An open letter
to His Excellency Jagdeep Dhankhar, Vice President of India
By glorifying
RSS in Rajya Sabha, Sir, you have violated Constitutional Oath!
Respected Sir, it needs
no reminding that you occupy the august office of Indian Republic’s Vice-President
after taking the following oath under Article 69 of the Indian Constitution, “that
I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law
established and that I will discharge the duty upon which I am about to
enter." As Vice-President Your Excellency is also the ex-officio
Chairman of Rajya Sabha. As per the Oath any person occupying both these
offices must uphold the democratic-secular Constitution of India.
Sir,
it was a sad spectacle that the Nation found you glorifying RSS in Rajya Sabha
on July 31, 2024, in response to the criticism of Samajwadi Party leader Ramji
Lal Suman that persons connected with RSS were being appointed to crucial posts
in the educational institutions after recommendation from RSS higher-ups. Instead
of letting a concerned Minister to respond you took charge and stated:
“RSS
is an organisation which is a global think tank of the highest order… I will
not permit honourable member to single out an organisation which is doing
national service…I hereby rule that RSS is an organisation that has full
constitutional rights to participate in the development journey of this nation.
This organisation bears unimpeachable credentials, comprises of people who are
deeply committed to serving the nation selflessly. To take exception that a
member of this organisation cannot participate in development journey of the
nation is not only unconstitutional, but beyond the rules…if we take exception
like this, it is indicative of undemocratic situations. It is antithetical to
the preamble of
our Constitution. We are doing great disservice to the nation and the
Constitution by taking such divisive stance…I increasingly find that people are
engaging into divisive activities. This is a pernicious design, a sinister
mechanism to run down the growth of the country.”
[‘RSS has unimpeachable credentials,
is global think tank of highest order: V-P’, The Indian Express Delhi,
August 1, 2024. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/rss-think-tank-vice-president-jagdeep-dhankhar-9486650/]
Sir, when an issue of favouritism and
corruption was raised by a senior Rajya Sabha member relating to RSS you went
to the extent of warning that “The member was trampling the Constitution of
India”.
[‘Jagdeep Dhankhar to the rescue of
RSS, describes Opposition MP's questioning of appointment as 'trampling of the
Constitution', The Telegraph, Delhi, August 01, 2024. https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/jagdeep-dhankhar-to-the-rescue-of-rss-describes-opposition-mps-questioning-of-appointment-as-trampling-of-the-constitution/cid/2037729]
Your Excellency,
you glorified RSS as an organisation which is “a global think tank of the
highest order”, “doing national service”, and “bears unimpeachable
credentials, comprises of people who are deeply committed to serving the nation
selflessly”. You declared any criticism of RSS as “trampling the
Constitution of India”, “antithetical to the preamble of our Constitution”, “great disservice to the nation and the
Constitution” and critics indulging in “divisive
activities” as part of “a pernicious design, a sinister mechanism to run
down the growth of the country.”
Sir, I am
shocked that as Vice-President of India you eulogized an organization in the
Parliament House of the largest democracy in the world which did not
participate in the Indian Freedom Struggle for its inclusiveness, denigrated
martyrs of our glorious Freedom Struggle, refused to be loyal to
democratic-secular Indian polity, rejected Tricolour as the National Flag,
denounced Indian Constitution demanding Manusmriti as the constitution of
India, declares Hinduism and Casteism as synonymous, treats the largest two
minorities of the country as ‘Internal
Threats’ and denies claim of Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism being independent
religions, and women within RSS as servants.
I am
reproducing the above-mentioned horrendous facts from RSS archives for your
kind reference.
RSS committed
to build a Hindu state
Importantly, Organizer in an editorial
(titled ‘Whither’) on the very eve of Independence,
Rejected the whole concept
of a composite nation declared:
“Let us no longer allow ourselves to be
influenced by false notions of nationhood. Much of the mental confusion and the
present and future troubles can be removed by the ready recognition of the
simple fact that in Hindusthan only the Hindus
form the nation and the national structure must be built on that safe and sound
foundation…The nation itself must be built up of Hindus, on Hindu traditions,
culture, ideas and aspirations.” [Organizer, August
14, 1947]
Prarthana (prayer)
and Pratigya (oath) used in RSS demand from members commitment to a Hindu
religion, Hindu rashtra and Hindu cause in opposition to loyalty to
democratic-secular Indian polity.
