NEW DELHI:It’s a war to claim the intellectual space. RSS is rallying around its own set of intellectuals to counter the narrative of those on the Left.
As a close knit group, these right wing intellectuals—which includes teachers, spokespersons, TV debate panellists, bloggers, researchers, lawyers, students and experts from different fields—will present a common viewpoint on key issues that require nationalistic interpretation.
As a step towards such an initiative, two sets of meetings have been held with senior RSS leaders overseeing them. First such meeting was held under the aegis of an organisation called SACH (Society Against Conflict and Hatred) in March. Over 250 people participated, including HRD minister Smriti Irani. The second meeting held two weeks ago had nearly 60 intellectuals attending it, including academic Rakesh Sinha, lawyer Monica Arora, some of the prominent faces who represent the Sangh’s view point in TV panel discussions.
Sources said for educating the group about the JNU and Hyderabad university issues, ABVP leaders such as Sushil Kumar (Hyderabad) and Saurabh Kumar (JNU) briefed the gathering.
The initiative is headed by RSS’ sah prachar pramukh, Nand Kumar. Sangh sources said the organisation has an intellectual wing, Boudhik Vibhag. The initiative to rally around right wing people who can articulate on key issues stems from the fact that it found that Left and liberal intellectuals were more vocal and effective in communicating.
“Issues like JNU, Dalits and Hinduism needed a cohesive plan and understanding so that it could be explained to people from a nationalistic viewpoint. These intellectuals will act as warriors to help shape the opinion,” an RSS source said. “The next issue on the cards is that of Aligarh Muslim University, as the debate over its minority status and the government’s withdrawal of the UPA’s affidavit is likely to flare up,” sources said, adding that it will help strengthen the “nationalistic” NDA government.
“It is the polarisation of all streams of thought against the Right, which is emerging as a dominant thought,” a source said. Sources said the term used for such a group is slowly emerging as “intellectual warrior”, coined by American Hinduism expert David Frawley, who received the Padma Award in 2015.