RSS seeks Madras HC help for erasing its violent Hindu-Muslim heritage: A case fit for perjury

This dossier is in continuation to the writer’s request to friends in Tamil Nadu that democratic-secular organizations/individuals must intervene in this case so that anti-national RSS fails to manipulate/use higher judiciary for hiding its toxic communal agenda.

I have reproduced original RSS documents (except one by Rajeshwar Dayal ICS who was the first home secretary of UP after independence) for use in the court. The original documents can be provided on demand.

The Madras High Court, presently, is seized of an interesting matter. RSS needs its help to hide its criminal attitude towards Indian Muslims such as calling for ethnic cleansing of Indian Muslims. According to the press reports, “P. Chandrasekaran, secretary of the Chennai chapter of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a writ petition has been filed in the Madras High Court by objecting to a sentence in the latest Class X social science textbook of State board schools (published by the government of Tamil Nadu) that the Hindu Mahasabha as well as the RSS had taken a “pronounced anti-Muslim stance during the days that led to partition of the country on religious lines in the pre-Independence era”[1]

Chandrasekaran’s intervention on behalf of the RSS is quite perplexing as RSS keeps its roster of membership closely guarded secret. According to the petitioner the above-mentioned book under the title ‘Hindu Communalism, Muslim Communalism and Indian Nationalism’ read, “The Muslim League dubbed the Congress as a Hindu organisation and claimed that it alone was the representative of the Muslims of India. Similarly, the Hindu Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) took a pronounced anti-Muslim stance.”  The petition argued “It has been made to appear as if that during the struggle for freedom, RSS took an anti-Muslim stance and the same had resulted in the partition of the country.” The petitioner further claimed that RSS was not against any religion but was working towards the ‘consolidation of the Hindu society[2]. He demanded that the “objectionable” sentence from English as well as Tamil versions of the textbook be deleted. According to the petitioner, “If such wrong messages are included in the textbook meant for school students, it will lower the image of the organisation in the minds of the young people and it is highly objectionable”[3].

This writ petition was brought before Justice P.D. Audikesavalu who quickly directed the government counsel to obtain instructions on the issue by January 22, 2020, from the School Education Department, the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation (TNTESC) and the Director of State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT). The government of Tamil Nadu’s education department submitted before the High Court that “We have formed a team to inquire into the issue. The TN school education department will strike the controversial portion from Social Science book of Class 10”. Unfortunately, even before finding the truth or falsehood of the statement in the text books by its own committee, the government of Tamil Nadu told Madras High Court that it would remove certain portions pertaining to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from class 10 textbook[4].

Hatred for Muslims is an integral part of RSS vision of India

The claim made in the above petition that RSS did not hate Muslims/Islam is not only fake but a white lie. RSS archives have abundant documents of pre-independence period, underlining the brazen and crude preaching of violence against Muslim citizens of India. It refused to treat them as part of Indian nation, in fact, declared the whole community as foreigners. It remains the most important plank of its attitude towards Muslims even after independence.

Hedgewar formed RSS as he was not satisfied with Gandhi’s call for Hindu-Muslim unity

RSS official documents make it clear that Keshav Baliram Hedgewar was disillusioned with the Congress for the specific reason that it stood for unity between Hindus and Muslims:

“It is clear that Gandhiji worked constantly with one eye on Hindu– Muslim unity…But Doctorji sensed danger in that move. In fact, he did not even relish the newfangled slogan of ‘Hindu– Muslim Unity.’[5]“

Hedgewar was never able to hide the fact that he distanced himself from the Congress for the reason that it believed in Hindu–Muslim unity. While returning from Central Province and Berar provincial Hindu Mahasabha session (presided over by Savarkar) in Akola, Maharashtra in 1937 when a prominent Congress leader asked him why he left Congress Hedgewar’s answer was, “because Congress believes in Hindu–Muslim unity”[6].

