“The lesson had been burned into public memory. The Emergency became more than a chapter in history. It became a warning. For Narendra Modi, it was not just a past event. It was part of his personal journey. As Prime Minister, he has often reminded the nation of those dark times…It was about imprisoning free thought, art, and expression. That period left behind not just scars, but reminders. It taught us that freedom is earned, not gifted.” [i]

Let us take first, examine the claim that the RSS-BJP rulers are/have been committed to the liberal democratic values as a faith. The most prominent ideologue of the RSS, MS Golwalkar, also known as the ‘Guru of Hate’ [whom PM Modi credits for grooming him into a political leader] while addressing the 1350 top level cadres of the RSS in 1940 declared, “RSS inspired by one flag, one leader and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva in each and every corner of this great land.” [ii]

With such a philosophical love for totalitarianism the RSS has, always hated sharing of power. Proponents of the Sangh have stood in strong opposition to the federal structure of the constitution, a ‘Basic’ feature of the India polity. Golwalkar declared in 1961, “Today’s federal form of government not only gives birth but also nourishes the feelings of separatism… It must be completely uprooted, constitution purified, and unitary form of government be established.” [iii]

So far as the formally declared Emergency is concerned, the RSS claim of fighting against it needs to be evaluated in the light of contemporary narratives including documents from RSS archives. In this connection, two narratives one by a veteran thinker and journalist of India, Prabhash Joshi and the other by TV Rajeswar, former Intelligence Bureau [IB] chief who was the deputy chief of IB during the Emergency are of immense importance. They recounted the days of the Emergency (or state terrorism) when the RSS ‘surrendered to the repressive regime of Indira Gandhi’, ‘assured her and her son, Sanjay Gandhi to enforce faithfully the draconian 20-point programme announced by the Emergency regime.’ In fact, a large number of RSS cadres got themselves released from jails after mercy petitions (maafinaamas).

The account by veteran journalist, Prabhash Joshi appeared in the English weekly Tehelka n the 25th anniversary of the Emergency. [iv] According to him even during the Emergency “there was always a lurking sense of suspicion, a distance, and a discreet lack of trust” about RSS’ joining the anti-Emergency struggle. He went on to say that,

“Balasaheb Deoras, then RSS chief, wrote a letter to Indira Gandhi pledging to help implement the notorious 20-point programme of Sanjay Gandhi. This is the real character of the RSS…You can decipher a line of action, a pattern. Even during the Emergency, many among the RSS and Jana Sangh who came out of the jails, gave mafinamas. They were the first to apologize. Only their leaders remained in jail: Atal Behari Vajpayee [most of the time in hospital], LK Advani, even Arun Jaitley. But the RSS did not fight the Emergency. So why is the BJP trying to appropriate that memory?”

Prabhash Joshi concluded that “they are not a fighting force, and they are never keen to fight. They are basically a compromising lot. They are never genuinely against the government”.

TV Rajeswar, who served as Governor of Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim penned a book, ‘India: The Crucial Years” [Harper Collins] corroborated the fact that “Not only they (RSS) were supportive of this [Emergency], they wanted to establish contact apart from Mrs. Gandhi, with Sanjay Gandhi also”. [v] Rajeswar in an interview with Karan Thapar disclosed that Deoras,

“Quietly established a link with the PM’s house and expressed strong support for several steps taken to enforce order and discipline in the country. Deoras was keen to meet Mrs. Gandhi and Sanjay. But Mrs. Gandhi refused.” [vi]

According to Rajeswar’s book,

“Sanjay Gandhi’s concerted drive to enforce family planning, particularly among Muslims, had earned Deoras’s approbation.” [vii] Rajeswar also shared the fact that even after Emergency the “organization (RSS) had specifically conveyed its support to the Congress in the post-emergency elections.” [viii] It will be interesting to note that even according to Subramanian Swamy during the Emergency period, most of the senior leaders of RSS had betrayed the struggle against the Emergency. [ix]

Contemporary documents in the archives of the RSS validate the narratives of Prabhash Joshi and Rajeswar. The 3rd Supremo of RSS, Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras wrote the first letter to Indira Gandhi within two months of the imposition of Emergency. It was the time when state terror was running amok, crushing the human rights of thousands of Indians.

In letter dated August 22, 1975, Deoras began with the following praise of Indira:

“I heard your address to the nation which you delivered on August 15, 1975, from Red Fort on radio in jail [Yervada jail] with attention. Your address was timely and balanced so I decided to write to you”. [x]

Indira Gandhi did not respond to it. So Deoras wrote another letter to Indira on November 10, 1975. He began his letter with congratulating her on being cleared by the Supreme Court of disqualification which was ordered by the Allahabad High Court,

“All the five Justices of the Supreme Court have declared your election constitutional, heartiest greetings for it.” It is to be noted that opposition was firmly of the opinion that this judgment was reflective of executive pressure on the judiciary. Deoras also stated that “RSS has been named in context of Jaiprakash Narayan’s movement. The government has also connected RSS with Gujarat movement and Bihar movement without any reason…Sangh has no relation with these movements…” [xi]

Since Indira Gandhi did not respond to this letter either, RSS chief got hold of Vinoba Bhave who supported the Emergency religiously and was a favourite of Indira Gandhi. In a letter dated January 12, 1976, he begged that Acharya should suggest the way that ban on RSS was removed. [xii]  Since Acharya too did not respond to Deoras letter, the latter in another letter without date wrote in desperation,

“According to press reports respected PM [Indira Gandhi] is going to meet you at Pavnar Ashram on January 24. At that time there will be discussion about the present condition of the country. I beg you to try to remove the wrong assumptions of PM about RSS so that ban on RSS is lifted and RSS members are released from jails. We are looking forward for the times when RSS and its members are able to contribute to the plans of progress which are being run in all the fields under the leadership of PM.” [xiii]

[All these letters in Hindi are being reproduced from a publication of the RSS at the end of this article.]

Even a prominent Hindutva ideologue Balraj Madhok who as an RSS whole-timer founded Bhartiya Jana Sangh (1951) on RSS command confessed:

“Sarsanghchalak of the Sangh Shri Bal Saheb Deoras was a MISA prisoner in Pune’s Yervada Jail…his life was full of comforts. Therefore, he wrote two letters to the jailed Indira Gandhi on 22-08-1975 and 10-11-1975 to change her attitude towards the Sangh and lift the ban on it. He also wrote a letter to Shri Vinoba Bhave and requested him to try to remove the feeling of opposition towards the Sangh from Indira Gandhi’s mind. These letters were leaked by the government and they were published in many newspapers. This naturally had an adverse effect on the morale of the Sangh volunteers and the Satyagraha movement became almost dead.”

[Madhok, Balraj, Zindagi Ka Safar –3: Deendayal Upadhyay Ki Hatya Se Indira Gandhi Ki Hatya Tak (Journey of Life-3: From the Murder of Deendayal Upadhyay to the Murder of Indira Gandhi), Dinman Prakashan, 2003, pp. 188-189.]

Incidentally, another tidbit from history. Former President of the Indian Republic, Pranab Mukherjee was invited by the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat as the chief guest of the graduation ceremony of its new recruits who are fired to work towards their goal to convert India into a Hindu state. Pranab Mukherjee had been indicted as one of the top leaders of Congress for Emergency excesses.

It is shameful that despite these facts thousands of RSS cadres continue to get monthly pension for the persecution during Emergency. The BJP ruled states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra have decided to award a monthly pension of Rs 20,000 to those who were jailed during the Emergency period for less than 2 months, and Rs 10,000 to those who were jailed for less than a month. These policy decisions by RSS-backed BJP states have taken care of the financial interest of those RSS cadres who (even) submitted mercy letters completing only one- or two-months’ jail term. For securing such a significant amount in pension, no condition was applied –to the effect that the beneficiary should have been in jail for the whole period of the Emergency!

Interestingly, in sharp contrast, in the case of anti-colonial (British) freedom struggle there has not been even a single person from RSS cadres to have claimed the freedom fighter pension. It may be noted that nobody remembers hundreds of Communist youths, branded as Naxals killed in fake encounters during the Emergency. Interestingly, Shiv Sena, the Hindutva co-traveller of the RSS also openly supported the Emergency.

Tavleen Singh, a senior journalist who had once welcomed Modi’s ascendancy to power in 2014 did not mince words while evaluating Indian democracy on the 50^th anniversary of declaration of Emergency,

 “Brutal repression of democratic rights can happen again, and the answer is that it can, but in a more dangerously subtle way. There are those who say that since Narendra Modi became prime minister, an ‘undeclared emergency’ has come into force. I hesitate to make sweeping judgements of that kind, but what has happened is that some freedoms we took for granted have become endangered. This has been done not by throwing Opposition leaders, journalists and dissidents into jail, but by tweaking the laws to make curbs on freedom legally possible.

“The law that is supposed to prevent sedition has been tweaked to widen the definition of that word. Laws meant to curb black money have been tweaked as well and if a dissident does not end up in jail for ‘anti-national activities’, he could end up rotting in some forgotten cell because the Enforcement Directorate charges him with money laundering. The Opposition leaders who have these charges thrown at them have fought back valiantly because they have political parties behind them, but dissidents and journalists have just learned to keep quiet. Is that good? Is that democracy?”

So, writing on the wall is clear. India had Emergency imposed using some Articles of the Indian constitution and same was rescinded. Presently without Indira Gandhi and Congress government we have perpetual ‘undeclared’ Emergency under Modi rule. It needs not to be withdrawn as was never declared!

[i] ‘National Emergency 1975: The murder of the Indian republic on June 25,  https://organiser.org/2025/06/24/298840/bharat/national-emergency-1975-the-murder-of-the-indian-republic-on-june-25/

[ii] Golwalkar, MS, Shri Guruji Samagar Darshan (collected works of Golwalkar in Hindi), Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd., vol. I, p. 11.

[iii] Ibid. vol. III, p. 128.

[iv] http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main13.asp?filename=op070205And_Not_Even.asp

[v] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/rss-backed-indira-gandhis-emergency-ex-ib-chief-264127-2015-09-21

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/ib-ex-chiefs-book-rss-chief-deoras-had-backed-some-emergency-moves/

[viii] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/RSS-backed-Emergency-reveals-former-IB-chief/articleshow/49052143.cms

[ix] https://medium.com/@hindu.nationalist1/double-game-of-senior-rss-leaders-during-emergency-74abc07a4fa8

[x] Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras, Hindu Sangathan aur Sattavaadi Rajneeti, Jagriti Prkashan, Noida, 1997, 270.

[xi] Ibid., 272-73

[xii] Ibid. 275-77.

[xiii] Ibid. 278.

(The author is a former professor of Hindi, Delhi University and a scholar on recent Indian modern history)

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.

Related:

How RSS betrayed the struggle against the Emergency, from its archives

RSS had no role in the freedom struggle

We or Our Nationhood Defined – 1947 Edition

The Ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is both Hate-Ridden and Supremacist – Part 1

‘Old Wine in New bottle’: Bhagwat on Caste

The Sangh’s Hypocrisy on Dalits, It’s Time to Read ‘Bunch of Thoughts’, Again!

The post On the 50th anniversary of India’s formal ‘Emergency’, how the RSS betrayed the anti-emergency struggle appeared first on SabrangIndia.

       “We have maintained our power in India by playing off one part against the other and we must continue to do so. Do all we can, therefore, to prevent all having a common feeling.”

In order to put this strategy in operation, White rulers in league with their Indian stooges floated the two-nation theory implying that Hindus and Muslims belonged to ‘two separate nations’. The birth of the two-nation theory was no accident, in fact, it was specifically created to help the British in creating a communal divide and fragmentize the Indian society on the basis of religions. This was because any lasting unity of Hindus and Muslims could prove to be the death knell of their rule.

One truth, never to be missed, about this Struggle is that it was jointly led by leaders like Nana Sahib, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Maulvi Ahmed Shah, Tantya Tope, Khan Bahadur Khan, Rani Laxmibai, Hazrat Mahal, Azimullah Khan and Ferozshah, a galaxy of revolutionaries who belonged to different faiths. It was a liberation struggle in which Maulvis, Pandits, granthis, zamindars, peasants, traders, lawyers, servants, women, students and people from different castes, creeds and regions rose in revolt against the dehumanised rule of the East India Company and even laid down their lives.

On the eve of 163rd anniversary of War of Independence we need to tell the present flag bearers of both Hindu-Muslim brand of communal politics that the revolutionary army which declared the Mughal King Bahadur Shah Zafar, a Muslim, India’s Independent ruler on May 11, 1857 comprised of more than seventy percent Hindu soldiers, all armed. These were Nana Sahib, Tantya Tope and Laxmibai, all Hindus, played vital role in making Zafar, Badshah; the King once again.

The contemporary documents of the period which are available even today are replete with instances, not confined to one particular area, in which Hindus and Muslims could be seen making supreme sacrifices unitedly. The War of Independence categorically presented one fundamental truth that Hindu-Muslim separatism or hatred between these two communities was not at all an issue.

Ayodhya

After independence Ayodhya emerged as a place which has caused deep schisms between sections of Hindus and Muslims. The Babri Masjid-Ram Janmbhoomi dispute has played significant role in creating an environment of violence and mistrust between the two largest religious communities of India. But in 1857, it was the same Ayodhya where Maulvis and Mahants and common Hindu-Muslims stood united against the British rule and kissed the hangman’s noose together. Maulana Ameer Ali was a famous Maulvi of Ayodhya and when Ayodhya’s well-known Hanuman Garhi’s (Hanuman Temple) priest Baba Ramcharan Das took the lead in organising the armed resistance to the British rule, Maulana also joined the revolutionary army. In one battle with the British and their stooges, both of them were captured and hanged together on a tamarind tree at the Kuber Teela (now in Faizabad Jail) in Ayodhya.