Prarthana:
“Affectionate
Motherland, I eternally bow to you/O Land of Hindus, you have reared me in
comfort/O Sacred Land, the Great Creator of Good, may this body of mine be
dedicated to you/I again and again bow before You/O God almighty, we the
integral part of the Hindu Rashtra salute you in reverence/For Your cause have
we girded up our loins/Give us Your Blessings for its accomplishment.” 6
[RSS, Shakha
Darshika, Gyan Ganga, Jaipur, 1997, p.1.]
Pratigya:
“Before the
all-powerful God and my ancestors, I most solemnly take this oath, that I
become a member of the RSS in order to achieve all round greatness of
Bharatvarsha by fostering the growth of my sacred Hindu religion, Hindu
society, and Hindu culture. I shall perform the work of the Sangh honestly,
disinterestedly, with my heart and soul, and I shall adhere to this goal all my
life. Bharat Mata Ki Jai.” 7 [Ibid, p. 66.]
Sir, thus your
glorification of RSS was praise of an organization which demands commitment not
to the constitutional polity of India but Hindu rashtra.
RSS
denigrated the Tricolour
Respected
Sir, Tricolour is our National Flag. It was this flag carrying which thousands
Indian patriots laid down their live as during the British rule it was crime to
unfurl it in public. How much RSS hated it can be known by the following
denigration of the Flag in its English organ, Organizer just on the eve
of Independence (August 14, 1947):
“The people who have come to power by the kick
of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour, but it never [sic] be respected
and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having
three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is
injurious to a country.”
RSS
betrayed India’s Freedom Struggle
Your
Excellency, The Non-cooperation Movement (1920-22) and the Quit India Movement
(1942) were two great milestones in the history of the Indian Freedom Movement,
but RSS kept aloof not only from these but other anti-colonial campaign. Guru MS
Golwalkar, the most prominent ideologue of the RSS shamelessly denigrated these
movements in the following words:
“Definitely
there are bound to be bad results of struggle. The boys became unruly after the
1920-21 movement. It is not an attempt to throw mud at the leaders. But these
are inevitable products after the struggle. The matter is that we could not
properly control these results. After 1942, people often started thinking that
there was no need to think of the law.”
[Shri
Guruji Samagr Darshan [Collected works of MS Golwalkar in Hindi in 7
volumes], vol. iv, BhartiyamVichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd, p. 41. Hereafter
referred to as SGSD.]
Thus,
Guru Golwalkar wanted the Indians to respect the draconian and repressive laws
of the inhuman British rulers! After the 1942 Movement he further admitted,
“In 1942 also
there was a strong sentiment in the hearts of many. At that time too the
routine work of Sangh continued. Sangh vowed not to do anything directly.
However, upheaval (uthal-puthal) in the minds of Sangh volunteers continued.
Sangh is an organisation of inactive persons, their talks are useless, not only
outsiders but also many of our volunteers did talk like this. They were greatly
disgusted too.” [SGSD, p. 40.]
Guruji
tells us that RSS did nothing directly. However, there is not a single
publication or document of the RSS which throws light on what the RSS did
indirectly for the Quit India Movement. During this period, in fact, its
mentor, ‘Veer’ Savarkar, ran coalition governments with the Muslim League.
RSS
denigrates martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle
Respected
Sir, I would like to know your views on the statements of ‘Guruji’ decrying and
denigrating the tradition of martyrdom following which Bhagat Singh,
Chandrashekar Azad, Ashfaqullah Khan, Ram Prasad Bismil and countless other
patriotic Indians laid down their lives for the independence our Motherland. Here
is a passage from the chapter, ‘Martyr, great but not ideal’ from Bunch of
Thoughts, a veritable Geeta for RSS cadres:
“There is no doubt that such men who embrace
martyrdom are great heroes and their philosophy too is pre-eminently manly.
