Nehru, Golwalkar on RSS

MUSINGS

Filing the column at a rather stressful juncture —declaration of the election results are just a couple of days away but already exit-poll results are causing not just dismay but carrying forewarnings of very eerie build-ups. Doing the rounds the theory that the exit-poll results swinging in favour of the BJP is actually one of those ploys to ready the masses for the well-planned results! So that there’s no real shocker for the masses if the BJP does ‘win’ even in the States where it’s been hated and shunned; after developmental promises turned bogus and hollow.

Correct me if I’m wrong but never before there’s been this level of panic and apprehension before the declaration of the election results. Lurking in the background is the failing trust in the EVMs, in the electioneering bandobast, in the very system that prevails in the Election Commission. After all, even the terror accused have been allowed to fight elections and come forth with terror-dripping dreadful utterances.

In fact, whatever be the results, the danger that confronts us is the rise of the Right-wing fascist forces in the country. If the BJP wins, then, of course, these destructive forces will overtake the very governance and sane elements would be shunted out. And in case they are halted from the government formation by a coalition government, they will still pose a major threat to the well-being of the country and all of us.

I have before me this latest book of A.G. Noorani—The RSS—A Menace To India  (Left Word) where Noorani quotes Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru—“It would appear that the declared objectives (of the RSS) have little to do with the real ones and with the activities carried on in various forms and ways by people associated with the RSS. These real objectives appear to be completely opposed to the decisions of the Indian Parliament and the provisions of the proposed Constitution of India. The activities, according to our information, are anti-national and often subversive and violent.” This is what Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru conveyed to the RSS chief, M.S. Golwalkar, on November 10, 1948.

In fact, this volume starts with a very apt and hitting comment made by Dr B.R. Ambedkar—I quote him from this volume—”If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country... Hindu Raj must be prevented at any cost.”