RSS Economics: From Fairy Tales to Animal Spirits
Savera
THE Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was never too interested in the economics of societies. This is rather strange considering that their avowed goal is to build a Hindu Rashtra, which presumably would need some sort of economic system if it was to achieve the splendour and prosperity that the RSS ideologues dream about. After Independence, MS Golwalkar, the second sarsanghchalak (supremo) of RSS and its most revered ideologue to date, started giving some attention to economic issues, partly to answer queries about contemporary developments (like Five Year Plans, industrialisation, food shortages) and partly to firm up some coherent system. His thoughts expressed in interviews, writings, press conferences, internal discussions, etc., are available in the collected works (Shri Guruji Samagra) and further distilled in shorter forms as booklets or talking points. They provide the bedrock of RSS thinking on economics.
All these thoughts put together may be called the ‘fairy tales’ phase of RSS views on economics, which we will discuss in more detail later. The rise of BJP since its formation in 1980, especially it’s coming to power in some states, then at the Centre under AB Vajpayee, but decisively after the victory in 2014, forced the party as also its parent, the RSS, to start espousing a new, much more coherent economic doctrine for the country. The fairy tales are still there, to be discussed in shakhas and training camps but the policies of Modi government, and the compulsion of RSS to support them willy-nilly, generated an economic policy that is all too familiar globally. It is nothing but the failed dogma of neoliberal theory. This second phase may be called the ‘Animal Spirits’ phase, characterised by aggressive pro-corporate policies, belief in ‘trickle down’, cuts in social welfare (but mediated by electoral considerations), all-round deregulation, invitation to foreign capital, dismantling of public sector and brutal squeezing of the working class. Let us look at these two phases and trace the muddled path of RSS.
FAIRY TALES
Golwalkar’s thoughts on the economic system that the RSS wants to establish, as also his comments on immediate economic issues, are astonishingly sparse and naïve. These were elaborated further, to some extent by RSS leader Deendayal Upadhyaya, who was deputed to lead the newly formed Bharatiya Jan Sangh in the early 1950s, and substantially, by Dattopant Thengadi, founder of three RSS linked organisations, the trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the farmers’ organisation Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) and the advocacy group Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM). However, the essence has remained as ordained by Golwalkar aka Guruji.
According to Golwalkar, “there can be two paths of progress. One, dividing up national wealth using the force of the State; and two, achieving the same end by changing the hearts of people. We accept only the second path of changing the hearts of people.” (Shri Guruji Samagra, Khand 2, p.100-101) This is the essence of RSS thinking. The ‘first path’ is a reference to socialism where privately owned means of production are socialised, that is, taken over by the State for the use and benefit of the people. Rejecting this, Golwalkar prescribes the fairy tale of persuading rich people to give up some share of their wealth to the poor. Dattopant Thengadi in his book ‘The Third Way’ has explained the philosophical basis of this: “no material objective transformation can be successful unless it is preceded and accompanied by an appropriate subjective, psychological transformation”. All of history is evidence to the contrary. Only by changing material conditions can ‘subjective’ or ‘psychological’ changes occur. It is by upholding this fundamental fallacy of primacy of the subjective that RSS and, in fact, all ideologies of the ruling class, sustain and perpetuate their rule. Have a look at the ludicrous consequences of this fairy tale masquerading as profound thought.
Golwalkar writes “(The problem of poverty) can be solved if each person of the country controls his selfishness and honestly works hard to increase the country’s wealth.” (Shri Guruji Samagra, Khand 5, p.263-264) So poverty is just a problem of attitude! If you work honestly, selflessly and contribute to the country’s wealth, poverty will vanish.
Similarly, the crisis of hunger and malnutrition is not a material problem but a lack of thinking. “There are many brothers in our society today who do not get food every day. In ancient times there used to be ‘Bali Vaishva Yagya’. In this ritual, hungry people were given food first and only after that others would have their meals. Today, we can collect one fistful of grain every day for hungry people. We should do this. This will be the true ‘Bali Vaishva Yagya’.” (Shri Guruji Samagra, Khand 5, p.92) Incidentally, note that Golwalkar thinks only ‘brothers’ are going hungry, not ‘mothers and sisters’, which are referred to routinely otherwise. That apart, remember that he is writing/saying this in the 1960s when Indian people are going through some of worst years of drought, food shortages and hunger. Golwalkar expounds this prescription repeatedly even while referring to the food crisis: “Let us take the food crisis. Why don’t we think that from whatever we get, one morsel should be given to the needy too. That is, we should be ready to share our food with others. In our tradition, the family man has the duty that after the meal is cooked, he should invite the person who needs food to his house and satisfy him with honour, and then the remaining food can be eaten as prasad (offering to god – ed.).” (Shri Guruji Samagra, Khand 3, p.258)
Guruji’s dictum for progress in the rural areas is similarly simple and meaningless. He says, “Foreign help and dependence on machines cannot lead to our country’s progress. Our saints did not teach us to depend on the begging bowl and shameful life. Village people should stand up on their own feet and make efforts to bring progress to their villages; this is the best way.” (Shri Guruji Samagra, Khand 5, p.13-14) Here you can notice his swipe against machinery, which was another abiding feature of his worldview. At one point he said. “…men are thrown out of work by machines. But this should not be. The Western theory of creating multiplicity of wants, more machinery to meet them and so on, will only result in making man the slave of machine. It should be clear that machine is for the happiness of man. It is like Bhasmaasur (a demon who could incinerate anybody on whose head he placed his hand – ed.) and will destroy the maker if not held in control. Persons with moral force and wisdom can alone control and direct such a Bhasmaasur, Men with such sovereign authority must be able to guide the destiny of man.”
