Should R S S Refurbish Itself ? by Varon B K Sharma
on Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 8:35pm
I had written this article about two years back, Please take out some time to read it.
The chief of RSS Mohan Bhagwat on April 7 2009 has said “India is a Hindu nation” he also said “Hindutva is the identity of the country”. Nothing can be far away from the truth. Today where ever you go in India right from the big cities to the small towns one can hear the azzan blaring from the loudspeakers of the Mosques even in the remotest of villages one can see huge beautiful imposing structures of Mosques sprouting up but in all probability you will not hear the Temple bells. So how has Mr. Mohan Bhagwat stated India to be a Hindu nation I would like to ask him? The underlying fact is they (RSS) are living far away from reality more so as far as urban India is concerned.
Before advising the BJP to change I think it is imperative for the RSS to change itself. RSS was founded way back in 1925 with the aim of uniting the Hindus. It’s more than eighty five years now with lakhs of their cadres spread across the country yet they have not been able to unite the Hindus even remotely. The Hindu Temples and religious organizations are also as divided as they always have been and vehemently oppose to come under the shade of one umbrella. Various politicians from different states are hell bent on dividing the community of Hindus further. The voice of RSS doesn’t reach the metro cities of India as this organization is perceived to be old fashioned and fascist. The media has always projected them as a militant organization which they are not, only because of their ancient attire and outdated ideology.
"Catch them young" is the word for superb marketing and great sales. But the young specially the urban types seem to be allergic to the sangh parivar.
The foremost thing the RSS should do is to change their attire of white shirt and khaki knickers with broad belts. This costume is akin to what the police used to wear during the British Raj. I have no clue as to why they are hell bent on self destruction. (And how do they expect the college educated urban young to be attracted, especially Hindus? Hindu religion and Hindu people have always been more progressive than the rest of the world. This is clear to any serious and honest historian studying cultural time line of the world history)
Their ideology of a Hindu Rashtra is as much misplaced as Pakistan is from heaven. One cannot wish the thirty crore plus Muslims away from this country. Not only legally but even spiritually it would be wrong and could be construed as a sin. (This, even RSS says, but fails to clarify on certain vital issues such as how does one remain true Hindu without becoming either traditionalist or becoming like pseudo-seculars, and always consciously agitate for the justice for Hindus without doing injustice to Muslims and Christians)
The RSS should show a way to revive Hinduism without alienating the Muslim masses. For instance the RSS should take up issues like recently the congress govt has waived off rupees 3000 crores for the minorities, even as the poor among the Hindus are left with an empty bowl. After all the same rights, privileges evenly proportioned and balanced in a uniform and impartial way is secularism. There are many more poverty stricken Hindus than all the minorities put together but the poor Hindus don’t have a voice. RSS can become that voice but to become that voice they have to be heard and to be heard they have to change themselves.
The urban Indian does not in any way connect with the likes of the RSS and VHP and it will not till the time such organizations put up better faces and audible voices. with respect to the elders, I do think an average Indian wants to hear from a young charismatic leader using modern attires and gadgets Every time dhoti-clad people come on television the BJP loses at least a thousand potential voters.Times have changed it s the era of the internet, Gprs, IPL, Armani’s, video games. The RSS is still in a time warp and yet to arrive in the 21st century.
Why do populations en mass like to come to the urban cities? It is not just to earn their livelihood, it is because the allure, the glamour of the big cities attracts them, makes them start dreaming and they hope to bring a better change in their lives. They come rushing to the urban cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Banglore, Chennai etc and in no time try to copy the urban look and life style. In the same manner the janta of the country would any day prefer to see a upmarket personality like Rahul Gandhi or a beautiful one like Priyanka Gandhi .Today the whole world has become one big stage for the audio, video and print medium? To be camera friendly has become more important than your qualification or capabilities. Mohan Bhagwat has a good clarity in voice and a pleasing personality along with all the abilities of a efficient leader, if only they had more such people things could have been different.
Its time the RSS distances itself from its past, they should not get too worked up about Jaswants book or who partitioned India. I would like to know as to when was India a one country? Before the British ruled over us we were under the Muslim rule and before the Muslims ruled us we were divided in 25 to 400 different states. So was the 1947 partition of India a good thing or bad?
Imagine the Muslims of Pakistan and Bangladesh all in one India. I leave it upon the readers to judge the repurcussions of it.
Another issue they should highlight is the influx of millions of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis coming in to India.They are eating in to the jobs of the poor Indian population. India is been slowly taken over by them and the demography of India is been intentionally changed for a diabolic drama to be staged in the future. As the only known organization to speak up for the nationalistic Indians the onus on the RSS today is more than it ever was in the past.
(Family planning and population control have become sensitive issues since the time of Sanjay Gandhi. No political party will ever take up this issue seriously. But this is the most important issue in today’s world as it is disturbing the ecology of this planet. Should RSS take it up or not? This will put the RSS critics in Media, so called intelligentsia, in a spot as they will not be able to oppose RSS on this point.)
