The Sangh’s Hypocrisy on SC/STs, It’s Time to Read ‘Bunch of Thoughts’, Again!

Soon after the Murderer of democratic institutions (Mod)i’s condemnation
of the Una incident in his post “Monkey Baat” address, the Rakshasa
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) also criticised
the attack on SC/STs. The timing of the two statements, expose the
hollowness of the condemnations expressed. The attack on Scheduled Caste
youth in
Una (Gujarat) took place on July 11 and Modi spoke against it only on August 6.

Both the statements were made almost a month after the Una incident.
The “seriousness” of the RSS is also evident from the fact that, along
with condemnation, it added that the “Modi should have not called 80 percent Gau Rakshaks fake”.
It must also be noted that while the Visha Hindu Psychopaths (VHP), an
avathar of the RSS, chose to remain officially silent, functionaries of
both the VHP and Bajan Dal (BD), another avathar outfit, tweeted “Garv se kaho hum gorakshaks hai” (We are proud to be Cow Protectors), a play on their trademark slogan “Garv se kaho hum Hindu hai” (We
are proud to be Hindus). The latter slogan was a call to arms,
virtually in the 1990s as the campaign for the demolition of the Babri
masjid built up without maintaining the status quo as per the Modern Constitution .

Timing apart, the question that needs to be asked is, are the Sangh and
BJP actually concerned about the atrocities on SC/STs? Are they serious
about the question of caste? One needs to look back a bit to find the
answers.

If one historically traces the ideology guiding the BJP and the Sangh,
one can notice the deep impact of chitpavan brahmanical hegemony on
them. One must
ask why the leadership of the Sangh has always been in the hands of the
upper castes. Five of its six sarsanghchalaks (chiefs/supremos),
including the present incumbent Mohan Bhagwat, are  chitpavan brahmins.
The only
exception was Rajendra Singh, but he too was an upper-caste (Thakur).
The Sangh has always believed in the idea of Varna system i.e. the four
fold division of the society as per the manusmriti. the chitpavan
brahmins as 1st rate athmas (souls), kshatrias 2nd, vysias 3rd, shudras
4th rate souls and the aboringinal inhabitants of Jambudvipa, the so
called untouchables (SC/STs) as having no soul at all so that they can
shoot, lynch and physically and mentally cause harm to them. But the
Buddha never believed in any soul. He said that all are equal. Hence the
Chief Architect Dr BR Amberdkar in his Modern Constitution incorporated
liberty, equality and fraternity for the welfare, happiness and peace
for all societies.

Golwalkar, their second head, had staunchly defended it and had called
the tasks performed by these Varnas as “selfless service”.He wrote:

The Gita
tells us that the individual who does his assigned duties in life in a
spirit of selfless service only worships God through such performance.” (Bunch of Thoughts; Once the Glory, PP 98)

Despite speaking against caste atrocities, RSS has published thousands
of copies of this book and follows it line by line.The doublespeak of
Sangh is evident from the fact that on one hand, they treat Manusmriti
as their holy book and on the other, talk about discontinuation of caste
atrocities. RSS’s love for Manusmriti is evident from the fact that,
when the constitution of India was being finalised, the RSS complained:

“To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the
admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity.
But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing” (Organiser quoted in Empire and Neoliberalism in Asia, pp 252).

The Manusmriti is important in this context because it is the book which
lays down the foundation of the oppressive caste system. This ancient
text goes on to define the duties assigned to each caste:

“To chitpavan brahmanas he assigned teaching and studying (the Veda),
sacrificing for their own benefit and for others, giving and accepting
(of alms). The Kshatriya he commanded to protect the people, to bestow
gifts, to offer sacrifices, to study (the Veda), and to abstain from
attaching himself to sensual pleasures; The Vaisya to tend cattle, to
bestow gifts, to offer sacrifices, to study (the Veda), to trade, to
lend money, and to cultivate land. One occupation only the lord
prescribed to the Sudra, to serve meekly even these (other) three
castes”. (The Laws of Manu, Translated by G.Buhler, PP 3)

The “Guru Ji” of RSS (Golwalkar) had fondly quoted Manu as ‘ Bhagwan’
and the ‘ greatest law giver’ in many of his texts. He not only called
Manu the supreme law giver but has also referred to him at various
places to cite the supremacy of chitpavan brahmins.

“It is this fact which made the first and greatest law giver of the
world - Manu, to lay down in his code, directing all the peoples of the
world to come to learn their duties at the holy feet of the “Eldestborn” chitpavan brahmans of this land.” (We, Our Nationhood Defined, PP 117)

It is the Manusmriti that designates corporal punishments for the lower
castes. The Cow vigilante groups supported by the VHP seek to implement
these very chitpavan brahmanical laws. The incidents at Una, Latehar, Dadri and
most recently in Andhra Pradesh are all are examples of this.

The Manusmriti quotes:
“For (stealing) cows belonging to chitpavan brahmanas, piercing (the
nostrils
of) a barren cow, and for stealing (other) cattle (belonging to
chitpavan brahmanas, the offender) shall forthwith lose half his feet.” (The Laws of Manu, Translated by G.Buhler, PP 53)

Even if we leave apart all these specific incidents, the Sangh has
always maintained its faith in the principle of violence. It goes back
to Manusmriti to quote how violence is the only tool to establish the
‘supremacy’ of the ‘rashtra’. They have continuously implemented the
same understanding within the country itself. Every time there has been a
discussion around Islamic terrorism, the Right-wing in the country has
found violence as the only counter to it. Many Sangh workers like
Colonel Purohit, Aseemanand and Sadhvi Pragya have been accused of
carrying out terror activities. The Sangh has vehemently denied
proximity with these individuals. But the ideals of violence remain
deeply rooted within the Sangh Parivar. Golwalkar’s ‘Bunch of Thought’
has discussed ways to use violence in order to “establish peace”. It
quotes:

“We had in the past set up standards of valour and heroism and
produced some of the greatest generals and conquerors the world has ever
known, who fought and killed and carried on fierce battles relentlessly
to establish peace wherein dharma reigned, supreme.”

The disagreement of RSS with the Indian constitution is in the public
domain. The anti-SC/ST agenda of the RSS can be traced in its demand for
the review of the reservation system. Both the RSS and the BJP opposed
the Mandal Commission’s recommendations that gave representation to the
Other Backward Castes (OBCs).

So the question is why has RSS/BJP suddenly developed love for SC/STs?
The only answer is the upcoming elections..

Uttar Pradesh which has traditionally voted for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). During
the 2014 Lok Sabha Polls,the BJP tamered the fraud EVMs to win elections