When RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will take the podium for three consecutive days on 17, 18, 19 September at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi for the convention Bhavisya Ka Bharat: Rashtriya Sawamsewak Sangh ka Drishtikon (India of Future: An RSS perspective), he will address an audience of about 800 people invited from across various spectrum of opinion makers, outside Sangh fold. These would include foreign diplomats, retired army and security officers, writers, members from the business community, ex-bureaucrats, people from North East and other border areas, from various caste and communities, senior journalists and so on. The presence of RSS’ office bearers and workers would be limited to making logistical arrangements.
Opinion
18/09/2018
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RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has begun his second speech for the organisations & Future of Bharat: An RSS Perspective conclave in Delhi.
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'RSS advocates inclusion': Mohan Bhagwat systematically refutes Rahul Gandhi, Sangh critics in day one speech : Sanjay Singh,Firstpost
On Monday evening, Nawazuddin Siddiqui chose to skip the premiere of his movie Manto in Mumbai. Siddiqui instead flew to New Delhi to attend the inaugural three-day lecture series Bhavisya ka Bharat: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ka Drishtikon (India of the future: An RSS perspective)' by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Siddiqui is playing lead role of Saadat Hasan Manto in the biopic, written and directed by Nandita Das, a known critic of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. After the event was over, Siddiqui along with some others, sat with the RSS for tea and an informal conversation.
And Siddiqui wasn't the only one. A whole host of public figures from various walks of life€ "film, academia, diplomacy, internal and external security agencies, people living near the border, and the media€" all of whom who are uninitiated to the RSS philosophy were there to see and understand it firsthand: from the fountainhead of the Sangh Parivar.
From the outset, Bhagwat made it clear that the "purpose was not to convince" those attending the programme at Vigyan Bhawan or watching it on TV or various digital platforms, but to inform them what the Sangh stands for. His idea was to portray before the world that the RSS is not a closed society and let the people understand it better so that they can reexamine their idea of it.
Bhagwat put RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar at the very center of his talk and systematically countered almost all the charges that have been made by its critics over the decades, and more recently by Congress president Rahul Gandhi. First, to the charge that the RSS did not participate in the freedom struggle€"albeit without referring to it directly€"Bhagwat began by narrating the story of Hedgewar, who opposed British colonialism from his school days and even suffered on that account.
He spoke of Hedgewar being a member of the militant nationalist organisation Anushilan Samiti, while he was studying medicine in Calcutta. Of Hedgewar's fiery defence in court and questioning the British rule and how Hedgewar even went to jail.
Bhagwat said that when he was finally released from jail, in a meeting presided over by Motilal Nehru, Hedgewar said that one would go to jail, but staying out of jail was equally important to create awareness, and organise protests against British rule. When the Congress passed Purna Swaraj resolution in 1929, all RSS wings sent congratulatory messages to the Congress, Bhagwat added.
Second, Bhagwat spoke about respecting the National Flag, and contended that the Sangh had the utmost respect for the Tricolour even when the Charka was in the centre instead of the wheel. Bhagwat cited an example: When the Tricolour was being unfurled in Maharashtra's Jalan for the first time, its cord stuck in the middle of the huge pole. A swayamsevak immediately climbed the pole and straightened it out, allowing the flag to unfurl with due honour. When Jawaharlal Nehru invited the young man to participate in the evening function, he was politely told that the swayamsevak could not come because he had to go to the RSS shakha.
Third, Bhagwat countered the charge of the RSS being a dictatorial organisation where one man's command was supreme, and called it the "most democratic organisation". Bhagwat said some discipline is important in the building of an individual (vyakti nirman) and there was a sarsanghchalak (chief of the organisation), but decision making was a collective process where the views of even a new recruit mattered.
Bhagwat returned to the example of Hedgewar and spoke of the way decisions were made back then, and even gave his own example: Bhagwat said he was once questioned by a young swayamsevak why he did not attend the Nagpur shakha regularly.
Fourth, to the charge that the RSS was excluding people and communities, he said "Hum log to sarwalog-yukt Bharat waale log hain, mukt wale nahin" (we are those who advocate for inclusion of all, exclusion of none). In some quarters, this was seen as a critique of BJP's slogan of a Congress-mukt Bharat, but at another level he was responding to the criticism that the RSS was for Hindus only, and ignored Muslims and Christians.
Fifth, to the charge that the RSS wanted its philosophy to be the only philosophy in India, Bhagwat argued that they didn't want an all-pervasive domination by the Sangh. If that happened, the very purpose of the Sangh's existence would be defeated, Bhagwat added. There is so much diversity in India: linguistic, social, cultural and religious. The idea was to have "festivity of diversity" and the challenge for the RSS was to be the thread that ties varied pearls, Bhagwat explained.
Sixth, to the charge that RSS remote-controlled its constituents (the BJP), Bhagwat said that the various components of the RSS were free to take their own decisions. Without naming the BJP, Bhagwat said swayamsevaks were in dominant positions in those organisations and were capable of taking decisions they deemed fit, though the Sangh is conscious that they may make mistakes.
