Golwaker, man behind ‘Hindu Rashtra’

RSS volunteer at a rally in Chennai. , Photo Credit: Praveen PK

Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar led the President’s Self -Self -Service Association (RSS) from 1940 to 1973. His book, ‘V or our nationalism defined’, remained at the origin of the RSS ideology, ensuring that the torture of Indian Muslims as a “foreign race ‘increased the most permanent ideological impact on the RSS and generations of Hindu supreme leaders. Keeping his study of Indian rights, Spotlight on the RSS ideology. Roundworker: Myth behind myth, man behind machineExcerpts edited by an interview.

Dhirendra Jha | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

How much does a writer’s ideology interfere in the writing of a subject, especially as divisive as a goalwaker?

Each writer has an ideology, but not all statements operate ideologically. I think the problem arises when the writer deliberately hides uncomfortable evidence and lets him or his feelings dominate the story. The question is not whether the subject is divisive. This problem can also write on non-popular subjects. As the arithmetic records suggest, Golwalkar’s previous biography, rather than the basis of their narratives on facts, prefer to hide the truth to glorify their personality. Golwalkar’s false impressions that he deprived of making, resulting in his real -life story unclear.

Golwocker | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

You oppose the previous autobiography written on Golwalkar – for example, his work on credentials. How did you throw through myths?

This was one of the biggest challenges, but this mythology was not just the handiwork of their biographers. Quickly, Golwalkar had pensted himself for the glory of his personality. This is why despite working as a laboratory technician at Banaras Hindu University in the early 1930s, he introduced himself as a pre-professor in his 1939 book, We or our nation definedHis biography, writing under his guiding will, pushed this lie a series of new myths about him.

The challenge became more serious because some of the lies created by Golwalkar and their loyal-livingers were also accepted by some objectives and non-RSS researchers and writers. For example, Golwalkar lied when he said in 1963 that he was not a writer We… and this was actually a brief translation of Ganesh Savarkar’s 1934 book, National mimLater, the Pro-RSS writers used this lie to argue that Golwalkar never proposed an anti-Nazis’ sectic model to deal with minorities in India. But historians Ramchandra Guha and political scientist Jyotiramaya Sharma, in their writing on Golwalkar, accept the claim that Golwalkar was not its author. To highlight the truth, someone had to compare only two books. In the case of Golwaker, this practice was even more important since then We… not only had a clear expression of his idea, but also the only text with a vague ideological blueprint for the RSS.

Students of the Students Union of Jawaharlal Nehru University create a human chain protesting a human chain against Akhil Bhartia Vidyarthi Parishad workers at JNU Campus, New Delhi in 2022. Photo Credit: PTI

Can the history of India be different, did the RSS support the freedom struggle?

Yes. But the question is, could the RSS do this? Despite the post -independence RSS literature can claim the previous history of the organization, contemporary arithmetic records suggest that the RSS’s very fundamental objective was to convince Hindus that their beneficial partner was more with a part of fellow Indians more The inconsistent were-compared to the Muslim-British colonists. This purpose naturally raised the RSS against freedom fighters who were trying to unite Hindus and Muslims in the struggle for freedom from British rule. As a result, as an organization, the RSS not only kept themselves away from the freedom struggle (the Civil Disobedience Movement as well as the movement of India), but its founder-chief, KB Hedgewar publicly declared in 1935 that British rule was a function of providence. Therefore, the real question is, can the RSS leave its fundamental purpose? History tells us that it also did not try to do so, even if it would get frequent opportunities to join the freedom struggle.

A National Swayamsevak Association (RSS) band performs in front of his founders Keshav Baliram Hedwar and Ms. Golwalkar at a rally in New Delhi. , Photo Credit: Getty Images

What is the place of Golwalkar in today’s RSS?

Even though the RSS publicly maintains an ambiguity about its relationship with Golwalkar’s conceptual project, it continues to occupy its main ideology, and the entire Sangh Parivar, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, receives his vision Are working together to. The Hindu lies in his book as a national. For the first time after independence, Golwalkar’s promise of denying the rights of citizens of Muslims from the Legislature to the Rhythm of their daily life. Politically, they are virtually involved. The Jewish settlement and marginalized as a means of strengthening political power to direct hatred towards him for the efforts of the condensed family. Even renting or purchasing properties in Hindu-dominated areas is becoming difficult for Muslims rapidly. All this enjoys such widespread approval in the Sangh Parivar as it matches Golwalkar’s ideas and historical fate for RSS – to convert India into a Hindu nation.

sobhanak.nair@thehindu.co.in