This region also produced two more great friends, belonging to different religions who made life hell for the British sponsored armies. Achchan Khan and Shambhu Prasad Shukla, who jointly led the army of Raja Devibaksh Singh in the district of Faizabad. Both of them were able to defeat the Firangee army in many battles. It was due to the treachery again that they were captured. In order to desist anyone from such companionships between Hindus and Muslims both these friends were publicly inflicted prolonged torture and their heads were cruelly filed off.

It is not difficult to understand that why the same Ayodhya where blood of both Hindus and Muslims flowed for liberating the motherland in 1857 later became a permanent source of friction between the two communities. The joint heritage of Ayodhya needed to be erased if British rule was to survive. This was meticulously contrived by the British rulers and their henchmen turning the heritage of communal unity at Ayodhya upside down. Not surprisingly, the RSS-BJP rulers are replicating the same now.

Rajasthan

Kota state (now in Rajasthan) was ruled by a Maharao subservient to the British. The leading courtier, Lala Jaidayal Bhatnagar, a great literary figure, when he found that Maharao was collaborating with the British, he joined hands with the army chief, Mehrab Khan and established a rebel government in the state. When Kota was captured by the British forces with the help of stooge neighbouring princes, they together continued fighting in the region till 1859. Betrayed by an informer both were hanged at Kota on September 17, 1860.

Haryana

Hansi town (now in Haryana) presents another heart-warming example of how Muslims and Jains fearlessly challenged the foreign rule and did not hesitate in sacrificing their lives together. In this town lived two close friends, Hukumchand Jain and Muneer Beg. They were known as literary giants with a love for mathematics. The revolutionary government of Bahadurshah Zafar chose them as advisors and appointed them as commanders in the region of west of Delhi. They led many successful military campaigns in the area but due to the treachery of the native rulers of Patiala, Nabha, Kapurthala, Kashmir and Pataudi were defeated in a crucial battle and captured. The British highly perturbed by this kind of unity decided to kill them in a most brutal manner. After hanging them on the same tree in Hansi on January 19, 1858, Hukumchand Jain was buried and Muneer Beg was cremated against the custom of their respective religions. The obvious purpose was to make fun of the unity of these two revolutionaries belonging to two different religions and display a hatred towards their comradeship. Another unspeakable crime committed by the British was that when Faqir Chand, 13 year old nephew of Hukamchand Jain protested to this treatment he too was hanged, although there was no sentence passed against him.

Central India

Jhansi: We all are familiar with Rani Laxmi Bai’s heroic resistance to the British rule and her death fighting the British forces at Gwalior. She was able to put up such a great resistance with the able aid of her Muslim commanders; Ghulam Ghouse Khan (chief of artillery), Khuda Bakhsh (chief of infantry) both of whom were martyred defending Jhansi fort on June 4, 1858. Even her personal bodyguard was a young Muslim lady, Munzar who laid down her life with Rani on June 18, 1858 at Kotah-ki-Sarai battle in Gwalior.

Malwa: Malwa region in the then Central Province (now Madhya Pradesh) was another war theatre where big and crucial battles were fought against the British. The joint command of Tatia Tope, Rao Saheb (Pandurang Sadashiv), Laxmi Bai, Ferozshah and Moulvi Fazal-ul- Haq, was able to mobilise a huge rebel army of 70-80 thousand fighters. This army won innumerable battles against the British. However, in the crucial battle at Ranod –when due to the treachery of stooge princes the revolutionary army led by Tatia Tope, Ferozeshah and Moulvi were encircled– Moulvi Fazal-ul- Haq stood as a rock in the way of advancing British troops. He with his 480 brave companions laid down their lives on December 17, 1858, but were able to save the main force which included Tatia Tope, Rao Saheb and Ferozshah. Saved thus by the supreme sacrifice by Moulvi Fazl Haq and his comrades, Tatia Tope continued to wage war against the British until the beginning of 1859.

Rohilkhand

Present day Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Badaun and Bijnor was the area which was a strong hold of revolutionaries from the start. Immediately after the announcement of an independent Indian government at Delhi on May 11, 1857, Khan Bahadur Khanwas appointed as the viceroy of Mughal emperor there. Khan soon after assuming charge appointed a committee of eight members consisting both Hindus and Muslims to conduct the affairs of the state, his deputy being Khushi Ram. This government forbade cow-slaughter in deference to the sentiments of local Hindus. Khan and Khushi Ram led troops defeated the British and their stooges in many battles but were defeated in a crucial battle at Bareilly. Both of them were hanged with hundreds of their followers outside old Kotwali on March 20, 1860.

Delhi

The revolutionary army was led by a joint command consisting of Mohammed Bakht Khan, Azimullah Khan, Sham Singh Dooga, Sirdhara Singh, Ghouse Mohammad, Hira Singh and a ‘Doabi Brahmin’. Contemporary British documents show that despite all their attempts to create communal divide in the ranks of revolutionary army and residents of Delhi, Indians stood as one. In order not to let the British spies succeed in creating communal conflict amongst Delhites, General Bakht Khan, C-in-C of the revolutionary army prohibited cow slaughter. What kind of communal amity existed in Delhi under siege can be further known by the fact that when a huge canon of Shahjahan’s times which was lying unused was taken out, repaired and made useable, before firing the first canon, in the presence of Bahadur Shah Zafar and other army officials, Hindu priests performed the Aarti, garlanded it and blessed it with Vedic hymns.

Hindu-Muslim unity during the First Indian War of Independence was not confined to one area or one section of the population. This unity pervaded the whole country at all stratum. It was a ground reality and a fact of life with which, but naturally, women too, did not remain untouched. In a small town, Thana Bhawan, situated in Muzaffarnagar district (now in western Uttar Pradesh) 11 brave women belonging to different religions and castes were hanged together or burnt alive for taking up arms against repressive British rule.

The names and heroic deeds of some of them are unrivalled. Asghari Begum, 45 years old, belonged to a well-to-do family and was burnt alive for organising rebellion in the area. Another revolutionary woman, 28-year old, Asha Devi, who belonged to a Hindu Gujar family was also hanged. Another martyred woman was young Bhagwati Devi, born into a Tyagi family of farmers who fought in many battles against Firangee rule. 24 year old, Habeeba, belonging to a Muslim Gujar family, fearlessly fought in many battles to liberate neighbouring areas from British tyranny. She was captured while resisting a British attack and was executed on the gallows in 1857. Another brave woman from this area was named Mam Kaur who belonged to a family of shepherdess and was hanged at the young age of 25 years. Bhaktawari another brave woman from the region too laid down her life fighting the British rulers.  Twenty-six year old, Umda was another gallant woman from this area, born into a Jat Muslim family who sacrificed her life resisting the British invasion. Raj Kaur born in 1833, hailed from a Sikh family and made the supreme sacrifice of fighting against the British in the Thana Bhawan area.

The degree of communal unity among the rebels can further be known by going through the Rebel Anthem of 1857, penned by Azimullah Khan. It was in Urdu and reads:

Hum haeniss ke malik, Hindoostan hamaaraa/Paak watan hae qaum kaa Jannat se bhee piyaaraa.

[We are its owners, it belongs to us. It is our holy land, lovelier than paradise.]

Yeh hamaari milkiat Hindoostan hamaaraa/iss kee roohaniyat se Roshan hae jug saaraa.

[It is our Hindustan, our owned. The whole world sparkles with its spiritualism.]

Kitnaa qadeem kitnaa naeem, sab duniyaa se niyaraa/kartee hae zarkhez jisse Gang-o-Juman kee dhaaraa.

[It is old as well as new, it is pleasant in the world. Ganga and Jamuna irrigates its lands.]

Oope rbarfeela parvat pehre-daar hamaaraa/Neeche sahil per bajta sagar kaa naqqaaraa.

[On top snow clad mountain guards us. On the lower end you can hear roaring of sea.]

Iss kee khanen ugal raheensona, heera, paaraa/iss kee shaan shaukat kaa duniyaa maen jaikaaraa.

[Its mines produce gold, diamond and lead. Its greatness is renowned throughout the world.]

Aayaa Firangee door se, essaa mantar maaraa/loota donon hathoon se piyaaraa watan hamaaraa.

[The British came from far away, played trick. Our dear land was looted with both hands.]

Aaj shahidon ne tumko, ahl-e-watan lal-kaaraa/Todo ghulamee kee zanjeeren barsao angaaraa.

[Martyrs are calling you, countrymen. Break shackles of slavery, spit fire.]

Hindoo-Mussalmaan-Sikh hamaaraa bhai piyaaraa-piyaaraa/yeh hae azaadi kaa jhanda isse salaam hamaaraa.

[Hindu-Muslim-Sikh are our dear brothers. This is the flag of independence, salute to it.]

Contemporary British narratives

William Russell, was sent by The Times, London as a war correspondent to cover the ‘Mutiny.’ In one of his reports dated, March 2, 1858, while underlining the unity among the ranks of rebel army he wrote:

“All the great chiefs of Oudh, Mussalman and Hindu, are there, and have sworn to fight for their young king, Birjeis Kuddr [sic], to the last. Their cavalry is numerous, the city is filled with people, the works are continually strengthened. All Oudh is in the hands of the enemy, and we only hold the ground we cover with our bayonets.”

Another senior British officer, Thomas Lowe who led British attacks on Jhansi, Kalpi and Kanpur admitted that,

“the infanticide Rajput, the bigoted Brahmin, the fanatic Mussalman, and the luxury loving, fat-paunched ambitious Maharattah [sic], they all joined together in the cause; the cow-killer and the cow-worshipper, the pig-hater and the pig-eater, the crier of Allah is God and Mohommed [sic] his prophet and the mumbler of the mysteries of Brahma.”

Fred Roberts (became the Commander- in-Chief of the British armed forces in India later) was one of the leading British military commanders who led the British army to recapture Lucknow. In one of his letters, from the Lucknow front dated Nov 25, 1857, while rejoicing victory on that day at Sikander Bagh, Lucknow could not miss out the fact that even in the face of death the rebel army consisting of both Hindus and Muslims did not lose heart and stayed glued to each other. When Fred entered the Sikander Bagh he found nearly 2000 rebels on the ground dead or dying.

“I never saw such a sight. They were literally in heaps, and when I went in were a heaving mass, some dead, but most wounded and unable to get up from the crush. How so many got crowded together I can’t understand. You had to walk over them to cross the court. They showed their hatred even while dying, cursed us and said: ‘if we could only stand, we would kill you.’”

Throughout the War of Independence every nook and corner of the country was replete with such instances of fearless fighters, supreme sacrifices and strong bond of unity amongst people belonging to different religions. Such glorious instances of unbreakable Hindu-Muslim unity did really happen 168 years back. This can be verified even today by a simple perusal of contemporary British archives, personal collections, diaries and narrations.

Given these realities of history, it is not difficult to understand why a divide between Hindus and Muslims was necessitated, who were instrumental in accomplishing it and who benefited out of this divide. The survival of the British Empire in India depended on the successful execution of this strategy of divide and rule.

The flag-bearers of the politics of two-nations in the past and communal politics today are the ones who helped the British to execute this evil design. We must not ignore the fact that communalism was a ploy of the British who feared the end of their Empire in India –if Hindus and Muslims continually stood united. On the eve of 168th anniversary of the great rebellion, we must rise to take pledge of never betraying the shared heritage and shared martyrdoms of the First Indian War of Independence and not let the RSS-BJP rulers of India undo it.

[All references and quotes presented in this article are based on contemporary documents.]

Link for some of S. Islam’s writings in English, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati and video interviews/debates:http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam

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The post Unity not Hate: Commemorating the 168th anniversary of 1857 War of Independence appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Today India has turned into a grazing field for all manner of religious bigots led by the Hindutva “gang”. Even the Prime Minister himself, who has taken oath to uphold democratic-secular polity today identifies himself as a Hindu nationalist, as if to say, he is in office to serve the cause of Hindutva. Leaders belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJO) have openly declared their commitment to turn India into a Hindu state where the Brahmanical Codes of Manu which reduce women and Dalits to sub-human status would be the law of the land. For them India is the Fatherland and Holyland for “Hindus only”. According to Hindutva interpretation, only those with Aryan blood, who subscribe to Caste, are of a fair colour and treat Sanskrit as a holy language can/may be considered Hindu. So, by this definition, Muslims and Christians are out as are those from faiths such as Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism –if they believe they are independent faiths—even these can survive only as sects of Hinduism.

However, this was not the scenario 105 years back when the British rulers perpetrated one of the worst massacres in the history of the modern world. People of India shackled by the most powerful imperialist power of the world, Britain, presented a heroic and united resistance. This is not hearsay but can be proven through contemporary official British documents. These vital documents were part of the British archives which became National Archives of India after Independence. For unknown reasons these documents were made public to mark the 75^th commemoration of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre as part of an exhibition titled, ‘Archives and Jallianwala Bagh: A Saga of Independence‘.

Most of these documents, concerning the most volatile period of the Indian freedom struggle, not only showed the Britishers brazenly flouting democratic norms, indulging in barbarism while suppressing mass discontent but also brought to light hitherto hidden aspects of Indian people’s united heroic fight-back. The documents exhibited were both saddening and amazing. It was immensely saddening to watch the ‘civilized’ British indulging in acts of unprecedented violence against Indians and amazing way the people of India, collectively and individually, belonging to different faiths and Castes, rose in revolt.

The saddest part has been that this treasure of visual and written narratives was put back inside the dark rooms of the National Archives, never exhibited again. It was not taken out even at the centenary commemoration of the Massacre. It seems the rulers and managers do not want that coming generations should know about the barbarism of the colonial masters as well as united great heroic resistance of the people of India.

