by A.G. NOORANI
The Sangh Parivar carries on with its project of using religion to further political mobilisation. This time its target is what it calls Krishna Janmabhoomi at Mathura.
The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) does not believe in family planning. It has set up a host of organisations—not to forget its shakhas. It set up the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on July 9, 1949, to evade the ban on the RSS. It is a body of stormtroopers, though it claims to be a students’ body. Narendra Modi was one of its leading figures. The RSS set up the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Body) in keeping with its claim to be Jagatguru (Teacher to the World). It was founded in Mumbai on August 29-30, 1964 by RSS leader S. Golwalkar. K.M. Munshi was also one of its founders. As its Ayodhya campaign picked up speed, the VHP set up the Bajrang Dal in 1984. The RSS became a grandfather and controlled all its offspring with a tight leash. Among these were its political creatures, the Jana Sangh (1951) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (1980).
As the BJP suffered a humiliating defeat in the 1984 election, the RSS discovered a good instrument for mobilisation—religion. Members in India and abroad, especially the sadhus, were pressed into service and they enjoyed a taste of worldly life. All these bodies enthusiastically jumped into the election fray to support the BJP—provided the RSS so ordered. In 1984 it declined.
To remove the BJP’s depression and show it a promising path, the VHP’s (read: the RSS) first Dharma Sansad adopted in 1984 a resolution for the “liberation” of the Ram Janmabhoomi at Ayodhya. It also drew up an 18-point code of objectives and rules of conduct, “Achar Samhita for Individuals, Families and Political Leaders”. Its main objective was to prescribe the order of “dharma” relevant to the modern age for “developing the Hindu society”. The RSS’ concept of modernisation is set out clearly—practice of religion and unification of the community. In short, political mobilisation through religion. “Object No.7” says “To develop maths, mandirs….”; Object 12 enjoins “to compel the state to safeguard Hindu interests”; “No.18 says: “Cinema films should not be allowed to ridicule Hindu Dharma, Hindu culture, Hindu gods and goddesses and Hindu life value.” It is preceded by Object No.11, which reads thus: “Shri Rama and Sri Krishna Janmasthan, Kashi Vishwanath Mandir and all other historic temples should be returned to Hindu.”
The timing, the context and the tenor of the entire document reveals that it is aimed at political mobilisation. The VHP’s fortnightly organ Hindu Chetna establishes that. Manjari Katju writes in her book Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Indian Politics: “In the first two decades after its formation the VHP followed its original charter, involving itself in Hindu unification at home and overseas, and opposing the work of Christian missionaries in India. Thereafter, it took to direct political issues, trying to influence state policies through political mobilisations.
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