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An insider’s account

The rise and rise of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from the peripheries of fuzzy national imagination to the power corridors of vidhan sabhas, Sansad and Rashtrapati Bhavan has again evoked a fresh interest in the behemoth spearheading Hindu nationalism.

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Kanwar Chanderdeep Singh

The rise and rise of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from the peripheries of fuzzy national imagination to the power corridors of vidhan sabhas, Sansad and Rashtrapati Bhavan has again evoked a fresh interest in the behemoth spearheading Hindu nationalism. The RSS Roadmaps for the 21st Century is the work that deals with the historical journey of the organisation since its inception, evolution of its philosophy and its futuristic vision for Bharat. 

However, this time, the mantle to tell the story has been taken up by the Sangh itself and from its side of the fence. There have been many books which trace the history and working of the Sangh but much of those works have been written with prismatic assumptions and interpretations which somehow cloud the actual picture of the RSS. 

This work written by Sunil Ambekar, a senior pracharak of the RSS and the national organising secretary of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (world’s largest student organisation), provides us an insider’s account of the history and working philosophy of what we call the Sangh Parivar. 

Layer by layer, the book tries to debunk the assorted myths that remained associated with the RSS — that it is anti-Muslim or anti-minority, anti-women, promotes Brahmanical hegemony, has fascist tendencies, has not played any role in the national freedom struggle, etc. 

Divided into 19 chapters, besides a crisp introduction and epilogue, the book gives an insight into what it takes to run such a mammoth mechanism penetrating almost into the every walk of national life. From history (its own and nation’s) to shakha system to caste issues to family, gender and women to global order and ultimately to Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra, this nearly tell-all book tries to bring Sangh’s perspective to the fore and puts it rather impressively.

On the point of Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra, the author says, “Hindu Rashtra is a derivative of Hindutva… It is the imagination of a contemporary non-violent nation where peace and prosperity prevail, which promotes freedom of worship and equality for women… Hindu Rashtra is not anti Muslim. It never was.” 

In similar order the author brings forth the Sangh’s take on its relation with its sister affiliates especially the BJP, caste-based perversions, women and LGBTQ rights, familial and societal relationships in the fast-paced changes ushered in by the forces of modernity. In the emergent global order, the Sangh harks back on the time-honoured Upanishadic philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutubhakam which, eventually, would take care of burgeoning foreign relation issues. “Making the traditional contemporary,” is the impressive catch line with which the author broadly finishes his argument.

From its founder Dr KB Hedgewar to the present sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS as an organisation and as a thought process has traversed through various ups and downs and very clinically has metamorphosed itself. The core issues that this volume addresses, therefore, are more or less the same which have been thrown at it throughout its 94-year history. And not only via books, the RSS’s opening of itself to others and presenting its side of the story, through several other media and answering the questions demonstrates its remarkable capacity to accommodate the new realities of the 21st century Bharat. This work also exhibits that there is no dearth of scholarship among the swayamsewaks and it has been only a matter of time when they start writing and answering. 

The book has the acclaim from the likes of T.V. Mohandas Pai, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi and Anand Kumar of Super 30 fame. The discerning aspect of this commendation is the people who commended it. They do not belong to the fraternity of established ‘academic and social intelligentsia’ but are people (at least two of them) who have long practical experience of working amid the society and its vulnerable sections and presumably have no ideological alignments. The book is not only a valuable addition to the existing pool of literature on the RSS which are generally the outsider’s account of the organisation but is also of immense academic import due to its proper footnoting and indexing. A must read for those who want know the unadulterated version of RSS’s history and its worldview.

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