Barbarism of the British

Photographs in the show recorded heart-wrenching scenes of the barbarity of the British rulers in coping with the unrest in Punjab during 1914-1919. Punjabis, specially, Sikhs, tied to wooden/metal frames being flogged or forced to crawl on their bellies on public roads, their naked body in full view of the public, filling all with shame and anger. Punjab had become a military camp. The rulers aiming at crushing the self-esteem of patriotic Indians, forced Indians to salute every Englishman/woman, not to ride cycles and forcibly pulling at their moustaches and beards.

There is no doubt that such repression produced revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh and his comrades.

The records narrated the story of newly married Rattan Devi had spent the night of April 13-14, 1919 by the side of her husband. Only, he was dead, lying amid the hundreds strewn all over the Bagh. The place was overflowing with blood, as she narrates in the chilling statement on display, and after removing the body of her husband to a comparatively dry place,

“I sat by his side… I found a bamboo stick which I kept in my hand to keep off dogs. I saw three men writhing in great pain and an injured boy, about 12 years old, entreated me not to leave the place, I told him that I would not go anywhere leaving the dead body of my husband. I asked him if he was feeling cold, if he wanted a wrapper, I could spread it over him. He asked for water, but that could not be produced at that place…”

This exhibition exhibited a stunning account from a Hindi daily, ‘Abhiuday’ (October 4, 1919) which narrated the story and photographs of two friends, 18-year-old Abdul Karim and 17-year-old Ramchander who came together from Lahore to attend meeting at the Bagh, held to protest against Rowlatt Act. Both were martyred here. After the martyrdom of Abdul Karim when results of Punjab University [Lahore] came out it was found that he had passed the matriculate examination in with a first class. 

Air bombardments

But what really startles viewers is the hitherto unknown fact that the British government had, during the disturbances in 1919, used Royal Air force planes to bombard the interiors of the Punjab.

A top-secret document-again, made public for the first time–was a Task 14.4.1919. It reads thus:

“Aero plane No. 4491 Type BO E-2.E. Squadron No. 31. Pilot captain Carbery. Hour at which flight started from Lahore: 14.20. Hour at which flight concluded: 16.45. [The details] 15.20: village two miles north west of Gujranwala (now in Pakistan)-dropped three bombs on party of natives 150 strong…50 rounds machine gun fired into village. 15.30 Village one mile south of above-party of 50 natives outside village. Two bombs dropped…25 rounds machine gun fired into village. About 200 natives in fields near a building. One bomb dropped, 30 rounds MG fired into party who took over in house. 15.40: Gujranwala-Bombs dropped on large crowd of natives in south of town. 100 rounds MG fired into parties of natives in the streets. At 15.50 when machine left for Lahore no natives could be seen on the streets…”

Another highlight of the exhibition was the hand-written original of Rabindra Nath Tagore’s letter to the viceroy renouncing his Knighthood to protest the repression in Punjab.

Tagore wrote:

“The time has come when badges of honors make our shame glaring in their incongruous context of humiliation, and I for me part wish to stand, shorn of all special distinctions, by the side of those of my countrymen who, for their so-called insignificance, are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings.”

Another heartening document was the original facsimile of the resignation letter dated March 28, 1919 of MA Jinnah from the Imperial Legislative Assembly in protest against Jallianwala Bagh massacre and repression in Punjab. His letter openly blamed the British rulers for atrocities and passing Rowlatt Act. He wrote:

“A government that passes or sanctions such a law [Rowlatt Act] in times of peace forfeits its claim to be called a civilized government.”

It is tragic that Jinnah later joined (or even led) the bandwagon of two-nation protagonists.

However, the level of anger that the Rowlatt Act generated in every part of India could be gauged by the violent resistance in the Gujarat region area generally considered to be not militant. From the documents displayed we see that, in Gujarat within the space of two days (11-12 April, 1919) protesting mobs burnt — in Ahmedabad and surrounding district offices of the Collector, the city judge, the flag staff, the Jail, the main telegraph centre and 26 police stations.

Resistance literature banned

On display were the copies of voluminous literature, poetry, prose and plays which were written and circulated against the British barbarism, but banned by colonial rulers.

This treasure again depicted the united and all-pervasive character of the resistance. It is not possible to discuss even a fraction of it while also noting that the exhibition must have been able to display only a fraction of the banned literature available in the Archives. Some of the important banned books were; Bagh-e-Jallian, a lyrical play in Hindi authored by Ram Saroop Gupta, Jallianwala Bagh, a long poem in Gurmukhi penned by Firoziddin Sharf, Punjab kaa Hatyakand, a full-fledged play in Urdu and Jallianwala Bagh, a long Gujarati play. The last two were by unknown authors in order to avoid identification by the repressive regime.    

Some of the representative lyrics read:

जुल्म डायर ने किया था रंग जमाने के लिए

हिंद वालों को मुसीबत में फंसाने के लिए।

[zulm Dyer ne kiya thaa rang jamane ke liye/Hind walon ko museebat maen phansane ke liye.]

खून से पंजाब के डायर की लिखी डायरी

रुबरु रख दी मेरी तबियत जलाने के लिए।

[khoon se Punjab ke Dyer kee likhee diary/roo-baroo rakh dee mere tabiyat jalane ke liye.]

बाग़े जलियां में शहीदों की बने गर यादगार

जायेंगे अशिके-वतन आंसू बहाने के लिए।

[Bagh-e-Jallian maen shahidon kee baney gar yaadgaar/jayenge aashiq-e-watan aansoo bahane ke liye.]

हम उजड़ते हैं तो उजड़ें, वतन आबाद रहे,

मर मिटे हैं हम के अब वतन आजाद रहे।

वतन की खातिर जो अपनी जान दिया करते हैं,

मरते नहीं हैं वो हमेशा के लिए जिया करते हैं।

[hum ujadte haen tau ujdaen, watan aabaad rahe/murr mitey haen hum ke aab watan azad rahe.

Watan kee khatir jo apnee jaan diya karte haen/marte naheen haen who hamesha ke liye jiya karte haen.]

British rulers overlooked martyrs; Independent India too remained/remains indifferent

These documents make shocking revelations about the reprehensible attitude of the foreign rules towards victims of its own perpetrated massacre at Jallianwala Bagh.

In June 1919 the home department came out with the statement which described the British causalities but kept mum on the count of Indian deaths raising an idiotic argument that whatever number would be made public by the British government would not be acceptable to Indians!

However, when the government repression in Punjab drew world-wide condemnation, the British government appointed a commission of enquiry for investigating violence in Punjab on October 14, 1919, headed by a jurist from Scotland, Hunter. This commission came to be known as Hunter Commission. It came to the conclusion that at Jallianwala Bagh 381 Indians, including males, females and even a 6-month-old baby were killed by the General Dyer’s force. This count was highly disputable as the unidentified bodies (of the people who were not Punjabis but were in Amritsar as it was a famous business/religious centre where also people from other states constantly came in search of livelihood) were disposed off.

Shockingly, even after Independence of the country nothing changed for the surviving members of the martyrs and grievously injured. They remained discarded. In India where persons who were behind bars during Emergency (1975-77) for less than a month, receive INR 10000 and less than 2 months INR 20000 as family pension, the demand of the families of the martyrs that at least they should be entitled for pension and railway concession have not been accepted.

Disgusted, ‘the Jallianwala Bagh Shaheed Parivar Samiti’ wrote a letter to the British PM that England should compensate their loss! It only shows the helplessness and hopelessness of the families of the martyrs but surely shamelessness and spinelessness of the Indian rulers.

Unsung martyr: Udham Singh (adopted the name Mohammad Singh Azad) who avenged the Jallianwala Bagh massacre

This exhibition displayed a telegram that went out on April 16 1940. That was the date of Udham Singh’s trial in London. It read:

“We understand that during the trial the accused intends to pose as a martyr and indulge in heroics. We would be glad if steps are taken to secure that press in England do not report substantially and that Reuters only carry as brief and unsensational a summary as possible.”

This telegram from the Governor General in New Delhi to the Secretary of State for India clearly showed that the Britishers, glorified as great believers in the fair-play and rule of law, germane to democracy, were masters in manipulating the fourth estate.

For more than 47 years this telegram remained a secret document in the British intelligence files and kept hidden by the free India’s governments also till 1994. There were other amazing documents displayed in 1994 which pieced together the complete story of Udham Singh which was so far known only in titbits. Explaining the reasons for killing of Michael O’Dyer at Caxton Hall, London on March 13, 1940 to the court in London he stated:

“I did it because… he deserved it. He… wanted to crush the spirit of my people, so I have crushed him. For full 21 years I have been trying to wreak vengeance. I am happy I have done the job. I am not scared of death. I am dying for my country.”

Udham Singh continued,

“I do not care about sentence of death…I am dying for a purpose… We are suffering from the British Empire…I am proud to die to free my native land and I hope that when I am gone…in my place will come thousands of my countrymen to drive you dirty dogs out; to free my country…you will be cleansed out of India. And your British imperialism will be smashed…I have nothing against the English people at all…I have great sympathy with the workers of England. I am against the imperialist government. DOWN WITH BRITISH IMPERIALISM!”

These words of Mohammad Singh Azad rang out through a London courtroom on March 13, 1940 where he was produced immediately after killing Michael O’Dyer, the Lt. Governor of Punjab, the architect of the Jallianwala massacre who order the crackdown. Mohammad Singh Azad was none other than Udham Singh. Born in a poor Sikh family and brought up in an orphanage.

Then, Udham Singh, a 20-year-old young man had vowed not to rest until he had avenged the killing of the innocent hundreds. He achieved his target 21 years later. And ‘Mohammad Singh Azad’-the name he adopted-underscored the fact that the overthrow of the British rule was impossible without the unity of the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh populace of the land.

It was 85 years ago (July 31, 1940) Udham Singh died on the gallows in the Pentonville prison of London. Through these documents– so far prohibited –we are also informed that, before reaching London he had been to Mesopotamia, Kenya, Uganda, USA and USSR, all in quest of Indian revolutionaries and ammunition. It was on reaching the English shores that he took on the alias of Mohammad Singh Azad. He even attempted to organize fellow English laborers.

Udham Singh’s choice of alias, the name as Mohammad Singh Azad was not a coincidence. He chose it to underline the cardinal fact that India could be liberated only by a collective and united effort of all Indians. There is a reasonable apprehension that if any person by the name of Udham Singh returns to India with that name today, he may be lynched!

The list of martyrs only underlines the multi-religious and multi-caste character of the anti-British freedom struggle

The Hunter Commission list of martyrs makes it clear that the protest meeting at Jallianwala Bagh held in protest against Rowlatt Act and arrests of renowned Congress leaders, Dr Satyapal and Saifuddin Kitchlew (whose son Toufique Kitchlew, an author died in penury) was attended by men, youth, women of all religions and castes.

According to the list there were 381 died due to the firing of the British army under the command of Brigadier General Reginald Dyre. His invading force mainly consisted of Nepali Gurkhas, Baluch Regiment (manned by Punjabi Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs), the 54th Sikhs and the 59th Sind Rifles soldiers making it clear that the British ruled India with the help of Indian stooges.

Out of 381 martyrs, 222 were Hindus, 96 Sikhs and 63 Muslims. Another significant aspect of this gathering, which reflected in the list of martyrs too, was that if on the one hand businessmen, lawyers, journalists, literary persons, government employees, intellectuals were present, on the other hand large number of audiences belonged to professions like ironsmiths, weavers, barbers, helpers, daily-wage earner, carpet knitters, masons, cobblers and safai karamcharis. Many women were also present. A notable presence there was that of Udham Singh.

This reality once again underlines the fact that before the appearance of protagonists of both Hindu and Muslim separatism, the Indian freedom struggle was a united movement over-riding religious and caste divisions. It was a genuinely anti-colonial movement for an inclusive India.

It is also no coincidence, and a tragedy in itself that, such narratives of joint struggle and joint martyrdom of Indian people lie hidden in the dark rooms of the National Archives. If only these are made accessible to the younger generation, they might quell many of the communal, Casteist and sectarian agendas running in the country.

On each anniversary of Jallianwala Bagh massacre the hypocrisy of the present Indian rulers has to be seen and believed. While this lot –as a token gesture –condemn the brutal repression by the British government and passage of the draconian Rowlatt Act, nobody questions them about far worst draconian laws like DIR, MISA, TADA, POTA, UAPA, AFSPA and several others enacted over decades. Such weaponised laws have put India under the iron heel of a repressive state which even the British rulers did not attempt or try to do.

 (For some of the author’s s writings in English, Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Gujarati and video interviews/debates see the following link: http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam)

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.

The post 106th Anniversary of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre: Documents on Jallianwala Bagh massacre and people’s resistance buried at the National Archives appeared first on SabrangIndia.

If we observe the glorification of Dr. BR Ambedkar by the RSS-BJP rulers on his birth anniversary, it appears that they, the sangh parivar are the most loyal followers of him, none other. According to Prime Minister Modi, Ambedkar was ‘architect of the Constitution of India’ and ‘Messiha of the Schedule Castes’.

The UP government has announced a grand celebration of ‘Ambedkar Jayanti’ beginning with a series of programmes from the morning of April 13 (2025), leading up to the main celebrations on April 14 at Lucknow which will be attended by the Hindutva icon, chief minister, Adityanath. These programmes “aim to acquaint the younger generation with Dr Ambedkar’s remarkable life, visionary leadership, and his unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and social reform”.

Dr. Ambedkar is receiving fullsome praise after his death. In life, the RSS and its bandwagon which included the VD Savarkar-led Hindu Mahasabha, never missed an opportunity to denigrate him, often resorted to the burning of his effigy! If Dr. Ambedkar were to appear now, in the India ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadres, make no mistake, he would be either lynched or put in jail under terror laws for his trenchant opposition to Caste and the attendant denigration of Sudras, Women. Especially his sharp critique of Privileged Castes hegemony and Hindutva.