They are far above the average men who meekly submit to fate and remain in fear
and inaction. All the same, such persons are not held up as ideals in our
society. We have not looked upon their martyrdom as the highest point of
greatness to which men should aspire. For, after all, they failed in achieving
their ideal, and failure implies some fatal flaw in them.”
[Golwalkar,
MS., Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu Prakashana, Bangalore, 1996
edition, p. 283.]
Could
there be a statement more insulting to the Indian martyrs than this? The
founder of the RSS, Dr. KB Hedgewar, went one step further: “Patriotism is
not only going to prison. It is not correct to be carried away by such
superficial patriotism.” [CP Bhishikar, CP., Sanghavariksh Ke Beej: Dr.
Keshavrao Hedgewar, Suruchi, 1994, p. 21.]
RSS’
hatred for democracy
Vice-President
Sir, you will agree with me that it is due to our democratic and egalitarian
polity that you have become the Vice-President of India. But if Guru Golwalkar
had his say it would not have been possible. Guruji hated democracy as per his
following decree which he presented before a group of 1,350 top level cadres of
the RSS in 1940 at the RSS Headquarters: “RSS inspired by one flag, one
leader and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva in each and every
corner of this great land” [SGSD, vol. i, p. 11.]
As
a leading intellectual you must be familiar with the fact that decree of rule
under ‘one flag, one leader and one ideology’ was also the battle cry of the Fascist
and Nazi parties of Europe in the first half of 20th century. What they did to
democracy is well-known to the world!
For
RSS Hinduism and Casteism are synonymous
Respected
Sir, allow me to ask whether you like RSS believe that Hinduism and Casteism
are one and the same. The most prominent ideologue of RSS, Guru Golwalkar
stated:
“The Virat Purusha, the Almighty manifesting
himself... [according to Purusha Sukta] sun and moon are his eyes, the stars
and the skies are created from his nabhi [navel] and Brahmin is the head,
Kshatriya the hands, Vaishya the thighs and Shudra the feet. This means that
the people who have this fourfold arrangement, i.e., the Hindu People, is our
God. This supreme vision of Godhead is the very core of our concept of ‘nation’
and has permeated our thinking and given rise to various unique concepts of our
cultural heritage.” [Golwalkar, MS., Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu
Prakashana, Bangalore, 1996 edition, pp. 36-37.]
For
this infallible belief in Casteism RSS strongly demanded that Manusmriti
should replace the Indian Constitution. When the Constituent Assembly of India finalized
the Constitution of India under the guidance of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on November
26, 1949, RSS was not happy. Its organ, Organiser, in an editorial four days
later complained:
“But in our constitution, there is no mention
of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were
written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws
as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit
spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that
means nothing.” [Organizer, Delhi, November 30, 1949.]
Respected
Sir, I am reproducing a selection from Manusmriti for your kind
reference and would like to know whether you also believe in these decrees of the
Manu Code. These dehumanizing and degenerate laws, which are presented here,
are self-explanatory.
Laws
of Manu Concerning Sudras
1.
For the
sake of the prosperity of the worlds (the divine one) caused the Brahmana, the Kshatriya,
the Vaisya, and the Sudra to proceed from his mouth, his arm, his thighs and
his feet.
2.
One
occupation only the lord prescribed to the Sudras, to serve meekly even these
(other) three castes.
3.
Once-born
man (a Sudra), who insults a twice-born man with gross invective, shall have
his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin.
4.
If he mentions
the names and castes (jati) of the (twice-born) with contumely, an iron nail,
ten fingers long, shall be thrust red-hot into his mouth.
5.
If he
arrogantly teaches Brahmanas their duty, the king shall cause hot oil to be
poured into his mouth and into his ears.
6.
With
whatever limb a man of a low caste does hurt to (a man of the three) highest
(castes), even that limb shall be cut off; that is the teaching of Manu.
7.
He who
raises his hand or a stick, shall have his hand cut off; he who in anger kicks
with his foot, shall have his foot cut off.
8.
A
low-caste man who tries to place himself on the same seat with a man of a high
caste, shall be branded on his hip and be banished, or (the king) shall cause
his buttock to be gashed.
9.
