For several decades, there has been a concerted effort to malign the image of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Hindutva in Western academia and public discourse. These efforts have increased manifold in recent years. In the third part of the multi-part series, we take a look at how some dubious outfits in the Western world release baseless and malicious reports against the RSS.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and the World Sikh Organization (WSO) recently released a report entitled ‘Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Network in Canada’. The report peddles unsubstantiated and wild allegations against the RSS not providing any evidence to support these assertions.
The report starts with a picture which has sketch of a Muslim man lynched and then it goes on to assert, “The image above of visibly Muslim men being lynched is a tweet posted on an RSS official account.” The fact is that the RSS never posted any such picture on its official Twitter account. The report could have taken the screenshot of the RSS’ official twitter account with this alleged post but it fails to produce any such screenshot because this post never existed on the official twitter handle of the RSS.
The report further states, “This exclusionary vision is grounded in ideological frameworks propagated by founding RSS figures such as Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, and Madhavrao Sadashivrao Golwalkar, whose works cite Nazi Germany as an aspirational example.”
The report writers have got their basic facts wrong here. The founder of the RSS was Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar. Golwalkar was the second Sarsanghchalak who joined the RSS almost a decade after it was founded. And Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was the founder of Hindu Mahasabha. He was an inspirational figure for not only Dr Hedgewar but several generations of revolutionaries and his impact was profound on the Indian revolutionary movement. Dr Hedgewar was not the only one who was inspired by him, those who looked up to him included revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh amongst others. It is also absolutely incorrect to say that their works cite Nazi Germany as an aspirational example. In Fact, this lie has been propounded and promoted over the years that the RSS leadership was inspired by Nazism and Fascism. Golwalkar, who is often cited in this context, had in fact expressed deep concern over the persecution of Jews in the book, We or our Nationhood Defined. This book was translated by him from Marathi, he had not written it. And even within this book there is no praise for Nazism or Fascism. But this false bogey has been created, perpetuated and promoted over the years.
The report says that RSS has been targeting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Dalits in India and its work in countries like Canada has also resulted in such incidents there. These are baseless allegations and have nothing to with facts.
Not even a single law enforcement agency has ever named RSS in any communal incident. There are many Sikhs who are part of the RSS. In fact, during Partition, the pro-Pakistan hooligans which were part of the Muslim League had tried to attack one the holiest shrines of Sikhs — Golden Temple — twice and RSS volunteers saved it by fighting with the attackers on the streets of Amritsar. As far as Muslims are concerned, a large number of Muslim leaders are part of an RSS inspired nationwide organisation called Muslim Rashtriya Manch. Several Muslim leaders, including the religious ones, have been meeting with the RSS leadership. In recent times, a number of Muslim leaders have been sharing dais with the current Sarsanghchalak (Chief Mentor of the RSS), Mohan Bhagwat.
As far as Dalits are concerned, they have been the biggest beneficiary of the RSS’ movement to unite Hindus. RSS’ official stand is very clear that has been reflected in several of its resolutions that caste discrimination must be done away with and the reservations for Dalits should continue as an affirmative welfare measure till they themselves want to do away with it. RSS inspired organisations like Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Sewa Bharati, Ekal Vidyalaya specifically work for the marginalsed sections of the society including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. There are more than 2 lakh welfare projects run by the RSS volunteers in various fields. The beneficiaries include millions of Indians cutting across religion, caste, creed, gender, age.
Another factual blunder made in this report is that it alleged that the RSS has a huge network in Canada. The RSS works only in India. It has no affiliates. However, there are many volunteers who, inspired by the RSS’ goal of service to the society, do some social welfare related activities in other countries when they live there. The purpose is to serve the society. The report tries to create a scare by putting out fiction as facts as it says, “Various Sangh (RSS-related) organizations are operational in countries across the world, including Canada. Chief among this effort are educational chapters, or shakhas, that prepare both youth and adults through ideological training, ceremony, and religious instruction — all linked to the supremacist ideas of the RSS’s founders and ideologues.”
Now let us also try to take a look at the credentials of the organisations which released this report. A Delhi-based think tank Centre for Integrated and Holistic Research(CIHS) dug deeper into the background of these organisations and came out with some startling facts about both this report and its perpetrators. According to CIHS, the report has been widely criticised for its institutional bias against Hindus, India, and the RSS, as well as its malicious agenda, misinformation, rhetoric, and opinion-based claims. NCCM was founded in 2013 as a rebranding of the Canadian chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organisation that has been accused of ties to extremist groups like Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist groups like Hamas.
“NCCM is known for promoting a radical anti-India and anti-Hindu agenda, as well as for its institutional bias against Hindus and Hindu-centric organisations and movements. Its actions have often been seen as part of a larger misinformation campaign against India and Hindus in Canada. Similarly, WSO is notorious for eulogising separatism and extremism in India. The organisation has been known to support Khalistani separatists and has been criticised for stroking communal divides in the past. The NCCM and WSO have a history of bias against Hindus, India, and the RSS. The NCCM has been accused of promoting an anti-India and anti-Hindu agenda since its inception. Both organisations have been known to express their support for terrorists, extremists and separatist movements in India, including Pakistan backed Khalistani and Kashmiri separatists, who have been responsible for a wave of terrorism and violence in India over the several decades.”
‘The NCCM and WSO report on the RSS is a clear example of their malicious agenda to shape a negative portrayal of Hindus and Hindu centric-organisations in the West. Both institutions showcase chronic institutional bias against Hindus and India for decades, result of this hasty report makes several spurious claims about the RSS, portraying it as a violent, extremist organisation with an agenda to oppress minorities in India. However, there is no concrete evidence to support these allegations, and the report appears to be part of a larger malicious ecosystem of like-minded individuals, entities and institutions towards an attempt to portray the RSS in a specific light and advance a particular political narrative.’
(Continues)
The writer, an author and columnist has written two books on RSS. He tweets @ArunAnandLive. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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