How The RSS Is Controlling India Under Modi

Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) is considered as the parent organization of the current ruling party in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Founded on 27 September 1925, RSS is the world’s largest NGO. It’s ideology revolves around uniting the Hindu community to form a Hindu nation. RSS works to promote Hindu culture and to strengthen the Hindu community.

In the words of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat himself, RSS believes that India is a Hindu Rashtra and all those who consider it to be their motherland, are Hindus by culture, if not by religion.

The dark side of RSS

Alongside a history of philanthropic work, RSS’s dark side has also, often been the subject of notorious headlines. It is hard to look the other way when the NGO has been accused – on multiple occasions – of ethnic cleansing and mass murders of minorities in India.

From the Babri Mosque demolition in 1992 to the 2002 Gujrat riots and from the Ajmer Dargah attack in 2005 to the recent wave of Hindu mobs lynching minorities in India, RSS seems to have its fingerprints all over most communal crimes.

Babri Mosque demolition

In 1992, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a right-wing militant organization and a member of the Sang Parivar group (a collective of Hindu nationalist organizations led by the RSS) organised a rally in Ayodhya, India at the site of the historic Babri Mosque.

The rally involving nearly 150,000 volunteers – as history witnessed – turned violent within hours. The frenzied volunteers surrounded the 16th century mosque, eventually tearing it down.

The incident triggered riots across India, resulting in the death of at least 2000 people, mostly Muslims.

India’s former Intelligence Bureau head Maloy Krishna Dhar claimed in 2005 that the Babri Mosque demolition was not a case of a mob that went out of control on its own. He alleged that the demolition of the Babri Mosque had been planned 10 months in advance by top RSS leaders.

Gujrat riots

Modi enrolled as a full time RSS worker in 1971 in his home province of Gujarat.

In 2002, as the Chief Minister of Gujarat Modi is alleged to have allowed the massacre of over 2000 Muslims at the hands of RSS members. During the reign of terror that lasted three days, the Chief Minister’s office as well as state police were accused of facilitating the rioters who were provided lists and addresses of Muslim-owned properties.

In 2012, Modi was exonerated by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and follow-up petitions to prosecute him were rejected by Indian courts.

Narendra Modi was denied visa to the United States in 2005 under a law that makes foreign officials who severely violate religious freedom ineligible for visas. Modi is the only person ever to be barred from entering the United States under this law.

Although classified as communal riots as per official documentation, a number of scholars, including Chris Ogden and Raheel Dhattiwala described them as pogrom, alleging that they had been preplanned with the intention of ethnic cleansing.

In the aftermath of the Gujrat riots, Narendra Mod

Ajmer Dargah attack

The Ajmer Dargah blast occurred in 2007, outside the Dargah (shrine) of Sufi Saint Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, Rajasthan. It is alleged that the attack was carried out by RSS and other members of the Sang Parivar. In 2010, five accused perpetrators, of which four were said to belong to the RSS, were arrested in connection with the blast.

The blast occurred in the month of Ramadan, killed 2 people and injured 17.

Multiple bans on RSS

RSS was first banned during the British rule in India.

It was banned for the second time when Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a former RSS member.

The third time it was banned was from 1975–77. In 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a state of emergency and banned RSS as it was perceived a threat to democracy.

The fourth ban came after the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992. The Liberhan Commission report in 2009 clearly held RSS responsible for the onslaught. But the ban was lifted in 1993 when no evidence of any unlawful activity was found by the tribunal under the ‘Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.’

To what extent is RSS controlling India under Modi?

The RSS lent its support to BJP before the 2014 elections for safeguarding Hinduism in the country.

According to Swati Chaturvedi , an Indian journalist, the RSS is fully in control of the country’s affairs. The top government offices and ministries are all run by former RSS volunteers.

Revocation of Article 370 in Kashmir

Nullifying Article 370’s privileges for Kashmir is one of the three core principles of RSS.

The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, offered public praise to Modi for ending Kashmir’s special status via Article 370.

The other two are related to introducing common civil code so different religions cannot follow their own laws for issues like marriage and owning property.

Read: PM Imran Khan’s UNGA Speech: Why IK Has Arrived As A Global Leader

According to Swati Chaturvedi, Modi and his top aide and Home Minister Amit Shah have assured Bhagwat that after Article 370, the other two priority agenda items will be carried out during Modi’s current term in government.

Modi is running an ideological government guided by RSS principles and it is reflecting in how he runs the affairs. As Modi’s government continues to fulfill the demands of RSS, it becomes more clear that India is not afraid to lose its identity as the biggest secular nation.

The RSS’s influence can now be seen in national policies impacting education to commerce and food. It helps shape India’s public school curriculum, which, in some BJP-led states, teaches Hindu scripture as historical facts.

RSS led violence in India under Modi

RSS is also accused of leading violent incidents against minorities in India.

Many scholars believe that incidents of anti-Muslim violence are politically motivated and a part of the strategy by BJP and RSS.

Cow vigilante attack

According to a Reuters report, a total of 63 cow vigilante attacks had occurred in India between 2010 and 2017.

Ever since Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, Hindu cow vigilantes have been in the news.

Human Rights Watch has reported that there has been a surge in cow vigilante violence since 2015. It is attributed to the rise of Hindu nationalism in India.

For instance, in 2016 two separate incidents of the same nature had made headlines. Mohammed Akhlaq, an Indian villager, was lynched by a mob in front of his family for allegedly killing a cow and keeping beef in his fridge. In July 2016, in Gujarat, vigilantes stripped four Dalit men, tied them to a car, and beat them with sticks and belts over suspicions of cow slaughter.

Instead of taking legal action against the vigilantes, the police often, files complaints against the assault victims under laws banning cow slaughter.

What did Jawaharlal Nehru say about RSS?

India’s first Prime Minister, Nehru said “RSS is an organization which is proceeding on the strictest Nazi lines, even following the techniques of the terrorist organization.”

Other former Prime Ministers have also declared RSS as unlawful and a big threat to secularism and democracy.

Imran Khan’s reference to RSS at UNGA

Imran Khan in his United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) speech said that Modi’s action behind abrogating article 370 stems from the RSS ideology that he follows. Khan also compared the RSS ideology with the Nazi ideology.

“They believe in racial purity and superiority. They believe they are an Aryan race.They believe in the ethnic cleansing of Muslims. They believe a golden age of Hindu rule was stopped by Muslims and then the British occupation.”

-Imran Khan