Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

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RSS parade in Bhopal. Note the fascist-inspired uniforms.[1]
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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, translated into English as National Volunteer Organization)[2] is a far-right extremist, paramilitary terrorist[3][4][5] organization[6] from India advocating Hindutva (Hindu nationalism). RSS ideology was inspired directly from Nazi Germany.[7] RSS is the parent organisation of Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindu party and current ruling party of India.

The RSS goal of Hindu supremacy brought them into conflict with Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Hindu teachings and the secularism of independence leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru. We all know what happened next... Gandhi was murdered in 1947 by Nathuram Godse, a former RSS member. Bitter conflict between the Hindu nationalists and those advocating for a democratic secular and diverse India gave birth to a modern organization dedicated to bringing about its vision of a Hindu state.

India has banned RSS on three separate occasions, once after Mahatma GandhiWikipedia’s assassination, and most recently after they razed the Babri Mosque claiming that it was built over a Hindu temple. The organization was acquitted each time and its members vehemently deny militancy, although their critics disagree and often label it as a terrorist organization.[8]

Organising the Hindus and helping them is one thing but going in for revenge for its sufferings on innocent and helpless men, women and children is quite another thing… apart from this, their opposition to the Congress, that to of such virulence, disregarding all considerations of personality, decay of decorum, created a kind of unrest among the people. All their speeches were fill of communal poison. It was not necessary to spread poison in order to enthuse the Hindus and organise for their protection. As a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji. Even an iota of the sympathy of the Government, or of the people, no more remained for the RSS. In face opposition grew. Opposition turned more severe, when the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhiji’s death. Under these conditions, it became inevitable for the Government to take action against the RSS…Since then over six months have elapsed. We had hoped that after this lapse of time, with full and proper consideration, the RSS persons would come to the right path. But from the reports that come to me, it is evident that attempts to put fresh life into their same old activities are afoot.



History[edit]

Role in freedom struggle[edit]

Hindus, don’t waste your energy fighting the British. Save your energy to fight our internal enemies that are Muslims, Christians and Communists.
—Golwalkar, 2nd leader of RSS, most prominent Hindutva ideologue.[10]

Major ideologues[edit]

Savarkar[edit]

Veer Vinayak Damodar SavarkarWikipedia is credited for coining the word “Hindutva’’. He is known to his followers by the honorific prefix “Veer”; however, it is much less known that this title was actually bestowed by himself in a Hagiography he wrote with a different name![11]

Savarkar is born hero, he could almost despise those who shirked duty for fear of consequences. If once he rightly or wrongly believed that a certain system of Government was iniquitous, he felt no scruples in devising means to eradicate the evil.
—Savarkar pretending to be a different person while writing about himself in a biography.

Savarkar was deeply Islamophobic since childhood, admitting to having destroyed mosques and attacked Muslims with “knives, pins and foot rulers” at the age of 12.[citation needed]

We vandalized the mosque to our heart’s content and raised the flag of our bravery on it. We followed the war strategy of Shivaji completely and ran away from the site after accomplishing our task.

Savarkar had invented the destructive two-nation theory years ago before Jinnah presented it in parliament.[citation needed]

Savarkar criticised British for banning Sati.[citation needed]

He was also a great follower of the British, advising Hindus to straw away from the freedom struggle.[citation needed]

Now, the Hindu far-right in India have started rewriting history to portray Savarkar as a great freedom fighter.

We bow to Veer Savarkar on his Jayanti [Birthday]. Veer Savarkar epitomises courage, patriotism and unflinching commitment to a strong India. He inspired many people to devote themselves towards nation building.
—Narendra Modi[12]

Golwalker[edit]

MS Golwalkar (1903–1973), the second leader of the RSS, praised Nazi Germany’s racial policies and insisted that:[13]

All those not belonging to the national, i.e. Hindu race, Religion, Culture and Language, naturally fall out of the pale of real 'National' life. We repeat: in Hindusthan, the land of the Hindus, lives and should live the Hindu Nation — satisfying all the five essential requirements of the scientific nation concept of the modern world.[note 1] Consequently only those movements are truly 'National' as aim at re-building, revitalizing and emancipating from its present stupor, the Hindu Nation... All others are either traitors and enemies to the National cause, or, to take a charitable view, idiots.
—MS Golwalkar

The “idiots” can be cured, however...

...The foreign races in India must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must loose[sic] their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment — not even citizen's rights. There is, at least, should be, no other course for them to adopt. We are an old nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do deal, with the foreign races, who have chosen to live in our country.
—MS Golwalkar

The techniques of achieving the cure, being...

