RSS

 

https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/why-india-won-t-become-a-hindu-pakistan/story-55hyGT9UvxYsEBtZDkSwrO.html

 Dear Mr. Vaidya,                                                                                                              8.8.18

I read your article in the Hindustan Times dated 8.8.18. As a senior member of the RSS you have the right to come out with your version of Hindutva and criticize those who do not agree with your view point. Similarly  those who do not agree with the RSS version of how India should run have the right to put forth their views. Rigidity has no place if India has to progress and compete with other nations of the world. Let the people decide what is good for them. Unfortunately RSS is built on the foundation of rigidity and violently reacts whenever it is presented with a view other than its own. Today when RSS/BJP is ruling almost the entire country we see the disastrous results of this blind adherence to a outdated ideology completely out of tune with the modern times. Lynchings and demeaning of minorities. Support of these actions by senior political and RSS leaders. The violent calls for building Ram Mandir after demolishing the Babri Masjid. The introduction of unscientific courses in school curriculum. Introducing of spurious historical texts in school books to show Muslims in bad light.

As a common Hindu citizen I find there is poison in the air. The multi multiculturalism which we enjoyed till a few years back is slowly vanishing being replaced by hostility and hate .

Sir as a learned person you must be aware that no nation can progress under the above circumstance us. The RSS is not serving the country by resorting to revenge for some atrocities committed thousands of years back. It is also not serving the country by trying to revive corpses of ancients texts which are meaningless. It is also not serving the country by making dubious claims of rocket science, organ transplants etc as part of ancient India achievements. Infact this job of glorifying Hindus on the basis of wrong facts is the most dangerous. This injects among the people a sense of false superiority which seriously hinders their ability to absorb new ideas .

Recently the Mughal Sarai railway station name has been changed to Deen Dayal Upadhya .What was the purpose? Can anybody explain? Were not the Mughals a part of India? Did they not rule here for 1000 yrs? Facts are sacred. There is nothing to be ashamed of. We should learn from it rather than try to sweep it under the carpet. The Muslim invasion was successful because of disunited Hindu kingdoms and the lack of notion of a nation. Each Hindu kingdom was a nation in itself. Casteism was the other evil which divided the Hindus. So why blame the Muslims? We were victims of our own drawbacks. Today the RSS instead of reforming the Hindu society and removing useless rituals and caste system is working in the opposite direction. Its main job has become to put the blame on Muslims and if not on Muslims then on Christians for all the ills in the society. RSS is tearing apart society and committing the original sin which facilated the Muslim invasion.

With regard to your article I would like to offer the following additional comments :

1.You have expressed your rage against the word Hindu Pakistan. Can you please categorically deny that the primary  goal of the RSS is establishing a Hindu Rashtra. The guiding policy of the RSS is a secret document. It has never been revealed. So why not reveal it to the world. What is the hesitation? Everything will become clear. Till then by the actions and the verbal content of the RSS it is clear that the RSS goal is India for Hindus. Many times the RSS leaders have objected to the word secularism in the constitution. What is the meaning of this? India is a country of many religions and many races. Secularism binds all these various elements into one. So the objection with secularism is rather strange. Pakistan is a Muslim state. So a Hindu Rashtra is obviously  a Hindu Pakistan. What is wrong with the word?

Dragging the evangical church into this was rather unnecessary without any evidence. It only shows RSS desperate attempts to hide its ineffective antique policies by blaming other communities.

2. There are lots of half truths in your article. I don't know how you have reached the conclusion that students have been deprived of knowledge of Indian culture. This could be true during the British times. Unfortunately your organisation never participated in the freedom movement. There is no evidence of this. Infact many of your leaders pre 1947 even begged for pardon. That time RSS never raised this issue. After 1947 it was the Congress who was in power overhauled the education system. All the historical facts which comprised of Indian culture was introduced in the text books. Even those who studied in missionary schools were studying Indian culture. Ancient Indian studies were also part of the curriculum. Of course fancy imaginations about ancient India which you love was not there. The focus was on multiculturalism and brotherhood .Every religion was given equal importance and the children were taught to respect each other irrespective of religion. That was true Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, a word which the RSS often uses but never believes in. unfortunately this is rapidly vanishing under the BJP/RSS rule.

3. You have stressed a lot on pluralism, tolerance and have claimed that these are the guiding principles of the RSS. But where is the evidence on the ground. Recently a senior leader of yours have said that till people eat cow lynching's will continue. There are so many statements from RSS leaders and leaders of its affiliated organisations threatening the minorities that is difficult to mention each one of them here. In any case it is for everybody to see that on ground the RSS is quite different from what they preach. It almost seems that is a cleverly molded policy of the RSS to cover itself with a angelic cloak hiding a dagger underneath. Ask any common Hindu citizen and he would say the RSS never talks about abolishing caste system and meaningless rituals. They are only good at blaming others and pitting Hindus against other communities. This is not good for the people or the nation.

4. Hindutva has been claimed by you in the article as the way to tolerance and brotherhood. This is entirely false. Hindutva is not Hinduism. All the attributes of Hinduism such as the entire world is a big family and all paths lead to one God has never been practices by the RSS. If this was true then secularism would not be a hate word for RSS. Liberals would not be hated by the RSS. Babri Masjit would not have demolished. Muslim would not have been lynched. Mr. Modi would have refused the skull cap. Churches would not have been vandalized. Mother Teresa would not have insulted. There would have been a atmosphere of peace and love. No Sir you are practicing Hindutva and not Hinduism.

