Muslims for long had been objecting to the term Islamic terrorists and when the term Hindu terrorists was used by a section of the media the Sangh Parivar members protested how can one use the term ‘Hindu Terrorists? The first to object to this term was Mr. Ram Madhav of RSS told The Asian Age “There is no such thing as Hindu terror at all. It is an orchestrated campaign to protect the real terrorists.” Also when asked about the Sadhvi Pragnya’s arrest, he immediately tried to distance RSS from her. The “involvement of individuals, he said, “had nothing to do with any Hindu organization.”
Similarly Mr. Advani, the opposition leader, also distanced BJP and RSS from the Sadhvi. He claimed he had no knowledge as to who Pragya was till now. Advani told Times of India that it seemed obvious that she would have parted ways with the pariwar outfits because her thoughts and methods did not match with those propagated by the organizations which she may have belonged to. This was reason enough for her to move out of them.”
Mr. Advani went on to cite the example of Nathu Ram Godse who killed Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, 1948. “Godse was associated with RSS earlier in his life but left the organization way back in 1934 because he did not agree with its ways”, he pointed out. Mr. Advani at least admitted that Nathu Ram Godse was associated with the RSS which was denied earlier.
Well it is Mr. Advani’s view that RSS does not believe in violence. Mr. Advani himself was in the RSS for long time and who knows better than he that very beginning of RSS was to train Hindus to fight Muslim bullies and all RSS branches give training in wielding lathis. Then it also set up other organizations to give training in arms. Even Durga Wahini gives training to its women members in using firearms.
Mr. Advani also must know very well that RSS has great admiration for Hitler and even today in some BJP ruled states like Gujarat and Rajasthan Hitler and Nazism is admired and described as the only solution for the country as the country needs a strong leader to take right decisions in right time. And Hitler was not all about peaceful means. To claim that Hindutva organizations do not believe in violence is to say fire does not burn at all but heals.
Everyone knows what VHP and Bajrang Dal were up to in Gujarat and what kind of violence they indulged in during Gujarat carnage of 2002. It is VHP cadre along with BJP leaders who killed or prompted others to kill 2000 Muslims most brutally. Was that no violence? Or was it no belief in violence?
Mr. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the BJP vice-president tried to argue after arrests of Sadhvi and her associates that “To protect real terrorists, the artificial terrorists are being shown.” He clearly implies that Sadhvi and her two associates are not real terrorists and the police have arrested them only to protect real terrorists. Mr. Naqvi thinks real terrorists could be only Muslims? But he also said, “There can’t be either Muslim or Hindu terror.”
Was this not what all secularists and Muslims maintained all along? Terrorists have no religion but the Sangh Parivar in particular and the media in general always used the terms like Islamic terrorists or Muslim terrorists and the police, whenever arrested some Muslim boys without any proof invariably described them as Muslim terrorists. And even if these boys whom police arrests are in any way involved in those horrific acts of terror it does not mean Islam teaches terrorism or Muslims in any way believe in killing innocent bystanders.
But RSS continued to propagate what has now almost become a proverb “All Muslims are not terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims.” Now that their own people have been found involved in Malegaon bomb blasts, all Hindutva organizations and their leaders are maintaining that Hindus cannot be terrorists and Hindu culture does not believe in violence. As long as Muslims were being arrested it was quite alright to maintain that it is Islam and Muslim culture which produces terrorists.
The real fact is that neither Hinduism nor Islam nor does any other religion preach terrorism. It is possible that some individuals or even group or organization may employ religious terminology or employ religious rhetoric to justify their condemnable acts but that does not hold that religion or religious community to be responsible for that act of terrorism. The group or concerned organization can alone be held responsible for its acts, not the religion that the group belongs to, much less entire religious community.
Here that Hindutva leaders are cleverly saying that how Hindus or Hindu culture can be responsible for such violence. The Hindus as individuals or as a groups believing in violence can certainly be responsible but not Hinduism. Hinduism is a religion of peace and non-violence as Islam is also religion of peace and non-violence but some Hindus or Muslims or some organization consisting of some individuals form these communities can certainly be responsible for terrorist violence.
The arrests of Sadhvi and her associates has at last brought out in open what was all along known that some Hindutva organizations were making bombs and they should be investigated in terrorist attacks in places like Malegaon (2006), Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad etc but the police turned a blind eye to this demand and arrested only Muslims indiscriminately.
