Vivek Deshpande - Arrests in Bhima-Koregaon case show RSS & far-right now enjoy impunity
Former Prime
Minister Manmohan
Singh once observed that Left-wing extremism is the greatest internal
security threat to India. After the growing perception about the spread of
vigilantism and violence against Muslims and Dalits in the country over the
past four years, Singh would be tempted to revisit his impression. The unleashing of the
latent far-right forces during the four years under the new dispensation – led
by the BJP at Centre as well as in majority of the BJP-ruled states – should
make everyone sit up, and take a serious look at the whole internal security
scenario. Of course, the government won’t do that – they are from the same
fraternity. So, the responsibility of reassessment rests entirely with the
opposition parties, and civil society.
What we need to
understand is the fundamental difference between the far-left and the far-right
in terms of their approaches to their programs and agendas. The far-left is
relatively much younger in India compared to the far-right in terms of basic
conceptualisation. The far-right was always a hidden force within the religious
right, that took root in 1925 in the form of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
For around 50-60 years after its birth, the RSS preferred working silently on
its agenda of “Hindu Rashtra” and “Akhand Bharat”, betraying no violent fringe.
This despite its basic tenets, as enunciated in ‘Bunch of Thoughts’ by M S
Golwalkar, the second Sarsanghchalak, were always packed with a potentially
violent punch.
The reason for the
silence wasn’t that the RSS had decided to stay away from violence as a tool to
usher in the envisaged change. On the contrary, the RSS had always openly
advocated the primacy of wielding arms through rituals like “shastrapuja”
(obeisance to arms) on the day of its establishment, that is the Vijaya Dashmi.
The various “self-defence” exercises performed as a precursor to any big RSS
event, the regimented route marches et al are anything but a symbol of peaceful
means to usher in change. Its leaders had openly exhorted swayamsevaks to be
ready to perform “parakram” (valour) after centuries of subjugation by
invaders. Behind the exhortation was the deep-seated sense of victimhood and
inferiority complex caused by what V D Savarkar had described as “sadgun
vikruti” (perverted goodness). It was obvious that such a sense would
always the sow seeds of a violent reaction, euphemised in the term “parakram”.
But since the
overwhelming population of Hindus followed the Gandhian model of secularism,
that had no place for reprisal against “repressive Muslims” in principle and
practice, the RSS found support only from a section of caste Hindus. The vast
majority of Hindus continued to remain secular. Despite its dogged, and best
efforts, the RSS couldn’t make decisive inroads into the Hindu swathes to be
able to call the shots. However, its political wing, the BJP, had started
making strides forward, riding the well-orchestrated Ram temple wave from the
1980s till the turn of the twenty-first century. The RSS’s dream of ruling the
country came true after the Vajpayee-led NDA government came to power. That
joy, however, was short-lived as Vajpayee, and even Advani, didn’t encourage
the RSS and its fringes to have any say in the day-to-day governance.
The
divorce was written on the wall with then Sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan openly
rebuking the two leaders and asking them to step down. The RSS had to then
wait for 10 long years to see a revival in its fortunes, when Narendra Modi managed
to upstage the Congress to win a full majority. With no compulsions of
coalition politics, and a hardliner Hindutva leader at the helm, the RSS and
its parivar sensed its first opportunity to assert itself.
What we have witnessed over the past four years is the virulent expression of the
suppressed frustration of Hindutva hardliners. But this wouldn’t have
been possible had the parivar not kept its foot soldiers ready
for such an eventuality. It had given rise to organisations like the Bajrang
Dal to outsource physical violence. The Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad
had taken up the responsibility of “parakram” and “purusharth”
(manly valour), even as the RSS remained the fountainhead of supportive
thoughts and alibis.
Clearly, the RSS took
every precaution not to be seen as being involved in any physical engagement
anywhere. With its political wing coming to power, its far-right fringe has
finally stepped on the gas, with the powers-that-be giving them a free run.
Thus, India’s far-right nursed and nurtured by the RSS while serving as its
democratic “mukhauta” has managed to finally ride roughshod over
Constitutional mechanisms designed to usher in real democracy. It had the
patience to wait for its turn to rule, coming to power through the perfectly
legitimate means of electoral democracy, before forcing its agenda through a
strident expression of its ideology. Thus, the use of Constitutional mechanisms
preceded violent manifestations of the far-right.
And as we now
discover, there is no such thing as a fringe here. With its ministers, Chief
Ministers, Governors, MPs and MLAs on record espousing the far-right agenda,
there is room to believe that the fringe is now the mainstream. The clinching
fact about the self-styled “cultural” Right being, by its very conviction,
fringe to the core is borne out by several instances of violence by its
foot-soldiers and supporters, as also by the official machinery, like the
several encounters in UP.
The far-left modus
operandi has been the opposite. They started off with open violence as its main
vehicle of change. It openly disregarded the representative form of democracy,
thus inviting only general disdain from the masses, to whom its violent mainstream
always appeared a detestable face. Though much more meaningful and relevant to
genuine issues faced by the masses, their ideological core of thoughts always
remained a deterrent to a majority, who wouldn’t accept violence for any cause,
however noble. As a result, their sphere of influence remained much smaller
than the one now occupied by the far-right.
One thing that was
common to both the far-right and the far-left was their dislike of Mahatma
Gandhi. The massive sway of Gandhain secularism and non-violence over Indian
people of all castes and religions, for several decades even after his death,
kept both the far-right and far-left at bay. But the far-right, which was
earlier embedded inside and now openly rides on the back of its outwardly mild
patriarch, has managed to use the Constitutional means to get to where it had
always wanted to.
The far-left, though it has used the Constitutional means to
claim benefits it didn’t deserve, finds itself getting further marginalised due
to its firm non-belief in the Constitution. So has left-wing
extremism remained the biggest internal security threat to India? Or its place
has been taken by the far-right or, should we say right-wing extremism? If yes,
then who takes care of that, with the current dispensation positioning itself
in a supportive role? Left-wing extremism forces have a government to deal
with. The same can’t be said of right-wing extremism in the current
circumstances.
This is borne out by
the fact that in the Bhima-Koregaon incident, the
Maharashtra police arrested
alleged Naxal supporters, who they say
instigated the programme to commemorate 200 years of Dalit soldiers’ valour
against the Peshwas, while fighting as part of British forces. But they haven’t
yet acted against Bhide Guruji, allegedly behind the violence that followed.
The support from Hindu Ekta Manch to the accused in Kathua rape and murder,
voices of support and justification for shameful incidents like killing of
Muslims by vigilantes, and the perpetrators going scot-free, only shows that
far-right enjoys impunity in the prevailing socio-political scenario, which the
far-left never could and never probably will .
