The spotlight is on the RSS because it has completed a century of existence. Also because many believe that it is controlling the BJP and micro-managing its affairs. The recent interactive session RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat held in the national capital cleared many doubts; but it disappointed those who were expecting the RSS to explode a bombshell.
The RSS is not used to rattling the applecart. It works quietly, patiently and persistently committed to its ideology and style of work. It is this perseverance and relentless resilience that has made the RSS the unique organisation it is.
The Sangh parivar’s detractors have been impatiently waiting for any opportunity to unsettle Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s continuance in office. As he could not be democratically defeated, his opponents expected that the so-called imaginary age bar the Sangh was supposed to impose on its pracharaks would open a Pandora’s box.
The Sangh’s role has been transformative and decisive, but it doesn’t interfere in the day-to-day affairs of its affiliates. It plays a guiding motherly role. That is why at this stage Bhagwat spoke more about social harmony and unity than about a Hindu rashtra. The organisation has expanded phenomenally and come to occupy the centre-stage of Indian political debate. Its influence has increased and it has come to influence the course of history in the 21st century.
Thanks to the nation-building activities the Sangh has been involved in in the last 10 decades, its approach is being keenly watched by the world community. After Bhagwat’s three-day session last week, the speculation on Modi’s continuance as prime minister is over and, understandably, the opposition is upset. He explained that at no point was there a decision to retire at the age of 75.
He further buttressed the point by affirming that he himself is not planning to step down in September, when he completes 75. He also made it clear that the Sangh would strive for national integration, uphold the values of the Constitution, and that the vision of a united, developed India was primarily the core idea of the Sangh family.
On many occasions, Sangh leaders have proved prophetic. Many years ago, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh founder and RSS ideologue Dattopant Thengadi had told this writer that the Sangh would attain its pinnacle of glory when Bhagwat becomes the sarsanghchalak. At that time, Bhagwat was nowhere in the national Sangh hierarchy. Similarly, Thengadi had foreseen the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of Communism many years before it actually happened.
The fifth sarsanghchalak, K S Sudarshan, had on many occasions predicted the rise of India after 2012. At that point, the UPA was in power at the Centre and there was no sign of Modi emerging as a saviour on the national stage.
The RSS’s declared goal is ‘param vaibhav’ (ultimate glory of India). Critics asked why Bhagwat did not speak about Hindu rashtra during his stay in Delhi. Has the RSS moved away from its basic goal? Or why did the sarsanghchalak not take a hard position on the liberation of Hindu temples across the country, limiting himself to Kashi and Mathura? What these critics have not realised is that the Sangh does not act on the script dictated by its adversaries.
The Sangh has been a reformative and innovative power in Indian society. Unlike its ideological opposition in the Left, the Sangh has been progressive in its approach to reforms, new technology and modern gadgets. The Left has fallen by the wayside of history, opposing India’s one culture, the Quit India movement, the Constitution, even computerisation, the space mission, private capital, and the opening up of the economy. Its thinkers and historians carried colonial baggage and tried to undermine the civilisational strength of India.
The RSS, on the other hand, took every challenge and opportunity to reach out to new areas and adopt a new workstyle. It has been unhesitating in adopting new technology, and even changed its uniform. From khaki shorts it changed to full pants, military-style boots were replaced by more convenient modern shoes. Its physical exercise regimen also underwent changes suitable for the modern times.
It has no hesitation in supporting reforms in Hindu society, fighting caste and child marriage, or supporting reservation and the Mandal Commission report. When the Mandal report was introduced by the V P Singh government, the Sangh and the BJP supported it, while Rajiv Gandhi, then the Leader of the Opposition, vehemently opposed it. Arun Jaitley used to say that the Congress committed a fatal blunder by opposing backward class reservation in the early 1990s and never recovered its old glory in the heartland.
The RSS propounded Atmanirbhar Bharat. It even started cyber shakhas connecting cadres across the globe. Through cyber shakhas the RSS has been leveraging the Indian diaspora, which is a huge force multiplier in geopolitical manoeuvres.
To appreciate the value of the RSS, one has to only imagine an India without it. The country that attained independence 78 years ago has grown, stood democratic and united because of this huge network of the RSS, and the historic and cultural values it propagated. The RSS is the only organisation that has been insisting on the great civilisational influence of India and emphasising how India is destined to play a leadership role on the world stage. It is this training the Sangh inculcated that made great leaders like Vajpayee and Modi, who work to realise the dream of India as a superpower.
The RSS does not play the role of an establishment. It does not behave as if it is in power. Power has not changed lifestyles, facilities or habits of the sangh pracharaks.
The story of the RSS’s work can be etched in granite and attributed for future history texts, because it has the foresight, devotion and commitment that many other organisations lack. If the Emergency of 1975 was defeated, it was because of the hard, painful, underground movement championed by the RSS. Indian democracy is a flourishing, youthful model for the world with its diversities, languages, differences, regional aspirations and a 100-crore voting population. This is so dynamic because of the quiet commitment of the RSS, especially the dialogue and freedom that the RSS inculcates.
Like in the matter of swadeshi, the RSS had forewarned India about the danger of population control and a strategic demographic conspiracy of enemies. Today, India is proud of its huge youthful workforce, which is a major growth driver. It is because the RSS so heavily invested in India’s demographic dividend.
India, because of leftist historians promoted by the Congress, had lost its self-esteem, pride and confidence. Our textbooks told us that we are a divided, defeated, shamed people worthy only of following others. Our great history of heroism, patriotism and sacrifice were vanished from textbooks. It was the tenacity and insistence of the RSS that built the great wall of self-defence, cultural nationalism and historic perspective that today leads the nation. At all levels, the RSS has trained leadership. It is the inspirational strength the RSS provided to its political wing. There are dozens of organisations working in different areas like campuses, workplaces or religious gatherings.
The Sangh is reimagining, rebuilding, and rewriting an entirely new script for India.
R Balashankar | Former National Convener, BJP’s Intellectual Cell; former Editor, Organiser; and member of the BJP’s all-India training and publication department
(Views are personal)