Cracks in the monolith

RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), beacon of India’s Right Wing movement, seems to be facing an unprecedented moment of disunity not only in its larger ecosystem popularly known as Sangh Parivar but also within its own ranks.

At the heart of this crisis-like situation is an unsavoury controversy over RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat's remarks on December 18 at Pune where he decried "extreme hatred, malice, enmity and suspicion" on display in reclamations of temples purportedly buried beneath mosques and durgahs.

He also said that it wasn't desirable to "rake up such issues every day" and that some people are trying to become Hindu leaders by doing it.

This was in obvious reference to a section of Right Wing fronts engaging in claiming temples allegedly buried beneath mosques by erstwhile Muslim rulers. Bhagwat said that it was undesirable and an impediment in the way of India's dream of becoming Vishwaguru (world teacher).

Though he didn't mention the Sambhal mosque issue that has currently stirred the Hindu-Muslim communal pot in the country, it can't be missed that Bhagwat's immediate reference was to Sambhal only.

Of course, this wasn't the first time Bhagwat has publicly disapproved of such reclaiming of temples. Last year too, he had famously asked, "why look for a Shivling under every mosque", turning many heads in disbelief.

But this time, Bhagwat has gone further and spoken of "extreme hatred malice, enmity and suspicion" that is on display and has even called for "living in harmony".

Therein lies the twist in the story.

A small but important change in messaging

This was first time that the RSS chief has admitted to exhibition of communal hatred, malice, enmity and suspicion by Hindu groups.

This is a far cry from the usual RSS refrain that Hindus are inherently secular and by nature tolerant and peace-loving. Bhagwat’s remarks have been met with strong disapprovals from within the RSS and from the larger Hindutva eco-system.

While some so-called sadhus and sants openly expressed their anger, re-emphasising the need for and resolve to continue the campaign to reclaim Hindu temples, the RSS mouthpiece Organiser editorially differed with Bhagwat justifying the temple reclaiming campaign as part of securing "civilisational justice" for Hindus.

For the record though, the magazine did clarify later that it fully endorsed Bhagwat on need to maintain harmony.

With the remark stoking a controversy within the Sangh Parivar, Another RSS mouthpiece, Panchjanya, was deployed to do the damage control by editorially supporting Bhagwat's remarks as a "pragmatic approach".

Hindutva ecosystem is going through a churn

Clearly, the Hindutva ecosystem of which the RSS is the lynch-pin is going through a churn that leaves its followers ideologically confused in the RSS centenary year where they should be clear-headed about their desired goals and objectives.

But is this just about an ideological confusion or is there more to it than meets the eye?

The answer to this question lies in the less discussed part of Bhagwat statement that some people are trying to become Hindu leaders by building temples.

When seen in conjunction with Panchjanya editorial that disapproves of using temple for political gains, Bhagwat's remarks look very clear in their objective - he is not in favour of politics being continuously driven and roiled by temple-mosque issues.

But who is carrying out this politics? Is he targeting the BJP?

To understand this, we have to compare the RSS chief's frequent interventions like these in recent times to soothe the frayed communal tempers with Prime Minister Narendra Modi maintaining silence on the issues.

In fact, not only has the PM not spoken out against the temple-mosque madness by the Hindutva groups but has also made controversial observations during election campaigns. When the country is in the grip of communal passions, the PM is duty-bound to douse the fire, not stoke it. Since he is not doing it, the RSS chief seems to have taken it upon himself to do the balancing.

His unprecedented admission of Hindus displaying "extreme hatred, malice and enmity (towards Muslims) must also be seen in this context.

Cracks in the monolith

The public airing of such observations by the RSS chief clearly shows that the functional monolith of Sangh Parivar has developed deep cracks and the much-touted self-regulation and discipline within the parivar is melting away due to the moral distortions caused by corrupting taste of power by its rank and file.

That's exactly what seems to worry Bhagwat.

He probably feels, as indicated by his coded public messages to Modi in recent times, the Modi government ought to be seen by the world as doing its job as an agent of harmony and not as agent provocateur.

But Bhagwat's call for harmony shouldn't be seen as RSS course correction towards minorities in general and Muslims in particular.

It is just that extreme hatred, malice and enmity might prove detrimental to the long-term goal of establishing Hindu Rashtra. It's like running a train at a speed higher than the track can bear.

The RSS has to stay relevant maybe for another hundred years. It can't afford to be undermined by this hasty and uncontrolled fast-forwarding of the Hindutva project by the growing army of neo-Hindutva groups.