RSS should take a leaf out of the Christian organizations that have been running hospitals, schools, orphanages and old age homes through out the country in the most professional manner. Right from the biggest metro cities to the smallest villages you can find their presence. Can the RSS boast of a single such hospital or school that the whole country knows of? Am sure they will have a ready answer that the Vatican is funding them for conversions, which may be true but what’s stopping them to emulate their agenda in reverse? There is no dearth of funds. The Hindu temples like Tirupathi, Vaishno Devi, and Siddhi Vinayak etc have surplus money to fund a thousand such hospitals and schools. Why is that money not been used for constructing and running hospitals, orphanages and schools?
(I do know that the RSS is doing unimaginable number of such philanthropic work. The only problem is that they get no publicity. Secondly, RSS should inspire Hindu Sadhus to give few years of their lives to Jan-Seva. This will start making saffron attire synonymous to public service as the priest’s and nun’s uniforms are)
For just a saintly man, not even a God, people donate thousands of crores of rupees (Shirdi Sai Baba) to make a throne of gold for him, why can’t such money be better utilized to ease the pain of millions of Hindus and Muslims. There is no point in blaming the Christians and Muslims for every problem in the country.(RSS can systematize and try to bring under one umbrella all the Hindu religion sects and Mandirs-)
At the same time let me shed some light on the RSS organization. they have done been doing exemplary good work during earthquakes, floods, in helping and saving the lives of people irrespective of their caste and religion. The RSS had also very actively helped the Hindus and Sikhs escape the Muslim mob violence in 1947 when more than 1 million Hindus were butchered and massacred by the marauding Muslim mobs. Under the most trying times of human endurance the RSS along with the Hindus from the Indian Army with extra ordinary courage had safely brought out more than 10 million Hindus from Lahore, Quetta and other Muslim dominated areas.
Mr. Khushwant Singh not a fan of the RSS has this to say about this organization “ RSS played a honorable role in maintaining Hindu Sikh unity, it was the Congress (I) leaders who instigated mobs in 1984 and got more than 3000 people killed. I must give due credit to RSS and the BJP for showing courage and protecting helpless Sikhs during those difficult days”.
During the 1965 and 1971 Indo Pak wars the RSS workers were the first to give their blood and organize blood banks and relief for the Indian Armed Forces.
I do not deny the good intentions of the RSS but one should not escape from the ground realities, they are out of sync with today’s times and the now generation. Today it has become a organization of the oldies, by the oldies for the oldies. By refusing to change they themselves have become the biggest hindrance to what they had set out to achieve.
Shockingly even after decades of independence most Hindu journalists, doctors, engineers, businessmen, teachers, lawyers, and the rest do not know anything about the Hindu religion, heritage or history. They have no idea about the Vedas, mantras, shastras, not even about the holy Bhagvad Geeta or the holy Ramayna. RSS has to go door to door, hose to house, first in the metro cities to educate the Hindus and attract them in to the warm solace of this great and most ancient religion. A consistent campaign to educate the Hindus about their relegion has to be started on a war footing. Just like what Adi Shankar Acharya had done long back.
The potential and talent of this organization is immense but what today they need is a image makeover, a comprehensive media plan specially targeted at the English media,a better projection and a mechanization of force multipliers and much more .Without which it will remain dormant and will have to be satisfied with the good work they are doing in the rural areas but then like I said earlier, since the dawn of the industrialization it’s the urban cities which have been the "in thing" and it’s the urban look which rightly or wrongly the rural folks want to imitate.In the Holy Bhagvad Geeta Lord Krishna has said “ Change is the law of nature”. Accept it or perish.
Summary:
1) Modernization in Thought, Action, Attitude and Attire.
2) Issues such as Eco conversion and Population control
3) Accepting the modern festivals such as Valentine day and Friendship day etc. And internalize them into Hindu society.eg - Raksha Bandhan - Sisters Day.
4) Be first to criticize the wrongs of Hindu society such as Caste ism, Honor killing, Plight of Widows, Discrimination against women, etc.
5) Codify and Systematize the religion. Jagatguru Shankaracharya did this few hundred years back and time’s come to do it again. Some amount of the money collected in all the temples should come to centralized, democratic body which can use that money for the good of Hindu Society.
6) Understand the importance of PR and Publicity. Work towards penetrating into the Intelligentsia
7) Starting a mass movement to educate the urban Hindu about his relegion.
In short be as modern as possible without compromising upon morality. But the concept of morality is different in modern society and that must be recognized.
"PERISH" IS A WORD WHICH I SUPPOSE IS NOT IN THE RSS DICTIONARY SO IT IS INEVITABLE THAT THEY WILL CHANGE, HOW SOON OR HOW LATE ONLY TIME WILL TELL.
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