1. Ambedkar supported the burning of Manusmriti

The RSS wants Indian constitution to be replaced by the Manusmriti or Manu Code or laws of Manu which is known for its derogatory and inhuman references to Sudras, Untouchables and women. This is the very Book that Babasaheb burned.  The Constituent Assembly of India finalised the Constitution of India on November 26, 1949, RSS was not happy. Its organ, Organiser in an editorial on November 30, 1949, complained:

“But in our Constitution, there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing.”

By demanding promulgation of laws of Manu in an Independent India, the RSS was simply following its mentor, philosopher and guide VD Savarkar who declared that,

“Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worship-able after Vedas for our Hindu Nation and which from ancient times has become the basis of our culture-customs, thought and practice. This book for centuries has codified the spiritual and divine march of our nation. Even today the rules which are followed by the crores of Hindus in their lives and practice are based on Manusmriti. Today Manusmriti is Hindu Law.”

It is to be noted here that a copy of Manusmriti was burnt as a protest in the presence of Dr. BR Ambedkar during historic Mahad agitation on December 25, 1927. He also called for burning Manusmriti on December 25 each year.

2. Ambedkar held ‘High’ (Privileged) Caste Hindus which control Hindutva politics responsible for the miserable life of Hindus and hatred for Muslims

He was crystal clear in his view, that,

“[The] high caste Hindus are bad as leaders. They have a trait of character which often leads the Hindus to disaster. This trait is formed by their acquisitive instinct and aversion to share with others the good things of life. They have a monopoly of education and wealth, and with wealth and education they have captured the State. To keep this monopoly to themselves has been the ambition and goal of their life. Charged with this selfish idea of class domination, they take every move to exclude the lower classes of Hindus from wealth, education and power, the surest and the most effective being the preparation of scriptures, inculcating upon the minds of the lower classes of Hindus the teaching that their duty in life is only to serve the higher classes. In keeping this monopoly in their own hands and excluding the lower classes from any share in it, the high caste Hindus have succeeded for a long time and beyond measure…

“This attitude of keeping education, wealth and power as a close preserve for themselves and refusing to share it, which the high caste Hindus have developed in their relation with the lower classes of Hindus, is sought to be extended by them to the Muslims. They want to exclude the Muslims from place and power, as they have done to the lower-class Hindus. This trait of the high caste Hindus is the key to the understanding of their politics.”

[B.R. Ambedkar, Pakistan or the Partition of India (Bombay: Government of Maharashtra, 1990), p. 123, first Published December 1940, Thackers Publishers, Bombay.]

3. Ambedkar renounced Hinduism

Ambedkar, in his historic speech in Nagpur on October 15, 1956, a day after he had embraced Buddhism, said,

“The movement to leave the Hindu religion was taken in hand by us in 1935, when a resolution was made in Yeola. Even though I was born in the Hindu religion, I will not die in the Hindu religion. This oath I made earlier; yesterday, I proved it true. I am happy; I am ecstatic! I have left hell — this is how I feel. I do not want any blind followers. Those who come into the Buddhist religion should come with an understanding; they should consciously accept that religion.”

If he tries to convert now we can imagine what terrible fate he will meet!

4. Ambedkar fought for equal rights for women

For the RSS Hindu women are inferior in every respect. The outfit, demands promulgation of Manusmriti as constitution of India which shockingly denigrates women as we will see in the following [few out of dozens]:

1. Day and night woman must be kept in dependence by the males (of) their (families), and, if they attach themselves to sensual enjoyments, they must be kept under one’s control.
2. Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth, and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.
3. Women do not care for beauty, nor is their attention fixed on age; (thinking), ‘(It is enough that) he is a man,’ they give themselves to the handsome and to the ugly.
4. Through their passion for men, through their mutable temper, through their natural heartlessness, they become disloyal towards their husbands, however carefully they may be guarded in this (world).
5. (When creating them) Manu allotted to women (a love of their) bed, (of their) seat and (of) ornament, impure desires, wrath, dishonesty, malice, and bad conduct.
6. For women no (sacramental) rite (is performed) with sacred texts, thus the law is settled; women (who are) destitute of strength and destitute of (the knowledge of) Vedic texts, (are as impure as) falsehood (itself), that is a fixed rule.

Sharply to the contrary, Dr. Ambedkar believed in equality for women. He was clear that, “We shall see better days soon and our progress will be greatly accelerated if male education is persuaded side by side with female education…” He went on to stress that “I measure the progress of community by the degree of progress which women had achieved”. He advised Dalit women, “Never regard yourself as Untouchables, live a clean life. Dress yourselves as touchable ladies. Never mind, if your dress is full of patches, but see that it is clean. None can restrict your freedom in the choice of your garments. Attend more to the cultivation of the mind and spirit of self-Help.”

Liquor was a bane in Dalit families and in order remedy it he asked women “do not feed in any case your spouse and sons if they are drunkards. Send your children to schools. Education is as necessary for females as it is for males. If you know how to read and write, there would be much progress. As you are, so your children will be.”

5. Ambedkar did not subscribe to the idea of Hindu nation and decried Hindutva

Dr. Ambedkar, a keen researcher of the communal politics in pre-independence India, while underlying the affinity and camaraderie between Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League on the issue of Two-Nation Theory wrote:

“Strange it may appear, Mr. Savarkar and Mr. Jinnah instead of being opposed to each other on the one nation versus two nations issue are in complete agreement about it. Both agree, not only agree but insist that there are two nations in India—one the Muslim nation and the other Hindu nation.”

According to him, the idea of “Hindustan for Hindus…is not merely arrogant but is arrant nonsense”. He was emphatic in warning that,

“If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country… [It] is a menace to liberty, equality and fraternity. On that account it is incompatible with democracy. Hindu Raj must be prevented at any cost.”

6. Ambedkar believed in Socialism

Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the Objective Resolution [OR] on December 13, 1946. Dr. Ambedkar’s turn to respond to OR came on 17 December 1946. He stated:

“If this resolution has a reality behind it and a sincerity, of which I have not the least doubt, coming as it does from the mover of the resolution [Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru], I should have expected some provision whereby it would have been possible for the state to make economic, social and political justice a reality and i should have from that point of view expected the resolution to state in most explicit terms that in order that there may be social and economic justice in the country, that there would be nationalisation of industry and nationalisation of land, I do not understand how it could be possible for any future government which believes in doing justice socially, economically and politically, unless its economy is a socialistic economy.”

7. Ambedkar’s antipathy towards ‘Hindutva ‘nationalists’ & ‘Patriots’

Dr Ambedkar, as early as 1931, said that whenever he demanded equality for lower Castes, marginalised sections and Depressed classes he would be called a communalist and anti-national. He was forthright in telling the ‘nationalists’ & ‘patriots’:

“India is a peculiar country, and her nationalists and patriots are a peculiar people. A patriot and a nationalist in India is one who sees with open eyes his fellowmen treated as being less than men. But his humanity does not rise in protest. He knows that men and women for no cause are denied their human rights. But it does not prick his civic sense to helpful action. He finds the whole class of people shut out from public employment. But it does not rouse his sense of justice and fair play. Hundreds of evil practices that injure man and society are perceived by him. But they do not sicken him with disgust. The patriot’s one cry is power and more power for him and for his class. I am glad I do not belong to that class of patriots. I belong to that class which takes its stand on democracy, and which seeks to destroy monopoly in a very shape and form. Our aim is to realise in practice our ideal of one man one value in all walks of life, political, economic and social.”

[Dr BR Ambedkar in the Plenary Session of Round Table Conference, London, 8^th Sitting, January 19, 1931.]

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.

Related:

Rediscovering Ambedkar to Fight Against Hindutva

Hindutva Forces Want to Appropriate Ambedkar but not Impart his Teachings

Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Scathing Attacks on Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra

The post On his 135th birth anniversary, we ask, would Ambedkar be allowed free speech in India today? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

zindaa hae,

Zindaa hone per sharminda hae!

Human beings are still alive;

They are ashamed to be alive!

[Renowned cultural-political-human rights activist of Pakistan, Shahid Nadeem’s Urdu couplet on the silence of the civil society on attacks on minorities in Pakistan. He received forty lashes for writing and singing these lines by the Zia regime in Pakistan. It would be no different in present day India ruled by RSS-BJP.]

For almost all of the past three decades, on every anniversary of the horrific 1984 massacre of Sikhs in India, this author has been reminding the nation of how the Indian State and judiciary did not bother to punish the perpetrators of this horrendous mass killing of innocents of the second largest religious minority of our country. On every anniversary the author had hoped that thereafter justice would be done and he would not have to write the painful story once again as a reminder. This has not happened this year 2024 either. The saga of the criminal betrayal by the Indian Republic has no end and the author along with victims continues to cry before a deaf and dumb Indian State. Shockingly, on the 40^th anniversary of the genocide of Sikhs, the Indian State has even stopped making the claim that it continues to strive to get justice for the victims, like in the past!

What is the status of justice delivery for 2,700 Sikhs[1] massacred in Delhi? Renowned advocate H S Phoolka, who battled along with victims, puts it succinctly:

“The number of commissions and committees set up to probe the murders… is more than the number of convictions…One such commission was the G T Nanavati Commission, set up in 2005 by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. According to its report, 587 FIRs were registered in Delhi in relation to the riots. While 241 of these have been filed as untraced, 253 ended in acquittal. Of the remaining, 40 FIRs are pending trial and one is pending investigation. Eleven FIRs have been quashed, and in 11 other FIRs, the accused have been discharged. Three cases have been withdrawn. To date, just 27 cases have ended in convictions. Of these, just 12 are convictions in murder cases.”

‘Anti-Sikh riots: Four decades on, just 12 murder cases have ended in conviction’, The Indian Express, Delhi, October 31, 2024.

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/anti-sikh-riots-four-decades-on-just-12-murder-cases-have-ended-in-conviction-9646833/

Two kinds of justice

Whenever the country witnesses large-scale violence against the minorities and Dalits, the search for perpetrators continues endlessly and the criminals are rarely identified or punished. Major incidents of violence against minorities like Nellie massacre (1983), Sikh massacre (1984), Hashimpura custodial massacre of Muslim youth (1987), pre/post- Ayodhya mosque demolition violence against Muslims (1990-92), Gujarat carnage (2002) and Kandhmal cleansing of Christians (2008) and continuing blood-bath of Kuki Tribals (who are mostly Christians) in Manipur  are testimony to this reality.

When the victims are Dalits or minorities no such urgency is shown. In such cases the Indian State is fond of playing the commission-commission game. Enquiry Commissions after commissions would be constituted to see that the heinous crimes disappear from the public memory. The horrendous massacre of Sikhs in different parts of India in 1984 is a living testimony of this attitude of the Indian justice system with the motto in Sanskrit: ‘Yato Dharma Tato Jaya’ [Where there is righteousness and dharma, there is victory]. The higher Judiciary must explain what it means by Dharma. Does it include religions of minorities and right of Dalits also?

The scenario for anti-Dalit violence is no different. The major incidents of persecution and massacre of Dalits; 1968 Kilvenmani massacre, 1997 Melavalavu massacre, 2013 Marakkanam anti-Dalit violence, 2012 Dharmapuri anti- Dalit violence (all in Tamil Nadu), 1985 Karamchedu massacre, 1991 Tsundur massacre (all in AP), 1996 Bathani Tola Massacre, 1997 Laxmanpur Bathe massacre (all in Bihar), 1997 Ramabai killings, Mumbai, 2006 Khairlanji massacre, 2014 Javkheda Hatyakand, (all in Maharashtra), 2000 Caste persecution in (Karnataka), 5 Dalits beaten/burnt to death for skinning a dead cow 2006, 2011 killings of Dalits in Mirchpur (all in Haryana), 2015 anti-Dalit violence in Dangawas (Rajasthan) are some of the thousands of incidents of the Dalit persecution. In almost all these cases perpetrators are yet to be identified. Even if identified the prosecution rate has never exceeded 20%.

On the other hand, in the reverse, in cases where Dalit, working class and minority ‘perpetrators’ of violence are efficiently put on trial by constituting special investigation teams and punished by fast track courts. In order to meet the end of ‘justice’, ‘national security’ and ‘wish of the society’ they are hanged and jailed. The over-all reality is that whenever victims are minorities, working class and Dalits the State and judiciary go into coma.

Betrayal by governments until 2014

After giving free run to the killer gangs, the government appointed one man Marwah Commission to find out the perpetrators of the 1984 ‘riots’. As this exercise was proving inconvenient, it was asked to disband itself within short period of its existence and a sitting Supreme Court Judge Ranganath Mishra was asked to conduct inquiry into 1984 ‘riots’ who submitted his report in 1987. Shockingly, this fact finding (or fact-hiding) commission headed by Misra observed that

“riots which had a spontaneous origin later attained a channelized method at the hands of gangsters”.

The full-fledged massacre was reduced to ‘riots’ as if Sikhs equally participated in the violence. This was a brazen manipulation. The ‘apostle of justice’, Mishra, champion of the theory of spontaneity was not, naturally, able to find out from where these gangsters came! According to Jarnail Singh author of the book I Accuse: The Anti-Sikh Violence of 1984 for this service to the State he was awarded a seat in the Rajya Sabha.

Over the next two decades, not less than nine commissions of inquiry were instituted. For the Indian State it became a routine to announce constitution of some new commission or some more compensation to the families of victims in order to deflect the mounting anger at the times of elections. Highlighting the anti-minority bias of such commissions, H. S. Phoolka, a renowned lawyer, commented that instead of getting convicted many of the political perpetrators get promoted to seats of power!

