The RSS is not the nationalist devil the left wants it to be

Ordinary Indians can see the RSS for what it really is, and Hindu haters will need some masala chai with their humble pie.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s knows the RSS needs reframing for a modern India and 2018 may well be the year it shows ordinary Indians what it really is about, and in fact has been about all along.

Bhagwat and his lieutenants have been telling citizens more about the real ethos of the RSS-not the imaginary Hindu death cult theory trotted out by the leftwing trolls-and to that end Bhagwat not only praised the Congress for its role in the freedom struggle, he also made it clear that RSS is not anti-Muslim.

This latter point is a tough pill to swallow for some because they want the RSS to be purely sectarian but they are not and never have been, they have always wanted Muslims to be part of India; and that Hindutva as a concept, Hindu Rashtra to be more precise, has always included Muslims.

Bhagwat said, translated from Hindi, that “We say that ours is a Hindu rashtra. Hindu rashtra does not mean we don’t want Muslims. If it is ever said that we don’t want Muslims, it won’t be Hindutva — i.e., that Hindutva won’t remain.”

This is important because the RSS has always advocated that Hindutva as a concept is not existential among religious lines, but through culture and civilization.

So with the RSS openly saying this, what does it say about the opposition who still wants to boycott the RSS and Modi as a result? Who is the really intolerant one?

The RSS is not demarcating Muslims as the ‘other’ it is those who hate the BJP and the RSS who are othering the Sangh, and in that is the most dangerous polarization within India. For if these left wing trolls dared to recognise the RSS in any way whatsoever, they would immediately lose credibility within their well funded circles.

Then there’s the ground reality of the RSS itself. The RSS is comprised of leaders within its ranks who are not high-caste Hindus, but from other castes, including Dalits with a Muslim wing. The Hindu wing of the RSS is trying to appoint Muslims as well, moving away from being purely a group for Brahmins, led by Brahmins.

The Sangh was neither as sectarian as its opponents liked to describe it, and neither was it purely nationalistic.

The real problem lies with the Indian left who continue to demonise the RSS and Modi while simultaneously admiring murderers like Lenin, Stalin, and Mao.

2018 will mark a major change in how the RSS perceives itself and how India, and the world, will perceive it. It is a bitter pill for its opponents but one that must be swallowed.