An open letter to the 'Hindu Nationalist', Narendra Damodardas Modi Ji, Chief Minister of Gujarat
Sir,
I hope you are fine. While talking to two Reuters journalists, Ross Colvin and Sruthi Gottipati, on
July 12, 2013, you identified yourself as a 'Hindu Nationalist' and credited the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for instilling in you, spirit "(to be a) patriot. Whatever work you do,
you think are you doing this for the good of the nation? That's the basic training. The other basic
training is discipline. Your life should be disciplined."1
The news agency declared that it was a 'rare interview' of yours taken at your official Gandhinagar
residence. It shocked me immensely as you were not talking as an ordinary Indian citizen but as the
chief minister of Gujarat, a constitutional position under the democratic-secular constitution of
India. I am taking the liberty of writing this letter to you in the hope that you, who claim to be
believer in transparency, will respond to the issues I raise.
As a seasoned RSS pracharak or whole-timer you know about your roots better than me. Still I
would like to draw your attention to the fact that the term 'Hindu Nationalist' originated in a
specific historical context during India's Freedom Struggle against the British colonial masters.
This Freedom Struggle was mainly led by the Congress, which stood for an all-inclusive
democratic-secular free India. The 'Muslim Nationalists', under the banner of the Muslim League,
and the 'Hindu Nationalists', under the banners of the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS, opposed it,
claiming that Hindus and Muslims were two different nations. These Hindu and Muslim
'Nationalists' joined hands with the colonial masters in order to thwart the Freedom Struggle so that
they could have theocratic states of their choice, 'Hindusthan' or Hindu Rashtra and Pakistan or
Islamic state respectively.
The politics of the Muslim League and its role in dividing India are well known but I need to
refresh your memory about the nefarious role that 'Hindu Nationalists' played in India before and
after Independence. I am relying exclusively on documents of the RSS and the Hindu
Mahasabha in order to put across reality.
'Hindu Nationalists' believe in the two-nation theory like the Muslim League
Narendra ji! I would like to draw your attention to the fact that both the originator of Hindutva,
V.D. Savarkar and RSS, had unequivocal faith in the two-nation theory: that Hindus and Muslims
are two different nations. While the Muslim League under the leadership of Mohammed Ali Jinnah
resolved to have a separate homeland for Muslims of India in the form of Pakistan in 1940,
1
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/narendra-modi-defends-himself-on-2002-gujarat-riots-highlights-391361Savarkar propagated as early as 1937 that Hindus and Muslims were two different nations. While
delivering the presidential address to the 19th Hindu Mahasabha session at Ahmedabad, 'Veer'
Savarkar declared,
As it is, there are two antagonistic nations living side by side in India, several infantile
politicians commit the serious mistake in supposing that India is already welded into a
harmonious nation, or that it could be welded thus for the mere wish to do so. These were
well meaning but unthinking friends take their dreams for realities. That is why they are
impatient of communal tangles and attribute them to communal organizations. But the solid
fact is that the so-called communal questions are but a legacy handed down to us by
centuries of cultural, religious and national antagonism between the Hindus and
Moslems...Let us bravely face unpleasant facts as they are. India cannot be assumed today to
be a unitarian [sic] and homogenous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the
main: the Hindus and the Moslems [sic], in India.2
Sir! The RSS, following in the foot-steps of 'Veer' Savarkar, always rejected the idea that Hindus,
Muslims, Sikhs and Christians together constituted a nation. Its English organ, Organizer, on the
very eve of Independence (August 14, 1947), editorially (titled 'Whither') underlined its belief in
the two-nation theory once again in the following words:
Let us no longer allow ourselves to be influenced by false notions of nationhood. Much of
the mental confusion and the present and future troubles can be removed by the ready
recognition of the simple fact that in Hindusthan only the Hindus form the nation and the
national structure must be built on that safe and sound foundation…the nation itself must be
built up of Hindus, on Hindu traditions, culture, ideas and aspirations.
Your claim, 'My secularism is, India first' is problematic as you do not regard yourself as an Indian
nationalist but as a 'Hindu nationalist.' If you are a Hindu nationalist then there will be, naturally,
'Muslim nationalists', 'Sikh nationalists', 'Christian nationalists', and so on. Thus you set the ball
rolling for a divided India. This is surely a corollary of your organizational faith in the two-nation
theory.
2 V. D. Savarkar cited in V. D. Savarkar, Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya: Hindu Rashtra Darshan, vol. 6, Maharashtra
Prantik Hindusabha, Poona, 1963, p. 296.Hindu Nationalists decry and denigrate the Indian national flag
Modi Sir, as a senior and prominent whole-timer of the RSS you must know that on the eve of
Independence the above mentioned RSS organ used the following language against the Tri-colour,
the new National Flag of India:
The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour
but it never [sic] be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and
a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is
injurious to a country.3
Hindu nationalists ran coalition governments with the Muslim League in 1942-43
1942 was a critical year in the history of India's Freedom Struggle. In a nation-wide call the British
rulers were asked to 'Quit India'. The rulers responded by turning the country into a hell: armed
squads killed common Indians completely disregarding the rule of law, millions were arrested and
thousands suffered unparalleled repression. The Congress governments which were ruling different
Provinces of British India were dismissed. The only political organizations allowed to work were
the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League. These two organizations united to serve the rulers
and formed coalition governments. It was corroborated by the mentor of RSS. 'Veer' Savarkar in
his presidential address to the 24th session of the Hindu Mahasabha at Kanpur in 1942 declared,
In practical politics also the Mahasabha knows that we must advance through reasonable
compromises. Witness the fact that only recently in Sind, the Sind-Hindu-Sabha on
invitation had taken the responsibility of joining hands with the League itself in running
coalition Government. The case of Bengal is well known. Wild Leaguers whom even the
Congress with all its submissiveness could not placate grew quite reasonably compromising
and socialable as soon as they came in contact with the HM and the Coalition Government,
under the premiership of Mr. Fazlul Huq and the able lead of our esteemed Mahasabha
leader Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerji, functioned successfully for a year or so to the benefit of
both the communities.4
When Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was trying to liberate India, the Hindu nationalists were
helping to strengthen the British rule and its armed forces
Sir, you must be familiar with the name of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who tried to liberate India
militarily with the help of Germany and Japan. However, during this period 'Hindu Nationalists',
