After the disclosures made by Jatin Chaterjee alias Swami Aseemanand that he was involved in the bomb blasts of Malegaon, Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad), Ajmer and Samjhauta Express. Worst fears of Hindutva terror groups have proved true. If the statement of Swami Aseemanand is read carefully, a very well calculated conspiracy is evident.
In his statement he has accepted, “I had joined RSS during my student days in 1971.” He was sent to jail under DIR during Emergency in 1975. He claimed that in 2003, Jayanti Bhai called him on phone and said that an activist Pragya Singh wished to meet him. Their meeting went on hatching one conspiracy to another. Acceptance of crime by Swami Aseemanand is mind-shattering.
He himself says, “I suggested that we should plant bombs in Aligarh Muslim University because it has young Muslim boys.” He also revealed that he met all top brass of RSS, including member of its Executive Council Indresh Ji at Shabridham in 2005. Indresh clearly told him that whatever ‘you people are planning is already on our mind’. Revelation of Swami Aseemanand are not surprising because hate and violence are the core philosophical points of the Saffron brigade which were best evident during partition of the country (1947) and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi (1948). Before analysing Hindutva terrorism, let us see who Aseemanand is?
Jatin Chaterjee alias Aseemanand originally belongs to West Bengal but he migrated to Gujarat in 1990. He played a role of bridge between Shrikant Purohit and Sudhakar of infamous Abhinav Bharat and Pragya Singh and Sunil Joshi of Vande Matram organisation. Both the organisations are terror groups owning loyalty to Saffron brigade. When Devendra Gupta was arrested for his involvement in Ajmer blast, Aseemanand went underground. He was such a hard core terrorist that from his centre at Shabridham in Dang district (Gujarat) he extended network to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh also. Ultimately he felt an inner guilt and spilled the beans. He declared, “I was feeling pain inside, hence I have accepted it”.
The RSS was founded in 1925, and it specialises in recruiting young boys into informal militia band called shakhas. The RSS volunteers are encouraged to work for the creation of a Hindu rashtra. The Congress was the only legitimate forum on the eve of independence. But within the Congress, Hindu revivalists led by Sardar Vallabhai Patel held strong views against a secular, liberal and scientific Indian society. They considered that Indian society should draw inspiration from ancient Hindu traditions.
Rather than challenge Nehru’s secularists ideas directly, Hindu revivalists formed an alliance across party lines to work for a Hindu rashtra. This approach opened way for members of the RSS to find their way into the Congress. Patel tried to appease Saffronites by warning Muslims. He said, “It should not surprise Muslims if doubts were entertained about their loyalty” (Hindustan Times, January 7, 1948).
To understand the psyche of the RSS, one should read the works of VD Savarkar and MS Golwalkar. In his book, Hindutva, Savarkar writes, “Their (Muslims’) holy land is far off in Arabia and Palestine. Their mythology and Godmen, ideas and heroes are not the children of this soil. Consequently, their names and outlook smacks of foreign origin.”
As the RSS was conceived primarily as an egalitarian vanguard of the Hindu rashtra, so their view of the ideal society continued to be based on the varna-order. Golwalkar wrote, “It is none of the so-called drawbacks of the social order which prevents us from regaining our ancient glory” (We or Our Nationhood Defined, P.637).
Further, there are archival evidence which shows that Hindutva organisations borrowed their ideology from European Fascism. These leaders repeatedly express their admiration of Mussolini and Hitler. This influence continues to the present day. The first Hindutva leader who adopted fascism as a means was BS Moonje. He had been KB Hedgewar’s steadfast mentor. In fact, the ideology of RSS is the brainchild of Moonje.
In the preface to the Scheme of the Central Hindu Military Society and its Military School, he wrote about military training to Hindu youth saying, “This training is meant for qualifying and fitting our boys for the game of killing masses of men.” Readers may judge the psyche of this dangerous man and of those who are his followers.
After an intellectual analysis of the saffron brigade and Hindutva terrorism, let us discuss some very important points related to the Constitution of India, national security and peace of the region. Political calculations have tremendously changed. Of late we have moved from politics of diverse interests to the perception of mobilising Hindu masses by exploiting their religious sentiments. A very dangerous aspect of this socio-politico shift is that minorities, particularly Muslims, are unable to deal with this communal shift because of their small numbers, being defensive and financially weak. Unfortunately our journey from sustainable creative nationalism to distorted Hindu nationalism is not only anti-national but also against the well established Hindu traditions and philosophy.
In fact we have entered in a very dangerous era as once the Hindu thought that he is powerful and macho and nationalise terrorism then there could be no return to the polity based upon peaceful co-existence. Once that kind of communal thinking takes over, I do not think Indian society or government is equipped to deal with what will follow. Indian government’s soft approach towards Hindutva terrorism will tear apart secular fabric of the nation and may the nation itself.
What should be done to save Indian nation? First of all terrorism of every shade should be dealt with iron fist. Secondly, the Constitution of India should be implemented in letter and spirit. Here I suggest to seriously take up the “Fundamental Duties” (chapter IV A) of our Constitution which holds a duty of every citizen to foster scientific temper, promote unity among the people transcending all religions, linguistic and regional differences etc. the legal position should be that the Fundamental Rights granted under Chapter III of the Constitution are subject to the discharge of fundamental duties. Chapter IV (I) and Article 15 (A) have to be read as regulating Fundamental Rights granted by Chapter III of the Constitution. Some people may argue that Article 15 (A) is not justiciable and remedy under Article 226 is not available for filing a Writ-Petition against those individuals or organisations that violate the Fundamental Duties enjoined upon them. I feel that courts can direct the executive to compel the citizens to perform the duties and take action if they violate it.
My argument is that even if the government fails, the judiciary is not helpless in the face of Fundamental Duties Chapter of the Constitution and its blatant violation leading to the situation when the right to life guaranteed under Article 22 has itself been endangered.
What is required is clear perception of what the Constitution says and how it can be effectively implemented, so that the various communities are able to live and work together as a nation. This is the only way to defeat unholy designs of the Hindutva terrorism.
[The writer is Aligarh based socio-political commentator.]