The long and the shorts of it

The introduction of Shridhar D Damle, one of the authors of The RSS: A View to the Inside , as a “freelance journalist and scholar of Indian politics” is typically the kind of omission that characterises this 405-page book on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Damle is also the sanghchalak of the Chicago branch of the RSS’s ideological sister in the US, the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh. The co-author of this book — Walter K Andersen — was also Damle’s co-author for another book on the RSS ( Brotherhood in Saffron ) in 1987.

It is an exhaustive and important volume that adds to the existing knowledge about one of the most powerful ideological formations in the country. But future scholars are advised to take the authoritative insights not always at face value for the simple reason that the authors are more sympathetic insiders than independent observers. The book is an enthusiastic narration of the RSS’s view of the world and its active involvement in politics, with a clear objective of dressing up the Sangh in its “coming out” moment and part of an effort to airbrush the problematic bits of the its history, ideology and politics.

That the book is part of the process to “normalise” the RSS in India’s sociopolitical mainstream is clear from the eagerness the authors exhibit in underlining how Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government is struggling with the falling rupee, increasing fuel prices and acute farm distress at the near-end of his tenure, believes that “economic development is now a central element of Hindutva”. They write, “Social solidarity is a key of the RSS’s vision which Prime Minister Modi has internalised.”

The authors commiserate with the RSS when they rush through the sticky parts of its past, especially the circumstances that prompted their adopted icon, former home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, to ban the organisation following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by former RSS member Nathuram Godse. The authors rue the ban, providing no context or background to the circumstances and understanding of the communal tensions in the immediate aftermath of the Partition.

“Perhaps the ultimate blow to the utopian ambitions of the RSS was the ban placed on it on 4 February 1948, driven by suspicion of RSS involvement in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi; Gandhi’s killer, Nathuram Godse, was a former RSS member,” they write.

This is a casual glossing over the most critical aspect of the understanding of the Sangh, which led to even Patel, who had been warm to the second RSS chief MS Golwalkar and addressed him as “brother”, accusing the body of fanning communalism. “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,” said Patel in a letter to Golwalkar on September 11, 1948.

The authors certainly have access and insights into the functioning of this powerful organisation. They offer a clear understanding of why the RSS threw its weight behind Modi’s candidature and ousting of the Congress in the 2014 general elections. Quoting an “authoritative RSS insider”, the authors give details of how the fear of being embroiled in “saffron” terror cases led the Sangh to actualise the plan of working for Modi’s victory. The RSS was convinced that “only if the BJP captured State power could the RSS insulate itself from what it feared would be restrictions justified by saffron terrorism charges”.

The authors write, “… The RSS decided that its mission would be accomplished better under a BJP government. The RSS provided its imprimatur to the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi — who had both a charismatic appeal among the Sangh cadres and a record as an efficient administrator — as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.”

The RSS: A View to the InsideWalter K Andersen & Shridhar D DamlePenguin VikingNon-fiction₹699

The authors also offer useful documentation of the RSS’s unparalleled influence and ideological flexibility over policy orientation and political expansion of the ruling BJP. The Sangh’s approval and active backing are sought in matters as diverse as an alliance with the People’s Democratic Party to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir and, later, pulling out of it, to abandoning “Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan” in Dravidian states and strategically not imposing bans on cow slaughter and beef consumption in the North-Eastern states. They quote Sunil Deodhar, RSS pracharak and BJP strategist for the 2018 assembly elections, as saying that the BJP has “no intention of imposing” a cow-slaughter ban in states where eating beef is not taboo.

The book details the RSS’s formidable body with its 6,000 pracharaks and 36 full affiliates and well over 100 subsidiaries and their precise functions. It underlines the determination of the Sangh to capture State power for its ultimate goal of establishing a Hindu Rashtra.

The RSS, as the book reveals, is pragmatic and adaptable to evolving circumstances and willing to compromise on its basic ideological tenets as long as the BJP, which has shown greater willingness than ever to bow to its will, acquires and retains State power.

The “normalisation” of the RSS in the political mainstream cannot happen without the BJP’s electoral victories.

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