Now after arrests of Pragnya and her associates many Muslims feel that the UPA Government arrested these persons only on the eve of election to soothe Muslim frayed nerves, especially after the Batla House ‘encounter’ which human rights activists and Muslims thought had raised many questions. Thus Muslims and secular forces in the country feel these arrests of some Hindutva activists were done to satisfy them and after elections again the police may continue to harass Muslims.
Also, the Malegaon blasts of 29 September 2008 it was almost impossible for police to arrest some Muslims as all former SIMI activists were under jail already and secondly if Muslims were arrested this time again, Muslims would have protested severely and UPA Government would have suffered another credibility blow on the eve of elections.
I had investigated Malegaon blasts of 2006 and had made all political leaders across party lines and common people and intellectuals and no one was convinced that those arrested after the blasts in 2006 in which more than 50 persons were killed could have been carried out by those arrested by the police. It was important festival and Friday and the bombs went off just when the Friday prayers ended. No Muslim would go for blasting bombs at such a place on such an occasion.
Yet the police was determined to blame it only on some ex-SIMI members and would listen to no arguments. The 2006 blasts should be reinvestigated and I am sure something else would be revealed. I have seen the charge sheets filed by ATS in 2006 Malegaon blasts. It totally depends on confessions obtained in police custody and is bound to fail in any court of law. The real culprits would certainly escape.
The Nanded blasts in which two Bajrang Dal activists were killed had taken place just before Malegaon blasts of 2006 and there was every possibility of involvement of some of those persons in Malegaon blasts. Similarly the Mecca Masjid blasts of Hyderabad should also be thoroughly reinvestigated as it also took place on Friday just at the end of Friday prayers when thousands of Muslims were coming out of the Mosque.
And all those arrested in Mecca Masjid blasts were also mostly innocent persons. I have heard them in a public hearing in Hyderabad and human rights activists and civil rights group worked hard to get them released on bail as there was nothing by way of credible evidence against them. The courts had to give them bail. The Hyderabad police could not, or did not want to lay its hands on real culprits.
The involvement of some army officers even of the rank of major should not be surprising as many RSS sympathizers are regularly employed and after retirement they become active in Hindutva organizations. The army usually claims to be quite secular, and probably it is, but it should be much more careful while recruiting soldiers and officers. No one with communal background should be recruited. This principle is not being rigorously observed at the time of recruitment. Many people who come out of RSS controlled schools and colleges are recruited in army.
I think it will be better if all terror blast cases be investigated by the police of credible conduct under the supervision of retired high court justices. This will reduce possibility of biased investigation though may not all together eliminate it. It is in the interests of the internal security of the country. It appears communal riots are fast being replaced by bomb blasts and some people suspect, it is new strategy of the communal forces. Major communal riots are becoming increasingly difficult to organize.
The civil society should also become vigilant against all terrorists of whatever religion or group. As communal riots were major danger in twentieth century, terrorist attacks are for 21st century.
——————————————-
Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
Mumbai.
E-mail: csss@mtnl.net.in
Photo: Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur
Sridhar @ 58,
Just 2 things:
Because as Edmund Burke said: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
And as Herr Albert Einstein himself said: The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.
We need people like you to speak up.
Sudie @ 59:
Well spoken.
I’ve said this before somewhere: Faults are inherent in human nature. There are 2 kinds of leaders of men. Those who encourage the good in man to come out & those who encourage the evil in men.
The first type are the prophets & saints of our world. The second type we’re seeing enough of these days.
1conoclast
I’m an admirer of the Ayn Rand school of thought that believes in the virtue of selfishness. The tragedy of India are these “self sacrificing” notorious vigillates – be they be the Hindutva nuts, Shiv Sena or VHP who claim to speak on our behalf. We are no longer under foreign rule so we do not need a Gandhi; what we need is a vision of Nehru to build a modern state. This means that the professional class identifies & focuses on enterpreneurship to create value. We need to understand that Work is Worship and not the other way around.
I fundamentally believe that if these people saw opportunity in hardwork and punishment for deviance we will see far lesser crimes. A poor nation like India cannot afford to spend enough for security and the tax paying bracket in India is low. We need to create our own abilities to progess and thereby enable the nation to become better.
