Why we must read an insider's view of RSS, now more than ever

Ratan Sharda, a well known face on national TV, often appears on behalf of the (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) RSS and (Bharatiya Janata Party) BJP on popular talk shows and live debates. Few know that he is the author of a book, Secrets of RSS: the Sangh. First published in 2011, it went into a second edition in 2014. Now, I am informed that the book is all set to re-appear in a third edition, with a different title, RSS 360 Degrees: An Insider’s View from the Outside.

Misgivings

Why is Sharda’s book important? For one, the RSS remains India’s most misunderstood, if not maligned, organisation. At the same time, after Narendra Modi’s ascension to the prime ministership, it is probably our most powerful and influential NGO. Not only was the PM himself an RSS pracharak or activist, but several key members of the Cabinet and government, too, have RSS backgrounds. Given the present scenario, it is all the more necessary to understand the RSS, even remove the many misgivings that persist in the minds of ordinary Indians about it.

First of all, we must recognise that going by its membership alone, which runs into millions, the RSS is possibly the world’s largest cultural association.What is more, it has seeded and fronted more than 140 associated bodies, which it continues to guide, if not control. This makes it a formidable, even unmatched, force in current Indian civil society. Almost a state within a state, the RSS influences almost every aspect of Indian life, either directly or indirectly. No wonder its critics, detractors and enemies are alarmed and annoyed.

But what makes RSS really effective is its cadre of hundreds of thousands of dedicated volunteers called svayamsevaks or self-helpers. It is these volunteers, as Sharda explains, who form its core strength. Indeed, one of the best features of Sharda’s book is the dozens of stories of individual svayamsevaks’ simplicity, discipline and devotion to the national cause.

It is such tales of daily valour and sacrifice that I most enjoyed in the book. For whatever else it might be, the RSS is steadfast in its commitment to the Indian nation, to what Sri Aurobindo called “Bharat Shakti” in Foundations of Indian Culture. It would also be fair to say that RSS has unwaveringly stood for Hindu and Indian national unity.

Naturally, it attracts many disparagers and naysayers. Just when I was reading Sharda’s book, there appeared a far too lengthy and patently prejudiced attack on “Guruji” MS Golwarkar, the second Sarsanghchalak of the RSS. 

Bal carries on and on in a long-winded tirade against Golwarkar, scarcely adding anything to our current knowledge or understanding of Guruji or the RSS. Sharda’s book is a welcome and salutary corrective to such misconstructions, though one suspects that nothing will convince the detractors because they do not have open minds in the first place.

Misconceptions

Sharda effectively counters other misconceptions such as the repeated canard that RSS did not participate in the freedom struggle. The founder of the RSS, Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgawar, himself a Congressman, was jailed twice by the British, in 1920 and 1930, the latter term of rigorous imprisonment lasting almost a year.

During the Quit India movement, several thousand RSS workers offered individual satyagraha against British rule even though the Sangh did not, for strategic reasons, officially participate. In response to Mahatma Gandhi’s call, “Do or die”, Guruji reportedly responded, the “part about ‘dying’ is clear in the slogan ‘Do or Die’. But what is to be ‘Done’? Has Congress working committee given any directions about it?”

Following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the RSS was banned in 1948. Some 70,000 svayamsevaks courted arrest in the democratically elected government of independent India under Jawaharlal Nehru before the ban was lifted on July 12, 1949. Sharda’s book has an appendix containing the relevant excerpts from Golwalkar’s biography by Ranga Harion on the goings on behind the scenes that resulted in the lifting of the ban.

Emergency

Sharda’s book begins in medias res so to speak, during the 1975 Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi. Again, thousands of RSS workers went to jail fighting for our civil rights and liberties during this process. This alone should put to rest accusations that the RSS is fascist or anti-democratic. Itself being thrice the victim of state intolerance, the RSS is against any curtailing of civil liberties or democratic freedoms.

Neither an academic study such as Pralay Kanungo’s RSS’s Tryst with Politics: From Hedgewar to Sudarshan (2002) nor a learned “hatchet job” such as Christophe Jaffrelot’s The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics (1996), it is not even like Sanjeev Kelkar’s critique from within, RSS: The Lost Years (2012). Instead, Sharda’s account is unpretentious, even anecdotal, which is what adds to its readability and authenticity.

Though a staunch supporter, Sharda is also critical of some aspects of RSS, which shows his independence of opinion. The book has many pages of prefatory remarks and commendations from a variety of figures, which might be shortened or even done away with; after all, what the author has to say must stand on its own. Similarly, the appendices, though quite informative and useful, occupy quite a lot of space. In conclusion, a sincere attempt to explain, clarify, and correct several misunderstandings, Sharda’s book is a welcome addition to the gradually growing literature on the RSS.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)

Editor's note: This piece was modified upon being published.

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