...to keep up the purity of the nation and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of Semitic races – the Jews. National pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by.
—MS Golwalkar

Golwalkar also expressed several other Islamophobic views:

Ever since that evil day, when Moslems first landed in Hindusthan, right up to the present moment, the Hindu Nation has been gallantly fighting on to shake off the despoilers... The Race Spirit[note 2] has been awakening.
—MS Golwalkar[14]
In the Indian situation, the Hindu is the mountain, and the Muslim population, Mohammed. I need not elaborate.
—MS Golwalkar[citation needed]

Pseudoscience[edit]

In 2009, some RSS followers claimed that western brands like Pepsi and Coca-Cola were corrupting "Indian culture", and introduced the cow urine soda in India. The drink contained cow urine with flavors such as Aloe vera and some Ayurvedic herbs. They promotes the drinking of cow urine as a cure for diseases arguing, "Cow urine offers a cure for around 70 to 80 incurable diseases like diabetes."[15][16]

'Applying Cow Dung on Mobile Phone to Block radiation.'[edit]

In 2017,Shankar Lal, President of Bharatiya Gau Sewa Sangh (An RSS affiliate dedicated for Cow lovers) said.

It is fresh cow dung. I have put it to save myself from the harmful radiations of the cellphone. It works, believe me, If cow dung can treat cancer, why can't it save us from a phone's microwaves? [17]

Eugenics[edit]

See the main article on this topic: Hindutva § Racism

In May 2017, RSS's health wing launched their grand plan to Make India Great Again, using Nazi eugenics.

Teaching babies sanskaar in womb[edit]

On March 2023, Samvardhinee Nyas, wing of the Rashtra Sevika Samiti, the women's section of the RSS, announced their new campaign titled "Garbha Sanskar", to help indoctrinate foetuses into their ideology and religion even before they are born (albeit with questionable efficacy).

Pregnant women should be taught about the lives and struggles of Lord Ram, Hanuman, Shivaji and freedom fighters so that the child in the womb starts learning early about sanskar.
—Madhuri Marathe, organising secretary of Samvardhinee Nyas

It was also said that as a part of "womb cleaning," reading Sanskrit and the Gita should also be done during pregnancy, claiming that if garbha sanskar was performed properly, even the DNA of the child in the womb could be changed.

It makes us wonder what is going wrong in pregnancy. 'Garbha sanskar' starts even before pregnancy. The minute a couple thinks of a child, the role of ayurveda comes into play
—Dr Rama Jayasunder, head, NMR department of AIIMS (!!!).
...Purification of the womb and a positive environment are much needed. Our target is to deliver 1,000 such garbha sanskar children every year in this country. This initiative is meant to restore the old glory of India... Mothers will be happy if they give birth to children like Lord Ram, who are duty-bound towards parents and save the country too
—Rajani Mittal, co-convener.

To top it all off, some homophobia:[18]

If the mother already has a son as her firstborn and expects her second-born to be a girl, but gives birth to a boy, then the child could grow up to be homosexual
—Shweta Dangre

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. Geography, race, religion, culture, and language
  2. The German notion of a volksgeist, a ‘race spirit’, appealed strongly to Golwalkar. To remain in India, Muslims would have to submit themselves to Hindus.

References[edit]

  1. Dress how you want to be addressed: RSS and fascism. Indian National Herald.
  2. rashtriya means national, swayamsevak means volunteer, and sangh means organization
  3. See the Wikipedia article on Saffron terror.
  4. https://theprint.in/india/governance/cia-document-tags-vhp-and-bajrang-dal-as-militant-religious-outfits/70409/
  5. https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2021/01/19/when-shall-the-unsc-declare-rss-a-terrorist-outfit/
  6. Les Back and John Solomos (2000), Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader, p.591, ISBN 9780415156714. "It is important to note the marriage between far-right-wing Hindutva ideology and western New Ageism in the works of writers like David Frawley (1994, 1995a, 1995b) who is both a key apologist for the Hindutva movement and the author of various New Age books on Vedic astrology, oracles and yoga."
  7. Guruji’s Lie: The RSS and MS Golwalkar’s undeniable links to Nazism by Dhirendra K Jha (31 July 2021) The Caravan.
  8. I. K. Shukla (2003). Hindutva: An Autopsy of Fascism as a Theoterrorist Cult and Other Essays. Media House. pp.105–. ISBN 978-81-7495-143-4. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  9. https://thewire.in/history/sardar-patel-rss-ban-1948
  10. https://www.deccanherald.com/content/533034/bjps-brand-patriotism.html
  11. https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/is-a-bharat-ratna-in-the-offing-the-real-savarkar-and-his-brave-admirers
  12. https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1133201580855943170
  13. The Hate-Minorities Message of the ‘RSS Bible’ Sabrang.
  14. https://www.sabrang.com/gujarat/rssbible.htm
  15. Udder Nonsense? Cow Urine Promoted for Health Benefits Livescience
  16. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-ht0DJZBpU
  17. RSS Leader Applies Cow Dung On His Cellphone To Guard Against Radiation Huffington Post.
  18. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/teach-babies-sanskar-in-womb-rss-wing-to-doctors/articleshow/98437170.cms

External links[edit]