Is the RSS above the law?

While it claims it to be a cultural organisation, the RSS worships weapons on its foundation day! This hydra-headed NGO has many many tentacles. Param Vaibhav Ke Path Par (The Road to Eternal Glory) by Sadanand D. Sapre, a title published in 1997 by Suruchi Prakashan, a big publisher of Sangh literature, details more than 40 affiliate and subsidiary organisations created by the RSS for different tasks (see full list above).

The BJP features prominently, alongside the ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad), Hindu Jagran Manch, Vishva Hindu Parishad, Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Sanskar Bharti. It’s germane to remember that the current prime minister of India and nearly all Union ministers, BJP chief ministers and governors publicly declare themselves as RSS cadre. So much for being a ‘cultural organisation’.

Sapre’s book is quite a revelation and essential reading for anyone who wants to learn how the RSS functions. Its myriad satellites and subsidiaries are part of a cunning strategy to sow confusion about their activities. These front organisations also provide the RSS cover as well as room to dissociate itself when expedient. For instance, it used the Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM) to attack Christians in the late 1990s, and when the tide of public opinion turned against it, the RSS denied any ties with HJM.

Whenever the criminal activities of the VHP, Bajrang Dal or ABVP are exposed, the RSS declares them independent organisations.

****

Sapre writes that for the ‘Hindu awakening project’, forums like the HJM are active in 17 states under names like ‘Hindu Manch’ in Delhi, ‘Hindu Munnani’ in Tamil Nadu, ‘Hindu Ekjut’ in Maharashtra… These are forums, he writes, not associations or organisations, so no membership or registration or election of office-bearers is needed. [Param Vaibhav Ke Path Par, p.64]

It’s quite clear that this mafia-style set-up is designed to avoid legal/ administrative scrutiny, and working through these front organisations provides the RSS the cover it needs to distance itself from the occasional blowback when things get out of hand.

About a case in Delhi soon after Partition, Sapre writes: ‘Swayamsevaks posed as Musalmans to gain the confidence of the Delhi Muslim League to learn about their conspiracies.’ [Ibid, p.86]