Let him
never slay a Brahmana, though he has committed all (possible) crimes; let him
banish such an (offender), leaving all his property (to him) and (his body)
unhurt.
Laws
of Manu Concerning Women
1.
Day and
night woman must be kept in dependence by the males (of) their (families), and,
if they attach themselves to sensual enjoyments, they must be kept under one’s
control.
2.
Her
father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth, and
her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.
3.
Women
must particularly be guarded against evil inclinations, however trifling (they
may appear); for, if they are not guarded, they will bring sorrow on two
families.
4.
Considering
that the highest duty of all castes, even weak husbands (must) strive to guard
their wives.
5.
No man
can completely guard women by force; but they can be guarded by the employment
of the (following) expedients:
6.
Let the
(husband) employ his (wife) in the collection and expenditure of his wealth, in
keeping (everything) clean, in (the fulfillment of) religious duties, in the
preparation of his food, and in looking after the household utensils.
7.
Women,
confined in the house under trustworthy and obedient servants, are not (well)
guarded; but those who of their own accord keep guard over themselves, are well
guarded.
8.
Women do
not care for beauty, nor is their attention fixed on age; (thinking), ‘(It is
enough that) he is a man,’ they give themselves to the handsome and to the
ugly.
9.
Through
their passion for men, through their mutable temper, through their natural
heartlessness, they become disloyal towards their husbands, however carefully
they may be guarded in this (world).
10. (When creating them) Manu allotted to
women (a love of their) bed, (of their) seat and (of) ornament, impure desires,
wrath, dishonesty, malice, and bad conduct.
11. For women no (sacramental) rite (is
performed) with sacred texts, thus the law is settled; women (who are)
destitute of strength and destitute of (the knowledge of) Vedic texts, (are as
impure as) falsehood (itself), that is a fixed rule.
Do
I need to remind you that these laws are for Hindus? I also would like to
remind you that a copy of Manusmriti was burnt as a protest in the
presence of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar during the historic Mahad agitation on December
25, 1927.
RSS
celebrated assassination of Gandhiji
Your
Excellency, I hope you know that Nathuram Godse and others who conspired to
kill Gandhiji, claimed to be ‘Hindu Nationalists’. They described killing as
something ordained by God. RSS celebrated his killing by distributing sweets
was the finding of none other than the first home minister of India, Sardar
Patel. In a letter written to Golwalkar on September 11, 1948, Sardar stated:
“Organizing 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 too of such virulence, disregarding
all considerations of personality, decency or decorum, created a kind of unrest
among the people. All their speeches were full of communal poison. It was not
necessary to spread poison in order to enthuse the Hindus and organize 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 fact,
opposition grew. Opposition turned more severe, when the RSS men expressed joy
and distributed sweets after Gandhiji’s death.” [Justice on Trial, RSS,
Bangalore, 1962, pp. 26-28.]
Respected Sir, Gandhiji’s assassination was part of
nation-building by RSS. I hope you will take note of it.
Muslims and
Christians as ‘Internal Threats’
number 1 and 2
The ‘Holy’ book for the RSS cadres
Bunch of Thoughts, has a long chapter titled
as ‘Internal Threats’
in which Muslims and Christians are described as threat number 1 and 2 respectively. While treating
Muslims as hostile element number 1 the book goes on to
elaborate,
“Even to this
day there are so many who say, ‘now there is no Muslim problem at all. All
those riotous elements who supported Pakistan have gone away once for all. The
remaining Muslims are devoted to our country. After all, they have no other
place to go, and they are bound to remain loyal’…It would be suicidal to delude
ourselves into believing that they have turned patriots overnight after the
creation of Pakistan. On the
contrary, the Muslim menace has increased a hundredfold by the creation of
Pakistan which has become a springboard for all their future aggressive designs
on our country.”
[MS Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya
Sindhu, Bangalore, 1996,
pp. 177-78.]
The book goes on to spit venom against common Muslims in the following words:
“...within the country there are so many Muslim pockets, i.e., so many ‘miniature Pakistans’… The conclusion
is that, in practically every place, there are Muslims who are in constant
touch with Pakistan over the transmitter…”
[MS Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya
Sindhu, Bangalore, 1996, p. 185.]
