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  Demystifying Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

  RSS 360°

  Demystifying Rashtriya

  Swayamsevak Sangh

  Ratan Sharda

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  First published in India 2018

  This edition published 2018

  Copyright © Ratan Sharda, 2018

  Illustrations © Ratan Sharda, 2018

  Ratan Sharda has asserted his right under the Indian Copyright Act to be

  identified as Author of this work

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  ISBN: TPB: 978-9-3869-5038-3; eBook: 978-9-3869-5040-6

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  In Praise of the Book

  One of the best features of Sharda’s book is the dozens of stories of individual swayamsevaks’ 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. 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.

  Makarand R Paranjpe

  (Indian poet and a professor at the

  Jawaharlal Nehru University, India)

  Despite having known RSS for many years now, I still feel that I don’t know many of the social services work that RSS does. Your book is like a manual for anyone and everyone who is interested to know about the Sangh, and much more. At a time like this when the curiosity of youth towards RSS has increased many folds, it is critically important to have a book that serves like mini-encyclopedia of the Sangh, and you have done a good job in giving a neutral point of view.

  Dr. Subhash Chandra

  (M.P., Head of Essel Group)

  The simplicity of the RSS has yet to be revealed to the curious reader; this values based organisation finally finds expression in this 360 degree perspective by an author who is probably one of the best commentators on the 92 year old sangh.”

  Advaita Kala

  (Writer)

  ‘Shri Ratan Sharda’s book is an important study on RSS, because it is written with rigor, balance and clarity. For readers like me who are not in the RSS, it provides details that many people do not know. A real eye-opener that I very much benefited from’.

  Rajiv Malhotra

  (Dharma scholar, Founder Infinity Foundation,

  Writer, Public intellectual)

  ‘Generally, there is a set format while writing about any organisation. Such a book follows a pattern, like when was the organisation founded, who was the founder, what is its philosophy, highs and lows of its working, success or failure of the organisation to achieve its objective etc. Ratan Sharda has not followed this beaten path. One has to be careful not to seek permission of the organisation about which one wishes to write. Such a writing then becomes propagandist. Ratan Sharda’s book has successfully avoided this trap. Instead of depending on lectures of RSS Chiefs or writings of well-known intellectuals of RSS, he has tried to present Sangh’s philosophy in a different manner. He has quoted Western intellectuals of Indology extensively. He talks of need for organisation for Hindus with different global reference points that give his arguments more weight’.

  Ramesh Patange

  (Writer, Thinker, Social activist, ex-editor Vivek weekly)

  ‘Balasaheb (Thackarey) used to feel that they should also have a dedicated cadre like Sangh. He too established ‘shakhas’ of Shiv Sena

  for this purpose. You can create shakhas, but you cannot create intellectual programmes for them. The strength of Sangh lay in its intellectual training, it lay in training of its cadre in human relations and management. Like Sena, socialists too couldn’t grasp this. They also had shakhas but they just disappeared and the volunteers they had were left totally confused. If one wishes to understand what is taught in these intellectual training workshops, one must read this book’.

  Vinay Amle

  (Critic, Loksatta Leading Marathi Newspaper)

  Peculiarity of the book lies in the fact that the analytical mind of the author first highlights the views of the critics of RSS and then in the immediately following paragraphs presents the RSS point of views. The contrast thus highlighted leaves deep impression on the reader of the book.

  I am tempted to quote below, some of the most memorable statements I came across in first edition ‘Secrets of RSS’ -

  India can be secular as per Indian ethos but not irreligious or non-spiritual. (Page 48)

  According supremacy of organization and the mission conquering personal ego for higher objective, promoting talent irrespective of personal likes and dislikes has led to a robust organization and a team of workers difficult to find in any other social organization. (Page 125)

  Deendayal Upadhyay proposed that every nation must have an economic and political system which is close to its ‘chiti’ (inherent intellectual state or nature) only then will that model succeed. You cannot impose a system which is alien to its ‘chiti’. We can understand now, why the half-baked socialist system failed in India and why Communism has not been able to grow beyond 2-3 states. It also explains why unbridled Capitalism will not succeed in India. (Page 164)

  Dr. Ashok Modak

  (International affairs specialist, National Research Scholar)