While we need systems that work in the Govt and in civic life, this can happen only when we concentrate on doing our work well. It will be a foolish company that will discriminate between people on religion. Business knows no religion – only performance. Thats the value we need to press forward. When business apply pressure on govt. to perform and people ensure that their kids focus on education rather than explosives, we will all be better off. Those Muslims who feel discriminated against should know that it is a Muslim who led India to the moon, there are Khans who literally kept Bollywood in business or the Indian cricket team in the winning streak. But they succeed because of themselves and not because of their personal beliefs (though it could inspire them forward). Unlike in the US there is no racial differences in India, we are from the same genetic stock – even the Kashmiri seperatists are far closer to us ethnically than Obama is to the rest of the US.
Hindu militarism is nothing new. You must be aware of Sanyasi revolt of 1810 in Bengal. These eruptions have occurred in every century whenever these Hindus felt their religion is in threat. But like NISAR said, I will like to wait for Pragya’s investigation. No denial of Hindu hand, but the Pragya story is a bit !!!
Isn’t it the same Communist party who killed people in Nandigram and did not even allow media and police to enter the village, who are shouting to ban Bajrang Dal? The same Nandigram where majority population is Muslim. And to quieten the Muslim intellects, they threw out Taslima Nasreen?
I hate these Communists!
Anyway, without denying Hindu hand in the blast and without justifying their act I wish to point out that this whole issue looks more like a political battle field than a real investigation. Nonetheless, even if it is at the expense of Pragya or Thakur, Hindus are ashamed and this will help stop Hindu terrorism immediately after the election is over. But will the next govt. be able to stop terrorism as such? The real threat that has gripped the entire nation? It is neither Islamic nor Hindu. It is naxalism!
Since I have come after a long time because these arguements were getting into my nerves I do agree that Hindus and Muslims are different. We all are from each other. And India or any nation can never be secular. Nor should it be. Then we will have to go the FRENCH way – no turbans, no hats, no skull caps. We cannot be secular as long as religion exist. And we need religion! We are fine the way we are – sarva dharm sampanna. Yes, we are many a times fooled by the leaders, get hot tempered in arguements. But at the end of the day, India will be as always one of the most tolerant country. Thats the beauty of this country…
Caste! Hindus have always been accused of practicing casteism. I believe in it. Never denied or tried to be intellectual about it. But when there are Dalit Christians, Dalit Buddhists, Dalit Muslims… then why blame Hinduism? Why not accept that the way racism is with WEST casteism is with India. This brings me to Orissa. If I am not wrong then, change of religion is to be reported to the govt officials as per our Constitution. In the past 20 years there is a 51 % increase in Christian population in that district and only 2 reported conversion. That definitely does not give any one the right to kill but I want to ask all the Muslims and Christians that do they guarantee that they would not have done the same thing? (I mean not u personally but Muslim or Christian based organisations?) After repeated appeal to government to look into the issue of conversion. Yes conversion is a personal choice. But telling someone my religion is better than urs, I feel is morally and ethically wrong. And every religion or people of every faith does it.
By the way do you know MODI has demolished 80 illegal temples. Not asking anyone to support Modi but wonder why media chose not to report it? http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3706244.cms
MILIND – we need to co-exist with every nation even if its Pakistan. That does not mean becoming their slave. We can always put our foot down. Indian had good relations with iraq as well during Saddams time, with Cuba… In past we have denied Israel’s friendship and it has been our loss. So is Germany. Everytime, Germany has been put down it has risen like a phoenix. We cannot ignore it. I do not support Netaji seeking Germany’s help during WWII, but if u must keep ur nation first, there are a lot of things one needs to overlook. I like modern-day Iran and its leadership.
Even if Gandhi and Nehru made mistakes, they contributed immensely. On top they did not do anything that the common man did not want! Nor is Raj Thackrey. Every issue has many sides to it, so when we argue it is important we look and all the angles.
Sudie,
You are absolutely right. Ultimately, it is going to be education and commerce that will determine how far we advance. We need good professors, good intellectuals, good businessmen. That will determine the worth of society.
We need to elevate the culture of meritocracy to a level where the religion one professes ceases to be relevant and human excellence is judged on achievements.
Let people practice religion by all means, it provides a major spiritual dimension. However, they must not wear it on their sleeves.
Advice taken Icon!
However, the key is ACTION not words of sanity broadcast to a “half-deaf” audience! Even otherwise, I do share my thoughts as comments in this blog and would like to keep it just to that!
For my part and past, I have discriminated against others in the past (though unknowingly) and also have been discriminated by others. It took a long intellectual journey, which I am still undertaking, to right my wrongs. However, this journey is a personal and private one which I hesitate to share.
