When a Catholic priest called RSS the ‘true heir of Mahatma Gandhi’

RSS

(RSSFACTS is a column that demystifies the functioning, organisational structure and ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.)

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale recently released an interesting book on the organisation. The book was written by the world-renowned Catholic Priest, Father Anthony Elenjimittam. Interestingly, it was first published in 1951, and Hosabale released the republished version of the book on July 23 in Dehradun. The book can arguably be called the first ‘popular’ book on the RSS written by a non-RSS member, and it is titled Philosophy and Action of the RSS for the Hind Swaraj.

Coming close on the heels of a smear campaign and the first ban on the RSS following Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, the title of the book appears even more intriguing as ‘Hind Swaraj’ was a phrase used by Mahatma Gandhi to explain his vision for India. Gandhi wrote a book titled Hind Swaraj in 1908-09, where he discussed his vision of ‘swaraj’ and various aspects of modern civilisation.

Father Anthony Elenjimittam has, in fact, attempted to establish in the book that it is the RSS, and not Congress or any other organisation, that is the true heir to Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy.

Born on June 22, 1915, in Kochi (Kerala), Father Anthony Elenjimittam had emerged as a well-known philosopher and theologian. He completed his religious studies in Rome and London and spent the last few decades of his life in Italy, where he passed away in 2011.

Mahatma Gandhi and RSS

In his 1951 book on the RSS, Father Anthony Elenjimittam criticised Congressmen for targeting the RSS after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. He wrote, “The dignity and forbearance with which the RSS stood when the interested parties were incriminating the Sangh for Gandhi’s murder is one of the most interesting episodes in the annals of the history of the movement. The money-madness, power-intoxication, and careerism of Congressmen, even among the most trusted lieutenants and right-hand men of Gandhiji, had already broken the heart of Mahatma ji.”

Busting the fake narrative that RSS volunteers had distributed sweets after Gandhi’s assassination, Father Elenjimittam launches a scathing attack on Congress leaders. “In fact, it was not the RSS that distributed sweets at Gandhi’s martyrdom, but the black-marketers and many Congressmen who felt secretly happy because the old saintly man Bapu would no longer preach to them about Brahmacharya, Asteya, and Abhaya.”

Vanguard of India

Father Elenjimittam terms the RSS as the vanguard of India. He observed that while the RSS subscribes to the highest ideals of what is best in Indian cultural heritage, it is a well-disciplined army of boys and girls who will not only defend their culture but also their land and country, which gave birth to such an eminent culture and civilisation.

“The RSS offers the youth of India an ideology, a dream which is not the undiluted materialism of orthodox Marxian Communists, but the saving leaven of centralised discipline and highest self-sacrifice based on the idealistic patrimony of Indian culture. Because the RSS bases their stand on the philosophy of the Upanishads, the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount, the psychology of Buddhism, the metaphysics of Vedanta; the so-called secularists say: ‘These are Hindu revivalists, let’s put them down.’ These secularists have no philosophy, no ideals to build up Indian youth, nor their own sweet selves.”

RSS and Communalism

At multiple places in the book, Father Elenjimittam takes pot-shots at the so-called secularists, challenging them to prove that the RSS is a communal organisation. According to him, the RSS has an absolutely non-sectarian approach towards religion and, most importantly, it is deeply rooted in India’s civilisational values.

The Catholic priest also discusses the concept of ‘Dharma’ and how religion is different from ‘Dharma’—one of the core tenets of the RSS ideology. He also delves into the Western concept of ‘secularism’ and how it is not applicable to India. Expressing his agreement with the RSS on the issue of secularism, Father Elenjimittam says, “So then, the RSS is at the forefront and sides with me. The forces of ethical, humanistic, and rational religion, as preserved in the broad Indian cultural heritage. The RSS uses words fully conscious of their meaning. They do not preach secularism to their adherents and friends, simply because secularism would mean the outright denial of India’s past history, of the great names in Indian history. Just imagine Buddha, Ashoka, Sankara, Chanakya, Manu, Yajnavalkya, and in our own days Gandhi, Tilak, Rabindranath, Subhas Bose and others to be all classed among the Nehruvian secularists!”

He further elaborates, “If secularism is power, then ethical and humanistic religion, metaphysical and mystical realisation, is a thousand times more powerful.”

He adds, “While the RSS and other allied Indian nationalists are against all forms of communalism, they are open to any new light which may be shed from any side, thus, through their lives and deeds, refuting the charge of closed-door, stereotyped orthodoxy.”

Earlier RSSFACTS columns can be read here.