Religious extremism is not something new or novel. Between the years 132 and 136 CE, Romans faced a confrontation with the Jews. A Jewish extremist, Simon Bar Kokhba, led a revolt against Romans known now as the Kokhba Revolution. He succeeded in establishing a Jewish state, which lasted for three years ultimately falling to Romans.
Under its veil of constitutionalism almost every nation has a religious or ethnic extremist faction enjoying considerable support. India, which claims to be a truly secular state, has its own version of extremist militias. Some of these are very well organized and well resourced.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is an extremist Hindu militia being nurtured by many political hands. It was founded in 1925 by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar – a Hindu nationalist. Initially, it was established to fight the British Raj and Indian Muslims and unite Hindus to devise a Hindu Rashtra. In the post-independence scenario it became a blot on the secular veil of India. Indian constitution makes it a secular country but the RSS finds the idea an anomaly. The RSS ideologues point out that it is not the RSS which has shifted its discourse. It is the official India (read the Constituent Assembly) which has made the country a secular state through a constitutional provision.
Even before the inception of the RSS various Hindu nationalist organisations had insisted that India belonged solely to the Hindu nation. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the founder of Hindu nationalist ideology Hindutva (which aims for a Hindu hegemony) stated that there was a dire need of an exclusively Hindu nation.
In an interview some time ago, Modi revealed that his RSS membership had been a major factor in defining his character and the discipline. He said he had joined the organisation at a very young age
The RSS was banned three times. First, it was banned in 1948 following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by a Hindu nationalist. The assassin, named Nathuram Godse, had not been an active RSS member at that time although he had been a member at an earlier time. In 1975, the RSS came under scrutiny again when Indra Gandhi banned several extremist organisations and imposed an emergency across the country. In 1992, was banned yet again following the Babri Masjid dispute and demolition.
So, how is the organisation functional once again? The Sangh has a functional website where one can join the organisation. Its has a hierarchical leadership consisting of a national leader and regional leaders to oversee local organisations. It arranges daily quasi-military exercises in parks and open spaces. On many occasions, RSS members have been involved in the lynching of Muslims and low-caste Hindus. During Prime Minister Modi’s reign its cow protection squad has been involved in several incidents.
In an interview some time ago the prime minister revealed that his RSS membership had been a major factor in defining his character and the discipline. He said he had joined the organisation at a very young age. The RSS had a major role in Modi’s rise to national leadership. It has a major role once again in his re-election campaign.
The formal structure makes RSS unique as a political organization. It has a cow protection squad, a women wing, a labour union and a farmers’ union. Its website says the Sangh has more than 50,000 shakhas (branches) in villages and cities across the country. UP, the state with the largest population in India is reported to have 8,000 shakhas.
Sangh’s hatred of Muslims and other minorities is not new either. In fact, it is one of its core ideas. A Bunch of Thoughts by MS Golwalkar, the second Sarsanghchalak (head of the RSS) comprises lectures he had given to various shakhas over the country. He writes that Indian non-Hindus posed a far greater threat to national security than any foreign aggressor. Golwalkar went on to identify three major threats: i) Muslims; ii) Christians; iii) Communists.
An article published in The Hindu on November 26, 2006, has revealed that the RSS had celebrated the murder of Mahatma Gandhi. Citing secret documents which he had seen the writer divulged that Golwalker had called a meeting on December 6, 1947, at Govardhan, a town not very far from Delhi. According to a police report regarding the meeting, assassination of leading Congress leaders was discussed with the objective of causing terror and panic among the public. Two days later Golwalkar again addressed several thousand RSS volunteers at the Rohtak Road Camp in Delhi. The police reporter notified that the RSS leader had clearly said that Sangh would not rest content until it finished Pakistan and if anyone was a hindrance in their way they would not spare them either – be it (prime minister) Nehru’s regime or any other.
Having such militant Hindu organisations working without a curb is a manifest threat to India’s secular dream. Making India the kind of purely Hindu state the far-right groups want will make the society exclusive, rather than inclusive. Intra-state tensions will continue to mount. The future looks bleak. Given the well-tolerated existence of extremist groups India’s secular vision will remain a chimera.
The writer is a research associate at the Islamabad Institute of Conflict Resolution