Story of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
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Story of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) by Walter K. Andersen and Shridhar D. Damle Reproduced by Sani H. Panhwar Story of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) by Walter K. Andersen and Shridhar D. Damle Reproduced by Sani H. Panhwar About the Book and 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 book1 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 organizations 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 demonstrated 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. 1 Some portions of book The Brotherhood in Saffron - The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism originally published in 1987 in India. Contents List of Tables. INTRODUCTION 1. HINDU REVIVALISM .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 Modernists and Revivalists Protest against British Rule Influence of the Hindu World View Expression of Grievances through Revivalist Organizations Expanding Communications Facilities Revivalist Response to Gandhi 2. FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE RASHTRIYA SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH .. .. .. .. 13 Deterioration of Hindu-Muslim Relations Hindu Nationalists Organize Early Development of the RSS Expansion of the RSS: 1931-1939 Golwalkar Chosen to Succeed Hedgewar Reorientation of the RSS under Golwalkar Expansion of the RSS in the Post-War Period The Ban on the RSS: 1948-1949 RSS Adopts a More Activist Orientation 3. RSS: IDEOLOGY, ORGANIZATION, AND TRAINING .. .. 47 Belief System of the fess RSS Organization The Bottom of the Hierarchy: The Shakha Moving up the Hierarchy The Pracharak: The Major Linking Position The Sarsanghchalak: The Chief RSS Training 4. THERSS"FAMILY"TAKESSHAPE .. .. .. .. .. 76 After the Ban: Rethinking Goals and Tactics RSS - Affiliated Newspapers and Journals RSS - Affiliated Student Association RSS and the Political Process RSS and Labor Union Activity RSS and the Hindu Religious Establishment RSS and a New Character-Building Organization Post-1977: A Time of Experimentation Symbiosis: A Two-Way Flow of Influence 5. THE RSS IN POLITICS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 114 First General Elections and Development of Party Infrastructure The 1953 and 1962 General Elections: Developing an Organizational Base 1967 General Elections: The Jana Sangh Aspires to Establish Itself as an All-India Party Successes Exacerbate Internal Party Tensions Rethinking Alliances The Jana Sangh in the 1970s: The Party Turns to Populism Revolt on the Right The Swayamsevaks in Politics 6. THETRIUMPHOFACTIVE .. .. .. .. .. .. 153 Political Assertiveness of the RSS 1977-1980: Successes and Challenges The Dual-Membership Controversy RSS Accepts Non-Hindus The RSS and Politics: A Dilemma RSS: A Shift in Focus CONCLUSION .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 183 APPENDICES A RSS Organizational Chart .. .. .. .. .. .. 190 B Stepwise Multiple Regression on Variables Influencing Advancement in the Jana Sangh .. .. .. .. .. .. 192 C Jana Sangh Performance in Assembly Elections .. .. .. 193 D Jana Sangh Performance in Parliamentary Elections .. .. .. 198 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 think of themselves as a family—a brotherhood—with a mission to transform Hindu society. They are members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh2 (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 restoration of a sense of community among Hindus. Organizations like the RSS which advocate the restoration 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 institutions and moral certitudes which traditionally defined a person’s social function and relationship to authority.3 Dislocations in primary associations which mediate between the individual and society have weakened the web of relations 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.4 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 practices. They mobilized communal support both to reform group behavior and to strengthen their own group's bargaining position with the political authorities. In the process they laid the groundwork for larger communal identities 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 2 The English translation is the National Volunteer Corps. 3 A discussion of the general issue of the social effects of rootlessness in Robert A. Nisbet, The Quest for Community (New York: Oxford University Press, 1971); Ted Robert Gurr, Why Men Rebel (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970), pp. 46-50; and Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (Cleveland: Meridian Books, 1962), pp. 227-243. 4 Hans Kohn analyzes the revivalist roots of nationalism in his History of Nationalism in the East (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1929), chap. 2. membership, adopted a consensual requiring the acceptance of compromise and, by the principle of territorial nationalism. However it was not entirely successful in accommodating 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 community were not adequately protected 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 community. The RSS was established in 1925 as a kind of educational body whose objective was to train a group of Hindu men who, on the basis of their character-building experience 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 fundamental change in social attitudes was a necessary precondition of a revived India, and that a properly trained cadre of nationalists would be the cutting edge of the 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 workers 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"),5 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 "family" 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. It has also resulted in a high degree of loyalty to the organization on the part of the cadre. The recruitment process employed by the "family" of organizations around the RSS has enabled the RSS itself to remain