Ideological Acrobatics of RSS and BJP
Savera
THE No.2 man in RSS, Dattatreya Hosabale, who many think will one day become the No.1 if the current sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat so desires, raised the issue of the insertion of ‘socialism’ and ‘secularism’ in the Preamble of the country’s Constitution during the Emergency. He argued that these words should be deleted. This seemed to be a signal because suddenly, there was a chorus of usual suspects shrilly supporting the demand. RSS mouthpiece Organiser carried a long piece claiming that India’s economic woes till the 1991 liberalisation were all due to the word ‘Socialism’ being inserted in the Preamble! The writer also alleged that adding ‘Secularism’ had directly caused a tide of appeasement of minorities, especially Muslims. Meanwhile, several BJP bigwigs joined the fray – former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and current agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, minister of state in the PMO Jitendra Singh, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Just as the insertion of these words by Indira Gandhi was a matter of political expediency, so is the demand for deletion by Hosable nearly half a century later. With this move, Indira Gandhi was trying to portray her government and the Emergency as battling against rightwing forces, in defence of her so-called policies of poverty elimination. Socialism was seen as a desirable end – where poor will get justice and prosper. Secularism was needed to showcase the modern liberal outlook which rejects religion from becoming a tool for political advance. Not that all this was really happening, but amending the Constitution – along with various other changes that strengthened her power and throttled dissent – was a convenient gimmick.
But what is it with Hosabale’s fulminations? Why has the RSS raised this issue now? What effect will this have on BJP? And, most importantly, what effect will this have on the people of the country. Especially with some important Assembly elections coming up?
The demand is originating mainly from RSS, and being echoed by some of the BJP leaders with strong RSS connections who also want to show to the mother organisation that they are loyalists. This may be due to electoral considerations or simply jockeying within the BJP power struggle. Remember: the BJP is in the throes of appointing state unit presidents which are needed to put in place a national president, an event long overdue. But that’s a story for another time. Perhaps these cheerleaders are just earning brownie points from the RSS in this organisational melee.
Whatever be the case, for the BJP leaders to disapprove of ‘socialism’ and ‘secularism’ is rather ironic since their Party’s Constitution itself commits to achieving these! Here is what the BJP Constitution says (available on BJP and Election Commission websites):
Art.II: OBJECTIVE
The Party shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and to the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy and would uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.
Then it further makes specific commitments in Article IV:
Article IV: COMMITMENTS
The Party shall be committed to nationalism and national integration, democracy, Gandhian Socialism, Positive Secularism, that is, 'Sarva Dharma Samabhav' and value-based politics. The Party stands for decentralisation of economic and political power.
It keeps its objective as, and commits itself to, both secularism and socialism, albeit with qualifiers – ‘Gandhian’ socialism and ‘Positive’ secularism.
There is a certain history to this. The BJP was formed in 1980 as a new avatar of the Bhartiya Jan Sangh. The latter had merged into the Janata Party in 1977, along with various Lohiaite Socialist parties, breakaway groups of Congress, and others. After winning the historic General Election in March 1977, the Janata Party ruled for about two years before it broke up. One of the main reasons of the breakup was the attempt by the erstwhile Jan Sangh members to foist their RSS backed communal and divisive politics on the new Party. Other constituents objected to this and demanded that Janata Party members should not be members of any other organisation like the RSS. This was unacceptable to the Jan Sangh people and they quit, and went on to form the BJP. The new Party announced that it had five guiding principles (‘Panch Nishta’) (as given on BJP website): nationalism and national integration; Democracy; Gandhian Socialism (Gandhian approach to socio-economic issues leading to the establishment of a samaras samaj free from exploitation); positive secularism (sarva dharma sambhava); and, value-based politics.
Since the BJP was being formed in tumultuous times with various political groupings aligning with various others in the aftermath of the fall of Janata Party, it opportunistically decided to include Gandhian Socialism, in order to impress the Lohiaite parties. However, a large section of its senior followers from the Jan Sangh and RSS pedigree hated the idea of these concepts. So much so that there was a systematic campaign within the party to abandon these ideas. It is reported that Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia sent a long note to the leadership protesting against this travesty. Ultimately, in 1985, Deendayal Upadhyaya’s ‘Integral Humanism’ was accepted as the foundational philosophy of the party and included as such in the Party’s Constitution as Art.III.
What this brief historical digression shows is that the BJP is no stranger to craven and shameless opportunism. Just to get favourable support from other political parties, it included concepts in its Constitution that it has never believed in and in fact decries whole heartedly. It bears recall that the most influential ideologue of the RSS MS Golwalkar (known within the RSS as Guruji) who was the supremo for 34 years had explicitly identified communists (who espouse socialism) as one of the main enemies within the country. In today’s world, the RSS/BJP have become flag bearers of all that is antithetical to socialism in its broadest sense of economic and social justice. As far as secularism is concerned, the ‘commitment’ to it in BJP’s constitution is a monumental hoax. The RSS and its frontal organisations, including the BJP, have systematically targeted the minority communities in India, especially Muslims through myriad means – from mob lynchings by so-called cow protectors to attacks on mosques and churches, from cutting government funds to minority welfare schemes to closing down educational institutions, and even attempts at disenfranchising them through devious means.
Yet, the compulsion of electoral politics – or, the greed for power as it really is – makes the BJP and RSS play this double sided game of opposing secularism and socialism while also standing by it when expedient.
RSS AND THE CONSTITUTION
The RSS has never liked the Indian Constitution. It thinks that the country should have a Constitution based on ancient Hindu scriptures, mainly the Manusmriti. This code enshrines and justifies the varna system which is the basis of the caste hierarchy that has Indian society in its deadly stranglehold for the hundreds of years. It also belongs to a period of kings and empires and slaves, and of course, it defines a range of inferior beings (including shudras and women), with limited rights and horrendous penalties for transgressions. Immediately after the Constitution was passed in November 1949, the Organiser editorially rejected it, as well as the national flag.
One of the specific issues that the RSS just cannot swallow is the laying down of the system of reservations for dalits and adivasis in the Constitution. This anger has been repeatedly expressed by RSS leaders over the years. Another issue to which the RSS takes objection is the rights of religious minorities that are laid out in various forms, including as a fundamental right of freedom of religion. The Vajpayee government (1999-2004) had even appointed a commission to undertake a review of the Constitution, but it was put in cold storage because of political backlash.
In the 2024 General Elections, its slogan of ‘char sau paar’ (beyond 400 seats in Lok Sabha) was identified by common people as a precursor to changing the Constitution, which is associated with Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, chairperson of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly. This led to a massive reaction against the BJP and it was reduced to less than the majority mark. This was an indicator of the great value Indian people give to preserving the Constitution, including its Preamble, which the BJP is wanting to change. They rightly suspect that this demand for change by the BJP is just a way of opening the door to bigger more drastic changes in the future.
