Sangh (The RSS)

* i <» • The Brotherhood in Soffron The Rashrriya Swoyomsevok Songh and Hindu Revivalism V About the Book ond Authors Hindu revivalism, a growing force in India, is rooted in the belief that Hinduism is endangered. This perception comes from many sources: the political assertiveness of minority groups like the Sikhs and Muslims, efforts to convert Hindus to other faiths, suspicions that the political authorities are "pandering" to minority groups, and the belief that "foreign" political and religious ideologies undermine community bonds. This book focuses on the best- organized and largest group committed to Hindu revivalism in India--the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (the RSS). Tracing the growth of the RSS since its formation in the mid-1920s, the authors examine its ideology and training system. They argue that the strength of the RSS lies in its ability to develop close bonds among its members and to sustain these links when members join the various RSS affiliate groups. The swayamsevaks (members) are the steel frame of the "family" of organiza tions around the RSS that work in the political arena, in social welfare, in the media, and among students, laborers, and Hindu religious groups. The symbiotic links between the RSS and the "family" are maintained by recruiting into the affiliates RSS members who have already demon strated organizational skills. This superb training system is likely to serve the RSS well as it reaches out to a growing circle of individuals and groups buffeted by change and in search of a new community identity. Walter K. Andersen taught comparative politics at the College of Wooster before joining the State Department as a political analyst for South Asia. Shridhar D. Damle is a private consultant and has written extensively on Indian political developments. The Brotherhood in Saffron The Rashfriya Swayamsevak Songh and Hindu Revivalism Walter K. Andersen and Shridhar D. Damle VISTAAR PUDUCATIONS / New Delhi Copyright © 1987 by Westview Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any from or by any means, electronic or mechanical, in cluding photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. This edition is for sale in India and South Asia only. First published by Westview Press, Inc., USA. This edition published in 1987 by Vistaar Publications (A division ot Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd) 32, M-Block Market, Greater Kailash -1 New Delhi- 110048 Published by Tejeshwar Singh for Vistaar Publications and printed by Chaman Offset Press. ISDN: 81-7006-053-6 We dedicate this book to our late parents, Mildred Korfitz-Andersen and Dattatraya Chimanrao Damle and to Shridhar Damle's late father-in-law, Shankarrao Tambe Contents List of Tables xiii INTRODUCTION 1 1 HINDU REVIVALISM 10 Modernists and Revivalists 10 Protest against British Rule 11 Influence of the Hindu World View 13 Expression of Grievances through Revivalist Organizations 16 Expanding Communications Facilities 18 Revivalist Response to Gandhi. 19 2 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE RASHTRIYA SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH 26 Deterioration of Hindu-Muslim Relations. .... 26 Hindu Nationalists Organize 28 Early Development of the RSS 30 Expansion of the RSS: 1931-1939 38 Golwalkar Chosen to Succeed Hedgewar ...... 41 Reorientation of the RSS under Golwalkar .... 43 Expansion of the RSS in the Post-War Period. 45 The Ban on the RSS: 1948-1949 50 RSS Adopts a More Activist Orientation 55 3 RSS: IDEOLOGY, ORGANIZATION, AND TRAINING. ... 71 Belief System of the kss 71 RSS Organization 83 The Bottom of the Hierarchy: The Shakha 84 Moving up the Hierarchy 86 The Pracharak: The Major Linking Position. ... 87 The Sarsanghchalak: The Chief 88 RSS Training 89 ix X 4 THE RSS "FAMILY" TAKES SHAPE 108 After the Ban: Rethinking Goals and Tactics. 110 RSS-Affiliated Newspapers and Journals 114 RSS-Affiliated Student Association 117 RSS and the Political Process 123 RSS and Labor Union Activity 129 RSS and the Hindu Religious Establishment. 133 RSS and a New Character-Building Organization. 137 Post-1977: A Time of Experimentation 139 Symbiosis: A Two-Way Flow of Influence 143 5 THE RSS IN POLITICS 157 First General Elections and Development of Party Infrastructure 158 The 1953 and 1962 General Elections: Developing an Organizational Base 164 1967 General Elections: The Jana Sangh Aspires to Establish Itself as an All-India Party. 172 Successes Exacerbate Internal Party Tensions . 178 Rethinking Alliances 180 The Jana Sangh in the 1970s: The Party Turns to Populism 182 Revolt on the Right 186 The Swayamsevaks in Politics 189 6 TOE TRIUMPH OF ACTIVISM 208 Political Assertiveness of the RSS 209 1977-1980: Successes and Challenges 213 The Dual-Membership Controversy 216 RSS Accepts Non-Hindus 222 The RSS and Politics: A Dilemma. 223 RSS: A Shift in Focus 237 CONCLUSION 247 APPENDICES A RSS Organizational Chart 256 B Stepwise Multiple Regression on Variables Influencing Advancement in the Jana Sangh. 258 C Jana Sangh Performance in Assembly Elections . 