Introduction - Who is Golwalkar?
Sanitising The Supremo - By Subhash Gatade
Our Forgettable Forefathers - It is up to us to
unlearn Golwalkar's lessons - By Githa Hariharan
Hitler, Hindutava And Its Allies - By Balram
Golwalkar: the brain of RSS - By Kashif Hoda
Golwalkar's views on Minorities
Golwalkar & social harmony - By Subash Gatade
A march towards fascism - By Sitaram Yechuri
Is RSS A Terrorist Organization? - By Ram Puniyani
Why Hindu Rashtra? - By M.S. Golwalkar
Golwalkar and his message - By Abdullah
Golwalkar's views on Muslims
The Hate Minorities Message of The 'RSS Bible'
Semiotics of Terror : Muslim Children and Women in
Hindu Rashtra - By Tanika Sarkar
The Sangh's bloody trail
Hey Ram! - By R K Anand
Resurrecting Godse: The Hindutva continuum - By Arvind
Rajagopal
Golwalkar and the Indian Independence Struggle
India's freedom struggle & the RSS - By Shamsul Islam
The Anglo RSS Nexus - By Akhilesh Mithal
Golden gloss on khaki knickers - By Ram Puniyani
Hey Ram! - By R K Anand
The RSS and the Freedom Struggle
Golwalkar's views on Social Issues
Hindutva Hypocrisy on Family Planning - By Yoginder
Sikand
Golwalkar and Gandhiji's assasination
Murder of the greatest Hindu
Gopal Godse: 'Nathuram did not leave the RSS'
Nailing the RSS - By D R Goyal
Hey Ram! - By R K Anand
Muting history - By Amulya Ganguli
Golwalkar and the Dalits / Caste System
Golden gloss on khaki knickers - By Ram Puniyani
What Is This Hindu Rashtra? - By Sitaram Yechuri
Excerpts from Golwalkar's 'Bunch of Thoughts'
On Caste System
On Indian Muslims and Christians
On Religious unity
On Judaism and Christianity
'Conversion Subverts Loyalty'
On Indian Christians
Golwalkar and the 'Hindu Rashtra'
Imagining India as Hindu rashtra - By Jyotirmaya
Sharma
'This is Hindu Rashtra'
Challenging the pluralist ideal - Editorial
Defining the Nation in the Era of Globalisation - By
Prabir Purkayastha
Hindutva, not Hinduism - By A G Noorani
Excerpts from Golwalkar's 'We or Our Nationhood
Defined'
On Minorities
On Secular Nationalism
On 'non-Hindus'
On Jewish Holocaust
'Hindus differ by birth'
On Gandhiji
On Nationalism
Whitewashing Golwalkar - Centenary Celebrations
BJP-RSS set to attend birth centenary celebrations of
Guru Golwalkar
RSS to explain its stand on Gandhi killing in
docu-drama
Recommended Reading
We or Our Nationhood Defined By Madhav Sadashiv
Golwalkar
The RSS and the BJP: A Division of Labour (Signpost :
issues that matter) By A G Noorani
and more ..
Web Links
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
'Bunch of Thoughts' by M.S. Golwalkar
and more ..
Introduction - Who is Golwalkar?
Sanitising The Supremo - By Subhash Gatade (23 Feb
2006, Countercurrents)
RSS, the biggest 'cultural' organisation on the face
of the earth has had five supremos 'Sarsanghchalaks'
since its inception. Starting from founder member
Hedgewar and leading upto KS Sudarshan the present
incumbent, the interregnum was filled by Golwalkar,
Deoras and Rajendra Singh. If one takes a synoptic
view of each of these periods then one can definitely
discern the definitive impact each of them has had on
the organisation. Ofcourse none of them proved as
controversial as the second incumbent namely Madhav
Sadashiv Golwalkar whose birth centenary is being
celebrated by his followers this year...
Insiders to the organisation as well as many external
wathchers agree to the fact that he could be
considered the key figure who provided a theoretical
background to the project of Hindutva and laid down
the seeds of the vast organisational network. As of
now the plethora of anushangik ( affiliated)
organisations which owe allegiance to the ideology of
Hindutva would run in hundreds, each catering to a
section of society. Scholars as well as activists, who
may posit themselves diametrically opposite vis-a-vis
the weltanshauung of this Hindu Supremacist
organisation , also need to study in detail the way an
organisation which was on the margins of Indian
society for a long time could reach the centrestage of
Indian politics. One still remembers how RSS people
were made a butt of jokes in popular culture in
Maharashtra especially --Marathi dramas in late
sixties-early seventies - mainly because of their
remaining limited to Brahmins or their insistence on
mechanical style discipline. It is true that this era
in RSS history it is long passe...
As already mentioned the first of his theoretical
contributions for the cause of Hindutva appeared in
the form of a pamphlette called 'We or Our Nationhood
Defined' ( 1938). It was so straightforward in its
appreciation of the 'ethnic cleansing' of Jews
undertaken by Hitler and such an unashamed proponent
of the submergence of 'foreign races' in the Hindu
race that later day RSS leaders have tried to create
an impression that the said book was not written by
Golwalkar but it was merely a translation of a book
'Rashtra Meemansa' by Babarao Savarkar. ..
A quote from the 77 paged book would be opportune at
this moment. "The foreign races in Hindusthan must
either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must
learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion,
must entertain no idea but those of the glorification
of the Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu
nation and must loose their separate existence to
merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country,
wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming
nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any
preferential treatment - not even citizen's rights.
There is, at least, should be, no other course for
them to adopt. We are an old nation; let us deal, as
old nations ought to and do deal, with the foreign
races, who have chosen to live in our country".
(Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar's, We or Our Nationhood
Defined)...
When attempts were made under the stewardship of
Ambedkar and Nehru in late fourties to give limited
rights to Hindu women in property and inheritance
through the passage of the Hindu Code Bill , Golwalkar
and his associates had no qualms in launching a
movement opposing this historic empowerment of hindu
women which was to take place for the first time in
history. Their contention was simple : This step is
inimical to Hindu traditions and culture.
One can go on innumerating instances to communicate
the ideological limitations of the Golwalkarian
project which acted as a hindrance to the building of
modern India. It is clear to any impartial observer
that, the way he tried to divide a wedge between the
broad unity of the Indian people on the basis of
religion , the way he lauded experiments in ethnic
cleansing in Western Europe and the way he glorified
Manusmriti till the end of his lfe, demonstrate that
his project was essentially inimical to the cause of
social harmony...
The feverish and foolish attempts undertaken by the
Swayamsevaks to show that Golwalkar was not the author
but basically the translator of the controversial book
, the way in which they are engaged in presenting
concocted proofs to show that they did participate in
the independence movement (while their very own
Golwalkar Guruji had the audacity to make a fun of the
tremendous sacrifices made by the people in the anti
colonial struggle) or the way they have dedicated the
year long celebrations in his honour to the cause of
'social harmony' all goes to show their keenness to
present the Second Supremo in a Sanitised form.
http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-gatade230206.htm
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Our Forgettable Forefathers - It is up to us to
unlearn Golwalkar's lessons - By Githa Hariharan (4
Apr 2004, Telegraph)
We can't help having the ancestors we have. But there
is one good thing about growing up. We can use our
judgment. We can make up our own minds about those
stern black-and-white photographs lining our walls
like a hallowed pantheon. We can use our adult sense
of good and bad, right and wrong, to decide which of
these worthies are significant for us in one way or
the other. Several can be safely forgotten as
inconsequential or irrelevant. More important is the
shortlist of forefathers (and foremothers) we need to
remember. Of these, some are memorable because their
lives, though lived in the past, light our way in the
present. Others we must never forget precisely because
they were, and continue to be, a malignant influence.
Dangerous, even in the form of their legacies...
As with our individual families, so with the nation's
extended family. Our India, like any of our little
families, has its share of shining and not-so-shining
ancestors. Both sets have descendants who keep them
alive, suitably framed, garlanded and quoted. Learning
from icons - the little family's or the big family's -
is not such a bad thing. But not all of them taught
the right lessons. Some ancestors, and their legacies,
can help us only if we unlearn their beliefs and
ideas.
Consider just one of these gurujis from our nation's
past, a man whose ideas inspire so many today: Madhav
Sadhashiv Golwalkar. I recently came across a
tattered, heavily underlined copy of Golwalkar's book,
We or Our Nationhood Defined, which was first
published in 1939. The cover of the book was torn, and
the photograph on the frontispiece looked up at me
intently...
Perhaps the picture of Golwalkar is best brought to
life through his own uncompromising words. Take, for
example, these words from the science-teaching
nationalist in We or Our Nationhood Defined: "To keep
up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany
shocked the world by her purging the country of the
semitic Races - the Jews. Race pride at its highest
has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how
well nigh impossible it is for Races and cultures,
having differences going to the root, to be
assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for
us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by."
This means that our Habib Tanveers and Husains and
Shabana Azmis and the millions of less-known others
with "foreign" names belong to another culture, even
another race. They will never be "assimilated" by
"Hindusthan" although they know no world but India as
we live it. "So long as they maintain their racial,
religious and cultural differences, they cannot but be
only foreigners, who may be either friendly or
inimical to the Nation." In other words, these
"foreigners" are enemies till proven innocent by a
jury made up of Golwalkar's descendants... Guruji's
lessons have been learnt well by those who are now at
the gates. Perhaps these barbarians at the gate are
"proud of being born in the great lineage of rishis
and yogis", just as Guruji would have liked. It's up
to the rest of us to dismantle Guruji's legacy of
nation-breaking lessons.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040404/asp/opinion/story_3066092.asp
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Hitler, Hindutava And Its Allies - By Balram (12 Jan
2003, Countercurrents)
The world is burning. The violent dance of death is
being played all around us. India is part of this
whole scenery. The death tolls in places as far as J&K
to Gujarat add inglorious colours to this grotesque
picture. In different places this violence presents
itself in different garbs. At some places its form is
imperialist while it grows in the name of Islamic
jihad elsewhere.
It's clothed in saffron these days in India. This
Hindutva terrorism in saffron robes which Gujarat has
suffered and which is being sought to be spread in
rest of India, is borne out of the same psycho-space
where Jihadi terrorism takes roots. The political and
historical reasons being proffered are nothing but
auxiliary reasons. Basically both are the same. In the
center of both is shallow egotism. On psychological
plane both are in the same class. Both in their own
ways give an organised and ideological form to
separatism, fear, violence and animosity, which are
all characteristics of the narrow egotism. But then
this is a just a pseudo-veil in which the torchbearers
of these ideologies hide their peculiar psycho types.
Actually this whole process of hiding takes place at
sub conscious level. Most of the time even people are
not aware about this. Normally their recognition is
based on their surfacial activities. This is what
leads to BJP and the organisations allied to it being
called 'Hindu organisations'. As Dr Bipan Chander, the
renowned historian says, "Communalism is not a set of
specific policies such as the building of a temple at
Ayodhya or the enactment of a uniform civil code.
Communalism is basically an ideology, a belief system,
a way of looking at society and polity." (Dr. Bipan
Chandra: The BJP's Ideology)Hitler termed this,
'Weltanschauung'...
