National poet Kazi Nazrul Islam has been dubbed as an epitome of a “good Hindu” by India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Nazrul’s “nationalism,” which the RSS says is reflected in his attempts to unite Hindus and Muslims and his opposition to British imperial rule in India, has earned him the epithet, said a Hindustan Times report released on Sunday.
The RSS plans to honour the poet laureate by marking his birth anniversary on May 25 in West Bengal and translating his works into all Indian languages, the report said.
A Hindi translation of 39 of his poems is expected to be out on the bookshelves by the end of this year, it said.
RSS’s West Bengal unit Secretary Jishnu Basu has said: “Being Hindu is not practising a religion, but a way of life. Kazi Nasrul practised Islam, yet he lived as a dedicated Hindu, fighting for Indian ethos and against the British.”
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The report has claimed that the RSS and BJP have been at odds with West Bengal’s Trinamool government over what the former allege is the “government’s vote bank policy.”
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has charged the RSS and BJP with perpetrating anti-minority sentiments, it said.
Meanwhile, the RSS in March passed a resolution, expressing “grave concern” over “violence against Hindus” in West Bengal, it further said.
It condemned the Mamata Bannerjee government for failing to check “unabated rise in violence by jihadi elements in West Bengal, encouragement to the anti-national elements.”
The report also said that the move to eulogise the poet laureate, a Muslim, as a “good Hindu,” is an attempt for RSS to be viewed as an inclusive organisation not opposed to Muslims, but to radicalised elements.
Past statements by RSS describing all Indians as Hindus were condemned as attempts to wipe out religious identities.
“Hinduism is not clearly understood by a lot of people. When the RSS says Hinduism, it does not mean a communal school of thought that wants to throw out Muslims. I tell people Nazrul was a better Hindu because he was a nationalist,” the RSS West Bengal unit secretary said.
“We have been celebrating his memory by singing Nazrul geeti [songs written and composed by him] at various events, such as the 150th year celebration of Swami Vivekananda,” he said.
RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha put in his two cents on why the organisation selected Nazrul, who passed away in 1976.
He said: “The Sangh [RSS] puts Nazrul, like former President Abdul Kalam, on a pedestal, because he identified the bonds between philosophy, culture and spirituality. He was a revolutionary secular.”
Nazrul’s writings on rebelling against British imperial forces, Durga Puja and the goddess Kali will also be introduced to other RSS affiliates, the report said.
