A Poetic Mural - Wanderer by Satish Bendigiri

A Poetic Mural - Wanderer by Satish Bendigiri

THE RSS : A View to the Inside - Walter Anderson and Shridhar D. Damle,

 

 

 

 THE RSS : A View to the Inside - Walter Anderson and Shridhar D. Damle,

This book, THE RSS : A View to the Inside -  written by Walter Anderson and Shridhar D. Damle,

 joins the growing literature on Hindutva politics, which has evolved to be a comprehensive guide on what the RSS strives to communicate to its audience. India has already been reshaped in the image of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and current prime minister Narendra Modi.

 

Walter Anderson is a Professor of South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He previously served as chief of the US State Department's South Asia Division in the Office of Analysis for the Near East and South Asia. Shridhar D. Damle is a scholar of Indian politics based in the USA. The book allows readers to appraise what the RSS wants to communicate. The book shows readers a valuable analysis of RSS's recent success in gaining relevance in virtually every sector of Indian life. It does so inevitably by bringing to the fore contradictions between what the RSS professes it is and what it actually is. What is perhaps the most striking and foretelling insight reveals [how] much Hindutva feels threatened by separatist movements in Muslim-majority Kashmir and Christian-majority Northeast. 

 

An insightful study of the transformation in India, which has impacted the East Asian neighbors to Pakistan's east, is presented in this well-researched book. In it, the authors chronicle the roots of Hindutva dating back to the 19th century, the brains behind the formation of the RSS, the different stages it underwent — including two expulsions  — and the stranglehold on politics and society that it has now gained.

 

The book begins with a chapter titled “A Growing Involvement in the Policy Process.” As a testimony to RSS’s involvement in the policy process,  the authors quote the speech of Mohan Bhagwat  dated 30 September 2017 on the eve of Vijayadashmi  wherein he spoke about Modi’s policies and statements about India's developmental priorities, critically. Bhagwat was vocal on the GST matter which resulted in a revision of taxes by the GST council in November 2017. Bhagwat even proposed a minimum support price for the farmers, highlighting the better implementation of existing schemes like crop insurance, soil testing, and e-marketing. 

 

There are two notable individuals: Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, who founded the RSS in 1925 and served as its chief until 1940 and Madhavrao Sadashivrao Golwalkar who led it for 33 years (1940 to 1973), during which the country suffered the effects of Partition, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's assassination, and the initial ban on the RSS in 1947 . The RSS was also driven into politics and reforms by Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras, an act his mentor, Hedgewar, strongly opposed.

 

In the third chapter, The RSS Overseas, authors cite Modi's speech at Madison Square Garden on 28 September 2014. “Ushering the audience into the huge hall were volunteers from the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) the overseas counterpart of the RSS in The US”. are the lines to support the statement.

 

With India's unrestrained economic development and concomitant social dislocations, the RSS and its affiliates have benefited from a sense of rootlessness induced by rapid modernization, disruption of traditional social hierarchies, and the attraction of upwardly mobile groups. RSS's narrative of Hindu nationalism seems to be more attractive than ever, one that aims to assimilate Hindus across all racial and religious lines into one unified identity.

 

The RSS originally focused on character development in line with its founding father's views. As time went on and Independence presented new challenges, new RSS leadership emerged. 

 

The movement places a great deal of emphasis on Indianizing education. Besides being littered with Hindu symbols, the textbooks should promote Hindu beliefs and mythologies, as well as Hindu festivals and rituals, and yoga and Sanskrit classes. Because of a lack of agreement between the RSS and state governments over school curricula, the RSS started setting up its own schools, and some state governments followed suit.

 

Considering the vastness of the task, the RSS has maintained a flexible attitude towards Muslims. Dr Shreerang Godbole, an RSS intellectual, believed in "ghar wapsi" [homecoming]. He believed that all Muslims and Christians should become Hindus since they came to India with Hindu ancestry. Those opposed to this philosophy argued that the RSS must emulate Indonesia, where Muslims have incorporated aspects of Hindu culture without compromising their own religion.

 

In this movement, one of the major successes was the establishment of the RSS' Muslim branch, the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM). It became clear later that some senior RSS leaders had been behind this initiative of forming MRM. The majority of Muslim leaders also believed that they could benefit from close association rather than confrontation with the Hindu majority. An MRM resolution passed in 2003 demanded a ban on cow slaughter, and a resolution passed in 2004 urged the abolition of Kashmir's special status to advance national integration.

 

There is a chapter on the debate within the Sangh Parivar on economic self-sufficiency that is interesting. There are several examples and discussions of back-and-forth negotiations and compromises between the BJP's ideals of global capitalism and the RSS's socialist and India-centric views.

 

A reader who is unbiased about the RSS could discern RSS’s preoccupation with Muslims and Pakistan. They also described China in the book as India's enemy, but the book makes it clear what the Modi government's stance is. Essentially, Modi would maintain the pretext that the government is determined to fight China, while not doing anything is what this book implies. 

 

Last but not least, two cases discuss issues related to politics. The thirteenth chapter of this book depicts a rare case of the RSS in Goa rebelling against its local Sangh parivar over a language policy of the state's BJP government. A discussion of the presence and context of RSS involvement in the election is provided in Chapter Fourteen where an examination of BJP personnel in Bihar, a state where the party has significant representation. RSS involvement in the BJP's Bihar campaign was a result of a weak party organization in that state, while RSS interference in the BJP's politics, including the selection of office-bearers and candidates, is extensive when a leadership change is imminent.  

 

A review of all these issues reveals the RSS as a conservative group that evolves slowly, something we can say about India as a whole. It is unlikely the RSS will ever be revolutionary. The goal of this organization is to bring together ethnic groups and assimilate them into society. It is, however, a living system and it changes and as a result, it prompted authors to look at RSS again in a different light.

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