Nearly seven decades earlier, the then Sarsanghchalak
of RSS, M S Golwalkar, had declared 'Weltanschauung'
of Hitler as his source of inspiration. His utterances
in this regard are as relevant today: "To keep the
purity of the race and its culture, Germany shocked up
the world by her purging the country, of Semitic races
- the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been
manifested here. Germany has also shown how well -nigh
impossible it is for races and cultures, having
differences going to root to be assimilated to one
united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to
learn and profit by." (MS Golwalkar: 'We or Our Nation
Defined' P.35/43) Sixty years later, Hitler's 'Mien
Kempf' continues to be the source of inspiration of
followers of Golwalkar.
Few excerpts from the autobiography of the Nazi would
illustrate the parallels being played out by them:
"First condition that has to be fulfilled in every
kind of propaganda, namely, a systemically, a one
sided attitude towards every problem that has to be
dealt with. propaganda must not investigate the truth
objectively, in so far as it is favourable to its
side. as soon as our own propaganda made the slightest
suggestion that the enemy had a certain amount of
justice on his side, then we laid down the basic on
which the justice of our own cause could be
questioned." (Mein Kempf P.158/159)
The propaganda of Sangh Parivar, since it inception
revolves around these guiding points. That's why
Advani began his Rath Yatra from Somnath. Modi's
assembly elections campaign in Gujrat is the most
glaring and recent example of this. The unfortunate
and dangerous aspect of all this is that they seek to
bring down the level of education also to mere
propaganda. Whether it is history or science, they use
all to glorify their ego, which they try to project as
glorification of Hindu culture and race. This is not
all. To force others to do so is an incontrovertible
evidence of their Hitlerian philosophy. ". the foreign
races in Hindusthan must either adopt the Hindu
culture and language, must learn to respect and hold
in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea
but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and
culture, i.e. of the Hindu nation and must lose their
separate existence to merge into the Hindu race, or
may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the
Hindu nation, claiming nothing...not even citizen's
rights." (MS Golwalkar -ibid- P.47-48, 55-56)
http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-balram011203.htm
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Golwalkar: the brain of RSS - By Kashif Hoda (26 Feb
2006, Milli Gazette)
RSS is planning to celebrate birth centenary of the
second RSS chief Madhavrao Sadashivrao Golwalkar.
While K. B. Hedgewar is responsible for setting up RSS
and the initial leadership, it was the genius of
Golwalkar that firmly established RSS in the Indian
political scene. It was he who developed most of the
strategies that are still in use by RSS. He gave RSS
the vision that still inspires its cadre. Therefore to
understand RSS it is important to understand Golwalkar
and his teachings...
During Hedgewar's final days, when he was too sick to
travel, it was Golwalkar who took care of business
associated with RSS, and took complete charge of the
organization. Therefore, it is not surprising that in
1940, bypassing some senior leaders who were with RSS
since the beginning, Golwalkar was made head of RSS.
Golwalkar is the longest serving chief of RSS and also
may be the most successful in terms of increasing
membership and establishing shakhas. Hedgewar left RSS
with about 50 shakhas and 100,000 members and when
Golwalkar died he had expanded its reach to 10,000
shakhas and membership running above a million.
http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2006/20060226_Golwalkar_RSS.htm
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Golwalkar's views on Minorities
Golwalkar & social harmony - By Subash Gatade (21 Feb
2006, Central Chronicle)
...The first of his theoretical contributions for the
cause of Hindutva had appeared in the form of a
pamphlet called 'We or Our Nationhood Defined' (1938)
which was so straightforward in his appreciation of
the 'ethnic cleansing' of Jews undertaken by Hitler
and such an unashamed proponent of the submergence of
'foreign races' in the Hindu race that later day RSS
leaders have tried to create an impression that the
said book was not written by Golwalkar but it was
merely a translation of a book 'Rashtra Meemansa' by
Babarao Savarkar...
"The foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the
Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and
hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no
idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race
and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must loose
their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race,
or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the
Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no
privileges, far less any preferential treatment - not
even citizen's rights. There is, at least, should be,
no other course for them to adopt. We are an old
nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do
deal, with the foreign races, who have chosen to live
in our country"...
A third arena where Golwalkar proved much behind his
times was his love for Manusmriti's edicts. When
leaders of newly independent India were struggling to
have a constitution which was premised on the
inviolability of individual rights with special
provisions of positive discrimination for millions of
Indians who had been denied any human rights quoting
religious scriptures, it was Golwalkar again who
espoused the same Manusmriti as independent India's
constitution.When attempts were made under the
stewardship of Ambedkar and Nehru in late fourties
through the passage of the Hindu Code Bill to give
rights to Hindu women in property and inheritance,
Golwalkar and his associates had no qualms in
launching a movement to stop this historic empowerment
of women which was to take place for the first time in
history. Their contention was simple : This step is
inimical to Hindu traditions and culture...
It is clear to any impartial observer that, the way he
tried to divide a wedge between the broad unity of the
Indian people on the basis of religion, the way he
lauded experiments in ethnic cleansing in Western
Europe and the way he glorified Manusmriti till the
end of his lfe, demonstrate that his project was
essentially inimical to the cause of social harmony.
Definitely nobody can challenge the prerogative of his
followers to project him as a protogonist of the same
cause. They are at liberty to portray him in a manner
which suits them. But it would rather vindicate his
critics contention that his own followers are finding
themselves in a double bind over his legacy. On the
one hand they are claiming lineage from him , but
simultaneously they are also engaged in surreptiously
sanitising him and presenting him before the guillible
public under a more acceptable, humane face.
http://www.centralchronicle.com/20060221/2102302.htm
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A march towards fascism - By Sitaram Yechuri (28 Dec
2002, The Hindu)
...In fact, the RSS vision was articulated even before
its formation by V.D. Savarkar in 1923 in the
pamphlet, "Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?". The RSS was
founded in 1925. In his Presidential Address to the
Hindu Mahasabha on December 30, 1937, Savarkar said:
"There are two nations in the main: the Hindus and the
Moslems in India". Mohammad Ali Jinnah propounded his
two-nation theory in 1939. In this very year, the then
RSS chief, M.S. Golwalkar, chillingly articulated the
fascistic character of the "Hindu Rashtra" in his
treatise, "We, Or Our Nationhood Defined".
Having declared that all others except Hindus are
foreign elements, Golwalkar proceeds to state: "there
are only two courses open to the foreign elements,
either to merge themselves in the national race and
adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as
the national race may allow them to do so and to quit
the country at the sweet will of the national race...
There is, at least should be, no other course for them
to adopt. We are an old nation; let us deal, as old
nations ought to and do deal, with the foreign races,
who have chosen to live in our country."...
Hindu communal fanaticism claimed the life of Mahatma
Gandhi when, after Partition, the Congress continued
to adhere to its vision of the Indian republic. All
through these years, however, these communal forces
remained active waiting for an opportunity to advance
their objective. The recent events in the country
resoundingly vindicate this...
Finally, it needs to be underlined that Savarkar
coined the term "Hindutva" as a political slogan. He,
in fact, states: "Here, it is enough to point out that
Hindutva is not identical with what is vaguely
indicated by the term Hinduism."
In this context, it is necessary to remind ourselves
once again that it was a majority of Indians, a
majority of whom belong to the Hindu fold, that
rejected the RSS vision of a "Hindu Rashtra" and
embraced the secular, democratic, republican
Constitution. It is only such a frontal, secular
confrontation that can now stop this communal
juggernaut from seeking to metamorphose secular,
democratic India into a fascistic "Hindu Rashtra".
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/12/28/stories/2002122800361000.htm
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Is RSS A Terrorist Organization? - By Ram Puniyani (2
Jun 2005, Countercurrents)
Terrorism has been witnessed as a horrific phenomenon,
more so in the current times. What is terrorism itself
is a matter of debate at one level and at another the
definition of terrorism changes from person to person,
group to group and country to country.
One does not know as to what criterion the US based
Terrorism Research Center, the US think tank on this
issue, has used but it has gone on to label RSS, the
patriarch of Hindutva organizations, BJP, VHP,
Bajarang dal etc., as a terrorist outfit. RSS shares
this category with other organizations defamed in
different parts of the World as terrorists like Al
Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Hamas etc. Sangh's (RSS
progeny) own definition and understanding of
terrorists has been summed up by RSS pracharak
(propagator) and current Gujarat Chief Minister,
Narendra Modi in the sentence, "All Muslims are not
terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims!" How come
a Muslim baiter organization itself has been so
labeled!...
The venom of hate is tailor made for each community.
Muslims are equated to yavan snakes. Prof Bipan
Chandra narrates his experience in listening to the
shakha training. While on a morning walk he overheard
the young boys attending the shakha being told that
Muslims are like snakes. It is easier to kill a young
snake rather than the grown up one. The message of
this 'intellectual' exercise is too clear. The
inspiration and methods of Hate are picked up from the
Nazi Germany. RSS ideologue Golwalkar articulated it,
" German race pride has now become topic of the day.
To keep up the purity of nation and its culture,
Germany shocked the world by her purging the country
of Semitic races-the Jews. National pride at its
highest has been manifested here. Germany has also
shown how well-neigh impossible it is for races and
cultures having differences going to the root, to be
assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for
us in Hindustan to learn and profit by." ( M.S.
Golwalkar, We or Our Nationhood defined, Nagpur 1938
p.27).
One wondered whether RSS really means it. But to one's
utter shock one was told by a senior RSS ideologue
that if a person of the stature of Gandhi could not
solve the 'Muslim problem', what can the present small
genre of pseudo secularists achieve! As per him (and
apparently as per RSS) there is a single solution to
this problem, what one knows as the "Final Solution"!
This hate ideology, which is drilled in the heads of
young recruits is the base on which the foundation of
communal violence comes up. The RSS ideology's outcome
first got manifested in Godse's murdering of Gandhi.
Of course RSS never owned the fact that Godse was
trained by RSS and was RSS pracharak before he decided
to join Hindu Mahasabha. His brother Gopal Godse
maintained in different interviews that they (his
brother Nathuram and he himself) had never left RSS.
Most of the inquiry commission reports on the communal
violence (Justice Reddy, Vithayathil, Venugopal, Madon
and others) have shown irrefutably that their has been
a role of some organization affiliated to or floated
by a pracharak of RSS, which has played crucial role
in the violence...
RSS training is on twin tracks. One is the physical
one, games and all that. The second is the bauddhik
one. It is the latter which motivates its progeny to
incite people to take up arms and kill the 'other',
the 'enemy' in the ruthless fashion. The anatomy of a
riot, violence, is very interesting and complex both
at the same time. How the average dalit, adivasi,
worker with empty stomach and non existent future is
mobilized as the foot soldier of RSS agenda, is
something social scientists have to explain. RSS
pracharak may be at the same time sitting and giving a
quiet discourse on Hindu values, Hindu rashtra while
RSS ideology will grip the section of population to
unleash violence, to kill the innocents. It does
achieve the political goal of consolidation of section
of Hindus behind RSS; it does make them come back to
power or strengthen its power. The definition with
which we began was killing of innocents for power or
political agenda is terrorism. And that's precisely
what RSS work does.
http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-puniyani020605.htm
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Why Hindu Rashtra? - By M.S. Golwalkar
'Unfortunately in our country our Constitution has
equated the children of the soil with the aggressor,
and given equal rights to everybody, just as a person
without understanding may give equal rights to his
children and to the thieves in his house and
distribute the property among all.'