  There are three reasons why RSS evokes strong reactions. First, we are a power-centered society addicted to mai-bap culture. Despite democratic trappings, the bulk of the people tend to accept government as the only legitimate organization, and have a vague notion that all other associations are mere subsidiary organizations dependent on government support or patronage. Despite the freedom of associations guaranteed under Article 19(1)(c), the colonial notion that civil associations exist at government’s behest continues to dominate our psyche in democratic India. RSS being self-reliant, large, and influential makes it suspect in the eyes of those who believe in state control. Second, entrenched political parties do not want a potentially rival power-centre, or strong civil association that can challenge their political supremacy or defy their will. Equal
ly significantly, other civil associations exhibit envy at the phenomenal spread, growth and influence of one organization. Third, many citizens have genuine fears and concerns that the RSS approach to nation-building does not adequately recognize the contributions of many streams of thought, cultures, ethnic groups and civilizations to what now constitutes the wonder that is India. Detractors of RSS motivated by the first two reasons can, and should be dismissed as irrelevant. But the third group of critics cannot be ignored, and should be creatively engaged by RSS, if its quest for nation-building is to bear fruit.

  This book by Shri Ratan Sharda is an earnest attempt of an insider to demystify the Sangh, and engage the outsiders.

  Dr Jayaprakash Narayan

  (Founder of Loksatta Andolan, Foundation of Democratic Reforms, ex-Member of NAC of Prime Minister, Second Administrative Reforms Commission and Vigilance Advisory Committee of CVC)

  ‘Reading ‘RSS 360°’ turned me sentimental as I remembered my father who was in Jammu & Kashmir during 1948 army operations as a soldier. He had told me about sacrifice and dedication of young RSS volunteers during 1948 attack in helping the army stop enemy advancing near Shrinagar. In fact, when his company was encircled by the tribal army, RSS volunteers acted as the only line providing food and communication links at great risk to their own lives. In fact, scores of RSS volunteers perished in defense of India. I attribute my own rise in life from a very humble back ground to reach the top of the corporate ladder and my subsequent renunciation of material comfort for grassroots level activism through Loksatta also to the RSS, being an RSS karyakarta in my formative years.

  Surendra Shrivastava

  (Ex- President Great Eastern Shipping Company,

  Senior leader of Loksatta Andolan)

  After completing the reading I felt that fundamental appreciation as to why the RSS has expanded in various spheres of social activity should have been included. Till 1947 the goal of the RSS was to achieve independence of our country. I had taken my pledge in 1941, in which the meaning of the words in the pledge was "I had become a constituent of the Sangh to make Hindu Rashtra independent." This was changed after 1950. From 1950 onwards for few years there was commotion in the RSS as to what form the RSS should take. Many senior workers and office-bearers felt that it was of no use to do 'Daksha-Aram', i.e. daily Shakha. Some of them wanted RSS to transform itself into a political party. Others thought that the RSS should engage itself in social service projects. Shri Guruji was not opposed to these ventures. But he was firm that the Shakha is the most important activity, and that it cannot be given a secondary status. This was explained, in a week-long congregation of all Zilla-Pracaraks in 1954 in Sindi near Wardha. This was repeated in 1960 at Indore before a larger gathering. This was again repeated in Thane in 1972.

  M G Vaidya

  (First RSS spokesperson, Senior ideologue,

  worked with all the RSS Chiefs since 1941)

  Foreword

  When Ratan Sharda requested me to write a Foreword for the third edition of his book, Secrets of RSS – Demystifying the Sangh (now being reprinted with some revisions and updates as RSS 360° – Demystifying Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) my first reaction was, ‘Oh my God, this will get me branded and damned as a ‘Sanghi’ for life by the Leftist cabal!’ Although the word ‘Sangh’, simply means ‘an organised group of people with a shared aim or interest, an association or organisation’, it has been bestowed ominous dimensions by being made synonymous with Nazi-style since the term is associated with carrying out genocides. And once that label is struck to someone, leftist networks which have held mafia like grip over academia, cultural bodies, “avante garde” media – both in India and abroad – ensure that the person is marginalized, damned and demonized everywhere – no matter what your actual beliefs and actions on any issue.

  ‘But then I told myself, if after three decades of battling the intellectual tyranny of the Left and braving out blatant forms of victimization at their hands, without the backing of any organization or godfather, it is imperative to spit it out this fear once and for all.

  I must confess that despite avoiding the Leftist camp, I had imbibed some of the popular prejudices against the RSS, which have been made politically so fashionable that most people catch them like a virus. My early exposure to Sangh was two-fold:

  1)Accounts of my father who narrowly escaped death at the hands of Jinnah’s jehadis at the time of Partition. Like countless others, he had been forced to migrate as a penniless refugee from Lahore to Delhi, following the massacres of 1947. To the end of his life, he never tired of narrating how narrowly he had escaped death and how RSS workers had saved countless Hindu refugees at the risk of their own lives.

