During most of its existence the RSS has functioned without the patronage of those in power. Its focus has been largely on character development, social service, inculcation of discipline and patriotism in youths, and providing help to disaster affected people. It has not depended on funding or resources provided by others, particularly political parties, as members have contributed what has been required. Even as its offshoot, the earlier Jana Sangh and the present BJP has ascended to power, it has maintained its distance and continued to function as an organisation of volunteers drawing from all sections of society.
It comes as a surprise, therefore, that the Congress party ranks it almost in the same category as the Naxalites and Maoists. The plan of the Congress-run Karnataka Government to ban the RSS is yet another example of this approach. The party seeks to project the RSS as some kind of fascist organisation that opposes the constitution, desires a Hindu Rashtra, and pursues a communal ideology. The ‘Hindu Nationalism’ of the BJP is believed to find inspiration from RSS ideology. How much of this is true? Is it unlawful to follow such an ideology? Should the Karnataka Government go through with its plan, the courts are very likely to strike it down, as there is very little evidence of the organisation having indulged in anti-national or seditious activity. This is particularly so in a political system that has for long patronised the radical left which, in many of its manifestations, has promoted ‘revolutionary war’ against the Indian state.
Will the Congress strategy be beneficial for it in the Karnataka context, or nationally? If the Hindu unity being promoted by the RSS gets embedded in people’s psyche, it severely damages the strategy of socialist divides created on the basis of caste, community, ethnicity, ‘rich’ and ‘poor’, etc. As India, as whole, becomes wealthier, and the benefits trickle down to the common people, it is the aspirational values that are taking hold. This is what triggers the continuous rants against ‘Adani-Ambani’. The narrative of discrimination by the upper caste is promoted, even if the ‘victim’ is none other than the Chief Justice of India. The RSS ideology, on the other hand, seeks to empower the individual. The latter seems to be taking hold at the grassroots, which is why the effort is being made to use the might of the state against it. In the long run, the RSS will remain unaffected but, even so, politics must have its day.