5. Now to the eminent personalities you quoted in your article to support your false identity as a liberal and secular organisation. RSS ideologue Dinanath Batra recently asked for removal of works of Rabindranath Tagore from all text books. This is the respect which RSS has for a great Indian soul who brought accolades for this nation. Regarding Pranab Mukherjee let us not forget that Mr. Pranab was part of the government that banned RSS in 1992 and he authored the Burari resolution which took strong view on RSS. Apart from this he gave a strong message to the RSS during his recent speech in Nagpur. He said

"Soul Of India Is Pluralism, Tolerance"This advise was given by him because obviously the RSS was not following it. Hope apart from quoting him in the article you would take active steps to follow his advise sincerely

In the end I would say that the majority of this country are Hindus and they are faithfully following the tenets of Hinduism. Please don't enforce upon them your variety of Hinduism which is aggressive,intolerant,divisive and violent Hindutva. The world regards India for its pluralism and tolerance. RSS is a product of partition .That does not mean it should forever stick to this mentality. Please take the nation forward towards progress and scientific development instead of being stuck in this Hindu Muslim conflict.

With regards.

Thanks

ASHOK KUMAR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EVERY MAN DIES ALONE

EVERY MAN DIES ALONE BY HANS FALLADA

22.4.18

I had never heard of Hans Fallada. Recently  I went to a book exhibition and out of curiosity entered a conference room. I sat on a back seat. The topic was great books written by little known authors. There for the first time I heard the name of Hans Fallada a German author who lived in Berlin during the Nazi regime. I purchased his book 'Every man dies alone' written in 1944.  

It is a extraordinary story of a old German couple Otto Quangel and Anna whose only son dies in the war.

The couple realizes that the Nazi regime is cruel and that ordinary people are being killed ,tortured and made to endure endless hardships just to satisfy the needs of a insane ideology.

The Jews were hunted and exterminated. A extraordinary censor was imposed on the people. Everyone was being spied upon. The Gestapo and the SS were a law unto themselves. The courts became a part of the Nazi regime and instead of  dispensing justice were issuing death sentences to anyone suspected of raising the voice against the Nazi regime.

The middle classes and the common man just did not raise enough voices against these injustices. Most of the people remained silent and did not want to invite any trouble by raising their voices against the policies and actions of the Nazi regime.

Under these troublesome conditions the old couple decided that something has to be done to make the people aware that the Nazis were taking the country to the dogs. Hitler was behaving like a mad person and was waging war after war and taking over countries. Countless lives were being lost. All this was being done in the name of German nationalism. A distorted nationalism which aimed to destroy everything in its path. A nationalism which had no place for decency and humanity A meaningless nationalism  which defined love for the country as hate against those who do not agree with their definition of nationalism. Following are some quotes from the book.

 

1. " Because you could see it with your eyes closed, the way they were making separations between ordinary citizens and Party members. Even the worst Party member was worth more to them than the best ordinary citizen."

2. " But foreman Quangel liked equality and fair-dealing. To him a human being was a human being, whether he was in the Party or not.

3. “But the main thing is that we remain different from them, that we never allow ourselves to be made into them, or start thinking as they do. Even if they conquer the whole world, we must refuse to become Nazis.”

4. We are like good seeds in a field of weeds. If it wasn’t for the good seeds, the whole field would be nothing but weeds. And the good seeds can spread their influence…

5. “Show me one that isn’t afraid!” said the brownshirt contemptuously. “And it’s so unnecessary. They just need to do what we tell them. It’s because people have got in the habit of thinking. They have the idea that thinking will help them.They need to do as they’re told. The Führer can do their thinking for them.”

 

 

The old couple decided to write small cards educating the people about the evils of Hitler regime. Their sons being slaughtered in the unnecessary war waged by Hitler. The injustices being meted by courts by giving out biased judgments. The hate against the Jews and their killings. The couple used to enter surreptitiously residential buildings and office complexes and drop these cards. After some time these postcards came to the notice of the Gestapo and they started their investigation.  And  one day the Gestapo catches up with them. They are arrested.

They are sentenced to death and till the end remain defiant to the cruel tortures of the Gestapo .

They die with their decency intact their heads held high.

 

As I read the novel it reminded me of the current state of affairs of our nation. It seemed to me we are also moving on the same path which the Nazi regime treaded some 80 years back. A vicious version of nationalism which we had never heard before is being thrust upon us. A religious nationalism in which Hindutva is the God and humans and humanity has no place in it. Where killings and lynching's of Muslims, demeaning of minorities are overlooked with a snide smile. Heinous crimes like rapes of minorities are defended. Perpetuators of genocides of minorities are set free by the courts. Cases of those involved in such communal crimes are withdrawn. If anybody questions these acts they are labeled as anti nationals. Judiciary refuses to hear petitions asking for enquiry into suspicious deaths allegedly by state actors. Such petitions are termed as insult to the judiciary by the highest court. Media instead of questioning the rulers questions the opposition.

I would suggest that you must read this book and decide for yourself whether you would prefer silence or raise your voice if such a Nazi like situation is developing in our country. Nazi Germany was ultimately destroyed but at what cost. Nobody wants that to happen here.

Hans Fallada wrote this book in 24 days and thereafter died before it was published.

 

ASHOK KUMAR