It is upto others to realise their wrongs not for me to evangelise about it – I will share my opinion but won’t preach it!
I have full faith in the Hindu community. No genuine believer of Hinduism will ever accept Hindutva. The Hindus will surely isolate the terrorists that are claiming to operate for Hindu interests.
If India were to be a Hindu Rashtra in the manner that Chhatrapati Shivaji viewed a Hindu Rashtra to be, people like Advani and Co would be reduced to non entities. And Muslims would live a happy life without anyone raising the bogey of “Muslim appeasement”
That being said, I strongly dislike the fanaticism that Israel displays. They are not as brutal and backward as say, the Taliban or Bajrang Dal, but still they are not a very savory lot.
Sudie @ 62:
Agree with most. Except the last bit. The genetic stock argument is fairly controversial. One theory says that fair skinned & fair eyed Indians are of Aryan or Indo-Iranian stock, while the dark-skinned & dark eyed Indians are probably aboriginal to India.
Another more important theory says that man originated (woman says another study) in Africa & then this nomad migrated to different places on Earth. Settling came much later.
We’re all of the same stock.
Nilanjana @ 63:
You’re quite a revelation.
Sridhar @ 65:
As you may probably be able to sense, I too am in the midst of a self-discovery (am not wanting to call it intellectual or spiritual as I’ve been accused elsewhere of being megalomaniacal!!). It is this that makes me seek you out.
I respect your desire for privacy and will not press you to write anywhere if you don’t want to. I’d like to bring your attention to the fact though that once you’re in possession of a gift, it’s meant to be shared. That way more people have that gift and you derive happiness? Yes?
I am desirous of being at a recipient if you’re ever in the mood for sharing. Please take my email ID (1conoclast@mutiny.in) to represent my hand extended in friendship. I’d be pleased to make you aquaintance.
1conoclast,
I would rather believe that I DON’T have a gift. What I got was a sense of “maturity”. The path I chose to get there was one of non-assumptive and purely rationalist humanism.
You may/may not agree/like it but it has worked for me. I don’t know if it will for anyone else.
Now that I have your email, I will consider writing to you soon.
Sridhar,
May not work, correct. But worth discussing.
Thanks for considering.
Thanks Nilanjana for your wonderful post.
I think its the time to do self introspection and stop blaming each other.
There are different side of the incident/event.
Hope we put all the energy in doing something good for humanity, irrespective of religion.
We have done enough on the name of religion, ignoring the humanity aspect.
But what i feel really sorry about is today’s role of media and the politician.
When i see the news paper, new channel or even while travelling in office lift…all are speaking about the malegaon blast…and accused pragya singh….Anyway i had taken the decision to boycott these so call information media….We have wonderful mechanism where we can share our thought and try to understand the event happening around us. Thanks to the all my friends to take this wonderful initiatives….
Where is the journalism…did media ever taken few of the issues mentioned below so rigorously..which had done more damage than the malegaon incident…
1.Sharad pawar role in the stamp paper scam should be investigated,after ABDUL KARIM TELGI taking his name in Narco annalysis how could he escape a fair probe and his connections with Dawood Ibrahim should be examined.Why shouldn’t he face the Lie Detector,Brain Mapping and Narco Annalysis tests too.
We demand these tests to be done immediately on Sharad Pawar to investigate his role in stamp paper scam,the largest financial scam in the history of India.
2.Dawood should be brought back immediately to India and his and ISI links with the Indian politicians like Sharad Pawar ,RR Patil should be examined.
There is always some story which occupies center stage as far as the media is concerned. After the interest in that wanes, then there is no point for the media to retain it, as the media also has to be in synch with the needs of the times.
For a short while, there will be some focus on Pragya Singh, then it will fade away like Aarushi, the Beer man, Abhishek Kasliwal’s alleged victim, and so many others.
Pingback: Mutiny.in » Life’s little disappointments…
Why just Malegaon blast to be re-probed or not be probed by ATS because one section of the society is claiming torture and unconsented narco-analysis, we should include all blast cases in India under this umbrella of reprobation.
I may sound stupid but that’s what BJP is flag-marching to now! Any Taker’s….?
Different terrorists are treated differently.
