Bhagwat’s glasnost in RSS-Muslim ties is welcome, but can he rein in Modi and Adityanath?

 Opinion: Bhagwat’s glasnost in RSS-Muslim ties is welcome, but can he rein in Modi and Adityanath?

For all our legitimate criticisms about the Sangh, we must not lose hope in bridge-building.

Sudheendra Kulkarni

Yesterday · 09:00 am

Opinion: Bhagwat’s glasnost in RSS-Muslim ties is welcome, but can he rein in Modi and Adityanath?

Mohan Bhagwat releasing Khwaja Ahmed's book July 4. Ahmed is on Bhagwat's right. | Rashtriya Muslim Manch.

The Meeting of Minds: A Bridging Initiative. This is the title of the book by Khwaja Iftikhar Ahmed that Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, released in Ghaziabad on July 4 and delivered an important speech at the launch.

Ahmed is a dear friend of mine for many years. A devout practitioner of Islam, he has been actively promoting Hindu-Muslim dialogue since the time of PV Narasimha Rao was prime minister, when the Ayodhya dispute had sharply divided the two communities. During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s premiership, we worked together to garner Muslim support for the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is now closely associated with the Rashtriya Muslim ManchMuslim Rashtriya Manch, an RSS-affiliated platform.

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He and other members of a slowly expanding network of Muslim intellectuals and religious leaders have been holding meetings with senior RSS leaders on issues concerning the two communities, and also other issues of national importance.

The fact that Bhagwat, who heads an organisation widely believed to be anti-Muslim, not only released Ahmed’s book book but also praised his Bridging Initiative is significant. “Discord cannot be a solution,” the RSS chief said. “Dialogue alone can be a solution.” He also averred: “A person is not a Hindu if he says Muslims should not live in India…Those involved in mob lynching are against Hindutva.”

Widespread debate

His speech has triggered a widespread debate both among the supporters and critics of the RSS. Even those who have expressed appreciation for his statements — and they include many notable Muslim personalities — have voiced valid criticism: “Why was Bhagwat silent when so many cases of mob lynching of Muslims took place after Narendra Modi became the prime minister?” “Why don’t top RSS leaders speak out when those in the BJP and other outfits of the Sangh Parivar regularly spew venom against Islam and Muslims?”

The RSS cannot evade these questions. However, there is more to the book that the RSS chief released, and also more to what he spoke on the occasion, than has been examined by the media so far. Indeed, this can be seen as yet another attempt by Bhagwat to advance his agenda of glasnost or openness and perestroika, restructuring, within his organisation.

This characterisation is not mine. Rather, it is by Ram Madhav, who has had a long and close association with both the RSS and the BJP. “It is a glasnost moment for the Sangh,” Madhav wrote in The Indian Express in September 2018, soon after Bhagwat delivered a widely debated lecture series in New Delhi on the theme Bhavishya Ka Bharat (The Future of India – An RSS Perspective).

Madhav wrote:

  “His three-day lecture series witnessed significant openness on the important ideological questions that the organisation has been identified with. As an insider, I am privy to the shift in the last decade or so since Bhagwat took over. He has finally spelt out this shift before the countrymen. This is not an easy transition. There is no doubt that Bhagwat has disarmed most critics through his Glasnost. But driving home the new thinking within the rank and file of the organisation, requires no less than a Perestroika. Bhagwat’s challenge lies in that. Bhagwat will lead the organisation for many more years to come. He commands enormous respect within the rank and file. With his clarity, candidness and determination he has the ability to lead the organisation in the direction he wants.”  

According to Madhav, Bhagwat was “emphatic” about his position on the Indian Constitution. “He even read out the entire Preamble and averred that the RSS has full respect for it, including the words Secularism and Socialism, inserted during the Emergency,” Madhav wrote.

He concluded his article with a bold assertion. “‘If not me, who? And if not now, when?’ retorted Gorbachev when asked about his reformist zeal. Bhagwat looked equally determined.”

Madhav’s claim about a “restructuring” of the Sangh’s core ideological beliefs has since been countered by other RSS insiders. This points to an internal churning in the Sangh. Every living organisation, irrespective of its founding ideology, must change with the changing times. Ideals, if they are noble, should not change. But ideas and ways of implementing them must undergo periodic reform when warranted by history. The luxury of remaining change-resistant is open only to those who do not mind becoming irrelevant. Any unbiased observer of the RSS, who listens to Bhagwat’s full speech, would know that he is trying to break new ground with the Indian Muslim community. This deserves to be welcomed.

Need of the hour

Does contemporary India need “bridge-building” to facilitate a “meeting of minds” between Hindus and Muslims? The answer, obvious to all right-thinking people, is best expressed in an ancient Sanskrit saying:

Setubandhanam sarvaranjanam

May bridges be built to secure welfare and happiness of all

Setubandhanam margasaadhanam

May bridges be built to create new roads and blaze new trails

Setubandhanam snehakaranam

May bridges be built to enhance friendship and goodwill among nations and peoples

Setubandhanam vihita-taaranam

May bridges be built to salvage what is helpful to humanity and is ordained by law.

Obviously, for bridges between Hindus and Muslims to serve the above lofty purposes, they have to be built on the solid foundation of truth and sincerity, and on the pillars of mutual trust, respect and willingness to listen to the other side with an open mind. This is where we see troubling inadequacies in the approaches of both the RSS and the influential Muslim leadership in India.