has spoken out against Islamic Fundamentalism and acts of Islamic terrorism carried out in various parts of India in recent years.^[20] A Senior RSS leader Madan Das has said that there should be "no hesitation whatsoever in fighting against those who do not want peace and added that the world communities should fight terrorism together". They have labeled Islamists as "anti-national elements" and have alleged Pakistani involvement in the various terrorist acts.^[21] In addition, the Islamist terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba is suspected for carrying out an unsuccessful attack on the headquarters of the RSS in Nagpur on June 1, 2006,^[22]^[23] inviting condemnation of the outfit from politicians across the spectrum.^[24]

Political influence

It was in fact the close relationship between the Jan Sangh and the RSS that proved to be the Janata coalition's undoing, as non-Sangh constituents of the coalition insisted that all members of the Union Cabinet distance themselves from the RSS, as they were now members of the Janata Party. When Vajpayee and Advani in particular refused to do so, the coalition collapsed over what came to be known as the 'dual membership' issue.

The RSS saw its stock rise as the BJP thrived upon the disenchantment of the masses with the Congress-led governments. By 1988, the BJP had 88 seats in the Lok Sabha, lower house of Parliament, and by 1996 it was the single-largest party. In 1998 it went on to head a coalition government that survived six years and another election in 1999.

Sangh Parivar

Organizations which are inspired by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's ideology refer themselves as the members of the Sangh Parivar. In most of the cases Pracharaks (Full time volunteers of the RSS) were deputed to start and manage these organizations. The largest organizations within the Sangh are the Bharatiya Janata Party, Vishva Hindu Parishad, Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad and Bajrang Dal. Numerous other Hindutva organizations take inspiration from the RSS's actions.

Social activity

The RSS has also participated in relief efforts in the Indian State of Kashmir, which has been besieged by Islamic terrorism (see Terrorism in Kashmir). An RSS-affiliated NGO, Seva Bharati, has adopted 100 children, most of them Muslims, from militancy affected areas of the region to provide them education at least up to Higher Secondary level.^[27] They have also taken care of many victims of the Kargil War of 1999.^[28]

The RSS assisted in relief efforts quite extensively during the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. They helped rebuild villages.^[29] They "earned kudos" from many varied agencies and sources for their actions.^[25]

Sewa Bharati has also collaborated with several relief groups, such as the Catholics Bishops Conference of India to conduct relief operations in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Activities included building shelters for the victims, providing food, clothes and medical necessities.^[30] They raised over one crore rupees for the effort in one week after the tsunami.^[31] The RSS assisted relief efforts during the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake and the subsequent Tsunami.^[32].

In 2006, RSS participated in relief efforts to provide basic necessities such as food, milk and potable water to the people of Surat, Gujarat who were affected by massive floods in the region^[33].

Accusations of fascism and militancy

The RSS has been accused by its opponents as a "reactionary group of Hindu fanatics with Fascist tendencies."^[6]. Arundhati Roy defines RSS as "Right-wing Hindu cultural guild with a clearly articulated anti-Muslim stand and a nationalistic ideology of Hindutva".^[34] According to the Britannica Online, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is the most militant Hindu organization.^[35]

David James Smith, Professor of Indian Religions at Lancaster University, writes that despite the organization's past links with fascist ideologies, its decentralized nature and lack of emphasis on a supreme leader and the central position that it awards to social system (rather than race) mean that describing them as "fascist" is inappropriate.^[36]

In addition, accusations of "fascism" have been critiqued as overly simplistic by Jyotirmaya Sharma as inappropriate, calling them a "simplistic transference [that] has done great injustice to our knowledge of Hindu nationalist politics".^[37]

Gerald James Larson, professor of Indian Cultures and Civilization and Director of Indian Studies at Indiana University, described the RSS as a "right-wing religious movement which combined a communal Hindu nationalism with the rigid discipline of the old militant Naga mendicant orders".^[9] According to Paul R. Brass, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and South Asian Studies at the University of Washington, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is the core of a family of militant Hindu nationalist organizations.^[38]

References

^ Christophe Jaffrelot, The Hindu nationalist Movement in India, Columbia University Press, 1998
^ Q & A: Ram Madhav The Hindu - April 14, 2004
^ RSS unhappy with infighting in Guj BJP ~ Ahmedabad News| Info| History| Guide about Ahmedabad, Gujarat India
^ Toe swadeshi line or lose support, RSS warns BJP
^ Analysis: RSS aims for a Hindu nation BBC - March 10, 2003.
^ ^a ^b ^c Curran, Jean A. Jr. The RSS: Militant Hinduism Far Eastern Survey, Vol. 19, No. 10. (May 17, 1950), pp. 93-98.
^ ^a ^b K R Malkani: The RSS Story
^ #India
^ ^a ^b ^c Gerald James Larson (1995). India's Agony Over Religion. State University of New York Press, p132. ISBN 079142412X.
^ Jeevan Lal Kapur, Report of Commission of Inquiry Into Conspiracy to Murder Mahatma Gandhi, Home Ministry, 1971: pp 236, 243.
^ BBC NEWS | South Asia | Analysis: RSS aims for a Hindu nation
^ However, in recent years the number of Shakhas have gone down drastically.RSS might get trendy uniform next year Rediff - July 23, 2004
^ Mission & Vision,RSS Web Page
^ BJP Philosophy - Hindutva
^ Q&A: Ram Madhav,The Hindu
^ Sunday Mail, December 23, 1990
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d India's RSS urges war against 'evil' of casteism, The Times of India
^ ^a ^b Dalit leader buries the hatchet with RSS,Times of India
^ RSS for Dalit head priests in temples,Times of India
^ Double Jeopardy Rediff - March 14, 2000
^ Be vigilant against ‘jehadis’: RSS leader,The Tribune
^ Lashkar-e-Toiba,South Asia Terrorism Portal
^ Lashkar attack on RSS HQ foiled; 3 ultras shot,The Tribune
^ Terror attack on RSS HQ foiled, 3 Lashkar men shot dead,Times of India
^ ^a ^b Ensuring transparency The Hindu - February 18, 2001
^ ^a ^b K. Singh: “Congress (I) is the Most Communal Party”, Publik Asia, 16-11-1989.
^ JK: RSS adopts militancy hit Muslim children,oneindia.in
^ Fund of Controversy Times of India - December 14, 2002
^ Goa rebuilds quake-hit Gujarat village Times of India - June 19, 2002
^ Relief missions from Delhi,The Hindu
^ Gestures shift to rehabilitation The Hindu - January 01, 2005
^ Tsunami toll in TN, Pondy touches 7,000 Rediff - December 29, 2004
^ RSS joins relief operation in flood-hit Surat,Organiser.org
^ Arundhati Roy (2004). An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire. South End Press, p121. ISBN 0896087271.
^ "Hanuman". “In the late 20th century he was depicted as a fierce superhero in Indian comic books, and his image was blazoned on the banners of the most militant Hindu organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS; “National Volunteer Party”).”
^ Smith, David James, Hinduism and Modernity P188, Blackwell Publishing ISBN 0-631-20862-3
^ Hindu Nationalist Politics The Hindu - September 24, 2005
^ Paul R. Brass (2003). The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India. University of Washington Press, p6. ISBN 0295982586.
^ see also The eternal return of Nazi nonsense: Savitri Devi's last writings, in response to criticism by Christian Bouchet in Savitri Devi Mukherji: Le National-Socialisme et la Tradition Indienne, Cahiers de la Radicalité by Avatar-Éditions, Paris/Dublin 2004.

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