  2)Through neighbours who were RSS workers. They invariably turned out to be the most helpful in times of a crisis in the neighbourhood or mohalla.

  And yet, I had never closely interacted with or studied the RSS. However, given my profession as an academic, I could not escape reading hate tracts against the RSS by Leftists. Since Leftist writings on the Sangh Parivar are so loaded with prejudice and ill-founded critiques, I instinctively developed a healthy mistrust of their assessment of RSS. That is why I am glad Ratan Sharda has provided us a much-needed insider’s account of the Sangh. The ideals that motivated its formation, its core organisational principles, its structure, and the range of activities it undertakes, along with brief profiles of its founding fathers as well as subsequent heads of the RSS.

  The original title of the book, Secrets of RSS, is suitably tantalising because its ideological opponents have projected it as a sinister secret cult. The subtitle in smaller print—‘Demystifying the Sangh’—explains the real purpose of the book, to demonstrate through verifiable evidence that the RSS has no secrets. To quote Guru Golwalkar, ‘There are only two secrets of our work. First is that there is no secret. And second is Kabaddi.’ (p.95) This simple, terse sentence jolts one to be prepared for a series of surprises that challenge many of the negative stereotypes about the Sangh put into circulation by the political adversaries of the RSS.

  Sharda’s book is not a scholarly treatise on the RSS. Nor is it an autobiographical account, except for stray references scattered across the book to his own involvement in the Sangh right from his childhood. It is, however, an honest attempt to give the uninformed a realistic sense of its ideology, organisational structure, long-term vision and on- the ground engagements.

  Ratan Sharda tells us that the Shakha is the core organisational strength of the RSS, ‘…the powerhouse that energises and powers ordinary people to carry out extraordinary feats and create pan India organisations.’ (p.97) It is through them that the RSS has created hundreds of thousands of dedicated volunteers, called swayamsevaks (voluntary workers), who form the backbone of the organisation. For example, What began as a plan to set up a 1,000 social service projects during Dr Hedgewar’s birth centenary in 1989, has today grown to over 170 thousand social service projects. The little that one knows about them indicate that their quality varies considerably and some remain a fledgling effort, while others have grown into full-fledged, pan India organisations.

  Unlike volunteers of foreign funded NGOs who are paid handsome salaries and perks, RSS swayamsevaks not only work without any remuneration, in fact they are also expected to dip into their own pockets and raise funds locally as and when required for the activities of the organisation.

  What binds them together is not loyalty to any cult figure or supreme leader, but a fierce commitment to nation building, loyalty to Mother India and to reviving/nurturing its civilisational values, which it sums up in the term, ‘Hindutva’. One of the obsessive concerns of the RSS is to achieve ‘Hindu Unity’, a term that includes all faith groups with Indic roots. This is because the RSS is convinced that India suffered repeated enslavement by foreign invaders because Hindus remained internally divided.

  Sangh members are oriented towards becoming a close-knit parivar (family) in every sense of the term. This
is what gives the RSS deep social roots that has helped it grow into the largest membership-based social organisation in the world. Even those who may differ with the RSS viewpoint and ideology cannot deny the fact that it is one of the few genuine civil society organisations for the following reasons:

  1)It draws its sustenance from the very society it claims to serve, in mohallas and villages of India. Its members are trained to be intimately integrated with the lives, the joys and sorrows of their local community.

  2)Almost all its activities draw their financial sustenance from the self-same society instead of counting on external sources of funding.

  3)Running a Shakha needs no money, no infrastructure. All it needs is human capital and the willingness to offer time.

  The criticism of and hostility towards the RSS seem more rooted in envy and fear than its actual acts of commission and omission. No other political party or social organisation can match the vast network of the Shakhas, subsidiary organisations, networks, educational institutions, community projects and its army of full-time pracharaks who have voluntarily embraced celibacy and a life of poverty (owning no assets, getting no remuneration) so that every minute of their lives are dedicated to serving society and strengthening the RSS.

  One of the important contributions of this book is to blast the oft-repeated change that RSS members did not participate in the freedom movement. Its founder, Dr Hedgewar, an active leader of the Congress Party, took part in satyagrahas and went to jail twice for his involvement with the freedom movement. Contrary to leftist propaganda cCountless RSS workers, mostly as Congress members, braved all manner of repression for opposing British rule. While the RSS as a self-declared cultural organisation, took a strategic decision not to directly participate in the freedom struggle, its swayamsevaks and even top leaders were encouraged to be part of the Mahatma Gandhi-led satyaagrahas. Although its workers form the backbone of BJP’s electoral machine, they do so on their own terms and are not beholden to work for the BJP or be dictated by it in any way.