'Karmayogi'
Golwalkar Guruji- Coming Soon To A Theater Near You
By Subhash Gatade
15 August, 2006
Countercurrents.org
True or false !
- RSS had participated in freedom struggle ?
- Congress had demanded help from RSS for Gandhi’s protection
?
- Godse had never been a member of RSS ?
Well, for laypersons like
you and me who have the ‘misfortune’ of attending any normal
school, the answers to these queries would be in the negative. But if
you happen to see the yet to be released film/docu-feature titled ‘Karmayogi’
you would be enlightened with a different set of answers.
You would be told that it
is a myth to say that RSS kept itself away from freedom struggle and
in fact it had decided in its high level meeting to participate wholeheartedly
in the struggle. (It is a different matter that till date one has not
yet discovered a single freedom fighter who owed allegiance to RSS brand
of Hindutva). If one goes by this bollywoodian version of Sangh trajectory,
you would know that Congress government led by Nehru had made frantic
calls to the Sangh bosses for Gandhi’s safety and a team of Swayamsevaks
in fact happened to be brave enough to volunteer for his security.
Ofcourse there could be many
more surprises in store for you. And I would not like to deprive you
from 100 % pure entertainment when this film which has been directed
by Nitish Bhardwaj, ( of ‘Mahabharat’ fame) arrives in a
cinema hall near your home.
Ofcourse it need be told
that this presentation of ‘filmy’ version of Sangh history
is formally a part of the grand birthday centenary celebrations of the
second Supremo of RSS, Madhav Sadhashiv Golwalkar. Fondly called ‘Guruji’
by his followers for his brief stint in Banaras Hindu University as
a teacher of zoology, Golwalkar led the RSS for a period of 33 years,
after the demise of its first Supremo Dr. Hedgewar (1940). Within the
Sangh circles, he is credited with providing a theoretical basis and
a practical organisational framework for this formation.
It has been more than five
months that the anniversary celebrations of Golwalkar are on starting
with a big gathering of his followers at Nagpur (24th February 2006).
It has also been resolved that the celebrations would culminate in a
rally to be held on 18 th February 2007 in Delhi. The focus of the yearlong
celebrations is ‘social harmony’ wherein meetings, seminars,
rallies are being held all over India with special focus on the deprived
sections namely the dalits and the tribals.
Definitely nobody can question
the prerogative of his followers to concentrate on ‘social harmony’
during the yearlong celebrations, but it is clear to any impartial observer
that the kind of politics which Golwalkar practiced all his life stood
miles away from the actual essence of the term.
VIRTUES OF MANUSMRITI
?
- (He was known as ‘guruji’
(revered teacher). I find that at least in some vernacular papers he
is being referred to as ‘shreeguruji’. The addition of shree
to his title guruji makes him nearly sacred, an avatar of sorts. Within
the Maharashtrian context this has an additional meaning or signification.
Mystic gurus are often referred to as ‘shreeguruji’. You
can see thus that there has been rather subtle glorification of Golwalkar,
the new appellation making him stand a little above the human level.)
- (March 25, 2006, EPW GPD, An Occasion for RSS)
Ofcourse neither the film
nor any of those twenty short booklets which are being prepared and
distributed, explaining his worldview to the common people tell us about
the facets of his life which the Sangh itself finds uncomfortable. And
one of the most underreported aspect of his life is the way he espoused
the cause of Manusmriti all his life.
It was late ‘60s when
Maharashtra witnessed a massive mobilisation of people, cutting across
party lines, which was precipitated by a controversial interview given
by Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, the then Supremo (Sarsanghchalak) of RSS,
to a Marathi daily Navakal Golwalkar in this interview had extolled
the virtues of Chaturvarnya (the division of the Hindus in four Varnas)
and had also glorified Manusmriti, the ancient edicts of the Hindus.
Ofcourse, it was not for
the first time that the Supremo’s love and admiration for Manusmriti,
which sanctifies and legitimises, the structured hierarchy based on
caste and gender, had become public. In fact, at the time of framing
the constitution also, he did not forget to show his disapproval towards
the gigantic effort, claiming that the said ancient edict could serve
the purpose. 'Organiser' ( November 30, 1949, p.3) the organ of RSS
gave vent to his ideas :
But in our constitution there
is no mention of the unique constitutional developments in ancient Bharat.
Manu's laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of
Persia. To this day 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.
It was the same period when
attempts were made to give limited rights to Hindu women in property
and inheritance through the passage of the Hindu Code Bill., which were
opposed by Golwalkar and his followers, with the contention that this
step was inimical to Hindu traditions and culture.
HATE AS HARMONY
A journey down the memory
lane makes it clear that the period during which he led the organisation
(1940) was one of the most tumultuous periods in world history. It was
a period, which was signified by three broad currents: The ascendance
of the forces of Nazism and Fascism, the surge in the anti colonial
struggles in the present day third world and emergence of militant socialist
movements in many countries with due help and support from Soviet Russia.
Coming to India, the anti-colonial struggles and the rising communist
movement were mediating its path through the socio-cultural movements
challenging caste and gender hierarchy, led by the likes of Periyar,
Ambedkar. It was also for the first time in this part of the world that
new bonds of solidarities cutting across caste, community and regional
loyalties were being forged in opposition to the British colonialists.
Retrospectively, it can be
said that Golwalkar, whose project of Hindu unity which took inspiration
from the experiments in social engineering undertaken by the likes of
Hitler-Mussolini, miserably failed to see this historic march of history.