Finally, here is what he thinks the system of governance – the State – should be like in order to implement the above mentioned fancies: “The State should be without wealth and the wealthy person should be without power and both should be made dependent on each other, justly governed by sacrificing, selfless people – such a social structure was thought of in our Hindu culture so that neither the powerful nor the wealthy can cause unhappiness to the rest of the society through their unjust behaviour. (Shri Guruji Samagra, Khand 5, p.89-90) What he is covertly prescribing is the chaturvarna system of four castes, with sacrificing, selfless people governing the wealthy and the powerful. The working people who produce all wealth are of course not even mentioned.
The reason why these assorted thoughts of the main ideological fount of RSS are important to note here is that in subsequent years, RSS members and leaders equipped with this kind of naïve fairy tales as their intellectual armory were confronted with the task of actually running the government – and they spectacularly failed. To muddle through their responsibilities with these ideas would be impossible. And their roots had been nurtured with anti-communist rhetoric throughout. So, accepting progressive ideas was also impossible. The only option was to accept bourgeois economic theory of the more conservative kind and then, when the time came, to become vociferous flag bearers of neoliberal ideas. That’s the second phase of the economic thought of RSS and it can be called the ‘animal spirits’ phase, to borrow the well-known phrase of JM Keynes.
ANIMAL SPIRITS
Economic policy adopted by the Modi government since 2014, and earlier by various BJP run state governments, represents this phase. Much has been written about these policies over the years and so it is not necessary to repeat it here. However, some important points must be noted.
While the RSS continues to be sketchy in speaking about economic policy, it has also tried to position itself as a safety valve for the BJP government policy. This role includes raising questions about some deleterious consequences of government decisions or raising muted criticism of some neglected dimensions. For instance, environmental degradation is regularly lamented in RSS public discourse – the Himalayas are threatened, the rivers are polluted, the forests are being cut, etc. Similarly, workers’ interests are referred to by organisations like BMS, MSME woes are highlighted by Laghu Udyog Bharti (LUB), BKS raises farmers’ demands, and SJM regularly calls for self-reliance based economic policy and curtailment of foreign capital incursion in India. Every once in a while, the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (an all India body of important leaders) of RSS passes a resolution on importance of swadeshi and self-reliance.
These are ‘RSS-inspired’ organisations, and in fact they are part of the ‘Arthik Samooh’ (Economic Group) that was set up by RSS after 2014 to liaise with the government. They may be critical of the government for a handful of policies but there should be no doubt that they are committed to both, the RSS, and the BJP governments at the Centre and in states. They serve to mobilise dissent in such a way as to ultimately bring it around to favour the government. For instance, the trade union BMS agitates on various workers demands but doesn’t participate in joint calls for protest and especially strike actions. One must remember that Golwalkar was opposed to strikes and condemned class struggle. Objectively, these organisations are ensuring that disaffection with some policy aspects of the Modi government remains in larger control of RSS. It doesn’t matter if some contradictions appear – the larger allegiance is what matters.
Another important point of this new phase of RSS thinking is that the fairy tales continue in a new form. The earlier ones painted a rosy picture of the past and wanted India to again become a disciplined, dharma-adhering society governed by ancient scriptures. Common people were to be lured by dreams of prosperity, glory and moksha. These may still be designated as the real essence but for the people at large, who need to be mobilised for voting rather than moksha, dreamy tales of ‘achhe din’, ‘vikst Bharat’, ‘sabka sath, sabka vikas’, ‘Made in India’, ‘Amrit Kal’, etc. continue to be churned out by the BJP. The RSS picks up some of them, like Viksit Bharat and Amrit Kal and propagates them. This new narrative is embedded in the larger RSS narrative of India becoming the Vishva Guru, and the Golden Bird again.
With the occasional disagreements or caveats as mentioned above, the RSS has embraced the BJP’s neoliberal stance hook, line and sinker, even though it was manufactured in the West, and pushed by World Bank/IMF types in the early days, and by corporate management whizkids these days. It stands by ‘minimum government maximum governance’, ‘ease of doing business’, and global trade (“on our terms”), and so on. As is its long-standing practice, the RSS rarely goes into the nuts and bolts of economic policy.
On some burning issues, it takes a position that is consonant with the Modi government. For example on unemployment, Mohan Bhagwat said at his lecture in Delhi, “We should not be job-seekers but job-givers. The illusion that livelihood means a job must end”. He stressed that this will benefit society and reduce pressure on jobs. “The government can provide at most 30 per cent of employment opportunities; the rest must be earned through our own labour.” This is a long-held RSS position – self-employment is the panacea. Remember PM Modi advocating that youth can “sell pakodas” and his most recent praise during the Bihar election campaign for youth earning money through reels. These are examples of the shameful depths to which the RSS and BJP sink due to their intellectual bankruptcy and condescension towards the people.
The RSS has elected to remain silent on several key dimensions of the economic policy of Modi government despite the fact that they militate against the RSS’ own so-called nationalist positions. These include foreign direct investment in several key and strategic sectors including defence; sale of public sector units; privatisation of key industries; contractualisation of employment leading to widespread job insecurity, wage losses and end to reservation for SC/ST; etc. This is another opportunist tactic to preserve the Modi government in power because of the great benefits it has provided to the Sangh. But will the people then accept RSS sermons on patriotism, dharma, and the inherent greatness of Bharat?