Pamphlet authored by Golwalkar
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Golwalkar and his message - By Abdullah (24 Feb 2006)
Golwalkar... worked with one motto to "Hinduise all
politics & Militarize Hinduism"... Under his
leadership, the RSS grew. He saw the resurgence of the
"Hindu movement" in India. A number of RSS affiliates,
such as the Vidyarthi Parishad, the Bharatiya Mazdoor
Sangh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bharatiya
Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram, came into existence. After
Gandhi's assassination by former Sangh worker,
Golwalkar was arrested and the organization was
banned.
Minority hate is the only message we get from his
book, which is regarded as 'RSS Bible'... "So brutally
candid is We or Our Nationhood Defined that a
desperate attempt was made by the RSS to distance
itself from it - the RSS claimed that the book was
merely an English translation of the Marathi work
Rashtra Meemansa by Babarao GD Savarkar, brother of VD
Savarkar. However, in his Preface to We or Our
Nationhood Defined dated March 22, 1939, Golwalkar
described Rashtra Meemansa as 'one of my chief sources
of inspiration and help. An English translation of
this is due to be shortly out (sic)," writes AG
Noorani in The RSS and the BJP: A Division of
Labour... Golwalkar has left none in doubt about his
treatment to Muslims, Christians and Sikhs.
http://www.imc-usa.org/articles/2006/golwalkar.message.htm
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Golwalkar's views on Muslims
The Hate Minorities Message of The 'RSS Bible' (25 Feb
2006, Communalism Combat)
"The foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the
Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and
hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no
idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race
and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must loose
their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race,
or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the
Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no
privileges, far less any preferential treatment - not
even citizen's rights. There is, at least, should be,
no other course for them to adopt. We are an old
nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do
deal, with the foreign races, who have chosen to live
in our country". -- Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar's, We or
Our Nationhood Defined...
So brutally candid is We or Our Nationhood Defined
that a desperate attempt was made by the RSS to
distance itself from it - the RSS claimed that the
book was merely an English translation of the Marathi
work Rashtra Meemansa by Babarao G.D. Savarkar,
brother of V. D. Savarkar. However, in his Preface to
We or Our Nationhood Defined dated March 22, 1939,
Golwalkar described Rashtra Meemansa as 'one of my
chief sources of inspiration and help...
Sample these extracts from We:
'Ever since that evil day, when Moslems first landed
in Hindusthan, right up to the present moment, the
Hindu Nation has been gallantly fighting on to shake
off the despoilers. ... The Race Spirit has been
awakening.'
Referring to the secular nationalism of Gandhi and
others, Golwalkar asserted that 'Effort was made to
put the race on the wrong track' by propagating the
concept of territorial nationalism. He went on to say:
The idea was spread that for the first time the people
were going to live a National life, the Nation in the
land naturally was composed of all those who happened
to reside therein and that all these people were to
unite on a common 'National' platform and win back
'freedom' by 'Constitutional means'. Wrong notions of
democracy strengthened the view and we began to class
ourselves with our old invaders and foes under the
outlandish name - Indian - and tried to win them over
to join hands with us in our struggle. The result of
this poison is too well known. We have allowed
ourselves to be duped into believing our foes to be
our friends and with our hands are undermining true
Nationality...
What of the non-Hindus?
All those not belonging to the national, i.e. Hindu
race, Religion, Culture and Language, naturally fall
out of the pale of real 'National' life. We repeat: in
Hindusthan, the land of the Hindus, lives and should
live the Hindu Nation - satisfying all the five
essential requirements of the scientific nation
concept of the modern world. Consequently only those
movements are truly 'National' as aim at re-building,
revitalizing and emancipating from its present stupor,
the Hindu Nation. Those only are nationalist patriots,
who, with the aspiration to glorify the Hindu race and
Nation next to their heart, are prompted into activity
and strive to achieve that goal. All others are either
traitors and enemies to the National cause, or, to
take a charitable view, idiots.
The 'idiots' can be cured, though:
The foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the
Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and
hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no
idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race
and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must loose
their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race,
or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the
Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no
privileges, far less any preferential treatment - not
even citizen's rights. There is, at least, should be,
no other course for them to adopt. We are an old
nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do
deal, with the foreign races, who have chosen to live
in our country.
http://www.sabrang.com/gujarat/rssbible.htm
[Back to Top]
Semiotics of Terror : Muslim Children and Women in
Hindu Rashtra - By Tanika Sarkar (13 Jul 2002,
Economic and Political Weekly)
A serious inadequacy plagues our known vocabularies of
horror. Words like communal violence or carnage or
massacre have been overused to describe far too many
situations whose horror is minimal, even relatively
'innocent', compared to the last four months in
Gujarat. The problem is that we naturalise,
domesticate, make somewhat bearable and comfortable,
Gujarat events when we stretch old words to cover
radically new meanings. What is at issue in Gujarat is
not simply a recurrence of the perennial communal
tension, but a fundamental political transformation:
the installation of Hindu Rashtra - the dream of V D
Savarkar, the vision of a nearly 80 year-old Sangh. It
has been inaugurated with the rituals and rites and
sacrifices appropriate to itself. Bystanders and
survivors during the days of maximal violence were
struck by the festive, carnivalesque aspect of
rampaging mobs. Indeed, one such mob looked like a
'barat', a wedding band, to unsuspecting Muslims on
the fateful morning of February 28...
The facts of Gujarat violence are well known. I will
try to locate a few patterns and trends within this
violence. My main contention is, it is not the
collapse of the state machinery that we are looking
at, but the penetration of state and grass roots
institutions - from police to hospitals - by the Sangh
parivar. When talking of Gujarat events, it is very
common to use terms like the failure of the Modi
government, the weakness of the state, or the limits
of the BJP-led coalition at the centre. I would
strongly insist that, on the contrary, the Modi
government as well as the Sangh as a whole, have been
spectacularly successful in their agenda. What is
happening in Gujarat is not a mark of weakness or
inadequacy but a sign of the strength of the Sangh
parivar, its firmness of resolve, its ideological
consistency. This is the first time in our history
that a state is headed by a RSS 'pracharak'. The state
governor, S S Bhandari, is a leading light of the
Sangh, while the central government has as its prime
minister and home minister, two very senior and
experienced Sangh leaders. Vajpayee chose to remind us
of his basic allegiance in the middle of the carnage
during the Goa Conference: "The Sangh is my soul".
Gujarat's Lokayukta, its chairman of the state public
service commission, the vice-chancellor of the Gujarat
University, are all old RSS hands. So is Arun Oza, the
senior government pleader at the Ahmedabad High Court.
Narendra Modi freely used the services of the state
radio or Akashvani to put forward his views, and the
vernacular press, especially Sandesh and the Gujarat
Samachar, manufactured stories of Muslim violence and
freely circulated them.
K G Shah, who leads the judicial commission to enquire
into Gujarat events, is well known for his Hindutva
leanings and his anti-Muslim judgments during TADA
trials. Among senior police officials, Sangh links
abound. V B Rawal, inspector, Crime Branch, was a
'karsevak' at the time of the demolition of the Babri
masjid and he proudly displays a photograph to prove
his contribution to the cause. DCPs R D Makadia and D
G Patel, are close to the VHP general secretary Pravin
Togadia, while DCP Parghi is an intimate associate of
Haren Pandya, the state home minister, and accused by
many of inciting the violence and actively assisting
it. We may remind ourselves here that at the time of
his election, Pandya had promised to "wipe out any
trace of Muslims of Paldi", Paldi being his
constituency, and a site of great violence in recent
months. In 1999, Mahen Trivedi, minister of state for
home, publicly declared at a police function, "We told
you that we don't want Muslims in controlling posts."
Gujarat, incidentally has only 65 senior Muslim police
officers, none of them at present in active field
service...
If the conceptual apparatus is simple, crude,
monochromatic and one-dimensional, the organisational
and communicational apparatus is singularly protean,
pluralised, innovative, hegemonic. The RSS shakhas
have ideological and combat training schedules on a
daily basis. The training is a blend of physical
exercises, martial arts training, speeches and tales,
songs and theatre, games and organised sports. Each
effort replicates the same message and sense of
purpose in a different medium. They also run schools,
leisure centres, cultural organisations, welfare
societies, tribal and slum-level educational projects,
audio and video stations. They control temple
networks, associations of priests and sadhus. They, of
course, rule over states.
The cadres and all members of their various mass
fronts are taught this message as history, as religion
and as nationalism. Two facts stand out within this
ideological formation. One is that both religion and
nationalism are being recast as a crusade against
Christians and Muslims. At the same time, religion and
nation are fused into a single entity whose lifeblood
is vindictiveness for alleged past wrongs committed by
Muslim rulers. The second is that Hindu unity is based
on its antagonism against other Indian religions,
which would overrule any engagement with power
relations and social abuses of class, caste and gender
within the Hindu community. In fact, even a reference
to such problems is described as divisive of both
religion and nation. The second 'sarsanghchalak' and
ideological guru of the Sangh, Guruji Golwalkar, was
quite frank in his denunciations of democracy, low
castes and labour agitations. These open statements,
however, became covert and muted once independent
India adopted a Constitution based on universal
franchise and the electoral wing of the RSS needed to
broaden its constituency. The new tactic was,
therefore, to silence discourses on rights, equality
and social justice by promoting a militant Hindutva
and a militaristic nationalism in its place. Savarkar
was a staunch supporter of nuclearising of India. The
Sangh works among exploited social groups to Hinduise
and communalise them, it does not tolerate work for
social justice...
One of the most spectacular forms of sadism in the
recent events had been the way Muslim female and
infantile bodies were made to function in the drama of
Hindutva terror. There had been earlier anticipations
of that. The investigations made by the AIDWA in
1992-93, especially in Surat and Bhopal, had pointed
out several similar features. Women were "tortured,
molested, raped, and then burnt to death". Sometimes,
their children were killed before their eyes. At the
same time, more often than not, such atrocities were
whispered about and not always confirmed openly. This
time, rape victims as well as their male relatives
have no inhibition about reporting rape and sexual
torture . The police, however, do not admit FIRs on
rape, a senior officer claims that mobs have no time
for raping, and that Hindus, moreover, do not rape.
Fernandes, on the other hand, says that rape is so
universally prevalent that Gujarat rapes are not worth
talking about. So, either it has not happened, or it
happens universally; in either case, it cannot or need
not be mentioned.
Women have been killed in very large numbers. At the
mass grave that was dug on March 6 to provide burial
to 96 bodies from Naroda Patiya, 46 women were buried.
Bilkees Beghum from the Godhra relief camp told a tale
that seemed to confirm a recurrent pattern in most
places, according to survivors' accounts. She was
stripped, gang-raped, her baby was killed before her,
she was then beaten up, then burnt and left for dead.