3 Organizer, August 14, 1947.
4 V. D. Savarkar cited in V. D. Savarkar, Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya: Hindu Rashtra Darshan, vol. 6, Maharashtra
Prantik Hindusabha, Poona, 1963, pp. 479-80instead of helping him, were hand in glove with the British masters in defeating Netaji's liberation
struggle (in which former succeeded). Hindu Mahasabha under 'Veer' Savarkar's leadership
organized recruitment camps for British armed forces. The Hindutva camp's surrender to the
colonial masters was total, as we see in the following utterances of 'Veer' Savarkar:
So far as India's defence is concerned, Hindudom must ally unhesitatingly, in a spirit of
responsive co-operation with the war effort of the Indian government in so far as it is
consistent with the Hindu interests, by joining the Army, Navy and the Aerial forces in as
large a number as possible and by securing an entry into all ordnance, ammunition and war
craft factories…Again it must be noted that Japan's entry into the war has exposed us
directly and immediately to the attack by Britain's enemies. Consequently, whether we like
it or not, we shall have to defend our own hearth and home against the ravages of the war
and this can only be done by intensifying the government's war effort to defend India.
Hindu Mahasabhaites must, therefore, rouse Hindus especially in the provinces of Bengal
and Assam as effectively as possible to enter the military forces of all arms without losing a
single minute.5
What RSS instills in cadres?
Sir, in your interview you claimed that RSS instills in cadres the spirit of patriotism, working for the
good of the nation and discipline. Since RSS stands for Hindu Rashtra or nation, one can
understand the fate of democratic-secular India in the hands of RSS cadres. You should have shared
what the most prominent ideologue of the RSS, Golwalkar, expected from RSS members. While
addressing a gathering of top ranking RSS on March 16, 1954, at Sindi, Wardha, he said:
If we say that we are part of the organization and accept its discipline then selectiveness has
no place in life. Do what is told. If told to play kabaddi, play kabaddi; told to hold meeting
then meeting….For instance some of our friends were told to go and work for politics that
does not mean that they have great interest or inspiration for it. They don't die for politics
like fish without water. If they are told to withdraw from politics then also there is no
objection. Their discretion is just not required.6
This second statement of 'Guru' Golwalkar is also significant.
We know this also that some of our Swayamsevaks work in politics. There they have to
organize according to the needs of work public meetings, processions etc., have to raise
5 V. D. Savarkar cited in V. D. Savarkar, Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya: Hindu Rashtra Darshan, vol. 6, Maharashtra
Prantik Hindusabha, Poona, 1963, p. 460. V. D. Savarkar cited in V. D. Savarkar, Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya: Hindu
Rashtra Darshan, vol. 6, Maharashtra Prantik Hindusabha, Poona, 1963, pp. 479-80.
6
SGSD, vol. iii, p. 32. slogans. All these things have no place in our work. However, like the character in a play
whatever role has been assigned should be portrayed with best of capability. But sometimes
Swayamsevaks go beyond the role assigned to a performer (nat) as they develop overzealousness in their hearts, to the extent that they become useless for this work. This is not
good.7
Modi Sir, we find here 'Guru' Golwalkar referring to the Swayamsevaks loaned to the political
satellite as 'nat', performers, who are meant to dance to the tune of the RSS. It should be noted here
that Golwalkar's above design of controlling the political arm was elaborated in March 1960,
almost nine years after the establishment of the Jana Sangh (the forerunner of the BJP) in 1951.
What I would like to know from you is whether you are serving the democratic-secular polity of
India or are a mere 'nat', a tool in the hands of the RSS for turning India into a theocratic state. Fact
is that RSS makes its cadres spineless.
Betrayal by RSS in India's Freedom Struggle
Sir, your claim that the RSS taught you patriotism is suspect, given the history of that organization
as seen in its documents. I shall present some relevant documents for your kind perusal.
The Non-cooperation Movement and the Quit India Movement were two great milestones in the
history of the Indian Freedom Movement, and here is the great thesis of the great Golwalkar on
these two great happenings:
Definitely there are bound to be bad results of struggle. The boys became unruly 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.8
Thus 'Guru' Golwalkar wanted the Indians to respect the draconian and repressive laws of the
inhuman British rulers! After the 1942 Movement he further admitted,
In 1942 also there was a strong sentiment in the hearts of many. At that time too the routine
work of Sangh continued. Sangh vowed not to do anything directly. However, upheaval
(uthal-puthal) in the minds of Sangh volunteers continued. Sangh is an organization of
7
SGSD, vol. iv, pp. 4-5.
8
SGSD, volume IV, p. 41.
No comments:
Post a Comment