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Sangh parivar - the multi headed hydra of the Hindu right

by Mustafa Khan, 4 November 2008

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We have failed to fully account for the role the so-called cultural organization RSS has played and is still playing in violent acts. Why does this need arise from time to time? It is primarily because the extreme right wing organization has meddled into politics of the country from time to time and by not recognizing Muslims as part of it. Or, as is its assertion from time to time that Muslims have to forgo their allegiance to the foreign faith they have embraced and be sanskritized. This is not only ridiculous but also simply impossible. The RSS indoctrinates its cadres in such a way that they view the Muslims as their enemy and trains them to fight the Muslims. Moreover from much earlier time the organization has indulged in prevarication, secrecy and conspiracy. These are not the stuff on which to build democratic structure. They are outrageously and offensively wrong, hence monstrosity. Multi headed ! Thanks to juggling of words. The police first said it was Hindu Jagran Manch behind the Malegaon September 29 blast and then said it was Rashtriya Jagran Manch. Remember Hindu Jagran Manch is anti minority. It owned up the terrible attacks on Christians and Muslims in Gujarat and other parts of the country. It is also fact that the accused were from Durga Vahini who had links with Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Samir Kulkarni was from Abhinau Bharat, but also from Abhinav Bharat Sansthan as well as ABVP.

Mahatma Gandhi’s assassins were from RSS and Hindu Mahasabha. In his letter to Syam Prasad Mukherji, Sardar Patel wrote in July 1948 about the assassination of Gandhi: "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." Nathuram Godse was baudhik karyavah or intellectual worker of RSS and made five known attempts to assassinate. In fact Gopal Godse asserted: "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". Can such inveterate and committed person change his party before assassinating Gandhi? What had gone into the making of Nathuram is a matter of years of ideological stockbreeding. What was equally serious about the affair was what the IAS officer told Justice Jeevan Lal Kapoor inquiry commission that the right wing organizations had secretly made plans of subverting the established government and taking over the reigns of the government.

Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur’s involvement in the bomb blast is no less serious than what was the case at the time of the assassination of Gandhi. She and Major Ramesh Upadhya and Major Y D Sahasrabuddhe and even a serving armyman, posted at Panchmarhi in Madhya Pradesh had established a network of terror across states involving groups as strategic as ex-service personnel, Bhonsle Military Schools and men in ordance factory or defence services who could pass on RDX as scrap. Does it require any more proof to show that this is sedition? Even the letter of Santosh Kumar Rai National Organising Secreatry AKHIL BHARAT HINDU MAHASABHA (Mo. 09818334959) appeals "to all Hindu community please come in support of SADHWI and UNITE to make BHARAT as HINDU NATION."

The kind of atmosphere built up over the last six months was such that it could have led to upheaval in the society on unprecedented scale. Amar Singh feared that Muslims might rebel against their repression and oppression on account of the innumerable arrests of many innocent members of the community. It is for such an eventuality that the RSS is training its cadres in arms and ammunition. They would take over the reign. Tarun Tejpal asked the people to pause and think coolly in the wee time of the lull before the storm. It is most opportune that the Maharashtra police did what would become another historic milestone in the administrative service of the country. Their investigation may not fulfill all the expectations of the people of different groups but the nation can legitimately heave a sigh of relief. Bombs will not stop exploding but investigation would be not one sided. Those who admire Hitler could also use the techniques of Hitler of burning the parliament in order to arouse strong nationalist feelings and hatred against the Jews and minorities. Today’s Jews in India are the Muslims hunted and haunted as their Semite brethren of yore. People will be wary now.

There are enough reasons why one should be wary and of what. First what the right wing leaders including the prime ministerial candidate say. It is interesting to note that LK Advani is now saying that the sadhvi had left the sangh parivar’s Durga Vahini. She was a member of several such outfits. This is what Advani has been saying about Nathuram, too. The national convener of Bajrang Dal also told the same about Rajive Misra and Bhupender Singh who blew themselves up while making or assembling bomb in Kanpur on August 24. In the case of the Nanded blast of February 2007 the police tried to hide the identity of the man killed, later it was found out that he was Shiv Sena lealder of Nanded. People should also be wary of fire crackers bursting or biscuit cartons exploding not only in Nanded but also in Rajasthan and elsewhere.

Thus some policemen and the right wing organizations try to hide the fact that Hindu extremists are involved in blasts. Even officers with science background do not behave with honesty and integrity because of the mindset created by RSS ideology. For example look at how a lady doctor treats a Muslim suspect Noorulhoda of Malegaon September 8, 2006 blasts case:

"During the test I was given electric shocks. I was beaten so much on my ears and forehead that I still feel the pain in my brain nerves and bones of the chest. Bangalore’s lady doctor Malini told me "speak up what police is asking you to say otherwise they will implicate you in two or three more such cases." She too was threatening in the same way and on my repeated refusal she used to give me electric shocks on my ear."

There is also a schismatic deflective device of the Hindu extremists when members of one organization are caught, first they are either disowned or are made out to have left the organization. But it is not long when other organizations jumped in to defend the accused or arrested. The extremists among the Hindutva group in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat as well as Shiv Sena leaders want to defend the sadhvi. Manohar Joshi believes that the Islamic terrorism is responsible for forcing the sadhvi to take to terrorism. Hindus were so much enraged by jihad terrorism that they were forced to react the same way. Some say that this should be treated an aberration rather than the norm of the Hindu community. They labour under the illusion that terrorism is a matter of faith and not of the character of the people. In fact the editorial in Samna goes to say that given Jihad terrorism it would be no surprise if all Hindus take to terrorism. This is sure recipe for subversion.

Another device is subterfuge or trick to escape trouble. The sangh parivar is master in subterfuges. The VHP leader Ramvilas Vedanti had got his disciples email letters to him on August 30 2008 threatening his life. The emails were sent in the name of SIMI and Indian Mujahideen. The police in UP found out the truth that the fake letters were used to get z security cover to Vedanti but the police did not take action against the disciples or Vedanti. The Malegaon blast provides another instance of subterfuge and deflective device. The Ahemdabad police have arrested general secretary of VHP of Ahmedabad, Ashwin Patel. The police have this to say in the FIR: "Since the last two to two and a half months, derogatory and defamatory SMSes were doing the rounds about Narendra Modi and his government. Besides there were SMSes to mislead about the Malegaon, Modasa and Ahmedabad blasts and the language used could provoke communal passions". It would take some more time to unearth the whole meaning but it is beyond doubt that the three incidents of bombing had one common purpose: inciting communal passion that could produce backlash. The obvious beneficiary would be, of course, BJP. But the question is not of that party, what about the country? Theft of RDX in the name of sale of scrap ends up in the hands of the extremists of well-spread and well-organized organizations who in the name of defending the country are in fact engaged in terrorism.