For variety's sake, other women also had acid thrown
upon them, and then burnt in fires. A womens'
fact-finding report sums up the usual procedure:
"..rape, gang rape, mass rape, stripping, insertion of
objects into their body, molestation. a majority of
rape victims were burnt alive." Before they were
finally killed, some were beaten up with rods and
pipes for almost an hour. Before or after the killing,
their vagina would be sliced, or would have iron rods
pushed inside. Similarly, their bellies would be cut
open or would have hard objects inserted into them. A
13-year old girl, Farzana, had a rod pushed into her
stomach, and was then burnt. A mother reported that
her three-year old baby girl was raped and killed in
front of her, while elsewhere daughters reported on
the rapes of their mothers, now dead. Kausar Bano, a
young girl from Naroda Patiya, was several months
pregnant. Several eyewitnesses testified that she was
raped, tortured, her womb was slit open with a sword
to disgorge the foetus which was then hacked to pieces
and roasted alive with the mother.
http://www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2002&leaf=07&filename=4678&filetype=html
SEE ALSO:
The Second Gujarat Catastrophe - By Upendra Baxi
http://www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2002&leaf=08&filename=4832&filetype=html
[Back to Top]
The Sangh's bloody trail (Aug 2004, Communalism
Combat)
Hindu communal organisations have always maintained
that it is always the Muslims who start riots, forcing
"justifiable retaliatory acts by Hindus in
self-defence". But virtually every single officially
appointed judicial commission to probe into the cause
of riots in different parts of the country has found
the RSS and other majoritarian communal outfits
guilty. We reproduce some excerpts below:
Report of the Justice DP Madon Commission of Inquiry
into the Communal Disturbances at Bhiwandi, Jalgaon
and Mahad of 1970:
"If the events surrounding the Shiv Jayanti procession
in Bhiwandi, Jalgaon and Mahad are looked at more
closely, the start of the riot was not with the
simplistic reaction of the procession being attacked
by a group of Muslims. Tension did not begin with the
Shiv Jayanti celebrations of that year but began in
1964, the first year that the practice of publicly
celebrating Shiv Jayanti had been started and had seen
an annual build up in tensions since...
In his report to his superiors, the SP, Thane district
has stated, "I found that a section of Hindu elements,
particularly the RSS and some PSP men, were bent upon
creating mischief. Their idea in accompanying the
procession was not so much to pay respects to the
Great Shivaji but to establish their right and, if
possible, to provoke and humiliate Muslims."
Report of the Commission of Inquiry, Tellicherry
Disturbance, 1971, Justice Joseph Vithyathil:
"In Tellicherry the Hindus and Muslims were living as
brothers for centuries. The 'Mopla riots' did not
affect the cordial relationship that existed between
the two communities in Tellicherry. It was only after
the RSS and the Jana Sangh set up their units and
began activities in Tellicherry that there came a
change in the situation. Their anti-Muslim propaganda,
its reaction on the Muslims who rallied round their
communal organisation, the Muslim League, which
championed their cause, and the communal tension that
followed prepared the background for their
disturbances.
According to the RSS, until the Muslims give up their
separatist attitude and join the mainstream of Indian
National Life there will be no communal harmony in
this country. Guruji Golwalkar is said to have a very
simple remedy for communal riots in India. He said:
"Let Muslims look upon Rama as their hero and the
communal problems will be over" (Organiser, June 20,
1971). That is what the rioters who attacked the house
of Kunhammad asked him to do. "If you want to save
your life you should go round the house three times
repeating the words 'Rama, Rama'. Kunhammad did that.
But you cannot expect the 70 million Muslims of India
to do that as a condition for maintaining communal
harmony in the country. This attitude of the RSS can
only help to compel the Muslims to take shelter under
their own communal organisation."
Justice Venugopal Commission of Inquiry into the
Kanyakumari riots of 1982 (prolonged confrontation
between Hindus and Christians):
"The RSS adopts a militant and aggressive attitude and
sets itself up as the champion of what it considers to
be the rights of Hindus against minorities. It has
taken upon itself to teach the minorities their place
and if they are not willing to learn their place to
teach them a lesson. The RSS methodology for provoking
communal violence is:
a) rousing communal feelings in the majority community
by the propaganda that Christians are not loyal
citizens of this country;
b) deepening the fear in the majority community by
clever propaganda that the population of the
minorities is increasing and that of the Hindus is
decreasing;
http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2004/aug04/cover10html
[Back to Top]
Hey Ram! - By R K Anand (Aug 2004, Communalism Combat)
RSS activists have been involved in riots in various
parts of the country
a) Rajeshwar Dayal, an IAS officer who was home
secretary in the year 1948 wrote a book titled, A Life
Of Our times. At pages 93 and 94, the book mentions
serious allegations against the RSS and their
involvement in riots in the year 1948: "I must record
an episode of a very grave nature when the
procrastination and indecision of the UP cabinet led
to dire consequences. When communal tension was still
at fever-pitch, the deputy inspector-general of police
of the Western Range, a very seasoned and capable
officer, BBL Jaitley, arrived at my house in great
secrecy. He was accompanied by two of his officers who
brought with them two large steel trunks securely
locked. When the trunks were opened, they revealed
incontrovertible evidence of a dastardly conspiracy to
create a communal holocaust throughout the western
districts of the province. The trunks were crammed
with blueprints of great accuracy and professionalism
of every town and village in that vast area,
prominently marking out the Muslim localities and
habitations. There were also detailed instructions
regarding access to the various locations, and other
matters which amply revealed their sinister purport.
"Greatly alarmed by those revelations, I immediately
took the police party to the Premier's House. There,
in a closed room, Jaitley gave a full report of his
discovery, backed by all the evidence contained in the
steel trunks. Timely raids conducted on the premises
of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh) had brought
the massive conspiracy to light. The whole plot had
been concerted under the direction and supervision of
the Supremo of the organisation himself. Both Jaitley
and I pressed for the immediate arrest of the prime
accused, Shri Golwalkar, who was still in the area...
"Golwalkar, however, had been tipped off and he was
nowhere to be found in the area. He was tracked down
southwards but he managed to elude the couriers in
pursuit. This infructuous chase continued from place
to place and weeks passed.
http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2004/aug04/cover.html
[Back to Top]
Resurrecting Godse: The Hindutva continuum - By Arvind
Rajagopal (Aug 2004, Communalism Combat)
...If you turn to MS Golwalkar, the RSS leader, the
confirmation of a continuity with Godse's views is
even more emphatic: "When we say 'This is the Hindu
Nation,' there are some who immediately come up with
the question, 'What about the Muslims and
Christians.?' They are born in this land, no doubt.
But are they true to their salt? . Do they feel a duty
to serve her? No!. They look to some foreign lands as
their holy places. They have cut off their ancestral
moorings of this land (sic) and mentally merged
themselves with the aggressors. They still think that
they have come here only to conquer and establish
their kingdoms. So we see that it is not merely a case
of change of faith, but a change even in national
identity. What else is it, if not treason, to join the
camp of the enemy leaving their mother-nation in the
lurch?" (Bunch of Thoughts, pp. 166-167).
Every Muslim, for Golwalkar as for Godse, is a foreign
agent with little to do but engage in anti-national
activities, usually of a violent kind: ".The Muslims
are busy hatching a dangerous plot, piling up arms and
mobilising their men and probably biding their time to
strike from within when Pakistan decides upon an armed
conflict with our country. Not that our leaders do not
know it. The secret intelligence reports reach them
all right. But it seems they have in view only
elections. Elections means vote catching, which means
appeasing certain sections. And the Muslims are one
such solid bloc. Therein lies the root of all this
appeasement and consequent disastrous effects." (Bunch
of Thoughts, pp. 239-240)...
The true Hindu patriot has two enemies: the Muslim and
the "secular" (nowadays pseudo-secular) government.
The Muslim's danger is well known and unambivalent,
whereas that of the secularists is much less so.
Parading itself as tolerant and pluralistic, the
secular government is actually calculating and
selfish, and will lead the nation to disaster. Only in
Hindutva is such narrow selfishness overcome, as
individual identity merges with the nation. In these
ideas, Godse and the RSS "guru", Golwalkar, are
unanimous.
http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2004/aug04/cover5.html
[Back to Top]
Golwalkar and the Indian Independence Struggle
India's freedom struggle & the RSS - By Shamsul Islam
(16-30 April 2004 , Milli Gazette)
...Golwalkar as an ideologue of the RSS himself
admitted that his outfit kept aloof from the freedom
struggle. "There is another reason for the need of
always remaining involved in routine work. There is
some unrest in the mind due to the situation
developing in the country from time to time. There was
such unrest in 1942. Before that there was the
movement in 1930-31. At that time many other people
had gone to Doctorji [Hedgewar].
This 'delegation' requested Doctorji that this
movement will give independence and Sangh should not
lag behind. At that time, when a gentleman told
Doctorji that he was ready to go to jail, Doctorji
said, 'Definitely go. But who will take care of your
family then? That gentleman told-'he has sufficiently
arranged resources not only to run the family expenses
for two years but also to pay fines according to the
requirements'. Then Doctorji said to him - 'if you
have fully arranged for the resources then come out to
work for the Sangh for two years'. After returning
home that gentleman neither went to jail nor came out
to work for the Sangh." This incident clearly shows
that the RSS leadership was bent upon demoralising
honest patriotic persons to run away from the struggle
of the Freedom Movement...
At the time of the Quit India Movement Golwalkar
echoing the thought of British masters stated: "There
are bad results of struggle. The boys became militant
after the 1920-21 movement. It is not an attempt to
throw mud at the leaders. But these are inevitable
products after the struggle. The matter is that we
could not properly control these results. After 1942,
people often started thinking that there was no need
to think of the law." There was great resentment
amongst the RSS cadres against this indifferent
attitude of the RSS leadership towards the Quit India
Movement which is thus described without any remorse
by Golwalkar. "In 1942 also there was a strong
sentiment in the hearts of many. At that time too the
routine work of Sangh continued. Sangh decided not to
do anything directly. But swayamsevaks of Sangh were
greatly puzzled. Sangh is the organization of inactive
people, their talks have no substance was the opinion
uttered not only by outsiders but also our own
swayamsevaks. They were terribly angry also." However,
there is not a single publication or document of the
Sangh which could throw some light on the great work
the RSS did indirectly for the Quit India Movement.
During the forties also the RSS aggressively
campaigned for Hindu Rashtra, but stayed aloof from
the anti-British struggle. Golwalkar in fact made it
clear that the variety of nationalism which the RSS
espoused had no anti-British or anti-imperialist
content whatsoever as we have seen above. The RSS thus
can be seen as having played an extremely dubious role
throughout the freedom struggle. All evidence points
towards its disruptiveness and the fact that the
organization and its leadership was not a part of the
freedom struggle. The single most important
'contribution' of the RSS was to consistently disrupt
the unified struggle of the Indian people against
British imperialism through its extreme exclusivist
slogan of Hindu Rashtra...
Here is a passage from Bunch Of Thoughts [collection
of the writings/speeches of Golwalkar published by the
RSS which is treated as Geeta by its cadres]decrying
the whole tradition of martyrs: "There is no doubt
that such men who embrace martyrdom are great heroes
and their philosophy too is pre-eminently manly. They
are far above the average men who meekly submit to
fate and remain in fear and inaction. All the same,
such persons are not held up as ideals in our society.
We have not looked upon their martyrdom as the highest
point of greatness to which men should aspire. For,
after all, they failed in achieving their ideal, and
failure implies some fatal flaw in them." Could there
be a statement more insulting and denigrating to the
martyrs than this?
In all fairness to Guru Golwalkar, he did not claim
that the RSS had been opposed to the British. During
the course of a speech at Indore in 1960 he said,
"Many people worked with the inspiration to free the
country by throwing the British out. After formal
departure of the British this inspiration slackened.
In fact there was no need to have this much
inspiration. We should remember that in our pledge we
have talked of the freedom of the country through
defending religion and culture. There is no mention of
departure of the British in that."
