RSS and Dalits
language. The RSS has never supported the agitation of Dalits or their entry in Mandirs. Even decades after independence, there are many temples in India where entry of Dalits is denied. Similarly, the RSS has never come out openly against many social evils that are part of the ancient Hindu traditions and that still plague today’s society. For a function in Vasant Kunj in New Delhi of laying the foundation stone of an institute for Vedic Studies attended by L K Advani – veteran of RSS - on February 1, 2002, ten Dalit families of Dusadh caste were forced to leave their homes because the organisers of the function thought that the presence of Dalits would pollute the area. No RSS functionary, not even L K Advani, objected. In Dulena in Jhajjar district of Haryana in October 2002, five Dalits were skinning a dead cow to sell its hide. Local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (part of the Sangh Parivar) and Shiv Sena spread rumours of cow slaughter. The five Dalits were lynched. Instead of condemning this gruesome murder, a senior leader of the VHP Giriraj Kishore supporting this lynching said that the life of a cow was more important than the lives of any number of people. Again the RSS did not utter a word. Uma Bharati, cabinet minister in today’s Modi Govt., during her chief
ministership of Madhya Pradesh promulgated an ordinance for banning cow slaughter. The official statement issued in January 2005 extolled the virtues of Manusmariti in the following words “Manusmriti ranks the slaughterer of cow as predator and prescribes hard punishment for him’. This was perhaps the first time in the legal history of independent India that a law was drawing its justification from Manusmriti. No wonder, a magnificent statue of Manu was installed in the high court of Jaipur by the BJP government in the early 90’s. They want the country to be ruled by Manusmriti which consigns the ‘lower’ castes and even ‘upper’ caste women to the most cruel form of slavery that humankind has ever devised. Just recently in Faridabad in Haryana two small children of a Dalit family were burnt alive by the upper castes and the mother and father sustained severe burn injuries. The silence of the RSS on this ghastly incident was indeed deafening. The RSS jumped into the Sampurna Kranti agitation led by Jayprakash Narayan. But when Jayprakash Narayan gave a call for breaking the sacred thread (Janeu) which is a symbol of higher caste supremacy, the RSS neglected it and not a single RSS member followed this call. This was because the RSS firmly believes in caste hierarchy. The statement that the reservation policy be reviewed is a part of the
RSS agenda. The RSS does not want empowerment of Dalits, Adivasis and Backward Communities. When the Mandal Commission recommendations were implemented, the Advani-led BJP started the
Ram Janma Bhoomi movement inciting communal polarisation throughout India. RSS supporters stirred up anti-reservation rallies and incidents of self-immolation took place. Behind all this were the Hindutva forces. The BJP withdrew support to the V P Singh government and it fell. In Dadri in UP, not far away from Delhi, a Muslim was lynched recently on mere rumors that he had beef in his house. But some RSS men openly proclaimed that it is in accordance with the order in the Vedas to
exterminate beef eaters. What treatment then is the RSS going to give Mahars (Neo-Buddhists) a Dalit caste in Maharashtra? Many Mahars eat beef because it is a cheaper source of protein than mutton. Two generations ago beef was a staple food for the Mahar caste. Despite all these developments, we find that RSS and BJP are successful in wooing a substantive section of Dalits through different ways, and particularly through their anti-Muslim propaganda. The views of
Ambedkar are being twisted in an effort to appropriate him. It is therefore very urgent that the anti-caste struggle be made an integral part of the anti-communal struggle. Here is what Dr. Ambedkar said “There are many lower orders in the Hindu society whose economic, political and social needs are the same as those of majority of Muslims and they would be far more ready to make a common cause with the Muslims for achieving common ends than they would with the high caste Hindus who have denied and deprived them of ordinary human rights for centuries.”
( Dr. Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches Vol. 8., P. 359)
The RSS objective is to establish a theocratic state in India, a state deriving its ideas from ancient writings like the Manusmriti. This state will be an enemy of dalits, tribals and all those who follow a different faith, like Muslims and Christians. It will be a more inhuman, dangerous, degenerate and perverted dictatorship than ever seen before. Hence it is the duty of all patriotic and democratic people of India to fight the RSS and all of its different faces.
Hindutva
Manusmriti
Dalit
Although the RSS dare not openly treat Dalits as untouchables, it is opposed to any reformation that strengthens the Dalit populace - be it the Constitution, the law or the reservation system.On February 6, 1950 Organiser carried an article by a retired High Court Judge Shankar Subha Aiyar titled “Manu Rules Our Hearts.” He wrote that “Even though Dr. Ambedkar is reported to have recently stated in Bombay that the days of Manu have ended, it is nevertheless a fact that the daily lives of Hindus are even in the present day affected by the principles and injunctions contained in the Manusmriti and other Smritis. Even an unorthodox Hindu feels himself bound at least in some matters by the rules contained in the Smritis and he feels powerless to give up altogether his adherence to them.” Golwalkar in his Bunch of Thoughts said, “Our Constitution too is just a cumbersome and heterogenous piecing together of various articles from various Constitutions of the Western countries. It has nothing which can be called our own. Is there a single word of reference in its guiding principles as to what our National Mission is, what our keynote in life is?”
