In our beloved motherland, Bharat, It is not very uncommon to find that every morning at
sunrise various groups of men in military-style khaki uniforms gather outdoors to participate
in a common set of rituals, physical exercises and lessons. For one hour each day in the year, they are taught to think of themselves as a family—a brotherhood—with a mission. They arethe members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (hereafter referred to as the RSS). Now what is the intent with which this organisation functions? In the liberal circles, it is most remembered for having been responsible in the death of Mr. Gandhi. Moreover, it is referred to as a right-wing paramilitary organisation; with grave emphasis on the two terms- ‘right wing’ and “paramilitary”. Therefore it is subsequently assumed to be involved in nefarious designs with the mission of increasing communal disharmony and creating social chaos. At least that is the narrative that has been sold for a long time. So let us really examine ‘how’ and ‘what’ role has the R.S.S played in our country and whether these “narratives” bank upon an edifice of truth or not.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was founded on 27th September 1950 by Dr. Keshav
Hedgewar on the auspicious occasion of Vijayadashami.
1-Most Indians are aware, of how India gained its independence from nearly 200 years of
British rule, in 1947, after innumerable sacrifices and simultaneous lengthy and continuous
struggles – both violent and non-violent. However, many of us don’t know that apart from the
British, even the French and the Portuguese had their colonies in India, which became a
part of the union, in 1962 and 1961 respectively, i.e. many years after 1947.
Even after 1947, the Portuguese continued to keep their hold on the states/union territories
(UTs) of Goa, Daman and Diu, and Dadra – Nagar Haveli. Together, they were known
as ‘Estado da Índia’, and were a colony of the Portuguese empire. On the 27th of February
1950, then Indian government tried to resolve the issue with diplomacy, asking the
Portuguese to consider accession of the territory to India amicably. However, the Portuguese
refused to budge.
Instead, they made an unusual argument, by claiming that ‘their’ territory on the subcontinent
was not a colony, but an integral part of the Portugal mainland, hence accession to India was
out of question. They also said that India didn’t have any rights upon this territory because
the country did not exist ‘officially’ as a republic, at the time when Portuguese started ruling
Goa. Reacting to this, on 11th June 1953, the government severed diplomatic ties with
Lisbon. The Jawaharlal Lal Nehru led government was still reluctant to take a military
action. It was then, that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), decided to act. RSS was
one of the socio-political organizations who supported and participated in movements to
decolonize Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which was at the time ruled by Portugal.
In early 1954, volunteers Raja Wakankar and Nana Kajrekar of the RSS visited the area
round about Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman several times to study the topography and
also to get acquainted with locals who wanted to switch from being a Portuguese colony to
being an Indian union territory. In April 1954, the RSS formed a coalition with the National
Movement Liberation Organisation (NMLO), and the Azad Gomantak Dal (AGD) for the
annexation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli into the Republic of India. On the night of 21 July, United front of Goans, a group, working independently of the coalition, captured the
Portuguese police station at Dadra and declared Dadra independent. Subsequently on 28 July, volunteer teams of the RSS and AGD captured the territories of Naroli and Phiparia and
ultimately the capital of Silvassa. The Portuguese forces which escaped and moved towards
Nagar Haveli, were assaulted at Khandvel and were forced to retreat until they surrendered to the Indian border police at Udava on 11 August 1954. A native administration was set up
with Appasaheb Karmalkar of NMLO as the Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli on 11
August 1954.
The capture of Dadra and Nagar Haveli gave a boost to the movement against Portuguese
colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent. In 1955, RSS leaders demanded the end of
Portuguese rule in Goa and its integration into India. When Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru refused to provide an armed intervention, RSS leader Jagannath Rao Joshi led
the Satyagraha agitation straight into Goa. He was imprisoned with his followers by the
Portuguese police. The nonviolent protests continued but met with repression. On 15 August
1955, the Portuguese police opened fire on the satyagrahis, killing thirty or so civilians.
Even in the accession of Kashmir, Home Minister Vallabhbhai Patel solicited Golwalkar's
help in an effort to convince the Hindu Maharaja of Kashmir to merge his princely state with
India. Golwalkar met the Maharaja in October 1947 and urged him to recruit Punjabi Hindus
and Sikhs into his militia. After Indian troops were invited into the state, the Indian military
provided arms to volunteers of the RSS as well as to members of Shaikh Abdullah's National
Conference. In September 1947 the Delhi region military commander met Golwalkar at least
twice to request his help in maintaining law and order.