Golwalkar also questioned the loyalty of even Muslim high government
officials serving Indian Government in the following word: “Even today,
Muslims, whether in high positions of the Government or outside, participate
openly in rabidly anti-national conferences. Their speeches carry the ring of
open defiance and rebellion.” [MS Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya
Sindhu, Bangalore, 1996, p. 187.]
While deliberating on the ‘Internal Threat’ number 2, the Christians, he says,
“Such is the role of Christian
gentlemen residing in our land today, out to demolish not only the religious and
social fabric of our life but also to establish political domination in various
pockets and if possible, all over the land.” [Ibid., p. 193]
Your Excellency, you are supposed to be the defender of
all-inclusive Indian Constitutional system. Unfortunately, you have taken sides
of an organization which wants to drag India into religious conflicts to the
glee of foreign enemies of democratic-secular India.
Sikhism,
Jainism, and Buddhism not independent religions
Respected
Sir, RSS regards followers of Islam and Christianity as emigrant or foreigners
and demands their cleansing as these two religions are declared to be foreign
religions. However, RSS has no respect for Indian religions like Sikhism,
Buddhism and Jainism as these are not treated as independent religions but part
of Hinduism. Guru Golwalkar set the agenda by declaring that, “the
Buddhists, the Jain, the Sikh are all included in that one comprehensive word
‘Hindu’.” [Golwalkar, MS, The Spotlights, Sahitya Sindhu,
Bangalore, 1974, p. 171.]
RSS believed that South Indian
Hindus belong to an inferior Race
Vice-President Sir, it is shocking that you are glorifying
RSS which as a Racist organization believed that the Race of Hindus of South
India needed to be improved? I am reproducing a speech of Guru Golwalkar on
this issue in context of Kerala Hindus. He was invited to address the students at
the School of Social Science of Gujarat University on December 17, 1960. In
this address, while underlying his firm belief in the Race Theory, he touched
upon the issue of crossbreeding of human beings in the Indian society in
history. He shamelessly stated:
“In an effort to better the human species through cross
breeding the Namboodri Brahamanas of the North were settled in Kerala and a
rule was laid down that the eldest son of a Namboodri family could marry only
the daughter of Vaishya, Kashtriya or Shudra communities of Kerala. Another
still more courageous rule was that the first offspring of a married woman of
any class must be fathered by a Namboodri Brahman and then she could beget
children by her husband. Today this experiment will be called adultery, but it
was not so, as it was limited to the first child.” [M. S. Golwalkar cited in Organizer,
January 2, 1961.]
Here we find Golwalkar as a Racist and male chauvinist to
argue that a Namboodri Brahman male belonging to a superior Race from the North
only could improve the inferior human Race from South. For him wombs of
Kerala’s Hindu women enjoyed no sanctity and were simply objects of improving
breed through intercourse with Namboodri Brahamanas who in no way were related
to them.
Your Excellency: do you uphold such criminal views of
Golwalkar; the most prominent ideologue of RSS and Guru of all RSS cadres?
In RSS male cadres are swayamsevaks (volunteers) but
female cadres are sevikas (servants/maids)
Respected Vice-President Sir, your glorification of RSS
means that you also support anti-women RSS. RSS is an exclusive male organization,
and its members are described as swayamsevak or volunteers whereas the
female organization created in 1936 with the name, Rashtr Sevika Samiti
describes its members as sevikas meaning female servants. The Sevikas
take an oath to remain faithful, modest, guard virginity and honour but no
such oath is prescribed for RSS cadres.
Sir, I beg you to
enlighten the nation about your response to this naked male chauvinistic
attitude of the RSS.
Your Excellency, it is
sad time for Indian democracy that the top constitutional officials of the
Indian Republic are using platform of Indian Parliament for glorifying an
anti-national and anti-social organization. As an Indian, I appeal to your
sense of honesty and conscience to remain loyal to the Oath (Article 69) which
you took while assuming the office of the Vice-President of Indian Republic.
Any person having faith in the RSS worldview cannot be loyal to the present
Indian constitutional polity.
With regards,
Shamsul Islam
August 11, 2024
Email: notoinjustice@gmail.com
