THE RSS AND THE MOVE TOWARDS INCREASED INCLUSIVENESS

INTEGRAL HUMANISM

- WALTER ANDERSEN & AISHWARYA PANDIT

When the government of Indira Gandhi declared a state of Emergency on 25 June 1975, RSS workers expected a crackdown by the government because of their active role in spreading the protests against corruption and poverty.

The wrath had more to do with RSS' support for the student movement in Bihar which the government interpreted as the main cause for the strengthening protest movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan, who had acquired a national reputation and following for his reform efforts.

Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras (aka Balasaheb) had recently assumed position as the third RSS head (1973-1994) and had already put the organization on a much more activist path than that of his predecessor, the religiously inclined Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (1940-1973), who focused on rebuilding the RSS after the 1947-1948 ban on it for its alleged role in fomenting violence in the aftermath of Independence. Deoras' first public speech, in fact, denounced the caste system, especially its treatment of those at the bottom. He also developed a positive relationship with Narayan, whose work he admired. Narayan, in turn, also developed an admiration for the more activist activities of the RSS under Deoras on behalf of the poor and powerless. Narayan, while addressing an RSS training camp in Bihar, said “the RSS is truly a revolutionary organization. No other organization in the country comes anywhere near it. It alone has the capacity to organize the society. Its very name is rashtriya or national. You call your organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, not Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh.”