Khwaja Yunus was eliminated in an encounter. On the other hand, Sadhvi Pragya has found an able rescuer in L K Advani. These are issues for any right thinking patriotic Indian to ponder on.
hey Milind,
U dont know d story of Khaja younis case,go and reserach first,There could be few more sadhvis and purohits in akshardham case,in ghatkoper case in 93 blasts and godhra carnage in dhuliya case and there could b few more hemant karkare and all but must be removed out when on the way to reveal the truth.
The latest situation is a very grim one. All Indians will have to stand shoulder to shoulder in the fight against terrorism.
Although it will be a long drawn battle, the strength and might of India will prevail.
I am concerned to comment on Dr.Engineer’s And Now Hindu Terrorists? Would it not be better to term the Malegam blasts accused as “Hindutva terrorists” in view of the clear ideological Hindutva and fascist geneology as revealed in their association with the RSS and the Bhonsla Military school established by Dr.Munje godfather of Dr.Hedgewar founder of the RSS . who modelled the BMS on Nazi Fascist model.
Inspiration for the RSS cadres and their paramilitary training was derived from Benito Mussolini’s fascist paramilitary groups, the Blackshirts, after RSS mentor and founder, BS Moonje visited the Italian dictator in 1931. As detailed in Marzia Casolari’s article, “Hindutva’s foreign tie-up in the 1930s: Archival evidence” (Economic and Political Weekly, January 22, 2000):
“To understand militant Hinduism, one must examine its domestic roots as well as foreign influence. In the 1930s Hindu nationalism borrowed from European fascism to transform ‘different’ people into ‘enemies’. Leaders of militant Hinduism repeatedly expressed their admiration for authoritarian leaders such as Mussolini and Hitler …”
It is not only naive but also sheer deception to claim as Mr.Advani does that the RSS does not believe in violence or that Nathuram Godse dissociated himself from the RSS. The ideological connection between Sawarkar, Hindutva, RSS, and the bomb-culture as exhibited in Malegam-tyoe bomb blasts is as infaliible as the DNA test and can be traced back to Sawarkar’s student days in London as revealed in Valentine Chirol’s The Indian Unrest. The BJP leadership cannot idolise Sawarkar by committing the ultimate affront to Mahatma Gandhi by placing Sawarkar’s portrait opposite that of Gandhi in the Parliament House and claim with a straight face that RSS does not believe in violence.
Hinduism does not preach violence but Hindutva manifest in RSS>BMS>Abhinav Bharat are explicitly rooted in fascist ideology. And Nathuram Godse was not unacquanited with the bomb culture before he actually murdered Mahatma Gandhi on 30th January, 1948. Madanlal Pahwa, a refugee threw a bomb at Gandhi’s prayer meeting on 20th January, 1948 and his statement before the police had given the names of the conspiracy afoot to assassinate Gandhi.
The fact is that before the actual assassination in 1948 there were several attempts on Gandhiji’s life from 1934. The first was when Mahatma Gandhi was engaged in a nationwide tour against untouchability he went to Poona on 19th June 1934. On 25th June 1934 he was targetted with a bomb by the Hindutva fundamentalist. There was no question then either of the partition of the country or the 55 crores to be given to Pakistan. The incident of this bomb attack is mentioned by Pyarelal in his Last Phase Part II . Even more detailed information is given in D.G. Tendulkar’s Mahatma Part III. A bomb was thrown at Gandhi on 25th June 1934 when he was going to Pune Municipality conference hall to give his talk . In this bomb attack the chief executive of the municipality along with two police constables were seriously injured. Mahatma Gandhi escaped just because he was in the car behind. Pyarelal says the attack was well planned. The photos of Nehru and other congress leaders were found in the shoes of the attackers which means that the culprits were arrested. Thus before the bomb attack by Madanlal on January 20 1948 there was an earlier bomb attack. Most of the newspapers of the day published reports stating that the bomb attack was to kill Mahatma Gandhi.
Even more significant was another attempt on Gandhi’s life at Matheran in 1944 when Nathuram was arrested when trying to assault Gandhiji with a sharp weapon at Panchgani near Pune as testified by Manishanker Purohit, the proprietor of the Surti Lodge in Pune before the Kapur Commission . It is pertinent to note in this context that Pyarelal testified before the Kapur Commission that the RSS had infiltrated in the police force.
The then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to the then home minister, Vallabhbhai Patel on 26th February 1948 that : “The RSS has infiltrated into our offices and the police force and therefore it is official secrecy cannot be maintained.” Sardar Patel replied the very next day on 27th February 1948 stating that “A group belonging to Hindu Mahasabha under the leadership of Sawarkar conspired to murder Mahatma gandhi and brought it to fruition.” (Sardar Patel’s Correspondence: Part 6, p.56.)