In the latest development Supreme Court of India on August 16, 2017 ordered the constitution of a panel comprising two of its former judges to examine the justification for closing 241 anti-Sikh riot cases probed by SIT in next 3 months; these three months are yet to be over!

Betrayal by the RSS-BJP regime

The RSS always claims to have always stood for Hindu-Sikh unity. It occasionally expresses its gratitude to Sikhism for “saving Hinduism from the Muslim aggression”. It may not be irrelevant to note here that RSS does not treat Sikhism as an independent religion, which discarded Casteism and Brahmanical hegemony, but part of Hinduism. The RSS/BJP leaders have blamed the Congress for anti-Sikh violence Modi while addressing a public rally during last parliamentary elections at Jhansi, UP (October 25, 2013) asked Congress leaders to explain who “killed thousands of Sikhs in 1984” and “has anyone been convicted for the Sikh genocide so far”. Modi during Punjab elections and 2014 general elections kept on referring to ‘qatl-e-aam’ or genocide of Sikhs.Modi after becoming PM in a message (October 31, 2014) said that anti-Sikh riots in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination were like a,

“dagger that pierced through India’s chest…Our own people were murdered, the attack was not on a particular community but on the entire nation.”

Hindutva icon, RSS whole-timer and PM Modi lamented the fact that culprits were yet to be booked and tried for this massacre. However, Modi did not tell the nation what NDA governments which ruled this country from 1998 to 2004 did to persecute the culprits. Modi also forgot to share the fact that as per the autobiography of LK Advani (page 430); it was his Party which forced Indira Gandhi to go for army action infamously named as Operation Blue Star which killed large number of Sikh pilgrims.Renowned journalist Manoj Mitta, author of the book When a Tree Shook Delhi: The 1984 Carnage and Its Aftermath straight forwardly tells that

“Despite the BJP rule, there has hardly been any will to enforce accountability for the massacres that took place under the Congress. It’s as if there is a tacit deal between the sponsors of 1984 and 2002″.

It was no over-sight that during 2024 parliamentary elections 1984 massacre was totally forgotten. This is not what outsiders or critics of the RSS have been telling. The perusal of contemporary RSS documents show that major focus was on condemning the Sikh extremism, eulogizing Indira Gandhi and welcoming the crowning of Rajiv Gandhi as new prime minister.

RSS ideologue Nanaji Deshmukh’s questionable attitude on the Sikh massacre

The most important proof of such a dehumanized attitude towards the massacre of Sikhs is a document circulated by Nana Deshmukh, a prominent whole timer and ideologue of the RSS [now deceased]. This document titled as ‘Moments of Soul Searching’ was circulated by Deshmukh on November 8, 1984, may help in unmasking the whole lot of criminals involved in the massacre of innocent Sikhs who had nothing to do with the killing of Indira Gandhi. This document may also throw light on where the cadres came from, who meticulously organized the killing of Sikhs. Nana Deshmukh in this document is seen outlining the justification of the massacre of the Sikh community in 1984.

This document also reflects the degenerate and fascist attitude of the RSS towards all the minorities of India. The RSS has been arguing that they are against Muslims and Christians because they are the followers of foreign religions. Here we find them justifying the butchering of Sikhs who according to their own categorisation happened to be the followers of an indigenous religion. In this document we will hear from the horse’s mouth that the RSS like the then Congress leadership believed that the massacre of the innocent Sikhs was unavoidable.This document was published in the Hindi Weekly Pratipaksh edited by George Fernandes, who later became Defence Minister of India in the NDA regime, in its edition of November 25, 1984 titled ‘Indira Congress- RSS collusion’ with the following editorial comment:

“The author of the following document is known as an ideologue and policy formulator of the RSS. After the killing of Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi) he distributed this document among prominent politicians. It has a historical significance that is why we have decided to publish it, violating the policy of our Weekly. This document highlights the new affinities developing between the Indira Congress and the RSS. We produce here the Hindi translation of the document.”

The original pages of the Hindi Weekly Pratipaksh edited by George Fernandes, may be seen below.

Deshmukh in his document, “Moments of Soul Searching” on the massacre of the Sikh community in 1984. His defence of the carnage can be summed up as in the following:

1. The massacre of Sikhs was not the handiwork of any group or anti-social elements but the result of a genuine feeling of
2. Deshmukh did not distinguish the action of the two security personnel of Indira Gandhi, who happened to be Sikhs, from that of the whole Sikh community. According to his document the killers of Indira Gandhi were working under some kind of mandate of their
3. Sikhs themselves invited these attacks, thus advancing the Congress theory of justifying the massacre of the Sikhs.
4. He glorified Operation Blue Star and described any opposition to it as anti- national. When Sikhs were being killed in thousands he was warning the country of Sikh extremism, thus offering ideological defense of those killings.
5. Sikh community as a whole was responsible for violence in
6. Sikhs should have done nothing in self-defence but showed patience and tolerance against the killer
7. These were Sikh intellectuals and not killer mobs which were responsible for the massacre. They had turned Sikhs into a militant community, cutting them off from their Hindu roots, thus inviting attacks from the nationalist Indians. Moreover, he treated all Sikhs as part of the same gang and described attacks on them as a reaction of the nationalist
8. He described Indira Gandhi as the only leader who could keep the country united and assassination of such a great leader such killings could not be avoided.
9. Rajiv Gandhi who succeeded Mrs. Gandhi as the PM and justified the nation- wide killings of Sikhs by saying, “When a huge tree falls there are always tremors felt”, was lauded and blessed by Nana Deshmukh at the end of the
10. Shockingly, the massacre of Sikhs was being equated with the attacks on the RSS cadres after the killing of Gandhiji and we find Deshmukh advising Sikhs to suffer silently. Everybody knows that the killing of Gandhiji was inspired by the RSS and the Hindutva Ideology whereas the common innocent Sikhs had nothing to do with the murder of Indira
11. There was not a single sentence in the Deshmukh document demanding, from the then Congress Government at the Centre or the then home minister Narsimha Rao (a Congress leader dear to the RSS who later silently watched demolition of Babri masjid by Hindutva goons as prime minister of India in 1992) remedial measures for controlling the violence against the minority community. Mind it, that Deshmukh circulated this document on November 8, 1984, and from October 31 to this date Sikhs were left alone to face the killing gangs. In fact November 5-10 was the period when the maximum killings of Sikhs took place. Deshmukh was just not bothered about all
12. It is generally believed that the Congress cadres were behind this genocide. This may be true but there were other forces too which actively participated in this massacre and whose role has never been investigated. It could be one of the reasons that actual perpetrators remain unknown. Those who witnessed the genocide were stunned by the swiftness and military precision of the killer/marauding gangs (later on witnessed during the Babri mosque demolition, burning alive of Dr. Graham Steins with his two sons, 2002 pogrom of the Muslims in Gujarat and cleansing of Christians in parts of Orissa) which went on a burning spree of the innocent Sikhs. This, surely, was beyond the capacity of the thugs led by many Congress
13. It is shocking that Deshmukh presented 1984 massacre of Sikhs as an issue between Sikhs and Hindus. He wrote: “I feel proud of all those Hindu neighbours who protected lives and property of troubled Sikh brothers without caring for their lives. Such things one being heard from all over Delhi. These things have practically increased the faith in natural goodness of human behavior and particularly faith in Hindu nature.” He remained oblivious to the fact that these were not only Hindus but Muslims, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Atheists, Communists who defended Sikhs’ lives and

RSS problematic attitude towards the Sikh massacre

The Deshmukh document did not happen in isolation. It represented the real RSS attitude towardsthe Sikh genocide of 1984. It may be relevant to know here that the RSS cadres did not come forward in defence of the Sikhs. The RSS is very fond of circulating publicity material, especially photographs of its khaki shorts-clad cadres doing social work. For the 1984 violence they have none. In fact, Deshmukh’s article also made no mention of the RSS cadres going to the rescue of Sikhs under siege. This shows the real intentions of the RSS during the genocide.

The RSS English organ, Organizer in its combined issue dated November 11 & 18, 1984 carried an editorial titled ‘Stunning Loss’ which praised Indira Gandhi in the following words:

“It will always be difficult to believe that the Indira Gandhi is no more. One had got so used to hearing her myriad voices for so long, that everything looks so blank without her. The violent manner of her death is the most shocking horror story, giving the nation the creeps…It is a case of treacherous fanatics stigmatizing the whole nation by butchering a remarkable specimen of Indian womanhood…She literally served India to the last drop of her blood according to her own lights.” The same editorial ended with the words supporting newly installed PM, Rajiv Gandhi who “deserves sympathy and consideration”. 

Organizer also carried statement of RSS Supremo; Bala Deoras titled ‘Balasaheb condemns assassination, Delhi carnage’ in a single column. He mourned and condemned the carnage but not even once referred to the fact that Sikhs were under attack. For him it was “infighting in the Hindu Samaj”. He also overlooked the fact that it was not only Delhi where Sikhs were butchered/burnt but in many other parts of India too. According to this statement “swayamsevaks have been instructed to form or help in forming Mohalla Suraksha Samitis” for restoring peace and rehabilitation of the sufferers. However, there are no documents available in the contemporary RSS archives to show how these Samitis functioned. It is a fact that RSS which is fond of displaying photographs of its cadres doing social work did not publish any visual of the activity of these Samitis.

In the same statement Deoras reacting to the assassination of Indira Gandhi stated,

“It is shocking beyond words to express  the  feelings  at the murder of PM Mrs.               Indira Gandhi by some fanatic elements. She had been carrying on almost the entire burden of the country since 1966. She was loved and respected not only in this country but all over the world. Her passing away at this critical juncture will create a void in India and also in the world.”

According to  the above mentioned Organizer, “RSS Sarkyavah, Rajender Singh issued instructions to all the branches in  the country to hold a special meeting in Shakha condemning the dastardly murder of the PM and paying  homage  to the departed             soul. He also issued instructions to cancel all public functions to be held by RSS during the period of mourning”.

Of course, the RSS archives do not contain any instructions from RSS top brass instructing the mourning of Sikh victims.

RSS against former PM Manoham Singh’s apology for the 1984 massacre

That the RSS continues to downplay 1984 Sikh massacre is alsoe clear by the perusal of charter of demands submitted to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in last July. The senior RSS  ideologue, Dina Nath Batra on behalf of RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas submitted five pages containing list of items to be removed from school text-books. Batra demanded that any reference to violence against minorities in the text-books should be removed which included references to a simple apology tendered by the former PM Manmohan Singh over 1984 violence.

It is to be noted that in an apology in Parliament on August 12, 2005, Manmohan Singh, the then PM of India stated:

“I have no hesitation in apologising to the Sikh community. I apologise not only to the Sikh community, but to the whole Indian nation because what took place in 1984 is the negation of the concept of nationhood enshrined in our Constitution.”

So the search for finding the perpetrators of Sikh massacre of 1984 continues endlessly. The present RSS/BJP rulers who claim to be co-religionists of Sikhs prove no different from Congress. The only hope is that those Indians who have stakes in continuation of democratic-secular Indian polity will come forward to force the Indian State to identify and punish the killers. Scholars who have been involved in the study of religious violence are unanimous in the conclusion that if 1984 massacre was not allowed to happen, there would not have been 1992-93 (violence against Muslims in pre/post Babri mosque demolition period), 2002 (massacre of Muslims in Gujarat), Kandhmal 2008 (cleansing of Christians) and many other massacre of the minorities of India. Allowing the 1984 massacre the Indian State, let it be known to all the majoritarian fascist organizations that in such criminal happening the former would remain silent! 

Nana Deshmukh awarded ‘Bharat Ratna’

As if it was not enough injustice to the martyrs and survivors of the 1984 massacre, on the eve of the last Republic Day (January 25, 2019) RSS/BJP rulers of India, bestowed the highest national award, the Bharat Ratna (gem of India) on Nanaji Deshmukh. PM Modi praising Deshmukh said, “He [Nana Deshmukh] personifies humility, compassion, and service to the downtrodden. He is a Bharat Ratna in the truest sense”.If anybody wants to understand the exact meaning of the proverb ‘to rub salt into the wound’ this Bharat Ratna to Deshmukh is the fittest example!

This photograph is of a street theatre performance titled ‘Sadharan Log (common people) by Nishant Natya Manch against massacre of Sikhs in 1984. It was performed at more than two thousand places. The author is also doing a role.

Link of a 2023 interview of the author on the same tragedy:

https://www.academia.edu/107044638/Victims_Will_Never_Forget_The_Violence_Shamsul_Islam_On_1984_Massacre_of_Sikh

Link for the full English text of the RSS ideologue Nana Deshmukh’s document: https://www.academia.edu/4890979/RSS_IDEOLOGUE_ NANA_DESHMUKH_J USTIFIED_MASSACRE_OF_SIKHS_IN_1984_From_RSS_archives_

[1] This is the official figure, according to the civil rights organisations around 3,000 were killed!

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.

The post Fortieth anniversary of the forgotten mass 1984 killing of Sikhs, rapist and killers yet to be identified and punished appeared first on SabrangIndia.

His Excellency Jagdeep Dhankhar,

Vice President of India

Respected Sir, it needs no reminding that you occupy the august office of Indian Republic’s Vice-President after taking the following oath under Article 69 of the Indian Constitution, “that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and that I will discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter.” As Vice-President Your Excellency is also the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha.

