RSS misunderstood despite century of service: Rajnath

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been serving the country and society continuously for the last 100 years, but a large section of people remains either “uninformed” or “misinformed” about the organisation because of narratives built around it.

Addressing the release of the book ‘RSS at 100: A Century of Service, Unity and Sacrifice’ at the Vice President’s Enclave here, Singh said the RSS has grown from a small voluntary organisation founded by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in 1925 into the world’s largest and financially self-reliant voluntary organisation.

“The RSS has been serving the nation and society for 100 years. Yet, even today, a large section of society is either uninformed or misinformed about it,” he said.

Referring to American scholars Walter Andersen and Shridhar D Damle’s book ‘The Brotherhood in Saffron’, Singh said the authors observed that the RSS is “difficult to understand and easy to misunderstand”.

“One major reason for this, in my view, is the relative lack of objective and impartial academic work on the organisation. I believe this book will go a long way in filling that gap,” he said.

Rejecting allegations that the RSS had no role in the freedom movement, Singh said such a narrative has been promoted for years and asserted that the organisation actively participated in the struggle against British rule.

“Those who hold this view should read the fourth chapter of this book. It explains that RSS volunteers actively participated in the freedom struggle. Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar himself went to prison during the freedom movement. During the Quit India Movement, RSS volunteers provided shelter to several revolutionaries in their homes,” he said.

He also referred to the role of RSS volunteers during Partition, saying they worked in violence-hit areas to protect people.

“During the violence that accompanied Partition, when millions of people lost their lives, Guruji M S Golwalkar, Balasaheb Deoras, Madhavrao Mule and thousands of RSS volunteers worked among people in sensitive and violence-affected areas without concern for their own safety,” Singh said.

The defence minister said the RSS has been wrongly portrayed as advocating a narrow concept of “Hindu Rashtra” and asserted that critics have failed to understand the organisation’s concept of Hindu identity.

“The RSS does not judge a person based on religion...The RSS has consistently worked to promote social harmony, unity, discipline and goodwill. Its objective is not to make everyone identical but to unite society. It stands for oneness, not uniformity,” he added.

Targeting the Congress party, Singh said recent questions over why the RSS is not a registered organisation do not merit a response.

“Recently, a senior Congress leader questioned why the RSS is not a registered organisation. In my view, such questions do not even require an answer.

“The Constitution grants every citizen the right to form associations. A mother’s love does not require a licence. A teacher’s values do not depend on a Government seal. The Ganga does not need permission to flow, and the Sun does not require registration to give light. Similarly, the RSS is a social and cultural organisation that requires neither certification nor official validation,” he said.

Praising the organisation’s functioning, Singh said the RSS has never witnessed a split in its century-long existence despite becoming one of the world’s largest voluntary organisations.

“There are very few organisations anywhere in the world that have functioned continuously for more than a century without experiencing a split. Many political parties and institutions have undergone repeated divisions, but in the RSS, there has never been a split or major internal rupture,” he said.