How RSS is Capturing the Education System
Savera
Within months of Narendra Modi forming the Union government in 2014, then Education Minister Smriti Irani was reportedly holding closed door meetings with leaders of several shadowy RSS affiliated organisations. A report in the Indian Express on November 23, 2014, revealed that six such meetings had been held in six months since the Modi government took over. The same report quoted an unnamed participant in these meetings saying that RSS sah sar-karyavah, Suresh Soni said that during NDA I (the Vajpayee Government of 1999-2004), there was little work done but “lot of propaganda”. “This time we have to do a lot of work so please keep yourself away from propaganda,” Soni reportedly said.
Who are these organisations and what were they meeting the education minister about? What is the RSS interest in education policy, and why? Answers to some of these questions have become clearer in the 11 years of BJP rule. Several central education ministers have come and gone since then. A New Education Policy (NEP) has been hammered out - after many twists and turns – and it bears the clear imprimatur of the RSS ideology of Hindutva, thinly veiled by lofty verbiage of ancient civilizational values, cultural unity, patriotism, and moral roots. The not-so-holy handshake with the corporate sector is also enshrined in this policy, ceding the duty to provide education to the people - considered any government’s important responsibility – to unscrupulous private players.
What is not so well known, though suspected across the country, is the wholesale capture of educational and research institutions from primary schools to universities through appointments of RSS and associated organisations’ members. From school teachers to Vice Chancellors, from Directors of academic and research institutes to bosses of autonomous bodies, there has been a brazen takeover of educational institutions. These appointments lead to reorientation of studies and research, spawn cascading patronage and nepotism and vitiate the whole educational system.
Another aspect of the hijacking of education system is the revision of syllabi that has been undertaken by bodies like the NCERT or CBSE, and the various State Boards. The discipline of history has been the primary target of change, with the Mughal era and the Freedom Struggle both suffering from wholesale cuts and reworking in school textbooks and higher education syllabi, to suit the anti-Muslim stance of the RSS and to accommodate the RSS or other Hindutva personages into history, despite their otherwise marginal role in actual developments.
Finally, the aspect of RSS capture of the education system that has received the least attention – the financial support being extended by the governments – Central and states – to activities of the RSS-inspired organisations. This takes myriad forms – from sponsoring workshops and seminars, to giving scholarships for suitable subjects, down to prescribing books produced by these RSS-inspired organisations. This operation has two benefits – it funnels money to the RSS affiliates, and it facilitates the spread of their toxic ideology.
Several ‘RSS-inspired organisations’ as they are called by the RSS itself, were involved in formulating and facilitating these measures. Let us take a closer look at some of these.
RSS-INSPIRED ORGANISATIONS
There are 32 RSS-inspired organisations that are formally recognized as such by the RSS. Their representatives are members of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (an all India body) of the RSS. Once a year, the top office bearers of these 32 organisations meet in a ‘Samanvay Baithak’ (Coordination Meeting) which is chaired and steered by the RSS top brass including the supremo Mohan Bhagwat (the ‘Sarsanghchalak’) and his executive deputy Dattatreya Hosable (the ‘Sarkaryavah’) and others. This year the meeting was held in Jodhpur (Rajasthan) at the beginning of September. Last year it was held in Palakkad (Kerala). Notably, the BJP is itself counted as one of these 32 organisations, and its president JP Nadda was in attendance in the meetings mentioned.
After the Modi government came to power, the RSS thought it was better to divide up these 32 frontal organisations into six groups (called ‘samooh’) based on the main fields or sectors that they were involved in. These six groups are: Arthik (Economic), Sewa (Service), Shiksha (Education), Suraksha (Security), Jan (People) and Vichar (Thought or Ideas). The thinking was that these groups would coordinate with the concerned Government ministries and put forth their suggestions for policy. That’s how the education group ended up having a series of meetings with the ministers, bureaucrats and other ‘stake-holders’.
‘EDUCATION GROUP’
So, who is in the education group? As per media reports, there are 10 or 11 of them. It is instructive to take a glimpse of them:
• Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP): is the RSS students front, formed in 1948. It is primarily involved in higher education centres. Over 24 RSS pracharaks work on this front. Its role as storm troopers for the RSS has become heightened after the Modi government came to power, with it being involved in violent attacks on students (as in JNU), teachers, principals and officials of universities, and disrupting programmes of those who oppose the RSS.
• Vidya Bharati: also known as Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan, it runs over 15,000 formal recognized schools. Besides these, it runs about 4000 Ekal Shiksha Kendras (informal single teacher centers) in tribal areas, and about 5000 Sanskar Kendras in poor urban localities, both imparting ‘moral and cultural’ education. VB also runs 60 colleges and technical institutions. Set up at all India level in 1977, over 50 RSS pracharaks are reportedly working in this organization, which is a vehicle for spreading the RSS ideology through schools. It states its mission is “to develop a National System of Education which would help build a younger generation which is committed to Hindutva and infused with patriotic fervour….”. VB also runs the Kurukshetra (Haryana) based Vidya Bharti Sanskriti Shiksha Sansthan which aims to promote Indian (Hindu) culture. It is a major producer of books in various languages for school children. VB claims that in ‘national interest’ it runs 211 schools in 167 out of 323 blocks in India’s 127 border districts. Under the Modi government’s scheme of handing over Sainik Schools to NGOs and private entities, VB has received mandate to run 7 Sainik Schools. It also runs a large an alumni network.
• Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh: founded in 1988, is a federation of 35 state level and over 50 university level teachers’ organisations. Members range from primary school teachers to university faculty. It says that its aim is to “to propagate the ideology of Cultural Nationalism in the field of education and society.”
• Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojna: is an organization dedicated to rewriting Indian history. Set up in 1994, it aims to compile the ‘true’ history of India and correct so called discrepancies and errors in current Indian historiography, like the 'Aryan Invasion Theory'. It carries out research on ‘Vedic Saraswati River’, ‘historiography of pilgrimage sites’, ‘history within the Puranas’, etc. It has published a series of books. Its members are history teachers in colleges and universities, and other intellectuals. Reportedly, the Indian Council of Historical Research, a government body, is helping out in allied projects.
• Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas: emerging from the ‘Shiksha Bachao Andolan’, a movement to rectify distortions and perversities in India’s education system, this Trust was set up in 2007 to promote Indian values through education and build the ‘character’ of students, imbuing them with ancient cultural heritage. It has published books ranging from topics like Vedic Mathematics to Indianisation of education, environment, ancient traditions, etc.
• Akhil Bhartiya Sahitya Parishad: was established in 1966 for “uplifting Indian literature and Indian languages”. It claims to have units in 22 states for encouraging creation of nationalist and ‘good’ literature. It has published dozens of books on these lines.
• Vigyan Bharati: was started by RSS affiliated scientists in 1991 and aims to build a ‘harmonious relationship between physical and spiritual sciences’, infuse a ‘Bharatiya fervour’ and Swadeshi thought in the science movement and revive ancient Indian scientific knowledge. It has held ‘World Congress of Ved-Vigyan’, World Ayurveda Congress and Swadeshi Science Congress.
• Sanskrit Bharti: started as a movement to encourage speaking of Sanskrit, it was formed as the present organization in 1991. It considers Sanskrit as the ‘mother of all languages’ and wants its widespread promotion. It claims to have trained one crore persons to speak Sanskrit. It conducts courses and publishes books in Sanskrit.
• Bhartiya Shikshan Mandal: was set up in 1969 with the aim of evolving a Bharatiya system of education ‘rooted in eternal ethos’ so that students reflect this in their personality. It tries to involve all components of education system, students, parents, teachers, and administrators in this work.
• Sanskar Bharti: works for fostering “a deep appreciation for Indian cultural heritage and to encourage the development of various art forms”. Set up in 1981, it holds workshops, exhibitions, festivals, and training programmes.
There are some notable features about these organisations, with overlapping aims. Most of them are ideological propaganda instruments, formed at different times after the 1960s, responding to some contemporary issue (like language or history writing). They acquired organizational shape and structure in due course and have dedicated RSS wholetimers working in them in key positions. There are some which are different: ABVP is a mass organization, founded earlier than all others and reflects the idea of ‘national reconstruction’ to represent both, its Hindu Rashtra commitment as well as consonance with the more acceptable narrative of ‘nation building’ post-Independence. Vidya Bharti, by far the most influential organization in terms of its scale and influence, emerged from some schools set up in Uttar Pradesh in the 1950s by RSS members. This was a time when RSS bore the taint of being involved in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and RSS was finding its feet after its ban was lifted. The school model was replicated in other states through the 1960s, ultimately leading to the need for one nodal affiliating body, established in 1977. The Shaikshik Mahasangh aspires to be a sort of union for teachers, fighting for economic and other rights, but also functions as an ideological vehicle. Most others are limited organisations but have found a new lease of life after Modi’s rise.
CAPTURING EDUCATION SYSTEM
Right from its inception, RSS has held that education is one of the most important tools for changing the thinking of people, especially the younger generation. For most of its 100 years of existence, it practiced this through these organisations, apart from its shakhas and training camps for members. All these organisations are tightly bound to the core ideology of the RSS and make no bones about it. But most of them remained marginal players – till the Modi government came to power. That has opened up unexpected and fulsome opportunities for these fronts. Apart from advising on government policy, they have immensely benefitted in various ways, including: appointment of members to various academic and government positions; adoption of their publications in educational institutions, libraries, etc.; government funding of training programmes, workshops, seminars, conferences, exhibitions etc.; protection when they oppose and attack dissenting voices; and energizing their respective bases to better and closer organisational embrace with BJP. The myriad ways in which these organisations have received support and funding from government is largely unknown and hidden away from public scrutiny, with only the tip of the iceberg revealed. Mention must be made of another important dimension: the role of state governments. Education is on the Concurrent List, and school education is mostly controlled by state governments. The cleaving of these organisations with BJP run state governments is stronger and even less scrutinized. Various policy declarations by different state governments show the imprint of RSS inspired policies.
In return, these organisations propagate and publicise not just the toxic RSS ideology but also the BJP government’s activities and decisions. All of them have joined the chorus of praising the NEP, just as the RSS supremo has been doing.
The bottomline is this: through a combined effort of the RSS and its inspired affiliates, and the Modi government large parts of the Indian education system have been captured by those with allegiance to the RSS, utilizing both, new government policies, funding choices, private capital embrace and ideological penetration. This is a danger and threat to democracy and secularism, as also to scientific temper and modern thought. In future, whenever the BJP/RSS get thrown out of power, a comprehensive cleanup should be prioritized.
