EDITORIAL

Octopus On The Prowl

AS the election heat gets warmer, the division of labour amongst the various tentacles of the RSS octopus is becoming clearer.  While the BJP continues to perform its assigned role as the political arm of the RSS, the other outfits like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad are preparing to heighten communal polarisation through activities such as the `Mahayaga' at Ayodhya.  The Bajrang Dal is at its job, distributing trishuls accompanied by incendiary communal propaganda. The Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad continues its ostensible "reconversion" of tribals into Hindu religion.   The running thread of all these activities is to sharpen communal polarisation in order to consolidate the BJP's Hindu vote bank.  This is vote bank politics of worst order.

In the meanwhile, Mr. Advani's `rath yatra' seems to be running into serious problems even before it has warmed up.  This is not only because of the lack of crowds at the meetings or the lukewarm response shorn of  enthusiasm as reported by the media. More importantly, it is because of a confusion that is reflected in flawed articulation.  The `rath yatra', the country was told, would highlight issues of governance and development. However, not a single speech ends without the mention of a Ram temple at Ayodhya.  The nation was alerted by the CPI(M) and other opposition parties of the actual intentions for the unfolding of such a yatra.  This, to a measure, has inhibited  the naked rousing of communal passions.  The opposition, after all, cannot be shown to be correct. But then, this negates the very purpose of undertaking  `rath yatra'!   The way out of this will soon be found inevitably by recourse to rabid communal polarisation during the second leg of the yatra, for sure.

The RSS playing the role of the sutradhar (narrator of the script) has mounted the ideological offensive by attacking Jawaharlal Nehru as the proxy for attacking the secular democratic character of the Indian republic. It has claimed that there are no minorities in India!  This is nothing but a reflection of its old slogan of "one country, one people, one culture".  The RSS refuses to accept the Indian reality -- its plurality and social diversity.  There are all kinds of minorities in India.  Apart from religious minorities, there are linguistic minorities, ethnic minorities, cultural minorities  etc etc.  The hallmark of the secular  democratic republic is to provide equality to all, including the minorities. In fact, the maturity of any democracy lies in the way it deals with its minorities; the way in which it gives confidence to its minorities that its identities will not only be protected but will be allowed to flourish.

It is precisely this that the RSS negates and tramples upon by advancing its slogan of cultural nationalism. By seeking to convert Indian society into a monolithic entity based on its vision of a fascistic "Hindu Rashtra", the RSS negates and undermines the very existence of the Indian republic as we know it today. 

That this is the real agenda in this coming elections is obviously sought to be obfuscated through a variety of efforts -- speaking in different tongues for different people and donning different masks on different occasions is a typical fascist characteristic.  Aided by fascist propaganda methodology, these efforts are multiplied during the elections. While the BJP claims to adhere to the NDA agenda which keeps aside the contentious communal issues, the BJP nevertheless announces to release a `vision document' containing its communal agenda. Like Hitler had different faces for different sets of people and situations in a Goebbels, a Himmle, a Goering etc etc to complete the fascist tableau, so it is, in India, where we have different faces with different assigned roles.  Vajpayee is  shown to be a moderate compared to Advani. Advani is shown to be a moderate compared to Modi, who, in turn, is shown as a moderate compared to Togadia and so it goes on. The reality is that each one of them has an assigned role to discharge in advancing the RSS project.

Our allusion of the RSS to an octopus is turning out to be  more correct by the day.  While the different tentacles appear to move independently, the octopus has a single  brain that directs the movements of these various tentacles.  That brain of the communal octopus is the RSS.  The octopus not only changes its colour but also the texture of its skin to mislead its prey.  To confuse its prey, it often discharges a "smoke screen" (which, in the ocean's water is a black liquid) to hide its real intentions and, thus, lull the prey into complacence before devouring it.

The RSS/BJP have shown to possess all  these characteristics and more.  However, on this occasion, having been victims to such machinations in the past, the Indian people will not fall prey, once again, to such RSS machinations in the coming elections.