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Hinduism, Hindu organizations and people calling them a ‘terrorist’ and
communal
By- R. Reddy
Hinduism with its 5000 years old roots in
Bharat (India) is one the oldest civilizations existing in the world. This
civilization once was spread across all over Indian sub-continent till
Gandhar in west, which is now known as Afghanistan to Indonesia and Cambodia
in east. Hinduism is a religion, which is constantly evolving. Vedas were
one of the earliest works or scriptures which formed the base of Hinduism,
but Hinduism did not just stay with Vedas, it moved on with time and became
one of the most tolerant religion.
Turning back into history shows that the
victory in the battle over Rajputs by Mohammad Ghazni about 1000 A.D.,
marked the beginning of Muslim invasions into the Indian subcontinent and
continued until the next 700 years. The last notable invasion of the Muslims
from outside was the invasion of Nadir Shah in 1739, during which he
unleashed a great horror on the native Hindu population. During these 700
years of Invasion every Muslim ruler raised towers of Hindu skulls with huge
massacres and many others were forcibly converted into Islam. Still many
Hindus either faced the death or preferred to be a Hindu and lived in
poverty. Some recent studies suggest at least 100 million Hindus were
massacred from the period 1000 AD and 1525 AD alone. In 17th
century the British East India Company entered into India on the pretext of
trade and slowly from then on the British rule started for the next 200
years. During these two hundred years many missionaries were invited to
India and millions of the tribal Hindus were forced to convert into
Christianity by force or money.
While the rest of the world was undergoing a
tremendous religious transformation during this period, the Hindus in India
were able to stand against that storm, and during a thousand years of rule
Muslims and Christians were able to make only a small dent in fortress of
Hinduism. The early revival of Hinduism in first half of this millennium was
to a great extent brought about by people like Adi Shankaracharya and
Ramanuja. Renaissance period for Hinduism coincided with the Muslim and
British rule. While warriors like Sivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh
Fought against Muslim rulers other great people like Mera Bai, Sant Tuka
Ram, Chaitanya Maha Prabhu, Ramakrishna Paramhans, Guru Nanak, Swami
Vivekananda to name a few, brought about Hinduism renaissance during the
Muslim and British Rule.
With this brief background of Indian history
and Hinduism let us see what some so-called leaders in modern India say
about those people who espouse the cause of Hinduism and India. The Congress
Chief Minister of Kerala A.K. Antony on July 14th 2002 in a statement
branded R.S.S (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) as a terrorist organization.
While another Congress Chief Minister Digvijay Singh of Madhya Pradesh said
on 7th September 2003 that RSS incites violence and communal
feelings. What makes these people call RSS a terrorist and communal
organization?
What is RSS and what are its Origins?
Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar (1889-1940)
founded the ‘Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’ (RSS) on 27th September 1925. It
rebounds to the foresight of Dr. Hedgewar that he anticipated the need for
strengthening the foundations of the Hindu society and for preparing it for
challenges on social, economic, cultural, religious, philosophical and
political planes. The thought of selfless people who will volunteer on their
own to serve the country, which can never be achieved being a part of
political party has led to the foundation of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh). Dr. Hedgewar has studied medicine in Calcutta; the land of patriotic
and revolutionaries came back to Nagpur in 1916. Dr. Hedgewar himself is a
patriot himself from childhood, when he refused to eat the sweets
distributed marking the golden jubilee of Queen of England's coronation and
when he got banned from school for echoing and re-echoing Vande Mataram.
Hedgewar even refused to marry and kept his family poverty aside and worked
for the cause of the countries freedom until his death in 1940.
Many young and old came forward to be part of
this organization for various years and today RSS has over more than 25,000
centers allover India. RSS worked to its strength and did some dedicated
works. If one has to look internally the aim of RSS, it is to bring the
dharma concept and spirituality into the society and work for the well being
of the nation.