Second chief RSS Golwalkar preached Nazi formula for cleansing of Muslims

Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (1906-1973), the most prominent ideologue of the RSS who came to head the organization after Hedgewar not only glorified the cleansing of the Jews by Hitler in Germany but also demanded the same fate for the Indian Muslims. In his book We or Our Nationhood Defined (1939) which is a holy book for the RSS cadres, he declared:

“The other Nation most in the eye of the world today is Germany. This Nation affords a very striking example… German Race pride has now become the topic of the day. To keep up the purity of the race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic races-the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan [sic] to learn and profit by[7]. [Emphasis added]

While outlining the fundamental constituent elements of the Hindu Nation Golwalkar raised a significant question, “If, as is indisputably proved, Hindusthan, is the land of Hindus and is the terra firma for the Hindu nation alone to flourish upon, what is to be the fate of all those, who, today, happen to live upon the land, though not belonging to the Hindu Race, Religion or culture?”[8]

He answered to his own query in the following words:

“At the outset we must bear in mind that so far as ‘nation’ is concerned, all those, who fall outside the five-fold limits of that idea, (Hindusthan, the Hindu Race, with its Hindu Religion, Hindu Culture and Hindu language) can have no place in the national life, unless they abandon their differences, adopt the religion, culture and language of the Nation and completely merge themselves in the National [Hindu] Race.”[9]

Demanding de-nationalization of Muslims and Christians who were described as ‘Emigrants’, Golwalkar declared:

“It is worth bearing well in mind how these old nations solve their minorities [sic] problem. They do not undertake to recognize any separate element in their polity. Emigrants have to get themselves naturally assimilated in the principal mass of the population, the National Race [Hindus], by adopting its culture and language and sharing in its aspirations, by losing all consciousness of their separate existence, forgetting their foreign origin. If they do not do so, they live merely as outsiders, bound by all the codes and conventions of the Nation, at the sufferance of the Nation and deserving no special protection, far less any privilege or rights.

There are only two courses open to the foreign elements, either to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as the national race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at the sweet will of the national race. That is the only sound view on the minorities problem. That is the only logical and correct solution. That alone keeps the national life healthy and undisturbed. That alone keeps the nation safe from the danger of a cancer developing in its body politic, of the creation of a state within a state.”[10]

Golwalkar as the most important ideologue of the RSS and Hindutva brand of politics forcefully argued for adopting the models of Hitler and Mussolini for getting rid of minorities from his kind of Hindu nation in the following words:

“From this stand point, sanctioned by the experience of shrewd old nations, the foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence the Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment, not  even citizen’s rights. There is, at least should be, no other course for them to adopt. We are an old nation: let us deal as old nations ought to, and do deal, with the foreign races who have chosen to live in our country.”[11]

English organ of RSS since its inception demanded exclusion of Muslims from Indian nationhood

RSS launched its English mouthpiece, Organizer, on the eve of the independence of India, from Delhi. The perusal of its first few issues leaves no confusion about the intentions of the RSS. The maiden issue, dated 3 July 1947 carried a banner headline which read ‘Glorious Hindu Rashtra’. Echoing the view of the Muslim League in defence of the two-nation theory, the editorial condemned those who believed that “Muslims were equal partners in this land of the Hindus, Hindusthan, and propagated the theory that Hindus and Muslims combined could only make a nation”.

Importantly, its issue on the very eve of independence, dated 14 August, 1947, rejected the whole concept of a composite nation (under the editorial title ‘Whither’):

“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.”

Golwalkar planned a massacre of Muslims in Western UP on eve of Independence

Rajeshwar Dayal, the first Home Secretary of UP after independence, recounts in his autobiography an incident which clearly exposes the sinister designs of Golwalkar, the then Supremo of the RSS to break the unity of the country just on the eve of independence.

“I must record an episode of a very grave nature when the procrastination and indecision of the UP Cabinet led to dire consequences. When communal tension was still at fever pitch, the Deputy Inspector General of Police of the Western Range, a very seasoned and capable officer, B. B. L. Jaitley, arrived at my house in great secrecy. He was accompanied by two of his officers who brought with them two large steel trunks securely locked. When the trunks were opened, they revealed incontrovertible evidence of a dastardly conspiracy to create a communal holocaust throughout the Western districts of the province. The trunks were crammed with blueprints of great accuracy and professionalism of every town and village in that vast area, prominently marking out the Muslim localities and habitations. There were also detailed instructions regarding access to the various locations, and other matters which amply revealed the sinister purport.

“Greatly alarmed by those revelations, I immediately took the police party to the Premier’s [chief minister’s] house. There, in a closed room, Jaitley gave a full report of his discovery, backed by all the evidence contained in the steel trunks. Timely raids conducted on the premises of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) had brought the massive conspiracy to light. The whole plot had been concerted under the direction and supervision of the Supremo of the organization himself. Both Jaitley and I pressed for the immediate arrest of the prime accused, Shri Golwalkar, who was still in the area.

