Devanuru Mahadeva's realistic exploration of RSS

No one can assure you of free speech today. The regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will surely find a mention in the annals of Indian history for undermining democratic values and institutions. By now, the discussion on issues that concern the future of Indian democracy has almost been abandoned. The Constitution is being openly violated and no institution can resist it. There is unprecedented control over the media. The problem has been compounded by the fact that no one has a clue at whose behest all this is being done.

People think the duo of Modi and Amit Shah is doing all this. It is true that the duo are presiding over the events, both at the national and State levels, and attracting all the limelight. This has made people oblivious to the interests working behind the current machinations. In fact, they have forgotten the very organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which has been busy planning and building up a Hindu Rashtra and wishes to replace the parliamentary democracy of India with an autocratic state based on the ideology of Hindutva.

The RSS has not only been articulating the idea of a Hindu Rashtra but also providing all the logistical support. The duo is only the face of the politics of Hindutva. It was quite impossible for the duo to demolish and dismantle the robust structures and institutions that our Constitution had created. It must not be forgotten that even Mussolini and Hitler did not have an organisation as big as the RSS is. But this fact has cleverly been put under the carpet and pushed out of the political discourse. Even TV debaters who were earlier identified as' RSS sympathisers' have been nicknamed 'political analysts' or 'supporters of BJP'.

In these times of post-truth, it is rather essential that someone with undisputed integrity should come and unveil the curtain and expose the real face behind the maneuverings going on in our country to the peril of the nation. Famous Kannada author Devanuru Mahadeva has taken up the challenge and come up with a 68-page book, "RSS Aala Mattu Agala (RSS: Depth and Breadth". His note of dedication expresses the anxiety of those who believe in pluralism and democracy, "In hope that children who are born as citizens of this world may remain so as they grow (older)."

This wonderful book by a wonderful author exposes the ideology, politics, and functioning of the RSS in a most fascinating way. A master in the art of using mythology to explore contemporary reality, the great writer says, "In our folk tales, there is the story of the sorcerer who spread turmoil globally and behaved atrociously, all because he had hidden his life in the form of a parakeet in a distant cave, far beyond the seven seas." Firstly, he is a magician and furthermore an impersonator – a creature of many appearances, infinite in disguise. He is untouched by any action against him because his life-soul is protected from everything far away in the cave. The only way out of this quagmire is to first establish where the life-soul is hidden. We need to look for it. As a part of such a quest for the life-soul of the RSS, I peered into the ancient cesspool from whence the organization's ancient origins can be traced. What I saw is hideous."

Mahadeva traces the origins of RSS ideology to the thoughts of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and says, "For about 100 years now, the RSS and their associates have continuously persevered to build today's reality out of these (dangerous) beliefs from the past."

With the quotes from Golwalkar, who has been the Sarsanghachalak of RSS during its long formative years, the noted author proves how Dr Hedgewar, the founder of RSS, and Golwalkar were inspired by the ideology of Nazism and Fascism and wished to preserve the Chaturvarnaya system ( order of four Varnas), and for this, the organization is bent upon destroying India's Constitution,

"Hence, for this particular Hindu stock, which hopes for a child born in India as a 'global citizen' to be tightly bound into the Jaati-varna system and wishes for it to remain within its confines until its death, contemporary India's Constitution drafted under the leadership of Ambedkar with its civil and humanist ideals, is actually a nightmare. This is ruining their sleep.

RSS and their parivara (family/ affiliates/ associates) are involved in indefensible acts to destroy our Constitution. Unconscionable acts towards this end. Not just a few! The RSS parivara is enlisting support in a fight to uproot the very foundation of our Constitution, its federal structure, that our country is a union of states. For the RSS, pluralism is rupture, separationist, and a poisonous seed."

"Golwalkar has declared 'We must deeply bury for good all this talk of a federal format of our Constitution. Let us re-examine and re-draft the Constitution to establish a unitary form of government'. Furthermore, one flag, one nation ideology, and Hitler's one race, one leader all-powerful authoritarian governance is their goal," Mahadeva asserts.

In delving into the depths and breadth of the RSS, Mahadeva demolishes the argument of those apologists who point to Indira Gandhi's emergency as a form of absolute dictatorship. "Let us recall: Indira Gandhi of the (Indian National) Congress, too, was briefly dictatorial," he says. This was only for a brief period, and her dictatorship was only administrative. "

"Let's recall: During Indira's brief dictatorial stint, the judiciary, executive, the press, and autonomous institutions were not rendered impotent as today. However, under Modi's rule today, the judiciary, executive, the press and autonomous institutions are struggling for survival. The dream rule of the RSS has begun to annex all spaces of our society. This means that they (seek to) rule over (political) party, society, culture, executive – all of these. This is universal and unrestricted authority! Let us remember this," says the author.

The great Devanuru Mahadeva has torn the disguise of the RSS at a time when it was most necessary.

(The author is a senior journalist. He has experience of working with leading newspapers and electronic media including Deccan Herald, Sunday Guardian, Navbharat Times and Dainik Bhaskar. He writes on politics, society, environment and economy)