Book Review | M.S. Golwalkar: A life built on lies

This is one of the most detailed biographies available of M.S. Golwalkar, the RSS’s second chief, who, more than a decade before Independence, tried to establish the character of India as a Hindu nation. Here are attempts to describe the toxicity of Golwalkar’s philosophy, its linkages with Nazism, and the damage it has done.

Before becoming a prophet of Hindutva, Golwalkar was apolitical and a good student, but his exposure to Christian evangelists who ran down Hinduism at Hislop College, Nagpur, got him thinking about his own cultural and religious roots. From this evolved his vision of India and its society.

Early in the book is a lie on which Golwalkar built his early political career: He claimed to have been a professor at Banaras Hindu University, whereas in truth he was a demonstrator, filling in a temporary vacancy. That job lasted a year and a half, and earned him the title of Guruji for his long hair and his beard. In later years, it gave him an academic legitimacy that he never earned.

Another meticulously documented example of his facility with spin appears when Golwalkar took over leadership of the RSS after his mentor, Hegdewar, died abruptly. The essence of the matter is that Golwalkar ascended to the post solely on the strength of his own assertion that Hegdewar had appointed him successor.

This comfort with spin stood him in good stead as sarvasanchalak. His operations in British-ruled provinces were handicapped, but he made progress in Hindu-ruled states, where the RSS was started under names that flattered the rulers: for example, it was called “Rajaram Swayam Sevak Sangh” in Kolhapur, where Rajaram was a former ruler.

Golwalkar saw Muslims and Christians as bigger threats to India than the British. His support of the struggle for Independence was lukewarm, though he did support Jews and the formation of Israel. His arrest and imprisonment after Gandhi’s assassination, his attempts to get the ban on the RSS revoked, his confusion and his founding the VHP during the Nehru years, and his stewardship of the RSS until his death in 1973 are all here.

The depth of the research is evident: It’s simmered in the author’s mind for a decade or more. But there are questions in the context of contemporary politics. Golwalkar might have been devious and miserly with the truth, but it’s hard to think of a successful modern politician who isn’t. Besides, infiltrating institutions is standard operating procedure for governments and political parties.

Golwalkar’s admiration for the Nazi regime in the last 1930s is clear, but are we sure that the RSS hasn’t evolved from that position? Is killing for political dissent (Stalin and Mao between them purged between 60 million and 100 million countrymen, many times more than Hitler) acceptable while racist killings aren’t? Are we to believe that all present-day Marxists align with Marx’s acceptance of violence as a part of social progress?

This is a worthwhile read on its own merits, but it’s even better if it prods the reader into some introspection about values.

Golwalkar

Dhirendra K. Jha

Simon and Schuster

pp. 385; Rs 899