There was another attempt on Gandhiji’s life when he was going by train from Bombay to Pune on 29th June, 1946. Between Neral-Karjat stations huge rocky stones were put on the railway tracks to cause accident. But due to the watchful railway driver L.M. Pareira the accident was averted but the engine was severely damaged. Pyarelal has written about this incident in the Harijan issue dated July 7, 1946. This train was known as Gandhi Special as testified by Pareira before the Kapur Commission.
Mahatma Gandhi mentioned about this incident in his prayer meeting at Pune on 30th June, 1946. He said:” By god’s grace I have escaped safely from the very jaws of death. I have never hurt anybody, and I have enmity with none. I cannot understand why there should be so many murderous attempts on me. Yesterday’s murder attempt was a failure. I am not going to die so soon. I shall live hunddred and twentyfive years.”
Having known personally Dr.Jagdish Chandra Jain, the Chief Prosecution Witness in the Gandhi murder trial I think I can say that the assassination was a well conceived conspiracy. One has only to read Dr. Jain’s book in Hindi ‘main Bapu ko na bacha saka’ in Hindi and ‘I could not save Bapu’ in English to understand the entire course of the conspiracy.
The slackness of the police becomes all the more inexplicable when one considers the aftermath of the bomb explosion. It is very important to note that Madanlal made a confession overnight to the Delhi Police in which he gave the full details of the conspiracy. More important still is the fact that the Delhi Police sent Madanlal’s statement to the Bombay Police by the evening of January 21.
How precisely the Bombay Police reacted to this statement is not clear. But in view of the subsequent course of events culminating in the murder on the event.. of January 30, one fact emerges clearly—that the Bombay Police were not alert in acting upon information supplied by Madanlal’s statement.
In his memoirs published in the book “The Civil Servant in India” Mr R.N. Banerjee, then Secretary for Home Affairs in the Union Government, has made a reference to this incident. He says: “Both Godse and Apte could have been found and nabbed in one of their two Bombay haunts on the 23rd. Unfortunately, nobody took any action on this statement of Madanlal, and the Delhi Police did not even remind the Bombay police. The Delhi magistracy and the Home Secretarial remained ignorant of the statement (as head of the Delhi Police never kept them informed) till the world was staggered by the ‘Hay Ram’ shot on the 30th evening.”
All the available evidence strongly suggests that the Government failed to protect Gandhiji when it could have done so. The stock excuse provided Government for inadequately security measures is that Government did not like persons attending prayer meetings to be scared.
To justify Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination many calumnious falsehoods have been fabricated by the Hindutva fundamentalists over the years. One of these was that Gandhiji went on indefinite fast from 13th January 1948 to insist on payment of 55 crores to Pakistan. As a matter of fact Gandhi went on fast with an appeal for communal peace. And it is pertinent to recall that Gandhiji was not alone in asking that Pakistan should be given 55 crores as per the pact of partition. Lord Mountbatten, the then governor of Reserve Bank, C.D. Deshmukh too were of the same opinion. Why did the Hindutva fundamentalists, whethger belonging explicitly to RSS or not, target them for murderous attacks?
In a letter to the RSS chief, Golwalkar, on the ban on the RSS following Gandhiji’s assassination, Sardar Vallabhabhai Patel, India’s first union home minister, clearly acknowledged the complicity of the RSS in the Gandhi assassination.
If the deleterious rot of the RSS ideology was so deep at the dawn of freedom one cannot simply imagine its hydra-headed extent today and its cancerous damage to the body politic. I remember as a lad of sixteen, distinctly the pyromania that prevailed in the RSS stronghold at Pune and Sangli (Maharashtra State) by the enraged mobs against the Brahmin community on learning about the identity of Nathuram Godse. At Jaysingpur near Sangli a mob set on fire a stationery shop of one Jain RSS Shakha Chalak-Monitor of RSS branch- who after garlanding a photo of Dr.Hedgewar-founder of the RSS- and breaking the photo of the Mahatma distributed sweets. When the furious mob attacked him he sought refuge before the writer’s father who happened to be a Civil Judge & Magistrate. A Gandhian by temperament he pacified the violent mob and refrained from firing. Such was the writer’s earliest brush with the quintessential RSS ideology and its demonic manifestations in the Hindutva fundamentalism which renders constitutional secular ideal meaningless.