The RSS was not even willing to regard colonial
domination as an injustice. In a speech of June 8,
1942, Golwalkar declared: "Sangh does not want to
blame anybody else for the present degraded state of
the society. When the people start blaming others,
then there is weakness in them. It is futile to blame
the strong for the injustice done to the weak... Sangh
does not want to waste its invaluable time in abusing
or criticizing others. If we know that large fish eat
the smaller ones, it is outright madness to blame the
big fish. Law of nature whether good or bad is true
all the time. This rule does not change by terming it
unjust."
http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/2004/16-30Apr04-Print-Edition/1604200425.htm
SEE ALSO:
An agenda unmasked - By Biswamoy Pati
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1925/stories/20021220001207600.htm
[Back to Top]
The Anglo RSS Nexus - By Akhilesh Mithal (21 Sep 2003,
Asian Age)
Hard evidence of the nexus between the British
government of India and the RSS. (Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh) is available in A Life of Our
Times, the memoirs of Rajeshwar Dayal, ICS published
by Orient Longman in 1998. The RSS was supplied
detailed maps of towns and villages to enable them to
attack Muslims.
Dayal says: "At a cocktail party, in early 1946, the
Chief Secretary told me, almost casually that I would
be the next Home Secretary of the U.P. I happened to
be the first Indian officer named to the post which
had hitherto apparently been reserved for British
officers."(Page 77)...
Dayal took the incriminating evidence to the Chief
Minister Gobind Ballabh Pant "There, in a closed room,
Jaitley gave a full report of his discovery backed by
all the evidence contained in the steel trunks.
Timely raids conducted on the premises of the RSS
(Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) had brought the massive
conspiracy to light. The whole plot had been concerted
under the direction and supervision of the Supremo of
the organisation himself.
Both Jaitley and myself pressed for the immediate
arrest of the prime accused Shri Golwalkar, who was
still in the area."...
Pant decided to put the matter before his cabinet.
There were RSS sympathisers in the Congress and the
presiding officer of the Legislative council, Atma
Govind Kher was a sympathiser and his sons were known
to be members of the RSS.
The action taken was not arrest but a letter to
Golwalkar stating the evidence and asking for an
explanation. As could be expected Golwalkar slipped
away and managed to elude the couriers. "This
infructuous chase continued from place to place and
weeks passed."...
These maps could have originated only in the British
Surveyor General's office. The British administration
was known for the passionate zeal with which they
guarded maps. That these were made available to the
RSS is evidence of the link. That collaborators of the
Anglo-Americans are in power all over the world and
not only in India, is borne out by a message received
from Denmark.
http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-mithal210903.htm
SEE ALSO:
Uproar in RS over RSS role in freedom fight
http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/feb/29rs.htm
[Back to Top]
Golden gloss on khaki knickers - By Ram Puniyani (15
Dec 2000, Milli Gazette)
Attitude of RSS towards the movement for freedom
struggle becomes clearer in the writings of M.S.
Golwalkar, the Second Supremo. (Shri Guruji Samgra
Darshan, Vol. IV, p. 39-40). Golwalkar points out that
RSS volunteers should not participate in the struggle,
he approvingly quotes his mentor Dr. Hedgewar here,
stating that going to jail will disturb the family
life and will also cause disruption in the routine
activities of RSS. He goes on to state ( p.41), 'In
1942 also there was a strong sentiment in the hearts
of many at that time too but the routine work of Sangh
continued. Sangh did not do anything directly.'
Bhishikar's book also makes it clear that Hedgewar did
not comment anything against British rule. This
non-participation was even ideologically formulated by
MS Golwalkar, as per whom fighting against British is
reactionary and he accused the Congress for reducing
the national struggle to 'mere' anti-British movement.
Golwalkar writes, 'Being anti British was equated with
patriotism and nationalism. This reactionary view had
disastrous effect upon the entire course of the
independence struggle, its leaders and the common
people' (Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts 1939).
'Golwalkar believed that the British not be given any
excuse to ban the RSS. On April 29, 1943 Golwalkar
distributed a circular that 'We discontinue practice
included in the governments order on military drill
and uniforms to keep our work clearly within bounds of
law, as every law abiding institution should'...'
(Quoted in A G Noorani, Frontline, 1 Dec. 1995).
Obviously, with this ideological formulation the Sangh
Parivar did not and could not fight against the
British...
In the wake of 1946 riots, a member of Gandhi's
entourage had praised the efficiency, discipline,
courage and capacity for hard work shown by RSS cadres
at Wagah, a major transit camp for Punjab refugees.
'But don't forget', answered Gandhiji, even so had
Hitler's Nazis and the Fascists under Mussolini.' He
went on to characterize the RSS as a 'communal body
with a totalitarian outlook'. (Pyarelal, Mahatma
Gandhi: The Last Phase, Ahmadabad, p 440).
http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/15-12-2000/Art6htm
[Back to Top]
Hey Ram! - By R K Anand (Aug 2004, Communalism Combat)
RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha opposed the Quit India
Movement
"The question is how to combat this movement (Quit
India) in Bengal? The administration of the province
should be carried on in such a manner that inspite of
the best efforts of the Congress, this movement will
fail to take root in the province. It should be
possible for us, especially responsible ministers, to
be able to tell the public that the freedom for which
the Congress has started the movement, already belongs
to the representatives of the people. In some spheres,
it might be limited during the emergency. Indians have
to trust the British, not for the sake of Britain, not
for any advantage that the British might gain, but for
the maintenance of the defence and freedom of the
province itself. You, as governor, will function as
the constitutional head of the province and will be
guided entirely on the advice of your ministers."
http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2004/aug04/cover.html
[Back to Top]
The RSS and the Freedom Struggle (Aug 2004,
Communalism Combat)
The RSS kept totally aloof from the many anti-British
movements of the 1940s: the individual Civil
Disobedience of 1940-41, the Quit India struggle of
1942, Azad Hind Fauj, the 1945-46 upsurges around the
INA trials and the Bombay Naval Mutiny...
The communal holocaust of 1946-47, ushered in by
Jinnah's call for direct action and the Great Calcutta
Killings of August 1946, was regarded as its `finest
hour' by the RSS.
Through active participation in riots, relief work in
Hindu refugee camps and virulent propaganda, the RSS
contributed vastly to the development of a massive
fear psychosis among large sections of Hindus about
the `foreign' Muslims...
The onward march of the RSS was abruptly halted by the
impact of the murder of Mahatma Gandhi.
http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2004/aug04/cover8.html
SEE ALSO:
RSS hoists Tricolour after 52 years
http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/jan/26rday2.htm
[Back to Top]
Golwalkar's views on Social Issues
Hindutva Hypocrisy on Family Planning - By Yoginder
Sikand (25 Feb 2006, Communalism Combat)
One of the central themes of Hindutva propaganda is
the myth that the Muslims refuse to practice family
planning as part of an alleged grand conspiracy to
swamp the country and convert it into a Muslim-
majority state. On the other hand, and this is hardly
known, Hindutva ideologues have been consistently
exhorting Hindus not to adopt population control
measures and to produce as many children as they can.
In his book, `The RSS Story', the BJP Vice-President,
the late K.R. Malkani, reveals:
`On the subject of artificial population control, Shri
Guruji (Golwalkar, the RSS supremo) felt that there
was no need for it'.
Malkani quotes Golwalkar as having further said:
`I for one think that the world is wide enough to
house and feed all the children that are brought into
it.'
Reactionaries readily read conspiracies into any move
that might threaten their vested interests, and
Golwalkar went on to discover the ubiquitous foreign
hand behind family planning. Thus, he declared:
`Foreign powers are only too eager to see the Indian
population cut. They know the strength of numbers and
the connection between population and power'.
http://www.sabrang.com/news/2005/yogiHH.htm
[Back to Top]
Golwalkar and Gandhiji's assasination
Murder of the greatest Hindu (Aug 2004, Communalism
Combat)
"On 30th January, 1948 while Bapu was on his way to a
prayer meeting three shots were fired at him from a
revolver. Bapu fell and died soon after. Nathuram
Godse was the man responsible for the murder. He had
been a worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh in
Poona and also the editor of a paper," wrote Morarji
Desai in his autobiography published in 1974.
The name of the RSS has been associated with the
murder of Gandhi ever since the ghastly deed was done,
the vehement protestations of the RSS to the contrary
notwithstanding. The charge has stuck in spite of the
fact that the RSS chief, who had been arrested and put
in the dock along with the other accused, had been
cleared of the charge at an early stage of the trial.
It was recalled by the then vice-president KR
Narayanan when he commented that the demolition of
Babri Masjid (at Ayodhya) was the most heinous crime
after the assassination of Gandhi...
Coming to the substantial part, take what they call
Sardar Patel's testimony, which is a letter that the
Sardar had written in reply to the above-mentioned
letter by Jawaharlal Nehru. One would like to know why
they have not cared to look at another letter, in the
same volume, which the Sardar had sent to Dr. SP
Mookherjee in reply to his entreaty on behalf of the
RSS and the Mahasabha. There is a very significant
passage in it which reads:
"As regards the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, the case
relating to Gandhiji's murder is sub judice and I
should not like to say anything about the
participation of the two organisations, but our
reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities
of these two bodies, particularly the former, an
atmosphere was created in the country in which such a
ghastly tragedy became possible. There is no doubt in
my mind that the extreme section of the Hindu
Mahasabha was involved in this conspiracy. The
activities of the RSS constituted a clear threat to
the existence of Government and the State. Our reports
show that those activities, despite the ban, have not
died down. Indeed, as time has marched on, the RSS
circles are becoming more defiant and are indulging in
their subversive activities in an increasing
measure."...
The tragic happenings in 1947 again brought them in
open, direct confrontation - perhaps more bitter than
the earlier one. The language of Golwalkar became
extraordinarily strident. He thought the Congress
tradition of Gandhi and Nehru was making Hindu society
'impotent' and 'imbecile'. To adequately communicate
the quality of Golwalkar's utterances of that period
one has to quote at length because otherwise the
reader is likely to doubt the very veracity of the
statement, so astounding is the quality of
pronouncements. Here is what he says about the policy
of communal unity:
"Thus, due to the utter lack of will and conviction on
the part of our leaders to face the Muslim
intransigence squarely from the standpoint of
undiluted nationalism, were sown the seeds of Muslim
appeasement. In their phantom chase of achieving new
unity and new nationality, our leaders raised the
slogan of 'Hindu-Muslim unity' and declared that
anything that stood in its way should be forgotten. As
they dared not tell the Muslim to forget his
separatism, they pitched upon the docile Hindu for all
their preachings. The first thing they preached was
that our nationality could not be called Hindu, that
even our land could not be called by its traditional
name Hindustan, as that would have offended the
Muslim. The name 'India' given by the British was
accepted. Taking that name, the 'new nation' was
called the 'Indian Nation'. And the Hindu was asked to
rename himself 'Indian'."
Thenceforward he comes to downright obscenity and
abuse:
"The exhortation of the leaders did not stop at that.
The Hindu was asked to ignore, even submit meekly to
the vandalism and atrocities of the Muslims. In
effect, he was told: Forget all that the Muslims have
done in the past and all that they are now doing to
you. If your worshipping in the temple, your taking
out gods in procession in the streets irritates the
Muslims, then don't do it. If they carry away your
wives and daughters, let them. Do not obstruct them.
That would be violence. To cite an instance, in those
days, a Hindu girl was abducted by a Muslim in NWFP
and the problem was posed before the Central Assembly
where our prominent leaders were present. A Muslim
Congress leader lightly brushed aside the incident
saying: 'After all boys are boys and girls and girls'.
