Author: Shamsul Islam
Affiliation: Independent (retired professor of Delhi University)
Organization/Publisher: Countercurrents.org
Date/Place: September 25, 2020/India
Type of Literature: Report
Word Count: 7800
Link: https://countercurrents.org/2020/09/rss-as-a-terrorist-outfit-evidences-from-its-archives/
Keywords: India, Hindutva nationalism, RSS, Nazism, Fascism, Golwalkar
Brief:
This is one of the detailed reports on India’s RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – the ideological fountainhead of the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. It traces the ideals which lay the foundation of the RSS – with structures of an independent paramilitary organization – inspired by Nazism and Fascism. KB Hedgewar, also known as Doctorji in the RSS fraternity, BS Moonje, and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar laid the foundation of the RSS in 1925. These ideologues were inspired by how Nazis cleaned Germany of Jews, and subsequently declared Muslims and Christians as main enemies of Hindus who have no right to live in India. Fueled by hate for Muslims, the RSS’ most prominent ideologue MS Golwalkar (aka Guru Golwalkar and RSS Supremo), declared: “the foreign races [Muslims and other minorities] in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race.” According to the report, Supremo Guru Golwalkar even planned massacre of Muslims on the eve of India’s Independence. While it identifies Islam and Christianity as the top internal threats to Hindus in India, the RSS does not consider Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism as independent religions but as part of Hinduism. It also refers to what it terms as “RSS linkages with the international terrorist organizations” referring to extremist Buddhists of Myanmar and Sri Lanka who have been at the forefront of anti-Muslim violence. Its influence also traces to Norwegian Neo-Nazi mass murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, who declared the “Hindu Nationalist” movement of India as a “key ally in a global struggle to bring down democratic regimes across the world.” The report warns that the RSS is “gradually working to build an international set-up to spread and execute its politics of hatred against Muslims, Christians and progressive elements,” including the use of operatives pretending to be Muslims who then instigate violence against Hindus, which tactic it has admitted to using in the past.
By: Riyaz ul Khaliq, CIGA Non-Resident Research Associate
