The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), with its more than fifty thousand shakhas spread across the country, is propagating the idea of India, but the idea has been distorted and maligned by the liberal-secular set-up over the years.
Of several accomplishments of the RSS, Kashmir and Kerala are two best examples. It is in these two States that the RSS is working hard to change the mindset of people and is up against mighty forces. How arduous the task is can be gauged from the fact that RSS workers are being targeted continuously. The case in point is the killing of RSS men in Kerala. The attacks are not only confined to the south Indian State. In Punjab too, a senior RSS pracharak was killed recently.
Ravinder Gosai was head of Raghunath Nagar Mohan Shakha of RSS Ludhiana and was a Mukhya Shikshak of shakha. This is not an isolated case. Many political outfits are scared and they despise the RSS since the BJP Government came to the power with brute majority, as they fear that their days are numbered. That is why they are hatching conspiracies against the RSS and even using violence to eliminate its members to discourage it from carrying out its programmes. But the RSS has stood its ground. The religious organisation is challenging the liberal-western thoughts, as it along with Leftist intellectuals, distorted the idea of India for over seven decades.
Now, it is high time that the biased history written by Leftist intellectuals backed by the Congress is rewritten. Let us take Jammu & Kashmir, which has been obsessed with the Kashmir image. Article 370 continues to be the fulcrum of the whole debate. The goal can only be achieved by integrating the population with the mainstream, bringing an end to senseless violence that has engulfed the State. To achieve this goal, the Centre has appointed former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as the Special Representative of the Government of India to start talks with all stakeholders, including separatists. The RSS is also playing an active role in the State as its chief Mohan Bhagwat, while delivering Dussehra message recently, spoke about the importance of integrating the people of Kashmir with the rest of India. The RSS started its think tank called Jammu Kashmir Study Centre for the purpose in 2011.
Director of Jammu & Kashmir Study Centre Ashutosh Bhatnagar categorically said there were fundamental errors in understanding the issue of Kashmir. Most of the political leaders like Ram Manohar Lohia and CPI stalwarts supported Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir. The J&K Assembly had passed the resolution to remove Article 370 as the common understanding is that it is a hindrance, not a support.
To mitigate the charge of majoritarianism, the RSS formed the Muslim Rashtriya Manch in 2012 with the sole purpose of integrating Indian Muslims and Kashmiri youths with the rest of India. Also, there is an urgent need to work in Punjab, where nearly after three decades, the separatism scourge is raising its head. According to reports, Sikh militants are gathering in Canada and plotting terror attacks in Punjab in a bid to revive the Khalistani movement. The anti-thesis idea of India has to be nipped in the bud.
The question is: Who is giving space to the Khalistani movement in Punjab? Will it be sorted out by electoral politics? Who is spreading hatred in Jammu & Kashmir? Why Kerala looks so different from the rest of India? The binary electoral politics in Kerala invited seemingly unfriendly symptoms of anti-India. ISIS agents are more active in Kerala than any other parts of the country. There are many distortions purposefully done by the liberal-secular brigade, which challenges the understanding of India.
The idea of Syama Prasad Mukherjee was thrown into dustbin. His death is still a mystery. Almost seven decades of the Congress rule distorted the concept of India.
The mindset of young Indians was shaped by the Nehruvian idea that accords western concept of secularism supreme importance. Talking about our historical root was dubbed as anti-modern and conservative. Throughout the years, many lopsided ideas of India were formulated. One of them is being about Jammu & Kashmir.
As Kashmir has hogged the national attention, Jammu and Ladhakh were completely ignored. To bridge the gap, the RSS started the ground works in different parts of Kashmir, Jammu, and Ladakh. The historical narratives were challenged. The RSS believes that Kashmir had a Hindu origin and does not recognise its gradual Islamisation after 13th century. An attempt has been made by the RSS to establish “Hindu history” of this subcontinent known as Bharat Khand. The RSS made this very clear immediately after Independence. Kashmir in every respect is an integral part of India. The RSS shakas were initiated in 1940s. The political movement against Article 370 was started in 1953 by Praja Parishad.
The RSS-run think tank Jammu Kashmir Study Centre (JKSC) has many branches in all the 22 districts of Jammu & Kashmir. The approach of JKSC is based on reality, without distorting the image of all the three parts of Jammu & Kashmir.
The many facts which were unknown to the world surfaced after 2011 once this think tank started producing research reports. One of them was Article 35A. Kashmir has occupied the space of Jammu and Ladakh. One territorial reality is that 82 per cent of Jammu & Kashmir is Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan. Why post Independence, the Central Government remained prisoner of Kashmir-centric approach?
The strategic importance of Ladakh is paramount. In fact, without Ladakh, China’s PLA would be sitting on the southern foothills of the Himalayas.
Its internal significance apart, the country has failed to underpin Ladakh’s strategic value for gaining direct access to Tarim Basin and the Tibetan Plateau. It was Nehru, who spurned Ladakh’s resistance against a unitary Jammu & Kashmir State. Instead, he left its fate in the hands of Sheikh Abdullah, who had no links with the region. Ladakh suffered on demographic deficiency.
The outlook of Kashmiriyat, which is confluence of three regions and three religions, are more ingrained in Jammu and Ladakh than in the Kashmir valley.
Most of the Kashmir valley districts are Muslim dominated and there is tinge of Islamisation, whereas almost all the districts of Jammu have a strong reflections of different religions and unity. The media talks about the existence of Kashmiriyat merely in terms of the Kashmir valley. Kashmiriyat has been strongly influenced by Shaivism, Buddhism and Sufism, carrying a long-standing conviction that any and every religion will lead to the same divine goal. The truth is now emerging to change the mindset of the young India.
Kerala episode
The RSS is gaining ground in Kerala. The vote percentage of the BJP has gone up to 15 per cent. Efforts are on to make further inroads into the State. BJP president Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath campaigned in Kerala.
The spate of political violence in Kunnur district narrates the brutalities of the Red. The ISIS threat is also looming large. The conversion of Hindus into Muslims is rampant in districts where the LDF cadre rule the roost.
Why are Communists restless in Kerala?
As the BJP opened its account in the Kerala Assembly in the last election, shocked Communists became restless and launched a new political vendetta in frustration. Kerala’s northern district Kannur proved to be the epicentre of conflict between the RSS and the CPI(M).
Political killings in Kannur are a well-developed State project: there is nexus among the Left Government, the party and police.
Post-Independent India is an extension of the Nehruvian ideology, which is less indigenous and more foreign. The history of Kashmir is full of distortions. The people who tried to differ with Congress were jailed. The name of roads and building were named after the Mughal rulers, who killed and looted Indians and Indian treasures. The Home Minister of India was candid while saying Maharana Partap is our national hero. Some Liberals didn’t like it. But what is wrong in it? The legacy of ancient history has been wilfully forgotten. When Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adiytanath said Taj Mahal is great because of the labour and sacrifices of Indians, liberal intellectuals launched a vitriolic attack on him.
Sunil Ambekar, an ideologue of the RSS, said, “Idea of India has to evolve to challenge the existing structure; the colonial mindset must be thrown out.”
India needs to make distinction between the truth from the falsehood. India is what we need to be proud of.
By Satish Kumar
(The writer is Head of the Department of Political Science, Central University of Haryana)
Courtesy: The Pioneer