Since the swayamsevaks are part of the bigger umbrella organisation they keep on meeting 'sukh-dukh me khana, milna-julna chalta rahata hai', Bhagwat said. The coordination meetings between various organs are for exchanging ideas, but how an organisation takes its decisions are that organisation's outlook, he added.
Seventh, on the exclusion of women, Bhagwat said that the idea, from the beginning, was to have a separate women's wing (Rashtra Sevika Samiti), which has now grown by leaps and bounds. Women are contributing in a big way to the Sangh by staying within their familial bonds, Bhagwat said. If a decision to merge the two will be made, it will be a joint decision of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Rashtra Sevika Samiti, but no such proposal was on the table, Bhagwat clarified.
Eighth, to the charge that the RSS was a resource-rich organisation, Bhagwat said it ran on the meagre resources generated from swayamsevaks and did not take donations from outsiders. Bhagwat said that it generally has a tough time monetarily from March to July. But he added that they were not worried and that it is the RSS' responsibility to run the Sangh.
NOTE :
RSS seeks to shed its enigma: Mohan Bhagwat to address diverse audience to provide a peek into organisation's workings :-
Change is in the air and it's definitely touching the sanctum sanctorum of the Sangh Parivar -- the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, or the RSS. And the change is not merely cosmetic, from changing the dress code to khaki trousers from khaki shorts for its cadres or even inviting former president Pranab Mukherjee to its event in Nagpur. The ideological fountainhead of Sangh Parivar is no longer a mysterious gargantuan organisation that works behind the scenes but is quietly evolving itself as an institution that's contemporary in nature and allowing people to view how it operates.
Mohan Bhagwat.
The speed with which the RSS' Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh released the official reaction soon after the Supreme Court gave its historic verdict on LGBTQ on Thursday resonates the change that is taking place in the organisation. What is pertinent is that the RSS no longer keeping itself locked in a closet. It is reaching out to various sections of people in the society to give an insight to its ideologies, objectives and what it stands for.
When RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will take the podium for three consecutive days on 17, 18, 19 September at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi for the convention Bhavisya Ka Bharat: Rashtriya Sawamsewak Sangh ka Drishtikon (India of Future: An RSS perspective), he will address an audience of about 800 people invited from across various spectrum of opinion makers, outside Sangh fold. These would include foreign diplomats, retired army and security officers, writers, members from the business community, ex-bureaucrats, people from North East and other border areas, from various caste and communities, senior journalists and so on. The presence of RSS’ office bearers and workers would be limited to making logistical arrangements.
It may be noted that never in the history of the organisation before that the RSS chief has addressed an audience at length at the same function, at the same venue for three consecutive days.
A senior RSS leader told Firstpost that “the idea was to let the world know of our perspective, our outlook not only about the Sangh but a whole range of issues on which people would like to know of our thoughts, what we do and how do we want to see India of future. Who is the best person to give most authentic perspective on these issues than our Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat.”
On the opening day, 17 September the RSS chief would deliberate on RSS’ philosophy, its growth and its outlook for modern India.
On Day two of the convention, the RSS chief could himself take up three contentious social issues that are agitating public minds across the country – first, the SC/ST amendment bill overturning Supreme Court verdict, the debate over Dalit identity and its protection law including reservation; second, the consequent backlash from Sawarn (upper caste) communities, protests in various parts of north India including in election-bound Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan (albeit without naming these states and anything about election); and third, Supreme Court's historic verdict on Section 377 of IPC decriminalising homosexuality to give legal cover to LGBTQ and how RSS views the subject including demands for same-sex marriages.
It should be noted that Bhagwat’s remarks on continuity of reservation for Scheduled Castes had created a political storm and the RJD-JD-Congress Mahagathbandhan made it a huge election issue harming BJP’s prospects. The RSS leadership is conscious of the October-November 2015 experience. This time around one can expect Bhagwat’s words to be more crafted.
On the concluding day, Bhagwat would respond to over 100 queries from the audience but sources said it may be allowed to turn into a “press conference”.
Before Bhagwat outlines RSS’ point of view on the amended law to provide protection to SC/STs and the consequent upper caste outrage in various pockets, the BJP too is treating this as a priority to correct public opinion in general and address to concerns of caste and communities concerned.
The issue is expected to come up in the two-day BJP National Executive meet to be held in New Delhi on 8 and 9 September.
A source said this could either come in the form of a structured agenda for discussion or Prime Minister Narendra Modi may take it up when he addresses party executives' concluding session.
There is a feeling in the party that in view of the emerging social tensions in the aftermath of 2 April Bharat Bandh by various Dalit groups, which turned violent and the government’s decision to overturn a Supreme Court ruling and now with the BJP core social support base and the upper caste reflecting its anger towards the government’s overt tilt towards Dalits and OBC, it needs to be clarified. Over this weekend the party leadership could be taking a few steps to contain that anger and minimise emerging social tension.
JAIHIND
VANDEMATHARAM
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