At that insulting remark not one of the Hindu leaders
present there raised a voice of protest. None dared to
ask why, if it was just a case of boys and girls, it
always happened that the Muslim boys kidnapped only
Hindu girls and not Muslim girls? On the other hand,
they enjoyed it as a piece of humour!
"Whenever the Muslims slaughtered cows to insult Hindu
feelings, the Hindus were told that it was the
religious right of Muslims and that, being tolerant to
other religions, they should not object to it.
Although there is not a word of sanction in Quran for
cow-slaughter, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had given the
Muslims a written assurance that on the advent of
swaraj cow-slaughter would not be banned keeping in
view their 'religious sentiments'.
"Once a notable Hindu personality of those days, in a
largely attended public meeting, declared: 'There is
no swaraj without Hindu-Muslim unity and the simplest
way in which this unity can be achieved is for all
Hindus to become Muslims'! He did not even realise
that then it would not be Hindu-Muslim unity but only
Muslim unity as there would be no Hindus at all!"
http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2004/aug04/cover3.html
[Back to Top]
Gopal Godse: 'Nathuram did not leave the RSS' (Aug
2004, Communalism Combat)
One trait that seems common to rabid advocates of
Hindutva - be it the demolishers of the Babri Masjid
or the murderers of the Mahatma - is lack of remorse
at what they do in furthering their cause, despite the
sense of shock and anger their act sends across the
nation, and beyond. Gopal Godse, younger brother of
Nathuram Godse and one of those convicted in the
Gandhi murder case, comes across as one such
stereotype fundamentalist in this interview he gave
Arvind Rajagopal, Frontline, January 1994. Excerpts:
"Were you a part of the RSS?" All the brothers were in
the RSS. Nathuram, Dattatreya, myself and Govind. You
can say we grew up in the RSS rather than in our home.
It was like a family to us.
"Nathuram stayed in the RSS? He did not leave it?"
Nathuram had become a baudhik karyavah (intellectual
worker) in the RSS. He has said in his statement that
he left the RSS. He said it because Golwalkar and the
RSS were in a lot of trouble after the murder of
Gandhi. But he did not leave the RSS.
http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2004/aug04/cover6.html
[Back to Top]
Nailing the RSS - By D R Goyal (Oct 2004, HardNews)
Inside information by former RSS swayamsewak proves
that the organisation was directly complicit in
planning one of the most heinous assassinations in
human history...
Apart from denying his association with Nathuram, the
outfit has been using the time-tested technique of all
liars. Selective quotations from the correspondence of
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel are cited to suggest that the
then home minister did not believe that the RSS had
committed the crime. Patel's letter had been addressed
to Nehru in February 1948. But in a letter to RSS
founder, Dr Shyamaprasad Mookerjee, written in July
that year, when more facts were probably unearthed, he
squarely blamed the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha,
saying, " As.the case relating to Gandhiji's murder is
sub judice I would not like to say anything about the
participation of these two organisations, but our
reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities
of these two bodies, particularly by the former (ie,
RSS), an atmosphere was created in the country in
which such a ghastly tragedy became possible."
He went on to write, "The activities of the RSS
constituted a clear threat to the existence of the
Government and the state."
Neither this letter nor one from Patel to Madhav
Sadashiv Golwalkar himself, in which the ban on the
RSS was justified, is talked about. Golwalkar was told
that the speeches of the RSS men "were full of
communal poison. It was not necessary to spread poison
in order to enthuse the Hindus and organise for their
protection. As a final result of the poison, the
country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable
life of Gandhiji." In the same letter, Patel pointed
out that popular opposition to the RSS turned serious
"when the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets
after Gandhiji's death"...
Godse's strongest claim to innocence is based on the
court judgment, which had held only Godse guilty and
not any organisation. That was because the Indian
Penal Code then in force had no provision for
proceeding against organisations spreading hatred. The
lacuna was removed in 1972 through an amendment.
Therefore, a court judgement based on the old IPC
should not be treated as a valid alibi...
My experience is corroborated by the experience of
another disillusioned swayamsewak who had written a
letter to Sardar Patel after the assassination and
which has been referred to by Gandhiji's private
secretary Pyarelal in his book, Mahatma Gandhi: The
Last Phase, and quoted by Justice J L Kapoor, who
reviewed the case in 1966. In that letter, the
swayamsewak had asked "members of the RSS at some
places to tune in the radio sets on the fateful Friday
for the 'good news'."
Pyarelal has also mentioned an aborted attempt at
assassination by these people in Poona in order to
punish Gandhi for his campaign against untouchability.
He said, "Their plans this time were far more
systematic and thorough and included such refinements
as conditioning the mind of youth for their
prospective task by making them wear, as part of their
training, photos of Congress leaders like Pandit Nehru
and others, besides Gandhiji, inside their shoes, and
using the same for target practice with fire-arms
etc."
http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/oct2004/cstory2.php
[Back to Top]
Hey Ram! - By R K Anand (Aug 2004, Communalism Combat)
In his reply dated July 18, 1948 to a letter from
Mookherjee, Patel said:
"As regards the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, the case
relating to Gandhiji's murder is sub judice and I
should not like to say anything about the
participation of the two organisations, but our
reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities
of these two bodies, particularly the former, an
atmosphere was created in the country in which such a
ghastly tragedy became possible. There is no doubt in
my mind that the extreme section of the Hindu
Mahasabha was involved in this conspiracy. The
activities of the RSS constituted a clear threat to
the existence of Government and the State. Our reports
show that those activities, despite the ban, have not
died down. Indeed, as time has marched on, the RSS
circles are becoming more defiant and are indulging in
their subversive activities in an increasing
measure."...
Godse's mentor was Savarkar, even LK Advani admitted
that his mentor was Savarkar... Savarkar was
implicated for conspiracy in the case leading to the
assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Although he was
acquitted, the evidence which was brought to light in
the report of the Commission by Justice Kapoor
indicated that Savarkar was involved in the conspiracy
to murder Mahatma Gandhi...
All the above facts point only to one direction, that
there was no difference between the Hindu Mahasabha
and RSS. The Hindu Mahasabha had been in politics
whereas the RSS was not directly in politics at that
time. But the policies, ideologies of both were the
same...
Savarkar and Golwalkar shared a number of platforms.
Photographs are available showing both of them sharing
platforms in Pune in 1952.
All these aforesaid historical facts lead only to one
conclusion: that Nathuram Godse and Savarkar were a
part and parcel of the RSS; the Hindu Mahasabha and
the RSS were inter-linked in policies and ideologies
and they were involved in the assassination of Mahatma
Gandhi.
http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2004/aug04/cover.html
[Back to Top]
Muting history - By Amulya Ganguli (28 Apr 2003,
Hindustan Times)
One of Murli Manohar Joshi's kar sevaks in the
academic field has given a laboured explanation as to
why he failed to comment on Gandhi's assassination in
his piece on the Mahatma in one of the new saffron
textbooks.
Hari Om, a `Professor of History' and a member of the
Indian Council of Historical Research (no less!) has
said: "I committed a very serious mistake by not
reflecting on the murder of a world leader such as
Gandhi...
"At the same time, I would like to point out that this
omission was not deliberate. My major problem was the
time and space constraint. It was impossible for me to
include each and every development in the limited span
available to me as one of the authors of Contemporary
India. Another problem was the font size."
So, `time and space constraint' and `font size' (!)
can persuade a `professor' to, say, write about the
life of Jesus without mentioning crucifixion. Or, if
that is too alien an example for the saffron crowd,
write about the Ramayan without Sita's `return' to
Mother Earth. No `professor' worthy of the title will
do so unless he has an insidious objective in mind...
Clearly, Gandhi had no time for Savarkar's fascistic
pitribhu-punyabhu concept which said that only those
who are born in India and whose holy sites are in
India are true Indians. Instead, the Mahatma
articulated the modern ideal of statehood, as
enshrined in the Indian Constitution, in which no
distinctions are made between citizens on the basis of
caste or creed. How different the Mahatma's views are
from the Hindu Rashtra of Golwalkar, Savarkar and
Godse...
So Gandhi had to die. And the saffron `historians' of
today have to play dumb when it comes to explaining
why.
http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-ganguly28403.htm
[Back to Top]
Golwalkar and the Dalits / Caste System
Golden gloss on khaki knickers - By Ram Puniyani (15
Dec 2000, Milli Gazette)
As far as Ambedkar commenting that Swayamsevaks don't
believe in caste is just a small part of the story.
One has to see the Ambedkar and RSS relationship, I
mean the lack of it in totality. Ambedkar humiliated
by the Brahminical Hinduism vowed that he was born a
Hindu but he will not die a Hindu. He went on to burn
Manu Smiriti as a symbol of subjugation of Shudras and
women. Same time Mr. Golwalkar wrote in praise of Manu
as the first ever lawgiver of the human race whose
laws are valid eternally. The contrast between Dr.
Ambedkar and the present RSS supremo Mr. Sudarshan is
something totally revealing. Dr. Ambedkar burnt
Manusmriti and went in to be Chairman of the drafting
committee of Indian Constitution. Mr. Sudarshan states
that Indian constitution should be scrapped and be
replaced by the one based on Hindu Holy Scriptures.
And the Hindu Holy Scripture, which lays down the
laws, is of course Manusmiriti itself.
http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/15-12-2000/Art6htm
SEE ALSO:
Caste, Hindutva and Hideousness - By Ghanshyam Shah
http://www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2002&leaf=04&filename=4333&filetype=html
Caste system ensured job quota for every caste: RSS
chief
http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=351330
[Back to Top]
What Is This Hindu Rashtra? - By Sitaram Yechuri (12
Aug 2003, Countercurrents)
Golwalkar acclaims Manu as the "first and greatest
lawgiver of the world" who "lays down in his code,
directing all the peoples of the world to go to
Hindusthan to learn their duties at the holy feet of
'eldest born' Brahmins of this land." (Golwalkar,
1939, pp.55-56). Now what does the Manusmriti say?
Having firmly established the hereditary division of
society into the caste system, the Manusmriti says:
"Serving Brahmins alone is recommended as the best
innate activity of a Shudra; for whatever he does
other than this bears no fruit for him" (123, Chapter
X). "They should give him (Shudra) the leftovers of
their food, their old clothes, the spoiled parts of
their grain, and their wom-out household utensils"
(125, Chapter X)...
The Manusmriti then proceeds to define the outcasts
and untouchables who have no place in society at all
and defines their menial activities. The intolerant
caste structure finds echo in Golwalkar and the
Saffron Brigade today because the Manusmriti is also
based on an exclusively 'Aryan' social organisation...
It is not as though such love for the Manusmriti was
confined only to this book by Golwalkar. Much later in
his Bunch of Thoughts he said:
"Brahmin is the head, King the hands, Vaishya the
thighs and Shudra the feet. This means that the people
who have thus, four-fold arrangement, i.e., the Hindu
people,is our God". (Golwalkar,1966, p. 25 ).
It is this understanding that prompted the RSS to
oppose the amendments to the Hindu Code Bill after
Independence, and it is this understanding that today
propels the Saffron Brigade affiliates to reassert the
Manusmriti. Witness the aggression at the `Dharam
Sansad' held in December 1992 and the castigating of
the present Indian Constitution as "non-Hindu"...
