The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological and inspirational driving force behind the ruling BJP, wants minority Muslims and Christians to accept that India is a nation of Hindus, and is pushing some of them to convert.
An election in the volatile state of West Bengal has become a prime target in its game plan.
The group’s strategy: To spread its Hindu-first ideology to all corners of India by propelling the ruling party to power in as many states as possible.
The ascendant Hindu nationalist group provided the foot soldiers in last year’s landslide general election victory by Modi, who joined the movement in his youth.
Winning states like West Bengal, outside the ruling party’s traditional strongholds, would give Modi greater control over the upper house of parliament, which would put him in a better position to push through key policies.
The game plan of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in the minority in the upper house, is to govern 20 of India’s 31 regional legislative assemblies over the next four years, top party sources said. It currently controls or shares power in 11.
Interviews with more than two dozen RSS and BJP officials and rare access to closed RSS meetings reveal a two-stage strategy - electoral victory at the national level, which has been achieved in the lower house of parliament, followed by similar success at the state level.
“We would want the BJP to win all the state elections because only then can significant social, political and cultural changes take place in this country,” RSS Joint General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said. “The 2014 election victory should be seen as the starting point of a long term mission.”
Policy influence
What also emerges is the impact the RSS is having on government rhetoric and decisions.
Once scorned as a right-wing fringe group, the RSS is the parent of the BJP. The Modi government has appointed RSS sympathisers to prominent positions in recent months. This includes the chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India, the chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research and a board member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Most of the ministers in the federal cabinet had their political consciousness shaped by the RSS and its affiliates. Modi spent his formative years as a full-time volunteer in the group, which he credits for his work ethic, discipline and success. BJP President Amit Shah and seven members of Modi’s cabinet also joined the RSS in their youth. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was once an RSS official and went on to lead the BJP, is now pushing for a nationwide ban on cow slaughter.
The government has also taken up other issues dear to the RSS, like the search for the lost Saraswati River. Government archaeologists have been ordered to search for the river, mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. RSS members believe proof of its existence would bolster the group’s narrative of a Hindu-dominated golden age in India prior to invasions by Muslims and Christians.
A close aide to the prime minister affirmed Modi’s commitment to the group and its vision. The prime minister, he said, is “viewed as the RSS worker who will take bullets in the chest to protect the RSS. He believes that it is the finest institution, a think tank and an organisation that has the power to change India.”
India’s glory days
What is unfolding is a battle for the soul of India. Since independence in 1947, Indian politics has been dominated by the Congress party and its leftist offshoots. They have espoused a secular, multi-faith vision of the nation. Hindus are the majority, but roughly 14% of India’s 1.2bn people are Muslim.
The RSS was founded in 1925 as an anti-colonial organisation. It promotes a fundamentally different vision that draws on a mix of Hindu legends and ancient Indian history, when the subcontinent was home to some of the world’s most advanced civilisations.
According to this narrative, India’s glory days ended after it was invaded - beginning in the 8th century - by Muslims and then Christians, who converted the Hindu inhabitants. The RSS believes that if all Indians were to acknowledge and accept that ancient Hindu identity as theirs, it would unify the country, offer the best defence against any future aggressors and head off separatist movements.
“Hindustan means land of Hindus,” RSS General Secretary Suresh “Bhaiyyaji” Joshi said, using the old Mughal Persian name for India. “So anyone living here is automatically a Hindu first.”
The RSS has been banned four times since its inception, once after a former member of the group assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. That attack came after the RSS accused Gandhi of appeasing Muslims at a time when Pakistan, an all-Muslim nation, was being carved out of India. The ban was later lifted in the absence of any evidence the group planned the attack. (Final part tomorrow)