He celebrated the way Germans were purging the country of Jews. In his
controversial book ‘We Or Our Nationhood Defined’ which
he had penned down when he was appointed SarKaryavah by Hedgewar, (1938)
he had clearly stated : To keep up the purity of Race and its culture,
Germany shocked the world by her (sic) purging the country of the Semitic
races – the Jews. Race 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 Hindusthan to learn and
profit by.
On the domestic front, his
project of ‘Nation Building’ not only hinged around opposition
to the Muslims, Christians but also the challenges posed by the anti-Brahminical
struggles. In fact, with this characteristic worldview, he had no qualms
in keeping himself and the organisation which he led, aloof from the
anti-colonial movement and oppose the assertion of the dalits and the
tribals. He derided the heroic anti-imperialist struggle of the masses
as a struggle for ‘territorial nationalism’ as opposed to
his fight for ‘cultural nationalism’.
The partition of the country
and the consequent bloody riots suddenly saw him catapulted to the centrestage
of Indian polity. The world saw him and his organisation surging ahead
with the twin objective of providing help to the hindu refugees and
also take advantage of the communalised ambience to strengthen itself.
There are enough documentary proofs to show its ignoble role during
that period. It would be opportune to look at the memoirs of a senior
civil servant who was posted as Chief Secretary of UP in those tumultous
times to get to know one such instance.
Rajeshwar Dayal, the then
Chief Secretary reveals in his memoirs, A Life Of Our Times ( 1998,
Orient Longmann) notes that soon after the partition the deputy IGP
of the western range, BBL Jaitely produced before him two steel trunks.
They "revealed incontrovertible evidence of a dastardly conspiracy
to create a communal holocaust throughout the western districts."There
were accurate maps "marking out the Muslim localities and habitations...Timely
raid conducted on the premises of the RSS had brought the massive conspiracy
to light.The whole plot had been concerted under the direction and supervision
of the Supremo of the Organisation himself - both Jaitley and I pressed
for the immediate arrest of the prime accused M.S. Golwalkar "
Incidentally the then Chief Minister of UP, Mr G.B.Pant refused to order
the arrest. He was arrested only after Gandhi's assasination.
The assasination of Gandhi
at the hands of a fanatic not only saw the RSS getting banned but was
also witness to arrests of many leading workers of the same. Vallabhbhai
Patel, then Home minister, in a letter to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, his
Hindu Mahasabha colleague in the cabinet, wrote :
Our reports do confirm that,
as a result of the activities of these two bodies particularly the former
( the RSS), an atmosphere was created in the country in which such a
ghastly tragedy ( Gandhi’s assasination) became possible…The
activities of the RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence of
the government and the state. Our reports show that those activities,
despite the ban, have not died down. Indeed, as time has marched on,
the RSS circles are becoming more defiant and are indulging in their
subversive activities in an increasing measure.
( P. 28, The RSS and The BJP, A.G.Noorani, Leftword, 2000)
The subsiding of the communal
riots and the way the leadership of the independent India went ahead
in meeting the challenges faced by the nascent nation found himself
and his organisation in a typical quandary. The stigmatisation of the
forces of Hindutva for their ignoble participation in the assassination
of Mahatma Gandhi, coupled with their non-participation in the anti
colonial struggle, had led to their further marginalisation in the Indian
polity. It was a time when Golwalkar as a leader of his organisation,
was forced to revisit the ways and means of sustaining the project of
building a Hindu Rashtra.
SANITISING THE SUPREMO
It is worth noting that the
anniversary celebrations of Golwalkar, have brought into short focus
the discomfort experienced by his followers over his controversial legacy.
Ofcourse it need be underlined that as far as basic understanding of
the project of Hindutva is concerned there does not seem to be any divergence
of views. The ‘successful social experiment’ which witnessed
genocide of innocents in Gujarat in the year 2002 bears testimony to
his followers unabiding allegiance to the Golwalkarian project of ‘nation
building.’ To be very frank, their unease has arisen over the
packaging or presentation of the project.
The feverish attempts by
his followers to tell the outside world that he was not the author rather
translator of the controversial book ‘We or Our Nationhood Defined’
despite facts to the contrary, or their daily new ‘discoveries’
of participation in the independence movement or their claims from rooftops
about ‘untouchability’ having no place in hindu ethos, just
go to show that the celebrations are also an occasion for them to present
before the gullible public a more acceptable and more humane looking
Golwalkar. It need be emphasisde that in his Preface to We or Our Nationhood
Defined dated March 22, 1939, Golwalkar himself claims authorship of
the book. The American scholar Jean A. Curran who did a full length
study on RSS in early fifties, Militant Hinduism in Indian Politics:
A Study of the RSS (1951) confirms that Golwalkar’s 77-page book
was written in 1938 when he was appointed RSS General Secretary by Hedgewar
and he calls it as RSS’s ‘Bible’.
Looking at their foolish
attempts to ‘sanitise’ their own Supremo, one is rather
reminded of George Orwell’s novel 1984 where the Rulers of Oceania,
by their language of newthink and process of doublethink, convinced
the masses that statements formerly considered irrational were rational.
In other words, virtual reality became actual reality and the Party’s
slogans, accepted by the ruled, were “War is Peace”, “Freedom
is Slavery”, and “Ignorance is Strength”.
Perhaps the Sangh thinkers
assume that India has already metamorphosed itself into their very own
Oceania, the Hindu Rasthra of the Supremo’s dreams.