K.R. Malkani, an ideologue of the RSS in his famous book ‘The RSS Story’ admits that Golwalkar, the number two supremo of the RSS, ‘saw no reason why Hindu law should break its ancient links with the Manusmriti.’ Clearly, the RSS thinks that Hindutva based on Manusmriti which proclaimed inequality and dehumanization of the masses must be our National Mission and this must be included in the Constitution of India, instead of equality before law irrespective of caste, creed, gender andlanguage. The RSS has never supported the agitation of Dalits or their entry in Mandirs. Even decades after independence, there are many temples in India where entry of Dalits is denied. Similarly, the RSS has never come out openly against many social evils that are part of the ancient Hindu traditions and that still plague today’s society. For a function in Vasant Kunj in New Delhi of laying the foundation stone of an institute for Vedic Studies attended by L K Advani – veteran of RSS - on February 1, 2002, ten Dalit families of Dusadh caste were forced to leave their homes because the organisers of the function thought that the presence of Dalits would pollute the area. No RSS functionary, not even L K Advani, objected. In Dulena in Jhajjar district of Haryana in October 2002, five Dalits were skinning a dead cow to sell its hide. Local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (part of the Sangh Parivar) and Shiv Sena spread rumours of cow slaughter. The five Dalits were lynched. Instead of condemning this gruesome murder, a senior leader of the VHP Giriraj Kishore supporting this lynching said that the life of a cow was more important than the lives of any number of people. Again the RSS did not utter a word. Uma Bharati, cabinet minister in today’s Modi Govt., during her chief
ministership of Madhya Pradesh promulgated an ordinance for banning cow slaughter. The official statement issued in January 2005 extolled the virtues of Manusmariti in the following words “Manusmriti ranks the slaughterer of cow as predator and prescribes hard punishment for him’. This was perhaps the first time in the legal history of independent India that a law was drawing its justification from Manusmriti. No wonder, a magnificent statue of Manu was installed in the high court of Jaipur by the BJP government in the early 90’s. They want the country to be ruled by Manusmriti which consigns the ‘lower’ castes and even ‘upper’ caste women to the most cruel form of slavery that humankind has ever devised. Just recently in Faridabad in Haryana two small children of a Dalit family were burnt alive by the upper castes and the mother and father sustained severe burn injuries. The silence of the RSS on this ghastly incident was indeed deafening. The RSS jumped into the Sampurna Kranti agitation led by Jayprakash Narayan. But when Jayprakash Narayan gave a call for breaking the sacred thread (Janeu) which is a symbol of higher caste supremacy, the RSS neglected it and not a single RSS member followed this call. This was because the RSS firmly believes in caste hierarchy. The statement that the reservation policy be reviewed is a part of the
RSS agenda. The RSS does not want empowerment of Dalits, Adivasis and Backward Communities. When the Mandal Commission recommendations were implemented, the Advani-led BJP started the
Ram Janma Bhoomi movement inciting communal polarisation throughout India. RSS supporters stirred up anti-reservation rallies and incidents of self-immolation took place. Behind all this were the Hindutva forces. The BJP withdrew support to the V P Singh government and it fell. In Dadri in UP, not far away from Delhi, a Muslim was lynched recently on mere rumors that he had beef in his house. But some RSS men openly proclaimed that it is in accordance with the order in the Vedas to
exterminate beef eaters. What treatment then is the RSS going to give Mahars (Neo-Buddhists) a Dalit caste in Maharashtra? Many Mahars eat beef because it is a cheaper source of protein than mutton. Two generations ago beef was a staple food for the Mahar caste. Despite all these developments, we find that RSS and BJP are successful in wooing a substantive section of Dalits through different ways, and particularly through their anti-Muslim propaganda. The views of
Ambedkar are being twisted in an effort to appropriate him. It is therefore very urgent that the anti-caste struggle be made an integral part of the anti-communal struggle. Here is what Dr. Ambedkar said “There are many lower orders in the Hindu society whose economic, political and social needs are the same as those of majority of Muslims and they would be far more ready to make a common cause with the Muslims for achieving common ends than they would with the high caste Hindus who have denied and deprived them of ordinary human rights for centuries.”
( Dr. Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches Vol. 8., P. 359)
The RSS objective is to establish a theocratic state in India, a state deriving its ideas from ancient writings like the Manusmriti. This state will be an enemy of dalits, tribals and all those who follow a different faith, like Muslims and Christians. It will be a more inhuman, dangerous, degenerate and perverted dictatorship than ever seen before. Hence it is the duty of all patriotic and democratic people of India to fight the RSS and all of its different faces.
Hindutva
Manusmriti
Dalit