The vision of a social order under the Hindu Rashtra
is thus one which legitimizes both the inhuman caste
oppression and the denial of elementary rights to
women. Under such a dispensation, criminal practices
such as Sati may not only be legitimised but may well
be glorified. This vision outlined by Golwalkar
continues to form the basis for the Saffron Brigade to
establish its vision of a Hindu Rashtra. If it today
claims not to have republished this book in the 1950s,
it has little to do with repudiating this vision. If
this was so at all, then it was due more to the defeat
of fascism in the Second World War and the liberation
of millions from its oppressive yoke. With the
Golwalkar-formulated ideal having been smashed, the
Saffron Brigade could not propagate it in India.
Domestically, following the assassination of Gandhiji,
its offensive remarks about the Congress could not
have been much of a comfort.
http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-yechuri120803.htm
[Back to Top]
Excerpts from Golwalkar's 'Bunch of Thoughts'
On Caste System
...Castes, there were in those ancient times too,
continuing for thousands of years of our glorious
national life. There is nowhere any instance of its
having hampered the progress or disrupted the unity of
society. It, in fact, served as a great bond of social
cohesion... If the caste system had really been the
root cause of our weakness, then our people should
have succumbed to foreign invasion far more easily
than those people who had no castes... We know as a
matter of history that our northwestern and
northeastern areas, where the influence of Buddhism
had disrupted the caste system, fell an easy prey to
the onslaughts of Muslims. Gandhar, now called
Kandahar, became completely Muslimised. Conversion
took a heavy toll in East Bengal also. But the areas
of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, which were considered to
be very orthodox and rigid in caste restrictions,
remained predominantly Hindu even after remaining as
the citadels of Muslim power and fanaticism for a
number of centuries. We know that even as late as
Shivaji's time, the so-called 'low-caste' also played
an epic role in the resurrection of swaraj. Thus
history bears eloquent witness to both sides of the
picture. On the one hand, the so-called 'caste-ridden'
Hindu Society has remained undying and unconquerable
and still has the vitality to produce a Ramakrishana,
a Vivekanada, a Tilak and a Gandhi after facing for
over two thousand years the depredations of Greeks,
Shakas, Hunas, Muslims and even Europeans, by one
shock of which, on the other hand, the so-called
casteless societies crumbled to dust never to rise
again.
[Back to Top]
On Indian Muslims and Christians
But the question before us now is, what is the
attitude of those people who have been converted to
Islam or Christianity? They are born in this land, no
doubt. But are they true to their salt? Are they
grateful to this land which has brought them up? Do
they feel that they are the children of this land and
its tradition, and that to serve it is their great
good fortune? Do they feel it a duty to serve her? No!
Together with the change in their faith, gone is the
spirit of love and devotion for the nation.
Nor does it end there. They have also developed a
feeling of identification with the enemies of this
land. They call themselves 'Sheikhs' and 'Syeds'.
Sheikhs and Syeds are certain clans in Arabia. How
then did these people come to feel that they are their
descendants? That is because they have cut off their
ancestral national moorings of this land and mentally
merged themselves with the aggressors. They still
think that they have come here only to conquer and
establish their kingdoms. So we see that it is not
merely a case of change of faith, but a change even in
national identity. What else is it, if not treason, to
join the camp of the enemy leaving their mother-nation
in the lurch?...
Mere common residence in a particular territory cannot
forge an unified national society with common
character and qualities. The newcomers should bring
about a total metamorphosis in their life-attitudes
and take a rebirth, as it were, in that ancient
national lineage...
Mere common residence or birth and growth in our land
cannot imply that the same loyalties, qualities and
pattern of life exist amongst all its residents.
[ Back to Top]
On Religious unity
...call and request to them to understand things
properly and come back and identify themselves with
their ancestral Hindu way of life in dress, customs,
performing marriage ceremonies and funeral rites and
such other things. There are some people who claim
that they have achieved unity of Hindus, Muslims,
Christians and all others on the political and
economic plane. But why limit the oneness only there?
Why not make it more wide and more comprehensive so as
to fuse them all in the Hindu way of life, in our
dharma and take them back as lost brothers? To those
who speak of unity on the political and economic
plane, we say that we stand not only for political and
economic unity but also for cultural and religious
unity.
[Back to Top]
On Judaism and Christianity
The first Semitic religion was Judaism-an intolerant
faith. It was this intolerance that nailed Christ on
the Cross. Then came Christianity, the child of the
former. That too was equally intolerant. Doubtless
Christ was a great saint. But later, what went on in
the name of Christ had nothing to do with him. It was
no Christianity but only 'Churchianity'. The saying
"There was but one true Christian and he died on the
Cross" is true to the letter. The Christians committed
all sorts of atrocities on the Jews by giving them the
label 'Killers of Christ'. Hitler is not an exception
but a culmination of the 2000-year long oppression of
the Jews by the Christians.
[Back to Top]
'Conversion Subverts Loyalty'
Conversion of Hindus into other religions is nothing
but making them succumb to divided loyalty in place of
having undivided and absolute loyalty to the nation.
It is dangerous to the security of the nation and the
country. It is therefore necessary to put a stop to
it. Conversion of an individual does not take place
after a serious and comparative study of philosophies
by him. It is by exploitation of poverty, illiteracy
and ignorance, offering of inducements and by
deceptive tactics that people are converted. There is
no question of a true change of heart involved in
this. It is but right that this unjust activity is
prohibited. It is a duty we have to discharge towards
protecting our brethren in ignorance and poverty.
[Back to Top]
On Indian Christians
So far as the Christians are concerned, to a
superficial observer they appear not only quite
harmless but as the very embodiment of compassion and
love for humanity! Their speeches abound in words like
'service' and 'human salvation' as though they are
specially deputed by the Almighty to uplift humanity!
They run schools and colleges, hospitals and
orphanages. The people of our country, simple and
innocent as they are, are taken in by all these
things. But what is the real and ulterior motive of
Christians in pouring crores of rupees in all these
activities?...
Such is the role of Christian gentlemen residing in
our land today, out to demolish not only the religious
and social fabric of our life but also to establish
political domination in various pockets and if
possible all over the land. Such has been, in fact,
their role wherever they have stepped-all under the
alluring grab of bringing peace and brotherhood to
mankind under the angelic wings of Jesus Christ...
[Back to Top]
Golwalkar and the 'Hindu Rashtra'
Imagining India as Hindu rashtra - By Jyotirmaya
Sharma
...The greatest impediment in the way of "a true
vision of the nation," as Golwalkar chose to put it,
was the liberal idea that various communities - and
here he means Hindus, Muslims, Christians - were to be
considered as parts of a single nation. On the
contrary, Indian national life was the ideal of Hindu
rashtra. Here, the foremost Sangh ideologue speaks of
the Hindu rashtra as an inalienable, eternal,
unbroken, and unified identity. He calls it the
reality of India, whether people accept it explicitly
or not.
To argue otherwise was to lose sight of a clear
conception of the nation. What about other communities
living within India? Golwalkar is forthright in his
exposition: "An unclear imagination of the nation -
the impractical idea that whoever comes here and stays
will be considered a part of the nation; even today if
any alien comes and stays, he is deemed as part of the
nation - it is to this level that there is lack of
clarity of thought." While he is acutely aware of this
stance being branded racial, communal, and narrow, he
exhorts his audience not to be ashamed of the claims
of the Hindus...
Golwalkar addressed his last ideological session of
the RSS, called chintan baithak in RSS parlance, in
Thane from October 28, 1972 to November 3, 1972. The
very first words that Golwalkar uttered were: "This is
our Hindu rashtra." He declared the goal of the Sangh
as the re-establishment of the glory, excellence and
universal authority of the Hindu rashtra. There was a
certain definitiveness, even stridency, in his tone.
Those who did not believe in the truth of the Hindu
rashtra were un-Hindu...
In 1972, this tendency in Golwalkar matures into
questioning the very existence of India's democratic
model. In its place, he argued for a Platonistic
framework of wise men leading society and determining
its affairs. The illiterate of India were incapable of
handling democracy, he argued...
The RSS of today, along with members of the Sangh
Parivar, will do well to spend the Golwalkar centenary
year in dispassionately evaluating his thought and
legacy. More importantly, they will have to either own
up the ideological vision of Golwalkar, or tell the
ordinary people of India of their points of
disagreement and departure with their ideological
mentor.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/24/stories/2006022402011000.htm
[Back to Top]
'This is Hindu Rashtra' (20 Feb 2000, The Hindu)
THE RSS' stand on several issues is articulated by Mr.
Seshadri Chari, Editor of the Sangh's mouthpiece, The
Organiser,in answering some questions:
Does the RSS agree or disagree with the thesis
propounded by Savarkar and re-emphasised by Golwalkar
that only those who are born here and consider India
to be their `janmabhoomi' and `pitrubhoomi'
(fatherland) as well as their `punyabhoomi' (holy
land) constitute the Indian nation?
Savarkar's thought as explained in his own works like
``Hindutva'' cannot be said to have been elaborately
analysed by the RSS. In the course of his speeches and
writings, Shri Guruji (M. S. Golwalkar) is likely to
have found it generally in agreement with his own
concept of a Hindu nation. The RSS believes in
cultural nationalism. A person who accepts this land
as his country and owes unquestioned and primary
loyalty to it, owns the basic features of her heritage
and culture, imbibes and manifests them in life can be
said to be a Hindu national, irrespective of the faith
he follows for his spiritual salvation. Many, not born
here, have acclaimed this country as their
`punyabhoomi'.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2000/02/20/stories/0520134b.htm
[Back to Top]
Challenging the pluralist ideal - Editorial (29 Nov
2002, The Hindu)
The Sangh Parivar's agenda is not just turning India
into a theocratic state ultimately. The RSS worldview
is based on the definition of nationalism as a
cultural notion and at the core of this is the idea of
majoritarianism. While the idea of Hindu Rashtra
belonged to K.B. Hedgewar, it was M.S. Golwalkar who
achieved this paradigm shift in his "We and Our
Nationhood Defined" where the Sangh's goals were
defined. The majoritarian agenda, indeed, is wider in
its scope than the setting up of a theocratic state.
Majoritarianism is the opposite of pluralism. True,
Mr. Advani and his colleagues in the BJP have sought
to distance themselves within and outside Parliament
from Golwalkar's scheme of nationalism and definition
of nationhood. But then majoritarianism has been the
most important mobilisation strategy for the BJP ever
since its inception in 1980 (and earlier for the
Bharatiya Jana Sangh). The Ayodhya campaign, for
instance, was the most pronounced manifestation of the
majoritarian agenda at work. The idea of putting the
"faith" of the majority community above that of the
minorities and the mobilisation that finally led to
the demolition of the Babri Masjid are clear
illustrations of the majoritarian agenda. Mr. Advani
himself and his colleagues in the BJP are firmly
wedded to this agenda and the assurance on the floor
of the Rajya Sabha against any attempt to turn India
into a theocratic state is for this reason no cause
for rejoicing.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/11/29/stories/2002112901211000.htm
SEE ALSO:
The BJP: A crisis of identity - By A G Noorani
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2225/stories/20051216001507600.htm
[Back to Top]
Defining the Nation in the Era of Globalisation - By
Prabir Purkayastha (12 Oct 2003, Sabrang Alternative
News Network)
...The Hindutva view which posits itself as an
"opponent" of the west has absorbed the entire format
of the west in its construction of a mythical Hindu
past. Denying its Dravidian antecedents, Mohanjo Daro
and Harappa are Aryanised. The inequity of the caste
system, the clashes with Buddhism, the conflicts
within Hinduism - Saivites versus Vaishnavites - are
all airbrushed out. All intolerance is attributed to
Islam while Hinduism - in this view -- remains
innately tolerant...
