Costumes do not change character

Costumes and cosmetics do not change character. But in today’s dumbed-down media and fashion conscious world a belief has been promoted that image can be manipulated and marketed. The CEO or Sar-Sangh-Chalak of the largest corporate-styled NGO known as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and his “board of directors” have decided to follow the trend and create a new brand image for the organisation, more known for its conservative world view.

Sociologists have been debating for long, the nature of dialectic between tradition and modernity. Finally, the debate reached the gates of the monastery forbidden like a medieval fortress. Like 36th chamber of Shaolin Temple, known for training in martial arts, the Chief of the RSS conferred with his cabal and announced that the uniform of the Swayamsevaks will undergo a change. The new costume of brownish full pants will bring the khaki half pants brigade in the 21st century.

The RSS was started, to be exact, on September 27, 1925, by just about five persons, who created the Hindu idea of India — Hindu Rashtra.

Their idea of the Hindutva has survived though the uniform has changed. Actually the Hindu Maha Sabha was created a decade before the RSS, in 1915. It was not started or led by V.D. Savarkar, as many people wrongly believe. Savarkar was in jail in 1915, undergoing life sentence in Andaman. He did not even know about the Hindu Maha Sabha till he came out of the jail and became its icon.

It is generally not known that Savarkar did not support the vague RSS idea of cultural nationalism or the Sangh notion of Hindu Rashtra. Indeed, he was hostile to the Sangh and the hostility survived till recently as the BJP candidates had to face the HMS candidates in many constituencies. But the Sangh has appropriated the Savarkarite politics and many Hindutva followers don’t know or don’t care about their differences.

Savarkar did not support the idea that cow was sacred or “mata” — the mother. He did not support the ban on cow slaughter. In fact his arch enemy, Gandhiji advocated the ban on cow slaughter. The only common point, if any, between the RSS and Savarkar was that both hated Mahatma Gandhi. They were also jealous of Gandhiji, because the Mahatma called himself a proud Hindu and had a massive following among Hindus, which they believed was their constituency.

The only time perhaps the RSS and the HMS found themselves on the same page was when Nathuram Godse killed the Mahatma. Today, Nathuram is being made into an icon of sorts by both.

The RSS always suffered from a kind of inferiority complex because most of the Hindus either went along with the Gandhi-Nehru leadership or chose other ideologies and leaders. Their hatred for Gandhi-Nehru legacy has nothing to do with Indira or Sonia.

That venom in their hearts and minds is almost 90-year-old and will not go away.

Mohan Bhagwat has been repeatedly talking about Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra without providing a clear vision or mission statement. They want to isolate the Muslims by pretending to bring in the fold the Hindu Dalits or the Hindu OBCs, but cannot reconcile with the idea of the reservations, which they always opposed and now take a flip-flop position to electorally win them and yet impose the Brahminic-Vedic idea of social organisation.

Now the RSS has come to depend on Modi and the NRIs for dollars as well as western respectability. But Modi's megalomania does not allow the political share to the RSS. So though the RSS and Modi share common hatred and much of the RSS agenda, often they appear to be married but living separately.

The marriage survives because both hate Muslims, both are jealous of the Nehru-Gandhi legacy, both are aware that they have no specific ideology, both lack mass support but have managed the neo-middle class and the NRIs, both have no moorings in the freedom movement, and both have no future except without tolerating each other.

The BJP-RSS ties survive because both hate Muslims, both are jealous of the Nehru-Gandhi legacy, both are aware that they have no specific ideology, both lack mass support but have managed the neo-middle class and the NRIs, both have no moorings in the freedom movement, and both have no future without tolerating each other.

However, neither humans nor political parties can live and grow in a political vacuum. Patriotic jingoism will not be able to keep even the middle class together. The corporate capitalism has no interest in cultural nationalism except to generate frenzy and promote their profits.

The middle class has become so greedy and aspirational that the xenophobic nationalism and hi-octane Hindutva will not satisfy their materialistic and consumerist urges. So the RSS may change their costume, but will not change their character. That template is 90 year old.

The dumbed down media will give headlines to the superficial makeover in image for a while but when the mirror cracks, images will go asunder. The RSS has no courage to look into the mirror because the mirror will not only show the new dress but also the same face!!

The writer is a veteran journalist