RSS INSIGHTS: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat insisted that the RSS is a secular, democratic organization, which does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed or race. However, he insisted that everyone who lived in India irrespective of community or caste are sons and daughters of Bharatdesh. He was cautious in not using the words Hinduism or Hindustan.
By Rajan Narayan
The Rashritya Sevak Sangh held a show of strength of its karyakarta at the public meeting at Campal grounds which was addressed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. There are two groups of RSS karyakarta, one owing allegiance to former RSS chief Subhash Velingkar, and the other to national RSS organizations. Bhagwat invited everyone to join the RSS and insisted it was not a paramilitary organization though the meeting was a highly militarized, regimented, public display of power.
JUST like the Krantiveer set up by the Indian army, the RSS veer displayed a show of strength at the Campal grounds on Saturday. Though sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat claims that the RSS is not a para-military force. Though it was supposed to be a public meeting, only hardcore RSS karyakarta in their uniform were permitted to attend the meeting. The discipline imposed on the RSS pracharak is even greater than that imposed by Nazi Germany or the Indian army.
The karyakarta who were permitted the privilege of attending the meeting sat in pyramid formation at a distance of at least three feet from each other at the Campal grounds. At the head of each group there was a squadron leader. There were all in the RSS uniform of white shirt, khaki trousers (a changeover from the former khaki shorts). There was complete silence as clearly the Karyakatya attending a meeting are not allowed to talk to each other or make any comments.
When Mohan Bhagwat arrived all of them simultaneously while seated did a namaskar to him. Unlike at other public meetings there were no cheers or comments or even a Bharat Mata Ki Jai or Shree Ram. At the end of the meeting all the karyakarta stood up in silence. The RSS red flag was lowered. It was only after the flag was lowered that the 5,000 plus crowd of karyakarta were allowed to leave. I understand all the karyakarta had to give in their names to attend the meeting eight days earlier and their identities were thoroughly checked.
RSS PRESSURE GROUP
MOHAN Bhagwat in his speech insisted that the RSS was not a pressure group. The implication being that it did not influence the BJP. Mohan Bhagwat insisted that RSS was a secular democratic organisation. That he did not believe in caste, community or creed. However, Bhagwat insisted that anyone living in India or born in India and was a Muslim, Christian, Sikh or Hindu, was a part of Bharat. That the RSS respected and recognised all religions.
No explanation was given for the RSS karyakarta terrifying the Muslim community on the issue of cow slaughter and the Catholic community on the issue of vandalization of churches. On Saturday, January 7, 2023 more than a dozen crosses were vandalized in the famous St Michael’s church at Mayem which was built in the 15th century. The Mayem church attracts devotees from all communities and miracles are attributed to the cross here.
I was personally keen on attending the so called public meeting of Mohan Bhagwat. But when I asked various strong BJP friends they said it was limited only to the karyakarta. This is ironic as Mohan Bhagwat kept requesting people from all communities to join the RSS. “Come and join the RSS for six months or a year. Get to know what the RSS is from the inside. You can leave whenever you want….” And yet even when the RSS chief calls for a public meeting he does not allow even senior media persons to attend, forget aam aadmi.”
KARYAKARTA RANE & KHAUNTE
CLEARLY, the RSS has a great deal of influence on who will join the BJP cabinet at the state and the centre. Which is why it is not surprising that Minister of Health and Forests Vishwajit Rane went out of his way to claim that he was a dedicated karyakarta and was inspired by Mohan Bhagwat. Vishwajit even claimed that when he was a child he was a member of the RSS shaka.
The other BJP cabinet minister who was part of Mohan Bhagwat’s so called public meeting was Minister for Tourism, IT, Printing & Stationery Minister Rohan Khaunte and he too was in RSS uniform giving the RSS salute smartly. Coincidently, the RSS salute is made up of putting your right hand against your chest. I presume it implies that the RSS is close to their hearts.
Not surprisingly none of the Catholic BJP MLAs either attended the Mohan Bhagwat lecture or participated in any deliberations. We, however, understand that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had organised the dinner for the cabinet with Mohan Bhagwat. Though the Karnataka- Goa Mhadei issue is boiling over and burning into a bonfire, the RSS chief did not say a word about it.
After all this is a double-engine or double-barrelled BJP trained with the BJP in power both in Maharashtra and Goa. Bhagwat also did not say anything about the status of Belgaum and the border dispute with Maharashtra. It will be recalled that Maharashtra has been agitating and throwing its weight around for Belgaum to be merged with Maharashtra.
Till LK Advani was president of the BJP clearly it was the party which called the shots. The RSS had to abide by the decisions of the party. Apparently, all this has changed and now it is a party which is under control of the RSS. Which is why perhaps instead of the revered LK Advani we have a Gautam Adani controlling the country.
We hope that Goans will not fall into the RSS trap. That Goans will not accept Mohan Bhagwat’s invitation to join the RSS. The invitation of Mohan Bhagwat to join the RSS is like the story of the holy cat at Prayag. The cat pretended that it had decided to repent its sins. It encouraged the mice to come close to it and then pounced on them. Similarly, if you become a RSS karyakarta you will become an RSS addict, with no tolerance for other religious communities. If Goans join the RSS in large numbers they will contribute towards destroying the secular, democratic, peaceful, green environment of Goa.