JUSTICE KAPUR COMMISSION OF INQUIRY IN GANDHI MURDER
I corresponded with the then Chairman of the Gandhi Memorial Fund, Mr.R.R. Diwakar in 1964 expressing shock and indignation at the revelation of a Pune Editor that Nathuram Godse used to discuss with him his plan to murder Mahatma Gandhi six months prior to the assassination at the Satyanarayan ceremony held to celebrate the return of Gopal Godse after serving his life imprisonment as the convict in the Gandhi murder case.
When Ketkar made this brazen confession I wrote to the Mr.R.R. Diwakar, the then Chairman of the Gandhi Memorial Fund dated 13th November 1964:
“This negligence is culpable enough, but it assumes unpardonable proportions in the context of a scandalous disclosure which was made by a Poona Journalist. Mr. G.V. Ketkar, former editor of the “Kesari” and now editor of the “Tarun Bharat” disclosed at a reception given in Poona to Mr. Gopal Godse and Mr. Vishnu Karkare on their release from lifeterms for complicity in the Gandhi Murder case that “he knew from Naturam Godse, assassin of Gandhiji, the plan of Gandhiji’s murder for quite a few weeks earlier.” The report also further says that Naturam “used to discuss with me the pros and cons of his idea to kill Gandhiji.” He (Mr.Ketkar) added that he was opposed to the idea end ‘used to tell Nathuram to consider the consequences, social and political.”
Mr.Diwakar was good enough to respond to my letter stating dated 17-11-64 ‘As to what is to be done I will have to consider the matter.
“The remarks that you have made are too plain and no exception can be taken . But whether something can be done now seems to be remote. However, I shall think over the matter.” And on 2nd December, 1964 Mr.Diwakar wrote to me again: “Much has happened after you wrote to me, and I wrote to the Home Minister and others
“This mornings papers convey the news that a Commission is going to be set up by the Central Government to investigate once again regarding the past, the knowledge of the conspiracy etc.”
Mr.Diwakar consulted some high authorities and also there was a furore in the Parliament. As a result the Government of India appointed a Commission of Inquiry under the Chairmanship of Mr.Pathak to inquire once again into the Gandhi murder conspiracy. On Mr.Pathak’s appointment as a minister Justice J.L. Kapur, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India was appointed.
Twenty years after the assassination, the Justice Jivan Lal Kapur commission of inquiry found that Badge’s evidence was being corroborated by Savarkar’s bodyguard Appa Ramchandra Kasar and Gajanan Vishnu Damle. Justice Kapur’s conclusion: “All these facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group.”19
The verdict of acquittal was sound in law. However, Union Home Minister Sardar Patel,s conclusion was characteristically clear: “It was a financial wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under Savarkar that (hatched) the conspiracy and saw it through”. (Emphasis added, throughout.)
The Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Conspiracy to murder Mahatma Gandhi, which was set up in 1965, deserves greater weight than the verdict of the Sessions Court. It was headed by Justice Jivanlal Kapur of the Supreme Court and was provided with evidence not produced in the court; especially the testimony of two of Savarkar’s close aides – Appa Ramachandra Kasar, his bodyguard, and Gajanan Vishnu Damle, his secretary.
Had they testified in Court, Savarkar would have been convicted. There was none of the ambiguity surrounding Godse and Apte’s visits to Savarkar on January 14 and 17, 1948. Kasar told the Kapur Commission that they visited him on or about January 23 or 24, which was when they returned from Delhi after the bomb incident. Damle deposed that Godse and Apte saw Savarkar “in the middle of January and sat with him (Savarkar) in his garden.”
Justice Kapur’s findings are all too clear. He concluded: “All these facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group.”
You have noted the ivolvement of the army officers even with the rank of major. But it is much more insidious and widespread and almost from the dawn of freedom!