Sir, it was a sad spectacle that the Nation found you glorifying the Rashtiya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Rajya Sabha on July 31, 2024, in response to the criticism of Samajwadi Party leader Ramji Lal Suman that persons connected with RSS were being appointed to crucial posts in the educational institutions after recommendation from RSS higher-ups. Instead of letting a concerned Minister respond you took charge and stated:

“RSS is an organisation which is a global think tank of the highest order… I will not permit honourable member to single out an organisation which is doing national service…I hereby rule that RSS is an organisation that has full constitutional rights to participate in the development journey of this nation. This organisation bears unimpeachable credentials, comprises of people who are deeply committed to serving the nation selflessly. To take exception that a member of this organisation cannot participate in development journey of the nation is not only unconstitutional, but beyond the rules…if we take exception like this, it is indicative of undemocratic situations. It is antithetical to the preamble of our Constitution. We are doing great disservice to the nation and the Constitution by taking such divisive stance…I increasingly find that people are engaging into divisive activities. This is a pernicious design, a sinister mechanism to run down the growth of the country.”

[‘RSS has unimpeachable credentials, is global think tank of highest order: V-P’, The Indian Express Delhi, August 1, 2024. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/rss-think-tank-vice-president-jagdeep-dhankhar-9486650/]

Sir, when an issue of favouritism and corruption was raised by a senior Rajya Sabha member relating to RSS you went to the extent of warning that “The member was trampling the Constitution of India”.

[‘Jagdeep Dhankhar to the rescue of RSS, describes Opposition MP’s questioning of appointment as ‘trampling of the Constitution’, The Telegraph, Delhi, August 01, 2024. https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/jagdeep-dhankhar-to-the-rescue-of-rss-describes-opposition-mps-questioning-of-appointment-as-trampling-of-the-constitution/cid/2037729]

Your Excellency, you glorified RSS as an organisation which is “a global think tank of the highest order”, “doing national service”, and “bears unimpeachable credentials, comprises of people who are deeply committed to serving the nation selflessly”. You declared any criticism of RSS as “trampling the Constitution of India”, “antithetical to the preamble of our Constitution”, “great disservice to the nation and the Constitution” and critics indulging in “divisive activities” as part of “a pernicious design, a sinister mechanism to run down the growth of the country.”

Sir, I am shocked that as Vice-President of India you eulogized an organisation in the Parliament House of the largest democracy in the world which did not participate in the Indian Freedom Struggle for its inclusiveness, denigrated martyrs of our glorious Freedom Struggle, refused to be loyal to democratic-secular Indian polity, rejected the Tricolour as the National Flag (till year 2000!), denounced Indian Constitution demanding Manusmriti as the constitution Indian), still declares Hinduism and Casteism as synonymous, treats the largest two minorities of  the country as ‘Internal Threats’ and denies claim of Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism being independent religions, and women within RSS as servants.

I am reproducing the above-mentioned startling facts from RSS archives for your kind reference.

RSS committed to build a Hindu state

Importantly, Organizer in an editorial (titled ‘Whither’) on the very eve of Independence, rejected the whole concept of a composite nation declared:

“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.” [Organizer, August 14, 1947]

Prarthana (prayer) and Pratigya (oath) used by the RSS demand from members commitment to a Hindu religion, Hindu rashtra and Hindu cause in opposition to loyalty to democratic-secular Indian polity.

Prarthana:

“Affectionate Motherland, I eternally bow to you/O Land of Hindus, you have reared me in comfort/O Sacred Land, the Great Creator of Good, may this body of mine be dedicated to you/I again and again bow before You/O God almighty, we the integral part of the Hindu Rashtra salute you in reverence/For Your cause have we girded up our loins/Give us Your Blessings for its accomplishment.” 6

[RSS, Shakha Darshika, Gyan Ganga, Jaipur, 1997, p.1.]

Pratigya:

“Before the all-powerful God and my ancestors, I most solemnly take this oath, that I become a member of the RSS in order to achieve all round greatness of Bharatvarsha by fostering the growth of my sacred Hindu religion, Hindu society, and Hindu culture. I shall perform the work of the Sangh honestly, disinterestedly, with my heart and soul, and I shall adhere to this goal all my life. Bharat Mata Ki Jai.” 7 [Ibid, p. 66.]

Sir, thus your glorification of RSS was praise of an organization which demands commitment not to the constitutional polity of India but Hindu Rashtra.

RSS denigrated the Tricolour

Respected Sir, Tricolour is our National Flag. It was this flag carrying which thousands Indian patriots laid down their live as during the British rule it was crime to unfurl it in public. How much RSS hated it can be known by the following denigration of the Flag in its English organ, Organizer just on the eve of Independence (August 14, 1947):

“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.”

RSS betrayed India’s Freedom Struggle

Your Excellency, The Non-cooperation Movement (1920-22) and the Quit India Movement (1942) were two great milestones in the history of the Indian Freedom Movement, but RSS kept aloof not only from these but from other anti-colonial campaigns. Guru MS Golwalkar, the most prominent ideologue of the RSS shamelessly denigrated these movements in the following words:

“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.”

[Shri Guruji Samagr Darshan [Collected works of MS Golwalkar in Hindi in 7 volumes], Vol IV, BhartiyamVichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd, p. 41. Hereafter referred to as SGSD.]

Thus, Guru Golwalkar wanted 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 organisation of inactive persons, their talks are useless, and not only outsiders but also many of our volunteers did talk like this. They were greatly disgusted too.” [SGSD, p. 40.]

Guruji tells us that RSS did nothing directly. However, there is not a single publication or document of the RSS which throws light on what the RSS did indirectly for the Quit India Movement. During this period, in fact, its mentor, ‘Veer’ Savarkar, ran coalition governments with the Muslim League.

RSS denigrates martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle

Respected Sir, I would like to know your views on the statements of ‘Guruji’ decrying and denigrating the tradition of martyrdom following which Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekar Azad, Ashfaqullah Khan, Ram Prasad Bismil and countless other patriotic Indians laid down their lives for the independence our Motherland. Here is a passage from the chapter, ‘Martyr, great but not ideal’ from Bunch of Thoughts, a veritable Geeta for RSS cadres:

“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.”

[Golwalkar, MS., Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu Prakashana, Bangalore, 1996 edition, p. 283.]

Could there be a statement more insulting to the Indian martyrs than this? The founder of the RSS, Dr. KB Hedgewar, went one step further: “Patriotism is not only going to prison. It is not correct to be carried away by such superficial patriotism.” [CP Bhishikar, CP., Sanghavariksh Ke Beej: Dr. Keshavrao Hedgewar, Suruchi, 1994, p. 21.]

RSS’ anathema to democracy

Vice-President Sir, you will agree with me that it is due to our democratic and egalitarian polity that you have become the Vice-President of India. But if Guru Golwalkar had his say it would not have been possible. Guruji hated democracy as per his following decree which he presented before a group of 1,350 top level cadres of the RSS in 1940 at the RSS Headquarters: “RSS inspired by one flag, one leader and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva in each and every corner of this great land” [SGSD, vol. i, p. 11.]

As a leading intellectual you must be familiar with the fact that decree of rule under ‘one flag, one leader and one ideology’ was also the battle cry of the Fascist and Nazi parties of Europe in the first half of 20th century. What they did to democracy is well-known to the world!

For RSS Hinduism and Casteism are synonymous

Respected Sir, allow me to ask whether you like RSS believe that Hinduism and Casteism are one and the same. The most prominent ideologue of RSS, Guru Golwalkar stated:

“The Virat Purusha, the Almighty manifesting himself… [According to Purusha Sukta] sun and moon are his eyes, the stars and the skies are created from his nabhi [navel] and Brahmin is the head, Kshatriya the hands, Vaishya the thighs and Shudra the feet. This means that the people who have this fourfold arrangement, i.e., the Hindu People, is our God. This supreme vision of Godhead is the very core of our concept of ‘nation’ and has permeated our thinking and given rise to various unique concepts of our cultural heritage.” [Golwalkar, MS., Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu Prakashana, Bangalore, 1996 edition, pp. 36-37.]

For this infallible belief in Casteism RSS strongly demanded that Manusmriti should replace the Indian Constitution. When the Constituent Assembly of India finalized the Constitution of India under the guidance of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on November 26, 1949, RSS was not happy. Its organ, Organiser, in an editorial four days later complained:

“But in our constitution, there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing.” [Organizer, Delhi, November 30, 1949.]

Respected Sir, I am reproducing a selection from Manusmriti for your kind reference and would like to know whether you also believe in these decrees of the Manu Code. These dehumanizing and degenerate laws, which are presented here, are self-explanatory.

Laws of Manu concerning Sudras

1. For the sake of the prosperity of the worlds (the divine one) caused the Brahmana, the Kshatriya, the Vaisya, and the Sudra to proceed from his mouth, his arm, his thighs and his feet.
2.  One occupation only the lord prescribed to the Sudras, to serve meekly even these (other) three castes.
3.  Once-born man (a Sudra), who insults a twice-born man with gross invective, shall have his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin.
4.  If he mentions the names and castes (jati) of the (twice-born) with contumely, an iron nail, ten fingers long, shall be thrust red-hot into his mouth.
5.  If he arrogantly teaches Brahmanas their duty, the king shall cause hot oil to be poured into his mouth and into his ears.
6.  With whatever limb a man of a low caste does hurt to (a man of the three) highest (castes), even that limb shall be cut off; that is the teaching of Manu.
7.  He who raises his hand or a stick, shall have his hand cut off; he who in anger kicks with his foot, shall have his foot cut off.
8.  A low-caste man who tries to place himself on the same seat with a man of a high caste, shall be branded on his hip and be banished, or (the king) shall cause his buttock to be gashed.
9.  Let him never slay a Brahmana, though he has committed all (possible) crimes; let him banish such an (offender), leaving all his property (to him) and (his body) unhurt.

Laws of Manu concerning Women

1.  Day and night woman must be kept in dependence by the males (of) their (families), and, if they attach themselves to sensual enjoyments, they must be kept under one’s control.
2.  Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth, and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.
3.  Women must particularly be guarded against evil inclinations, however trifling (they may appear); for, if they are not guarded, they will bring sorrow on two families.
4.  Considering that the highest duty of all castes, even weak husbands (must) strive to guard their wives.
5.  No man can completely guard women by force; but they can be guarded by the employment of the (following) expedients:
6.  Let the (husband) employ his (wife) in the collection and expenditure of his wealth, in keeping (everything) clean, in (the fulfilment of) religious duties, in the preparation of his food, and in looking after the household utensils.
7.  Women, confined in the house under trustworthy and obedient servants, are not (well) guarded; but those who of their own accord keep guard over themselves, are well guarded.
8.  Women do not care for beauty, nor is their attention fixed on age; (thinking), ‘(It is enough that) he is a man,’ they give themselves to the handsome and to the ugly.
9.  Through their passion for men, through their mutable temper, through their natural heartlessness, they become disloyal towards their husbands, however carefully they may be guarded in this (world).
10.  (When creating them) Manu allotted to women (a love of their) bed, (of their) seat and (of) ornament, impure desires, wrath, dishonesty, malice, and bad conduct.
11.  For women no (sacramental) rite (is performed) with sacred texts, thus the law is settled; women (who are) destitute of strength and destitute of (the knowledge of) Vedic texts, (are as impure as) falsehood (itself), that is a fixed rule.

Do I need to remind you that these laws are for Hindus? I also would like to remind you that a copy of Manusmriti was burnt as a protest in the presence of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar during the historic Mahad agitation on December 25, 1927.

RSS celebrated the assassination of Gandhiji

Your Excellency, I hope you know that Nathuram Godse and others who conspired to kill Gandhiji, claimed to be ‘Hindu Nationalists’. They described killing as something ordained by God. RSS celebrated his killing by distributing sweets was the finding of none other than the first home minister of India, Sardar Patel. In a letter written to Golwalkar on September 11, 1948, Sardar stated:

“Organizing the Hindus and helping them is one thing but going in for revenge for its sufferings on innocent and helpless men, women and children is quite another thing…Apart from this, their opposition to the Congress that too of such virulence, disregarding all considerations of personality, decency or decorum, created a kind of unrest among the people. All their speeches were full of communal poison. It was not necessary to spread poison in order to enthuse the Hindus and organize for their protection. As a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji. Even an iota of the sympathy of the Government, or of the people, no more remained for the RSS. In fact, opposition grew. Opposition turned more severe, when the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhiji’s death.” [Justice on Trial, RSS, Bangalore, 1962, pp. 26-28.]

Respected Sir, Gandhiji’s assassination was part of nation-building by RSS. I hope you will take note of it.

Muslims and Christians as ‘Internal Threats’ number 1 and 2

The ‘Holy’ book for the RSS cadres Bunch of Thoughts, has a long chapter titled as ‘Internal Threats’ in which Muslims and Christians are described as threat number 1 and 2 respectively. While treating Muslims as hostile element number 1 the book goes on to elaborate,

“Even to this day there are so many who say, ‘now there is no Muslim problem at all. All those riotous elements who supported Pakistan have gone away once for all. The remaining Muslims are devoted to our country. After all, they have no other place to go, and they are bound to remain loyal’…It would be suicidal to delude ourselves into believing that they have turned patriots overnight after the creation of Pakistan. On the contrary, the Muslim menace has increased a hundredfold by the creation of Pakistan which has become a springboard for all their future aggressive designs on our country.”

[MS Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu, Bangalore, 1996, pp. 177-78.]

The book goes on to spit venom against common Muslims in the following words:

“…within the country there are so many Muslim pockets, i.e., so many ‘miniature Pakistans’… The conclusion is that, in practically every place, there are Muslims who are in constant touch with Pakistan over the transmitter…”

[MS Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu, Bangalore, 1996, p. 185.]

Golwalkar also questioned the loyalty of even Muslim high government officials serving Indian Government in the following word: “Even today, Muslims, whether in high positions of the Government or outside, participate openly in rabidly anti-national conferences. Their speeches carry the ring of open defiance and rebellion.” [MS Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu, Bangalore, 1996, p. 187.]