“Pantji [G. B. Pant] could not but accept the evidence of his eyes and ears and expressed deep concern. But instead of agreeing to the immediate arrest of the ringleader as we had hoped, and as Kidwai would have done, he asked for the matter to be placed for consideration by the Cabinet at its next meeting. It was no doubt a matter of political delicacy as the roots of the RSS had gone deep into the body politic. There were also other political compulsions, as RSS sympathizers, both covert and overt, were to be found in the Congress Party itself and even in the Cabinet. It was no secret that the presiding officer of the Upper House, Atma Govind Kher, was himself an adherent and his sons were openly members of the RSS.

“At the Cabinet meeting there was the usual procrastination and much irrelevant talk. The fact that the police had unearthed a conspiracy which would have set the whole province in flames and that the officers concerned deserved warm commendation hardly seemed to figure in the discussion. What ultimately emerged was that a letter should be issued to Shri Golwalkar pointing out the contents and nature of the evidence which had been gathered and demanding an explanation thereof. At my insistence, such a letter if it were to be sent, should be issued by the Premier himself to carry greater weight. Panditji asked me to prepare a draft, which I did in imitation of his own characteristic style. The letter was to be delivered forthwith and two police officers were assigned for the purpose.

“Golwalkar, however, had been tipped off and he was nowhere to be found in the area. He was tracked down southwards but he managed to elude the couriers in pursuit. This in fructuous chase continued from place to place and weeks passed.

“Came January 30, 1948 when the Mahatma, that supreme apostle of peace, fell to a bullet fired by an RSS fanatic. The tragic episode left me sick at heart.”[12]

Golwalkar described Indian Muslims as internal threat number one

The Bible for the RSS cadres, The Bunch of Thoughts, the compilation of the writings of M. S. Golwalkar, published after independence,116 has a long chapter entitled ‘Internal Threats’ in which the Muslims and Christians are described as threats number one and two respectively. The Communists receive the honour of being Enemy Number 3. This chapter opens with the following statement:

“It has been the tragic lesson of the history of many a country in the world that the hostile elements within the country pose a far greater menace to national security than aggressors from outside.”[13]

While discussing the Muslims as hostile element number one he wrote:

“Even to this day, there are so many who say, ‘Now there is no Muslim problem at all. All those riotous elements that supported Pakistan have gone away once and 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 hundred-fold by the creation of Pakistan, which has become a springboard for all their future aggressive designs on our country.”[14]

Elaborating further on the Muslim enemy, Golwalkar arrived at the following conclusion:

“Within the country, there are so many Muslim pockets, i.e., so many ‘miniature Pakistans’, where the general law of the land can be enforced only with certain modifications and the whims of the miscreants have to be given the final say. This acceptance, indirect though it may be, implies a very dangerous theory fraught with possibilities of the destruction of our national life altogether. Such ‘pockets’ have verily become the centres of a widespread network of pro-Pakistani elements in this land…The conclusion is that, in practically every place, there are Muslims who are in constant touch with Pakistan over the transmitter…”[15]

While deliberating on the ‘Internal Threat’ number two, the Christians, he declared,

“their activities are not only irreligious, they are also anti-national…such is the role of the 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.”[16]

According to Golwalkar, conversion to Islam and Christianity turned the converts automatically into anti-nationals who were no longer true to their salt. Defining the attitude of the Hindu nation to Muslims and Christians, he declared:

“They are born in this land, no doubt. But are they true to their salt? Are they grateful to this land which brought them up? Do they feel they are the children of this land and its traditions, and that to serve it is their great good fortune? Do they feel it a duty to serve her? No! Together with the change in their faiths, gone is the spirit of love and devotion for the nation. Nor does it end there. They have also developed a feeling of identification with the enemies of this land. They look to some foreign lands as their holy places.”[17]

Madras HC must initiate perjury proceedings against RSS

With these shocking, toxic and venom spitting documents and actions contained in the RSS archives which tantamount to spreading hatred against the minorities, specially, against the largest minority of India, the justice demands that Honourable Madras High Court starts perjury proceeding against P. Chandrasekaran, secretary of the Chennai chapter of RSS.