There has long existed a strong suspicion, ever since the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, that RSS cadres have infiltrated various administrative departments in the country. This fact was also noted by Vallabhbhai Patel when the RSS was banned in the wake of the Mahatma’s assassination. Describing the antecedents of the conspiracy to murder the Mahatma and the lack of security despite the bomb explosion at a meeting that Gandhi was addressing in Delhi on January 20, 1948, Gandhi’s personal secretary, Pyarelal observes in Mahatma Gandhi: the Last Phase (1958):
“What, however, surprises one, is that in spite of the definite and concrete information of which the authorities were in possession, they should have failed to trace and arrest the conspirators and frustrate their plan. The failure was an index of the extent of the rot that had permeated many branches of the services, not excluding the police. In fact later it was brought to light that the RSS organisation had ramifications even in the government departments and many police officials, not to mention the rank and file, gave their sympathy and even active help to those engaged in RSS activities… A letter (to) Sardar Patel after the assassination of Gandhiji from a young man, who according to his own statement had been gulled into joining the RSS organisation but was later disillusioned, described how members of the RSS at some places had been instructed beforehand to tune in their radio sets on the fateful Friday for the “good news”. After the news, sweets were distributed in RSS circles in several places… The rot was so insidious that only the supreme sacrifice could arrest or remove it” (p. 756).
There is striking evidence that even supposedly independent arms of the Indian administration, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), are now under the RSS’ sway. According to reports, while addressing an RSS rally former director of the CBI, Joginder Singh proclaimed that the “RSS is the only hope of the nation
If the poisonous rot of RSS ideology ran so deep at the dawn of India’s freedom, one can only shudder at its hydra-headed extent and its cancerous damage to the body politic today. Irrespective of the BJP leadership’s professions to the contrary they cannot dissociate themselves from their Hindutva ideology which is personified in Sawarkar and which has been eloquently expressed by Himani Sawarkar-Veer Sawarkar’s daughter-in-law and President of Abhinav Bharat in a recent interview to the Outlook Magazine as follows:dt.Nov 17, 2008 When asked as to how India should fight terrorism her response was :
“We must declare ourselves a Hindu rashtra where everyone is a Hindu. Anyone who isn’t should be declared a second-class citizen and denied voting rights. Those who have problems with this should leave and settle in other countries. The Hindu votebank must unite to vote out any government that fails to tackle terror. Then we must throw out the outsiders like Bangladeshis who live off India’s wealth and work towards destroying us.
What if people of other faiths reject your prescription and refuse to call themselves Hindu.?…
“Then they are welcome to leave this country. Those living in Germany are called Germans, in England they are English, then why shouldn’t those living in Hindustan be called Hindus?”
In the aforementioned context of the RSS fascist ideology and the Sangh Parivar as a whole and its “Quit India” (!) call to all the non-Hindus it would be dangerous to ignore the internal sabotage to the national security and unity by the rhetorical challenges by the professedly Hindutva organisations like Abhinava Bharat whose President Himani Sawarkar is the daughter in law of Veer Sawarkar, niece of Nathuram Godse and daughter of Gopal Godse who firmly expressed his conviction till his death recently that he would not hesitate to commit the same crime again!!
It is being constantly dinned into our ears that India must be united in confronting the alien terrorists and it is rightly so. But in doing so it would be suicidal to let up our efforts to locate the internal terrorists.
Please see my article: Could Gandhi be Saved : RSS Role in Gandhi Assassination http://nonviolence.ning.com/profiles/blogs/1991979:BlogPost:284
Bal,
You are absolutely right. All organizations that increase the communal divide in the country are dangerous. They need to be tackled head on, and their influence nullified.
However, for that to happen, there needs to be a conscious effort on the part of every Indian citizen, so that we constantly work towards being INDIANS. The unity that has been demonstrated in the wake of the terror attacks is heartening and we need to take this forward and further.
About The mention of Mahatma Gandhi in this blog. Surely, he was not called Mahatma but M.K. Gandhi during thirties and forties. His killing unfortunately made him Mahatma. By 1947 his theories and ideologies had failed completely. There was partition facing him and he would have gone into obscurity within no time. Godse, by achieving his ‘Vadh’ catapulted him into instant stardom with a degree of Mahatma.
Bal Patil @ 77:
Absolutely right about the nomenclature. It shouldn’t be Hindu Terrorists. It should be hindutva terrorists. These guys are giving the (hitherto considered rather chaste) Hindus & Hinduism a bad name.
Nitin Jshii @ 79:
With all due respect, I think you should check your facts before making a claim.
The title Mahatma was bestowed on Gandhiji by Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore himself died in 1941, so obviously the title has to have been bestowed before the time you claim it was. That’s reason # 1 why you’re wrong.
Tagore bestowed the title on Gandhiji when the latter returned from South Africa around 1915 I think. That’s reason # 2 why you’re wrong.
Tha Mahatma was & is an international star without the “favour” that dogse did him.
Thank You for your time.