The quality of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
comes to fore during times of natural or man-made disasters. When there were
earth quakes in Assam, Gujarat, Latur, Uttarakshi, or in Surat, when the
Costal Andhra, Bihar, Bengal or Orissa hit with cyclone, or when there is
famine in Karnataka, Orissa, Bihar, Gujarat or Rajasthan, it is common to
hear from various sources that the Swayamsevaks will be there at every
national calamity providing services and relief for the victims. It wouldn't
be an exaggeration to say that after the disastrous cyclone of December 1977
in Andhra pradesh, the Swayamsevaks took care of rehabilitation of the whole
Avanigadda village and the then Survodaya leader of Andhra said "The name
R.S.S stand for Ready for Selfless Service without discrimination.
In 1965, during the war with Pakistan or
during Bangladesh Liberation war, in 1971, or the latest Kargil war, media
was full of reports of the role played by Swayamsevaks by providing moral
support and relief in the post war period by providing blood donations and
establishing nursing camps at war sights for the treatment of wounded
soldiers. During the partition of the country in 1947, when several millions
of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims were stranded in Western Pakistan, Swayemsevaks
of the same RSS sacrificed their lives to bring back those hapless people
into a safe place, by showing limitless valor, sacrifice and martyrdom.
Does these qualities make it a terrorist and communal organization?
What makes one or an organization terrorist?
American Heritage Dictionary: The unlawful use
or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group
against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing
societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.
Does the Rhastriya Swayamsevak Sangh have any
of these qualities in its work to make it a terrorist organization? R.S.S
works against the perverted beliefs in the name of religion such as
untouchability and casteism. Sri Balasaheb Deoras declared "If
untouchability is not wrong, there cannot be anything wrong in this world."
R.S.S never showed any discrimination in its works and also conducted
several programs to eradicate such practices. Thousands of Swayamsevaks
invite people from the slums to their houses to participate in the pujas
during the festivals and go to their slums and share the fun and happiness
of the festivals. R.S.S also established schools at the village level for
the purpose of education of below poverty people and hospitals in rural
areas, where the governments failed to provide the least medical facilities.
Does these types of works make R.S.S a
terrorist organization?
It is really pity and sad to see and hear that
the so-called secular forces term such type of organizations as terrorist
organizations. These days the communists and the so-called secular fronts
made it a habit to call every Hindu organization as a terrorist
organization.
These secular and communist forces have
forgotten that when the Machu reservoir embankments breached, thousands of
people became homeless and most of them were Muslims in it. The Swayamsevaks
took care to organize food and relief to the victims and not to forget this
calamity happened during Ramadan and Swayamsevaks took every care in the
food keeping in mind the Roza norms and made every effort to provide prayer
facilities for the victims and not to forget the Gujarat earthquake where
several Muslims and Hindus became homeless. R.S.S again worked for relief
without any discrimination. Does this quality of Rashtriya Swayamsevaks make
it a communal organization?
Can these psuedo secular forces and the
communists name any other organization, which works solely for the purpose
of nation outside their religion? Has these communists and secular forces
did anything for the nation?
Is this terrorism and communalism? I would
rather follow such a ‘terrorist’ organization rather than those good for
nothing politicians who spread the venom of casteism and religious division.
If trying to make India a progressive and
educated country is terrorism then these politicians should quickly seek a
psychiatric help. These people lack the credentials to be a critic of an
organization as great as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Christian missionaries continue to convert many
poor Hindus by promising to give them money in Kerala and several evidences
were found to prove it, but A.K. Antony never responded to that and he
didn't even have a second thoughts before calling Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh a terrorist organization. A.K. Antony and Digvijay Singh proved that
they are one of the thousands of dim wit politician who speak without
knowing a fact.
PS: Let me clarify something before these
Pseudo-Secular and Communists brand me a R.S.S member, I never got involved
with R.S.S in all my life nor I am a member of it anytime, but if I ever get
a chance to work with them, I would never hesitate to do that. I came to
these conclusions and wrote this article after researching myself. If they
call me just another fanatic Hindu, I am proud to be a Hindu and Indian and
I always cherish myself to be born in that great civilization. |