RSS has not changed its basics since its inception

A recent remark by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on inequality, unemployment and poverty has triggered a debate on whether RSS is not happy with the Modi government and is worried about the worsening economic situation in the country. The Congress party grabbed the opportunity to suggest that it is the impact of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra. Mohan Bhagwat's meeting with the president of the All India Imam Organization and a visit to a Madarsa already attracted a similar reaction a few days back. His outreach to Muslims is being interpreted as a softening of the RSS's stand towards minorities.

This kind of superficiality has been routine in our political discourse. It has increased considerably since the mainstream media has turned into major propaganda machinery of the ruling dispensation. There should not be any doubt that Hosabale's statement and Bhagwat's gesture have high propaganda value. It might also be an attempt at an image makeover. The RSS has been doing this at intervals, especially after big campaigns or during elections. This time the exercise has been made after campaigns against Hijab and Gyanvapi Mosque Row.

It also has something to do with the Bharat Jodo Yatra. How can Rahul Gandhi be allowed to become the sole champion of love and compassion in a country where people have the audacity to claim to be a tolerant society after recurring violence in the name of religion? Indians consider violence to be insanity. The cultural disapproval of violence and aggression forces even violent organizations and individuals to appear tolerant and compassionate. The RSS is no exception, it has been pleading for valor and aggression, yet it talks of harmony and tolerance. They do it in the same breath. This is irony!

The question is whether we can interpret these isolated statements and gestures in terms of ideological or policy change. Do these statements show genuine concern for real issues confronting ordinary people? Also, can we cite them as a change in the character of RSS?

When we consider these questions, it becomes clear that most of the instant interpretations lack content and are superficial. They are out of context too. For instance, the statement of Hosabale expressing concern about increasing inequality, unemployment, and poverty has been made in a programme of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch. The programme, Swawlambi Bharat Abhiyan, aims at promoting entrepreneurship and self-employment by developing local and rural economies. The programme was launched a year ago and has covered 700 districts.

An analysis of the programme only reveals that this is an extension of a government programme that promotes entrepreneurship and self-employment by developing skills and providing financial aid. The Abhiyan could best be described as a non-governmental effort to achieve a government target. A careful reading of Hosabale's speech gives us a clearer picture of what the RSS has in mind. The RSS leader praised the government for its new education policy, Jan Dhan Yojana, health policy, and skill development programmes. His speech was aimed at giving proper context to the efforts of the Abhiyan. How else could he rationalize the campaign without saying that the situation is bad enough and it requires a serious intervention?

Another interesting aspect of this Abhiyan is that it is being conducted by a group of 11 organizations affiliated with the RSS and it includes the BJP. How can it go against the government?

It must also be noted that the RSS might be trying to neutralize opposition parties' campaigns on the issues of unemployment, inequality, and poverty. This is a very common political strategy to reduce anti-incumbency. Since the RSS maintains some distance from the BJP and hides its link with the latter, it has an obvious advantage in neutralizing anti-incumbency. People will take its opposition to government policies seriously. They will hardly imagine that all this is being done to blunt opposition to the policies of the government.

However, Bhagwat's speech at the Dussehra rally at RSS headquarters in Nagpur proves how hollow the statement of Hosabale, and the outreach of Bhagwat was. Bhagwat asserts that population growth may become the country's main handicap in providing adequate food and shelter to citizens of the country. And, he accused Muslims and Christians of increasing their numbers through various means, including conversion and infiltration. He warned that the "population imbalance" caused by it had serious consequences. He raised an alarm that this might create the danger of a "fresh partition".

Bhagwat's assertions at the Dussehra rally indicate the opposite of what the media has inferred after his outreach to Muslims. It can easily be seen that the stagnancy in RSS ideology will not end soon. The RSS is one such organization that has not changed its basics since its inception. Its core remains communalism, and under no circumstances is it going to change that. The gesture of reaching out to Muslims may be an attempt to further isolate Muslims. Any lukewarm response to these gestures may add to the propaganda that the community is stubborn. And, in the end, it will strengthen the Hindutva forces' narrative against the community.

The RSS' assertion at the Dussehra rally gives a hint of the course the Hindutva organization is likely to adopt in the coming future. Bhagwat has raised issues that have huge political implications. They include so-called population imbalance, infiltration from Bangladesh, and alleged religious conversions. The assumption of population imbalance hardly finds support among researchers. There indeed are differences in fertility rates of different communities, and Muslims have the highest rate, but it has hardly been found to affect the religious demography of the country. It is largely unchanged. Currently, the fertility rate in Hindus is 2.1 and in Muslims, it is 2.6. Fertility is fast declining among both Hindus and Muslims. Bhagwat's speech indicates that anti-Muslim politics is set to accelerate in the coming days.

(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)