T. Mohandas -- The True Face of RSS Ideology

After the government agreed to the demands of the Jantar Mantar student protestors, the matters are not over yet. The arrests continue, those arrested have not been released in various places. There is also an observation that among those arrested for these protests, Muslims number more than others. The case of Junaid bhai is very disturbing. He organised a team to provide water and food to the protesters. Cockroach Janata Party founder Abhijeet Dipke touched his feet as a matter of gratitude. However, police were prompt and overactive in harassing Junaid and his family members.

Where did Junaid get the money to organise the supply of food? He had begun with just distributing water and later, with the help of a few relatives, started supplying food. Later, he started getting many supplies from various donors and his outfit became a sort of centre for providing this basic necessity at the protest site.

The welcome thing was that the protestors shouted slogans against the communal politics of the Central government. It is good that the youth are vigilant about the failure of the government to keep the promises given in the signed agreement. All over the country, the movement has left an immense positive impact in that the people who felt stifled are now able to breathe and partly express themselves. The protest is midway, with kudos to the spirit of the youth. They deserve all the praise for loosening the tight grip of the repressive system.

The question is, will it last? The question is to channelise the mass discontent piling up over the past few years. The question is whether broader political coalitions will pick it up and ensure that the democratic values are revoked to some extent.

In the aftermath of this protest, there are many like Hindi film actor Kangana Ranaut, the Bharatiya Janata Party MP who said India got “freedom in 2014”, calling GenZ as the “gutter generation”. Shame on such people who can’t see the positive and creative culture that was on display at Jantar Mantar.

And then there are the likes of T. Mohandas, an ex-chief of BJP’s Intellectual Cell, one who has shouldered many responsibilities for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-BJP, who showed their political ideology in its true colours. He said, “The protesters at Jantar Mantar would have been shot and killed if he was in control.” He also said the women who were part of the protest “like to be raped and would not even complain if it happens.”

While for tactical purposes, his statement has been disowned, the fact remains that RSS is adept in disowning its members when they do or say ghastly things. The unforgettable case of RSS denying that Nathuram Godse had anything to do with them. This despite the fact that Nathuram Godse’s brother, Gopal Godse, in his book, May it Please Your Honour” says that all the brothers, including Nathuram, were groomed in RSS shakhas.

Mohandas, representing the Hindu nationalist ideology, makes both aspects of democratic norms and women’s equality as undesirable, and has contempt for them. He describes the chronology of controlling the protest at Jantar Mantar. First, he would have imposed a curfew in that area, then he would have given a warning to disperse, failing which firing would have been ordered and those killed and injured would have been sent to hospitals.

The democratic norms for which Mohandas is showing contempt have already been clear during the past 12-13 years, since the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has been in power.

Global indices showing India’s ranking in democratic norms is falling year after year to the extent that now it is labelled as an “electoral autocracy.” Even the BJP ‘Marg Darshak Mandal’ is disturbed by the path this government is taking. First, Lal Krishna Advani declared that it was an “undeclared emergency.” Now Murli Manohar Joshi is critical of the way police handled the protests.

As per Freedom House (Freedom in the World Index): India is placed at 62 out of 100, designating the country as "Partly Free" due to pressures on political rights and civil liberties. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU Democracy Index) categorises India as a "Flawed Democracy". V-Dem Institute (Democracy Reports) classifies India's governance structure closer to an "Electoral Autocracy", citing a heavy reduction in civic space and judicial independence.  Reporters Without Borders (World Press Freedom Index) ranks India 157th out of 180 countries, pointing to growing constraints on media independence and journalist safety.

Mohandas’s comments about girls and women participating in the Jantar Mantar dharna are straight from the inventory of misogynist abuses and comments. The RSS, to which Mohandas belongs, is deeply rooted in feudal and patriarchal values in which women, as a matter of principle, are regarded as the property of man. The politics of communalism is played on the bodies of women. While RSS is an exclusively male organisation with swayamsevaks, its subordinate women’s organisation is Rashtra Sevika Samiti. Here women can only be sevikas (servants).

In Savvy magazine (April 1994), Mridula Sinha of BJP, did accept that taking and giving dowry was OK, wife-beating was OK and women should not work outside unless there is dire economic crisis. This is quite in line with Hitler’s diktat for women, that their lives should revolve around the Kitchen, Children and Church.

Hindutva’s major ideologue, VD Savarkar, reprimands the noble king Shivaji for returning the daughter- in-law of Bassein’ king, who was brought as a gift for him by Shivaji’s army. As per him, the atrocities on Muslim women were needed as revenge.

The RSS does try to hide its real ideology by deceptive language but the truth pops up times and time again. The previous anti-corruption protest that was led by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal were cleverly propped up by RSS to defame the Congress. This time, we need to exercise caution. In due course, the democratic forces have to put their act together, shoulder to shoulder, and try to ensure that the likes of T. Mohandas and their ideological parents do not manipulate this protest into their lap and strengthen the divisive politics of Hindu nationalism.

Sure, most in this country are fed up with the present dispensation and if elections are held honestly (a big if) they would have no place in a secular democracy. Mohandas’s statement is the polar opposite of the politics of another Mohandas, whom following Netaji Subhash Bose, we term as the ‘Father of the Nation’.

The writer is a human rights activist, who taught at IIT Bombay. The views are personal.