While deliberating on the ‘Internal Threat’ number 2, the Christians, he says,

“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.” [Ibid., p. 193]

Your Excellency, you are supposed to be the defender of all-inclusive Indian Constitutional system. Unfortunately, you have taken sides of an organization which wants to drag India into religious conflicts to the glee of foreign enemies of democratic-secular India.

Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism not independent religions

Respected Sir, RSS regards followers of Islam and Christianity as emigrant or foreigners and demands their cleansing as these two religions are declared to be foreign religions. However, RSS has no respect for Indian religions like Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism as these are not treated as independent religions but part of Hinduism. Guru Golwalkar set the agenda by declaring that, “the Buddhists, the Jain, the Sikh are all included in that one comprehensive word ‘Hindu’.” [Golwalkar, MS, the Spotlights, Sahitya Sindhu, Bangalore, 1974, p. 171.]

RSS believed that South Indian Hindus belong to an inferior Race

Vice-President Sir, it is shocking that you are glorifying RSS which as a Racist organization believed that the Race of Hindus of South India needed to be improved? I am reproducing a speech of Guru Golwalkar on this issue in context of Kerala Hindus. He was invited to address the students at the School of Social Science of Gujarat University on December 17, 1960. In this address, while underlying his firm belief in the Race Theory, he touched upon the issue of crossbreeding of human beings in the Indian society in history. He shamelessly stated:

“In an effort to better the human species through cross breeding the Namboodri Brahamanas of the North were settled in Kerala and a rule was laid down that the eldest son of a Namboodri family could marry only the daughter of Vaishya, Kashtriya or Shudra communities of Kerala. Another still more courageous rule was that the first offspring of a married woman of any class must be fathered by a Namboodri Brahman and then she could beget children by her husband. Today this experiment will be called adultery, but it was not so, as it was limited to the first child.” [M. S. Golwalkar cited in Organizer, January 2, 1961.]

Here we find Golwalkar as a Racist and male chauvinist to argue that a Namboodri Brahman male belonging to a superior Race from the North only could improve the inferior human Race from South. For him wombs of Kerala’s Hindu women enjoyed no sanctity and were simply objects of improving breed through intercourse with Namboodri Brahamanas who in no way were related to them.

Your Excellency: do you uphold such criminal views of Golwalkar; the most prominent ideologue of RSS and Guru of all RSS cadres? In RSS male cadres are swayamsevaks (volunteers) but female cadres are sevikas (servants/maids).

Respected Vice-President Sir, your glorification of RSS means that you also support anti-women RSS. RSS is an exclusive male organization, and its members are described as swayamsevak or volunteers whereas the female organization created in 1936 with the name, Rashtr Sevika Samiti describes its members as sevikas meaning female servants. The Sevikas take an oath to remain faithful, modest, guard virginity and honour but no such oath is prescribed for RSS cadres.

Sir, I beg you to enlighten the nation about your response to this naked male chauvinistic attitude of the RSS.

Your Excellency, it is sad time for Indian democracy that the top constitutional officials of the Indian Republic are using platform of Indian Parliament for glorifying an anti-national and anti-social organization. As an Indian, I appeal to your sense of honesty and conscience to remain loyal to the Oath (Article 69) which you took while assuming the office of the Vice-President of Indian Republic. Any person having faith in the RSS worldview cannot be loyal to the present Indian constitutional polity.

With regards,

Shamsul Islam

Also Read:

How Hindutva forces colluded with both the British & Jinnah against the historic ‘Quit India’ movement: Archives

BJP Independent of RSS: Are You Joking Mr. Nadda?

RSS deceit on constitutional reservation and Dalits in general

The post Has VP Jagdeep Dhankar, violated his constitutional oath? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Since then August 9 is celebrated as August Kranti Divas.

The British swiftly responded with mass detentions on August 8 itself. Contemporary official documents confirm that over 100,000 arrests were made which included the total top leadership of Congress including Gandhi, mass fines were levied and demonstrators were subjected to public flogging. Hundreds of civilians were also killed by the police and the British army assisted by their henchmen; native rulers. Many national leaders went underground and continued their struggle by broadcasting messages over clandestine radio stations, distributing pamphlets and establishing parallel governments. Innumerable patriotic Indians were shot dead for the ‘crime’ of unfurling and holding the Indian Tricolour, publically. Even before that a terrible massacre had taken place in Mysore where the armed forces of the Mysore Raja who was very close to both the Hindu Mahasabha (HMS) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shot dead 22 Congress activists for saluting the Tricolour!

Significantly, after declaring Congress both an ‘anti-national and unlawful organisation’, the British masters allowed only Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League to function!

Most of us also know that the then Communist Party of India (CPI) opposed the QIM thus betraying a great phase of mass uprising in the history of the freedom struggle. But it is equally well documented that despite CPI’s call for keeping aloof from QIM a large number of Communist activists participated in it. However, the dubious role of the then Hindutva camp—consisting of the Hindu Mahasabha [HM] and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [RSS] – in the QIM is under wraps for reasons unknown. The Hindutva camp not only opposed QIM but also provided multi-faceted and multi-dimensional support to the British rulers in suppressing this historic mass upsurge.

Documents, shocking for many a young reader are available to substantiate this:

‘Veer’ Savarkar-led Hindu Mahasabha joined hands with British rulers to suppress the Quit India Movement (QIM)

While addressing the 24th session of the Hindu Mahasabha at Cawnpore (now Kanpur) in 1942, Savarkar outlined the strategy of the Hindu Mahasabha of co-operating with the British rulers in the following words:

“The Hindu Mahasabha holds that the leading principle of all practical politics is the policy of Responsive Co-operation. And in virtue of it, it believes that all those Hindu Sangathanists [members of HM] who are working as councillors, ministers, legislators and conducting any municipal or any public bodies with a view to utilize those centres of government power to safeguard and even promote the legitimate interests of the Hindus without, of course, encroaching on the legitimate interests of others are rendering a highly patriotic service to our nation. Knowing the limitations under which they work, the Mahasabha only expects them to do whatever good they can under the circumstances and if they do not fail to do that much it would thank them for having acquitted themselves well. The limitations are bound to get themselves limited step by step till they get altogether eliminated. The policy of responsive co-operation which covers the whole gamut of patriotic activities from unconditional co-operation right up to active and even armed resistance, will also keep adapting itself to the exigencies of the time, resources at our disposal and dictates of our national interest.” [Italics as in the original][i]

[Cited in V.D. Savarkar, Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya: Hindu Rashtra Darshan, vol. 6, Maharashtra Prantik Hindu Sabha, Poona, 1963, p. 474.]

This ‘Responsive Cooperation’ with the British masters was not only a theoretical commitment. It soon got concretised in the ganging up of Hindu Mahasabha with the Muslim League. The Hindu Mahasabha led by ‘Veer’ Savarkar ran coalition governments with Muslim League in 1942. Savarkar defended this nexus in his presidential speech in the same session of Hindu Mahasabha at Kanpur, in the following words:

“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 submissive-ness 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.”[ii] [Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya, vol. 6, 479-480.]

The Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League, together, besides Bengal and Sind, also ran coalition government in NWFP also during this period.

Hindutva icon Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was deputy CM in the Bengal Muslim League ministry was responsible for crushing the QIM in Bengal

Following the Hindu Mahasabha directive to co-operate with the British, the present Hindutva icon, Dr. Mookerjee assured his British masters through a letter dated July 26, 1942. Shockingly, it read:

“Let me now refer to the situation that may be created in the province as a result of any widespread movement launched by the Congress. Anybody, who during the war, plans to stir up mass feeling, resulting internal disturbances or insecurity, must be resisted by any Government that may function for the time being”[iii]

[Mookherjee, Shyama Prasad, Leaves from a Dairy, Oxford University Press. p. 179.]

The second-in-command of the Hindu Mahasabha, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, also the deputy chief minister in Bengal Muslim league ministry in a letter to Bengal governor on behalf of Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League made it clear that both these parties looked at the British rulers as saviours of Bengal against Quit India Movement launched by Congress. In this letter, he mentioned item wise the steps to be taken for dealing with the situation. It read:

“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 despite 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 for Britain, not for any advantage that the British might gain, but for the maintenance of the defence and freedom of the province itself.”[iv]

[Cited in A G. Noorani, The RSS and the BJP: A Division of Labour. LeftWord Books, p. 56–57.]

RSS followed Savarkar in opposing the QIM

THE other flag-bearer of Hindutva, the RSS, was not different in its attitude towards the QIM. It openly sided with its mentor ‘Veer’ Savarkar against this great revolt. The RSS’ attitude towards the QIM becomes clear from the following utterances of its second chief and most prominent ideologue till date, M.S. Golwalkar. While talking about the outcome of the Non-Cooperation Movement and QIM he said:

“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. This movement, specially, spread widely in Bihar. We witness today that trains are stopped, chains are pulled and travel without tickets is very commonly practised there…All this disorder and bizarre situation are the creation of this struggle.”[v]

[Golwalkar, M.S., Shri Guruji Samagra Darshan (Collected Works of Golwalkar in Hindi), vol. iv, Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd, p. 41.]

Thus, the prophet of Hindutva, Golwalkar, wanted the Indians to respect the draconian and repressive laws of the inhuman British rulers! He admitted that this kind of negative attitude towards the QIM did not go well even with the RSS cadres:

“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 organisation of inactive persons, their talks are useless, not only outsiders but also many of our volunteers did talk like this. They were greatly disgusted too.”[vi]

[Golwalkar, M.S., Shri Guruji Samagra Darshan (Collected Works of Golwalkar in Hindi), vol. iv, Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd, p. 40.]

It would be interesting to note what Golwalkar meant by ‘routine work of Sangh’. It surely meant working overtime to widen the divide between Hindus and Muslims thus serving the strategic goal of the British rulers and Muslim League. In fact, the contemporary reports of the British intelligence agencies on the QIM were straightforward in describing the fact that RSS kept aloof from the QIM. According to one such report, “the Sangh has scrupulously kept itself within the law, and in particular, has refrained from taking part in the disturbances that broke out in August 1942”.[vii]

[Cited in Andersen, Walter K. & Damle, Shridhar D. The Brotherhood in Saffron: the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism, Westview Press, 1987, 44.]

These historical and well-documented facts make it clear that Hindutva gang led by the RSS not only betrayed QIM but also rendered great service to their British masters by aligning with the Muslim League at a time when the foreign rulers were faced with a nation-wide popular revolt incolving large sections of Indians. In collusion, the HMS/RSS (also with the ML) mounted one of the fiercest repressions of the freedom fighters. Shockingly, this gang is ruling India today describing itself as a symbol of Indian nationalism. We need to convey these facts to the Indians so that these traitors are exposed and charged for crimes committed against Indian people.

Today’s rulers wedded to the RSS and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) know that betrayal of the QIM by their Hindutva ancestors cannot be covered up. It is crystal clear that RSS including its top leaders like Golwalkar (head of the RSS), Deendayal Upadhyaya, Balraj Madhok, LK Advani and KR Malkani who were RSS whole timers during QIM did not participate in this Movement or any other struggle launched for the freedom of India. RSS-BJP rulers continue raking up communal polarizing issues so that betrayal of the QIM is covered up.

Link for some of S. Islam’s writings in English, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati and video interviews/debates:
http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam

Link for procuring Shamsul Islam’s books in English, Hindi & Urdu:
https://tinyurl.com/shams-books

REFRENCES:

[i] Cited in V.D. Savarkar, Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya: Hindu Rashtra Darshan, vol. 6, Maharashtra Prantik Hindu Sabha, Poona, 1963, p. 474.

[ii] Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya, vol. 6, 479-480.

[iii] Mookherjee, Shyama Prasad, Leaves from a Dairy, Oxford University Press. p. 179.

[iv] Cited in A G. Noorani, The RSS and the BJP: A Division of Labour. LeftWord Books, p. 56–57.

[v] Golwalkar, M.S., Shri Guruji Samagra Darshan (Collected Works of Golwalkar in Hindi), vol. iv, Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd, p. 41.

[vi] Golwalkar, M.S., Shri Guruji Samagra Darshan (Collected Works of Golwalkar in Hindi), vol. iv, Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd, p. 40.

[vii] Cited in Andersen, Walter K.& Damle, Shridhar D. The Brotherhood in Saffron: the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism, Westview Press, 1987, 44.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.

The post How Hindutva forces colluded with both the British & Jinnah against the historic ‘Quit India’ movement: Archives appeared first on SabrangIndia.

“RSS is a cultural organisation and we are a political organisation…It’s (RSS is) an ideological front. The RSS and the BJP have their own areas of working very clearly established”. [https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/j-p-nadda-interview-bjp-modi-9337032/]

It was not for the first time that this lie was spoken about relationship between RSS and BJP. Organiser, English mouthpiece of the RSS, in its editorial of February 6, 2000 relied on this lie when wrote:

“The RSS is not a political party. It does not take part in elections nor its office bearers are supposed to become office bearers of any political party. The RSS has no election symbol nor its leadership or members have ever endeavoured to seek political office. It is a social-cultural organization trying to inspire all national activity.”

We must compare this claim of the RSS with the following two statements of Golwalkar, who headed the RSS after the death of KB Hedgewar, and is considered the greatest ideologue of the organization till date. The first statement tells us about the kind of personnel who are sent to manipulate politics and what is expected of them by the RSS. While delivering a speech on March 16, 1954, in 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.”

[Golwalkar, MS, Shri Guruju Samgr Darshan (collected works of Golalkar in Hindi), Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur (RSS publication house), vol. III,  n. d., p. 32.]

The second statement is also very significant and clearly highlights the high level of political ambitions of the RSS. While addressing the leading RSS cadres at Indore on March 5, 1960 he said:

“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 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 over-zealousness in their hearts, to the extent that they become useless for this work. This is not good.” [Ibid, vol. IV, pp. 4-5.]