The RSS concept of a homogeneous nation is not an
original one. It was borrowed, lock stock and Khaki
knickers from Europe... That the RSS nationalism is a
derivative of this exclusionary ethnic European
nationalism is clear in the way Golwalkar defines the
nation... Both Golwalkar and Savarkar, the other
ideologue of Hindutva, were looking at how to build a
"modern" nation using religion as an important
element. This involved -- as a natural corollary to
this trajectory of nationalism -- the glorification of
a Hindu past...
Golwalkar traces his lineage from this definition of
narrow European nationalism. His nationhood is defined
in terms of five "unities": geography, race, religion,
culture and language. Plurality has no place in such a
nation. This is the vision that was the basis of the
RSS slogan of "Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan."
Golwalkar tried to remove the problem of language by
claiming Sanskrit as the mother language and therefore
declaring that all Indian languages are either derived
from Sanskrit or they are not Indian. Urdu, even
though it is totally indigenous to the country, became
in the eyes of the RSS, foreign and Dravidian
languages had to be claimed as derived from Sanskrit.
The language riots of the 60's forced the RSS to give
up, at least publicly, that Hindi should be the only
national language; the fascination for Sanskrit still
remains. The Hindu-Hindustan plank obviously still
remains intact...
Once the nation is defined in these narrow terms, the
crucial question is what to do with the excluded
minorities. Golwalkar's solution was simple: either
accept his homogenous framework of the nation (Murli
Joshi's Ahemediya Hindus, Christiya Hindus) or remain
outside, forever subordinated and at the peril of
their extinction.
http://www.sabrang.com/news/12oct03.htm
[Back to Top]
Hindutva, not Hinduism - By A G Noorani (March 13 -
26, 2004, Frontline)
Although Advani tries to increase the level of his
acceptability as a national leader by defining
Hindutva as a way of life, the difference between
Hinduism and Hindutva has been well defined long ago
by the propounder of the ideology...
Savarkar endorsed the publisher's understanding in the
section entitled "Hindutva is different from
Hinduism". He wrote: "Here it is enough to point out
that Hindutva is not identical with what is vaguely
indicated by the term Hinduism. By an "ism" it is
generally meant a theory or a code more or less based
on spiritual or religious dogma or system. But when we
attempt to investigate into the essential significance
of Hindutva we do not primarily - and certainly not
mainly - concern ourselves with any particular
theocratic or religious dogma or creed. Had not
linguistic usage stood in our way then `Hinduness'
would have certainly been a better word than Hinduism
as a near parallel to Hindutva." ... An unbroken
ideological thread binds Savarkar, Golwalkar and the
BJP.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2106/stories/20040326005112200.htm
[Back to Top]
Excerpts from Golwalkar's 'We or Our Nationhood
Defined'
On Minorities
"The foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the
Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and
hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no
idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race
and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must loose
their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race,
or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the
Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no
privileges, far less any preferential treatment - not
even citizen's rights. There is, at least, should be,
no other course for them to adopt. We are an old
nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do
deal, with the foreign races, who have chosen to live
in our country"...
'Ever since that evil day, when Moslems first landed
in Hindusthan, right up to the present moment, the
Hindu Nation has been gallantly fighting on to shake
off the despoilers. . . . The Race Spirit has been
awakening.'
SEE ALSO:
The Hate-Minorities Message of the 'RSS Bible'
http://www.sabrang.com/gujarat/rssbible.htm
[Back to Top]
On Secular Nationalism
The idea was spread that for the first time the people
were going to live a National life, the Nation in the
land naturally was composed of all those who happened
to reside therein and that all these people were to
unite on a common 'National' platform and win back
'freedom' by 'Constitutional means'. Wrong notions of
democracy strengthened the view and we began to class
ourselves with our old invaders and foes under the
outlandish name - Indian - and tried to win them over
to join hands with us in our struggle. The result of
this poison is too well known. We have allowed
ourselves to be duped into believing our foes to be
our friends and with our hands are undermining true
Nationality.
[Back to Top]
On 'non-Hindus'
All those not belonging to the national, i.e. Hindu
race, Religion, Culture and Language, naturally fall
out of the pale of real 'National' life. We repeat: in
Hindusthan, the land of the Hindus, lives and should
live the Hindu Nation - satisfying all the five
essential requirements of the scientific nation
concept of the modern world. Consequently only those
movements are truly 'National' as aim at re-building,
revitalizing and emancipating from its present stupor,
the Hindu Nation. Those only are nationalist patriots,
who, with the aspiration to glorify the Hindu race and
Nation next to their heart, are prompted into activity
and strive to achieve that goal. All others are either
traitors and enemies to the National cause, or, to
take a charitable view, idiots.
[Back to Top]
On Jewish Holocaust
To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture,
Germany shocked the world by her (sic) purging the
country of the Semitic Races - the Jews. Race pride at
its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also
shown how well nigh impossible it is for Races and
cultures, having differences going to the root, to be
assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for
us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by.
[Back to Top]
'Hindus differ by birth'
Some wise men of today tell us that no man is born as
Hindu or Muslim or Christian but as a simple human
being. This may be true about others. But for a Hindu,
he gets the first samskar when he is still in the
mother's womb, and the last when his body is consigned
to the flames. There are sixteen samaskars for the
Hindu which make him what he is. In fact, we are
Hindus even before we emerge from the womb of our
mother. We are therefore born as Hindus. About the
others, they are born to this world as simple unnamed
human beings and later on, either circumcised or
baptized, they become Muslims or Christians.
[Back to Top]
On Gandhiji
But here, we had leaders who were, as if, pledged to
sap all manliness from their own people. However, this
is not a mere accident of history. This leadership
only came as a bitter climax of the despicable tribe
of so many of our ancestors who during the past twelve
hundred years sold their national honour and freedom
to foreigners, and joined hands with the inveterate
enemies of our country [read Muslims] and our religion
in cutting the throats of their own kith and kin to
gratify their personal egoism, selfishness and
rivalry. No wonder nemesis overtook such a people in
the form of such a self-destructive leadership.
[Back to Top]
On Nationalism
They forgot that here was already a full-fledged
ancient nation of the Hindus and the various
communities which were living in the country were here
either as guests, the Jews and Parsis, or as invaders,
the Muslims and Christians. They never faced the
question how all such heterogeneous groups could be
called as children of the soil merely because, by an
accident, they happened to reside in a common
territory under the rule of a common enemy...
Most of the tragedies and evils that have overtaken
our country during the last few decades and are even
today corroding our national life are its direct
outcome . . . In their phantom chase of achieving new
unity and new nationality, our leaders raised the
slogan of 'Hindu-Muslim unity'. . . The first thing
they preached was that our nationality could not be
called Hindu, that even our land could not be called
by its traditional name Hindusthan, as that would have
offended the Muslim. The name 'India' given by the
British was accepted. Taking that name, the 'new
nation' was called the 'Indian Nation'. And the Hindu
was asked to rename himself as 'Indian'.
[Back to Top]
Whitewashing Golwalkar - Centenary Celebrations
BJP-RSS set to attend birth centenary celebrations of
Guru Golwalkar (24 Feb 2006, WebIndia123.com)
Former Prime Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
leader Atal Behari Vajpayee will attend the birth
centenary celebrations of Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh's second Chief Guru M S Golwalkar here today.
On the first day of the three-day celebrations, the
inaugural session of Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha
(All India General Council of RSS), the highest policy
making body of the Sangh fountainhead, will be
attended by Vajpayee along with Rajasthan Chief
Minister Vasundhara Raje and Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi and with top members of saffron party,
party sources said.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=259848&n_date=20060224&cat=India
SEE ALSO:
Sangh Parivar to embark on rath yatra
http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/feb/15rath.htm
All set for Golwalkar birth centenary function
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=15095
Birth centenary celebrations of Guru Golwalkar in
Nagpur
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=277729&sid=NAT
Golwalkar's birth centenary celebrations to begin
tomorrow
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=259163&cat=India
[Back to Top]
RSS to explain its stand on Gandhi killing in
docu-drama (13 Feb 2006, Outlook)
...In an apparent bid to improve its image, the Sangh
fountainhead has also not included a controversial
book penned by its second Chief Guru M S Golwalkar in
the collected works being brought out on the occasion
of his centenary celebrations...
Asked why the RSS was not including Golwalkar's
controversial book 'We-Our Nationahood Defined' in the
collected works being brought about by it, he said,
"it was written under certain circumstances. He
himself had disowned it in 1946".
The book had hailed Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and made
disparaging remarks against the minorities.
"It was not an RSS publication. We will be including
Golwalkar's speeches and writings as RSS Chief", he
said.
http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=355044
SEE ALSO:
RSS to produce film on leader Sadashiv Golwalkar
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=8245
RSS documentary seeks to clear 'wrong' notions against
Sangh
http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/feb/11rss.htm
[Back to Top]
Recommended Reading
We or Our Nationhood Defined By Madhav Sadashiv
Golwalkar
The RSS and the BJP: A Division of Labour (Signpost :
issues that matter) By A G Noorani
The Sangh Parivar : A Reader (Critical Issues in
Indian Politics) By Christophe Jaffrelot
The Hindu Nationalist Movement By Christophe Jaffrelot
Khaki Shorts and Saffron Flags : A Critique of the
Hindu Right By Tapan Basu
Hindutva: Treason and Terrorism By I K Shukla
Savarkar and Hindutva By A G Noorani
Politics After Television: Hindu Nationalism and the
Reshaping of the Public in India By Arvind Rajagopal
Religion, Power & Violence: _Expression of Politics in
Contemporary Times By Ram Puniyani
RSS's Tryst with politics By Pralay Kanungo
Hindu Nationalists of Modern India: A Crtical Study of
the Intellectual Genealogy of Hindutva By J.
Kruvachira
Making India Hindu: Religion, Community, and the
Politics of Democracy in India By David Ludden
The Shaping of Modern Gujarat: Plurality, Hindutva and
Beyond By Achyut Yagnik, Suchitra Sheth
The emerging Hindutva force: The ascent of Hindu
nationalism By Prakash Louis
The Wrongs of the Religious Right: Reflections on
Science, Secularism and Hindutva By Meera Nanda
Hindutva Politics in India: Genesis, Political
Strategies and Growth of Bharatiya Janata Party By
Geeta Puri
Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics: The Emergence
of Hindu Nationalism in India By John Zavos
Hindutva: A Challenge to Multi-cultural Democracy By
Chandra Prakash Bhambhri
Hindutva: An Autopsy of fascism as a theoterrorist
cult By I K Shukla
Hindutva: Treason and Terrorism By I K Shukla
Haqueequat - An analytical study of the book, A Bunch
of Thoughts written by M.S. Golwalkar By M G Mathew
Muslim Samasya Par Vichar By Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar
Life of Our Times By Rajeshwar Dayal
[Back to Top]
Web Links
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
http://www.rss.org/New_RSS/History/About_Guruji.jsp
'Bunch of Thoughts' by M.S. Golwalkar
http://www.hindubooks.org/bot/
Communalism Combat
http://www.sabrang.com/
Communalism Watch - Blog
http://communalism.blogspot.com/
Golwalkar - Blog
http://golwalkar.blogspot.com/
IndianMuslims.info
http://www.indianmuslims.info/
Indian Muslim Council - USA
http://www.imc-usa.org/
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