2-During the Sino-Indian War in 1962, the contribution of the RSS was immense. Swayamsevaks from across the nation assembled in the northeast of India to help
the army as well as the locals during those trying times. Their dedicated contribution was
recognised by the whole nation when then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, as a special
gesture, invited the RSS to take part in the Indian Republic Day parade of 1963. In fact, it is
believed Nehru was against the RSS purely for political reasons. The RSS was banned on
Nehru’s orders because he suspected Vallabhbhai Patel would form a political alliance with
them and challenge the Congress.
3-During Partition, when Nehru was finding it extremely difficult to stop the bloodshed, it was
the RSS that helped organise over 3,000 relief camps for the refugees from Pakistan. During
the 1965 India-Pakistan war, at the request of then PM Lal Bahudar Shastri, RSS volunteers
successfully maintained law and order in the country and are said to be the first to donate
blood. When Pakistanis were trying to take over Jammu and Kashmir, it was the dedicated
and sacrificing swayamsevaks who cleared the snow from the airstrips and repaired airfields
so that the Indian air force could land their aircraft. Noted journalist Kushwant Singh, who
had otherwise been openly critical of the RSS, acknowledged the fact that the RSS was
instrumental in helping Sikhs in large numbers when murderers went on rampage to kill them
in Delhi in the gruesome 1984 anti-Sikh riots, where even government machinery failed.
Seva Bharti is a wonderful project of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which is providing
education to the tribals and forest dwellers. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad is the world’s
largest student organization based on the slogan of Gyan, Sheel, Ekta.
Swadeshi Jagran Manch is working to promote indigenous industry, indigenous products and
Indian culture.
Saraswati Shishu Mandir is promoting Indian culture with Indian system of education to
young students.
Under Vidya Bharati, more than 25,000 schools and colleges are there to help the society. In
Vidya Bharati, 45 million students are studying and more than one lakh teachers are teaching. Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram is working for the all-round development of crores of forest
dwellers. Vishwa Hindu Parishad is there for Sanatan Dharma with motto of Dharmo
Rakshati Rakshitah.
Recently,RSS provided the details of its response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in its annual
report issued during its annual national meeting on March 19, 2021 at Bengaluru, India.
Under the banner of its service department Rashtriya Seva Bharati, RSS made sure to take
along various community organizations and reach out to the country and serve people. Over
half a million RSS volunteers served at 92,656 towns in the country. RSS distributed food
supplies to 7.3 million needy families and distributed food packets to 45 million people. RSS
volunteers actively distributed over 9 million masks and donated more than 60,000 units of
blood. RSS volunteers ensured that no section of Indian society was neglected, providing
timely aid even to 250,000 nomadic people during this difficult period. In serving 250,000
migrant workers, RSS organized 1,778 food centers, 483 medical centers at various locations, and 935 help centers at bus and railway stations.
RSS has been banned three times in history. RSS was first banned after the assassination of
Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, which was lifted after 18 months by the then Home Minister
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. During the Emergency-the Sangh was banned from 1975 to 1977
which was withdrawn by the government after 2 years. RSS was banned for the third time on
December 6, 1992 due to the demolition of the Babri Masjid which was again lifted by the
government within 6 months.
The question is why did the governments lift the ban from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh after banning it thrice? Perhaps the reasons are that it is more than an organisation; it is a family of Indians, by the Indians, for the Indians.
It is the second largest and most influential organization in India committed to Indic
revivalism. The message of the daily meetings is the restoration of a sense of civilizational
brotherhood. Organizations like the RSS which advocate the restoration of community have
a salience to those who feel root less. Indeed, the alienation and insecurity brought on by the
breakdown of social, moral and political norms have become major political issues in the
twentieth century, particularly in the developing countries where new economic,
administrative, sociological and cultural systems have rapidly undermined institutions and
moral certitudes which traditionally defined a person’s social function and relationship to the
society. Aberrations in primary associations which mediate between the individual and
society have weakened the web of relations that provide individuals their self-identity and a
sense of belonging. Social, religious and nationalist movements have proliferated to express a deeply felt need for the restoration of an identity that seems to have been lost in an abyss of globalisation and capitalistic ambitions.
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