We find here Golwalkar referring to the Swayamsevaks loaned to political satellite as ‘nat’ or performers who are meant to dance to the tunes of the RSS. This fact should not be missed here that Golwalkar’s above design of controlling the political arm was elaborated in March 1960 almost nine years after the establishment of Jan Sangh (the forerunner of the BJP) in 1951.

BJP NOT INDEPENDENT OF RSS

The RSS leadership keeps on harping that BJP is an independent political organization and does not work under the dictates of the RSS. It is pertinent that one compares this information with the facts available in the official publications of the RSS. The central publication house of the RSS, the Suruchi Prakashan, has published a book, Param Vaibhav Ke Path Par (The Road to Glory) in 1997 giving details of more than 40 organizations created by the RSS for different tasks. The BJP as a political organization figures prominently in it, clubbed with the ABVP, Hindu Jagaran Manch, Vishva Hindu Parishad, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and Sanskar Bharti.  The preface of the book itself declares that,

“Without the knowledge of the different kinds of activities of the Sawyamsevaks (the volunteers of the RSS) the introduction of the RSS is incomplete. Keeping this in mind it has been attempted in this book to produce the brief information about the diverse activities of the Sawyamsevaks. This book covers the organizational status till 1996…We believe that this book will prove to be of use for those who want to understand the RSS with the Swyamsevaks.”

[Sapre, Sadanand D., Parm Vaibhav Ke Path Per, Suruchi (central publication house of RSS), Delhi, 1997, p. 7.]

In this book the BJP figures at number 3 in the list of prominent organizations created by the RSS. This book gives details of the creation and development of Bhartiya Jan Sangh (the forerunner of the BJP) and then BJP by the RSS for purposes laid down by the latter. It is to be noted that PM of India and his senior ministers, most of the present BJP chief ministers and Governors publically declare to be RSS cadres. JP Nadda too proudly declares to be a member of RSS.

We will have to find out the answer why suddenly Nadda declares independence of BJP from RSS. In fact, such a situation was visualized by Golwalkar in 1960 itself when he stated that “sometimes Swayamsevaks go beyond the role assigned to a performer (nat) as they develop over-zealousness in their hearts, to the extent that they become useless for this work. This is not good.” Mohan Bhagwat and his key confidants leading RSS today is no match to Golwalkar who could control its political child, BJP. Modi (trained by Golwalkar as a political leader), a Vishwa guru, Hindu hirday samrat and Hindutva icon has made RSS led by Hindutva minions redundant. RSS is paying for creating a Leviathan (a natural corollary of combining religion with politics) to its own peril. Golwalkar declared as early as 1940 that “RSS inspired by one flag, one leader and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva in each and every corner of this great land”. [Golwalkar, MS, Shri Guruju Samgr Darshan, vol. I, p. 11] Modi fulfils this dream of RSS fully. Hindutva zealots celebrated when Modi marched on demolishing secularism, constitutional reservations, national institutions and communal harmony but forgot that if it had to be ONE LEADER Mohan Bhagwat and his Hindutva Empire too had to go!

( Link for some of S. Islam’s writings in English, Hindi, Urdu and translations into Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati and video interviews/debates: http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam )

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.

The post BJP Independent of RSS: Are You Joking Mr. Nadda? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

India came face to face with this inherent trait of RSS when it’s Supremo Mohan Bhagwat in a speech at Hyderabd (April 28, 2024) while reacting to a video (in which a RSS luminary called upon to finish off constitutional Reservation) stated

“Ye galat baat hai, asatya hai (This is wrong, false)…“The Sangh has been supporting all reservation as per the Constitution since the beginning. And, the Sangh says that it should continue as long as those for whom it exists feel that it is necessary…It (reservation policy) should continue as long as discrimination exists in society.”

[‘Lok Sabha elections: RSS joins BJP quota firefight as unease grows’, The Telegraph on Line, Kolkata, April 28, 2024.]

When the founding fathers of the Constitution of independent India made provisions for reservations to Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes, the most prominent ideologue of RSS and 2^nd Supremo of the organization, MS Golwalkar strongly reacted by alleging that the rulers “were digging at the roots of Hindu social cohesion and destroying the spirit of identity that had kept all the various sects in a harmonious whole in the past”.

[Cited in N. L. Gupta, RSS and Democracy (Delhi: Sampradayikta Virodhi Committee, nd., p. 17] He refused to admit that Hindu social system was at the root of the neglect of the lower castes. [Golwalkar, MS., Bunch of Thoughts, selection of writings/speeches/interviews, Sahitya Sindhu Prakashana, Bangalore, 1996 [3^rd edition], p.363.]

When Golwalkar was asked: “What about the protection to Harijans guaranteed in the Constitution and its subsequent extension?” His reply was:

“Dr. Ambedkar had envisaged the special privileges for ‘Scheduled Castes’ for only 10 years from the day we became a Republic in 1950. But it is going on, being extended. Continued special privileges on the basis of caste only, is bound to create vested interests in them in remaining as a separate entity. That would harm their integration with the rest of the society [Hindu society]. [Golwalkar, MS., Spotlights, Sahitya Sindhu, Bangalore, 1974, p. 16.]

For Golwalkar, the real issue was not how to undo the injustice done to the depressed castes [Sudras/Dalits] for thousands of years in the past but “take extra care to see that their separateness is not given fillip.”

[Golwalkar, MS., Spotlights, Sahitya Sindhu, Bangalore, 1974, p. 184] He never accepted the fact that lower Castes were being maltreated in India. While reacting to a big carnage of Dalits in a part of India he wrote on October 14, 1972:

“There is a trend these days to give Harijan-non-Harijan colour even to ordinary happenings, probably out of political motivation and digging a rift in the oneness and solidarity of the people. For immediate benefits-even these doubtful-to sacrifice the lasting good of the people as a whole that is the unfortunate aspect of the trends obtaining now a days. In our work, we have to steer clear of this poisonous trend and do our best to clarify the atmosphere.” [Golwalkar, MS., Shri Guruji Sanmgr Darshan, (selection of his writings/speeches in Hindi), vol. 7, Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, 1974, p. 244.]

Golwalkar’s hatred for Dalits was outcome of his firm belief in Casteism under which they did not enjoy even right to life. For him Casteism was synonymous with the Hindu nation. According to him, the Hindu people are none else but,

“[The] Virat Purusha, the Almighty manifesting himself…According to purusha sukta sun and moon are his eyes, the stars and the skies are created from his nabhi [navel] and Brahmin is the head, Kshatriya the hands, Vaishya the thighs and Shudra the feet. This means that the people who have this fourfold arrangement, i.e., the Hindu People, is [sic] our God. This supreme vision of Godhead is the very core of our concept of ‘nation’ and has permeated our thinking and given rise to various unique concepts of our cultural heritage. [Italics as in the original]

[Golwalkar, MS., Bunch of Thoughts, pp. 36-37.]

This was nothing but a re-phrasing of Manu’s inhuman anti-Sudra codes. Golwalkar refused to accept that Casteism was a bane to Hinduism or hindered the feeling of unity among Hindus.

“Persons interested in calumniating Hindus make much of the caste system, the ‘superstitions’, the want of literacy, the position of women in the social structure, and all sorts of true or untrue flaws in the Hindu Cultural Organization, and point out that the weakness of the Hindus lies solely in these.”

[Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, pp. 61– 62.]

Ambedkar, who witnessed RSS growing and was familiar with its destructive tendencies, was of the firm opinion that the ideology of Hindutva practised by RSS was nothing but a ploy by privileged caste Hindus to maintain control over society and its resources. He wrote:

“They have a trait of character which often leads the Hindus to disaster. This trait is formed by their acquisitive instinct and aversion to share with others the good things of life. They have a monopoly of education and wealth, and with wealth and education they have captured the State. To keep this monopoly to themselves has been the ambition and goal of their life. Charged with this selfish idea of class domination, they take every move to exclude the lower classes of Hindus from wealth, education and power…This attitude of keeping education, wealth and power as a close preserve for themselves and refusing to share it, which the high Caste Hindus have developed in their relation with the lower classes of Hindus, is sought to be extended by them to the Muslims. They want to exclude the Muslims from place and power, as they have done to the lower class Hindus. This trait of the high Caste Hindus is the key to the understanding of their politics.”

[Ambedkar, BR., Pakistan or the Partition of India, Government of Maharashtra, Bombay, 1990 (reprint of 1946 edition), p. 123.]

How brazenly the RSS has been opposing Reservation was made clear in 1981 when its cadres played most nefarious role in opposing Reservation to  socially and economically backward Castes in Gujarat introduced by Congress ministry headed by Madhavsinh Solanki. More than 100 people were killed including 2 police officials. It is interesting to note that like today the debate of Reservation was turned in spreading poison against local Muslims who were killed with impunity.

Related:

RSS & BJP have already caused enough damage: In conversation with path-breaking novelist Devanur Mahadevan

The post RSS deceit on constitutional reservation and Dalits in general appeared first on SabrangIndia.

PM Modi in the eyes of Hindutva bigots represents the resurgent Hinduism and defender of Hindu nationalism against its enemies. The pre-Independence Muslim League led by MA Jinnah is a favourite punching bag for him which also helps him in spreading hatred against Indian Muslims. In any election PM takes the form of a relentless warrior against Muslim separatism. Reacting to the release of Indian National Congress’ manifesto for the forthcoming parliamentary elections in an election rally in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh (which has a substantial population of Muslims and history of religious polarization) he declared that “The manifesto of the Congress, released yesterday [April 5, 2024], shows that it cannot fulfil the aspirations of the country. The Congress manifesto has the imprint of the policies of the Muslim League before Independence”.

‘Congress manifesto reflects policies of Muslim League before Independence: PM Narendra Modi’, The Indian Express, Delhi April 7, 2024.

https://www.telegraphindia.com/elections/lok-sabha-election-2024/congress-manifesto-reflects-policies-of-muslim-league-before-independence-pm-narendra-modi/cid/2011716

Modi as a leader and ideologue of Hindutva can be forgiven for indulging in blatant lies (RSS is the biggest Gurukul or university in the world which trains manufacturing-speaking lies) but not as PM of India. In any accountable democracy he would have been charged for perjury and forced to step down. But in the present scenario when the regulator of Indian elections, Election Commission of India is more an appendage of the ruling party only people of India can teach a lesson to such a lies.

Let us get familiar with the Hindutva archives to know, who the real pals of the Muslim League were in pre-Independent India.

SAVARKAR AS THE ORIGINATOR OF TWO-NATION THEORY

Savarkar, one of the originators of the politics of Hindutva was the Hindu nationalist who developed the most elaborate Two-nation theory. The fact should not be missed that Muslim League passed its Pakistan resolution in March 1940 only but Savarkar, the great philosopher and guide of RSS, propagated the Two-nation theory long before it. While delivering the presidential address to the 19th session Hindu Mahasabha at Ahmedabad in 1937, Savarkar declared unequivocally,

“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 our 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…Let us bravely face unpleasant facts as they are. India cannot be assumed today to be a Unitarian and homogenous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the main: the Hindus and the Moslems, in India.”

[Savarkar, VD., Samagar Savarkar Wangmaya (Collected Works of Savarkar), vol. 6, Hindu Mahasabha, Poona, 1963, p.296.]

RSS AS PRACTITIONER OF TWO-NATION THEORY

The RSS, following into the footsteps of Savarkar, rejected out rightly the idea that Hindus and Muslims together constituted a nation. The English organ of the RSS, Organiser, on the very eve of Independence (August 14, 1947) editorially chalked out its concept of nation 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.”

AMBEDKAR ON HINDU MAHASABHA AND MUSLIM LEAGUE COLLUSION

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, a keen researcher of the communal politics in pre-independence India, while underlying the affinity and camaraderie between Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League on the issue of the Two-nation theory wrote:

“Strange it may appear, Mr. Savarkar and Mr. Jinnah instead of being opposed to each other on the one nation versus two nations issue are in complete agreement about it. Both agree, not only agree but insist that there are two nations in India—one the Muslim nation and the other Hindu nation.”

R. Ambedkar, Pakistan or the Partition of India, Govt. of Maharashtra, Bombay, 1990 [Reprint of 1940 edition], p. 142.

HINDU MAHASABHA LED BY SAVARKAR RAN COALITION GOVERNMENTS WITH MUSLIM LEAGUE

The children of Hindu nationalist, Savarkar ruling India presently are oblivious of the shocking fact that Hindu Mahasabha led by Savarkar entered into alliances with the Muslim League in order to break the united freedom struggle, specially, the 1942 Quit India Movement against the British rulers. While delivering Presidential address to the 24th session of Hindu Mahasabha at Cawnpore (Kanpur) in 1942, he defended hobnobbing with the Muslim League in the following words,

“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 Hindu Mahasabha 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. Moreover further events also proved demonstratively that the Hindu Mahasabhaits endeavoured to capture the centres of political power only in the public interests and not for the leaves and fishes of the office.” Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League also ran coalition governments in Sind and North-Western Frontier Province.

[Savarkar, VD. Samagar Savarkar Wangmaya (Collected Works of Savarkar), vol. 6, Hindu Mahasabha, Poona, 1963, pp.479-480.]

It is tragedy of this nation that a person occupying Prime Minister’s office resorts to brazen lies learnt in RSS shakhas and boudhik shivirs (ideological training camps) which even Hindutva archives does not corroborate. He is betraying the honour, prestige and decorum of the office. The nation must request PM Modi that if he wants to act as a cadre of RSS he should resign from the office and take a seat in the hierarchy of RSS.

The post Dear PM Modi! It was Hindutva Organisations, not the Congress that colluded with the Muslim League in Pre-Independence India appeared first on SabrangIndia.