259 D Jana Sangh Performance in Parliamentary Elections 264 BIBLIOGRAPHY 269 INDEX 297 Tables i Membership of Central Trade Union Organizations ...... 132 2 Jana Sangh Electoral Performance: Parliamentary and State Assembly 165 3 Jana Sangh Performance in State Assembly in Selected States/Union '.tories 166 4 Sangh Performance in Parliamentary Elec tions in Selected States/Union Territories 167 5 RSS Membership by Jana Sangh Position 189 6 RSS Position by Party Level 191 7 RSS Position by First Party Position 192 8 Value Orientations of Jana Sangh 195 9 BJP Performance in March 1985 Assembly • * * Introduction Every morning at sunrise groups of men in military- style khaki uniforms gather outdoors before saffron flags in all parts of India to participate in a common set of rituals, physical exercises and lessons. For one hour each day in the year, they are taught to thinH^of themselves as a family—a brotherhood—with a mission to transform Hindu society. They are members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh1 (hereafter referred to as the RSS), the largest and most influential organization in India committed to Hindu revivalism. The message of the daily meetings is the res toration of a sense of community among Hindus. Organizations like the RSS which advocate the restor ation of community have a salience to those who feel root less. Indeed, the alienation and insecurity brought on by the breakdown of social, moral and political norms have become major political issues in the twentieth century, particularly in the developing countries where new economic and administrative systems have rapidly undermined institu tions and moral certitudes which traditionally defined a person's social function and relationship to authority.2 Dislocations in primary associations which mediate between the individual and society have weakened the web of rela tions that provide individuals their self-identity and a sense of belonging. Social, religious and nationalist movements have proliferated to express a deeply felt need for the restoration of community. The initial expression of this yearning for community often takes the form of religious revivalism.3 In South Asia, religious revivalism has taken many forms, reflecting the cultural and religious complexity of the subcontinent. Moreover, revivalist groups represented a wide spectrum of ideologies, ranging from defenses of traditional orthodoxy to completely new formulations of traditional norms and 1 2 practices. They mobilized communal support both to reform group behavior and to strengthen their own group's bargain ing position with the political authorities. In the pro cess, they laid the groundwork for larger communal identi ties'and, ultimately, nationalist movements. In pre-independence India, the premier nationalist organization was the Indian National Congress, an umbrella organization which accommodated a variety of interests, including the revivalists. The Congress., to retain the support of its diverse membership, adopted a consensual strategy requiring the acceptance of ccmprcmise and, by extension, the principle of territorial nationalism. How ever, it was not entirely successful in acccmmodating all groups. Many Muslim leaders, for example, felt that the Westernized Hindu elite who controlled the Congress did not adequately respond to Muslim interests. Moreover, there were Hindu revivalist leaders who also believed that the interests of the Hindu ccmmunity were not adequately pro tected by the Indian National Congress. The founder of the RSS doubted whether the Congress, which included Muslims, could bring about the desired unity of the Hindu ccmmunity. The RSS was established in 1925 as a kind of educa tional body whose objective was to train a group of Hindu men who, on the basis of their .character-building experi ence in the RSS, would work to unite the Hindu community so that India could again become an independent country and a creative society. Its founder was convinced that a funda mental change in social attitudes was a necessary precondi tion of a revived India, and that a properly trained cadre of nationalists would be the cutting edge of that change. The two leaders of the RSS during the pre-independence period—its founder, Keshav Baliram Hedgewar (1925-1940) and Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (1940-1973)—laid a firm foundation^ supervising the training of the full-time work ers who spread the organization outward from its original base in eastern Maharashtra. Linked to the RSS in India are several affiliated organizations (referred to in the RSS literature as the "family"),4 working in politics, in social welfare, in the media and among students, laborers and Hindu religious groups. The symbiotic links between the RSS and the "fam ily" are maintained by the recruitment into the affiliates of swayamsevaks (members) who have already demonstrated organizational skills in the RSS. This process guarantees a high degree of conformity to "legitimate" behavioral norms among the cadre in all the affiliates.

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