Administration Manned by RSS Members will not Command People's Confidence

Insaf Morcha Statement, 8 February, 2000

"Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee has justified the withdrawal by the Government of Gujarat of the ban on public servants to join or participate in the activities of the RSS and certified the RSS as a 'social and cultural organisation' and, 'not a political outfit'.

All secular citizens would, with due respect to the Prime Minister, reject this Character Certificate.

The RSS stands for Cultural Nationalism and equates Indian Culture with the ancient Hindu Culture. As it identifies India with Hinduism, its mission is basically to Hinduise Indian polity and society. It has its own views about the place and status of religious minorities in our country which contravene the Constitution and international Declarations and Conventions. These views are anti-democratic and anti-secular and have a fascist ring. Through its schools and the Shakhas, it builds an anti-secular mindset which does not treat Hindus and non-Hindus equally.

The RSS may not be a political party in the sense that it does not contest elections but it guides and controls the BJP through its Pracharaks, placed in all key positions. Indeed the BJP sees itself as the political front of the RSS. Similarly the RSS guides and coordinates the activities of the myriad of front organisations in various fields of public activity which impinge directly on the political dynamics of the country.

Secondly, the RSS has itself admitted in its submission to the Income Tax authorities in Nagpur in Misc. Application 17/1978 that "it does not indulge in day-to-day politics though it has a political philosophy within its wide sweep of political work ... The work of the RSS is either religious nor charitable. It is akin to political purposes though RSS is not at present a political party."

It was this overview of the political character of the RSS which forced the secular state to reject its claim of 'aloofness from politics' in 1948 and to ban public servants from joining or participating in the activities of the RSS .

If the administrative machinery was mauned by personnel who owed allegiance to the RSS and whose mindset was formed by its Shakhas and its literature and whose actions were controlled by the RSS, not only the religious minorities but the other deprived sections of the people would lose their faith in the administration. A magistrate or a policeman who flaunts his proximity to the RSS will not command the confidence of all the people, even of a majority of the Hindus.

As it is, the line of demarcation between the political and the permanent executive is getting erased, with the public servants losing their independence and becoming subservient to the political machinery.

The move by the Government of Gujarat is a serious blow to the professional integrity and the religious neutrality of the administration.

There is no not much distance between Ahmedabad and Delhi, specially when they are operating on the same ideological wave-length. Gujarat has shown the way to politicise the administration and to make it a tool of the RSS. While I appreciate Mr. Vajpayee's loyalty to his 'mother' - the RSS, I appeal to the Prime Minister not to destroy the administrative system at whose apex destiny has placed him today."

RSS Hidden Agenda under Implementation Insaf Morcha Statement, 7 January, 2000 "The introduction of a private bill by a BJP MP for introduction of uniform civil code in the last session of Parliament, the lifting of the ban on government servants against association with the RSS in Gujarat and the legislation in UP to subject construction of places of worship and religious instruction to the whims of the bureaucracy are clear indications of the steady implementation of the HIDDEN AGENDA of the Sangh Parivar, under the benign umbrella of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the States.

The ceaseless quest of the uniform civil code is an expression of the majoritarian pressure for religious and cultural assimilation so as to destroy the religious identity of the Muslim Indians.

The step in Gujarat is a signal to the administration at all levels not to interfere in the activities of the Sangh Parivar, including the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, as they are all 'innocuous social service organisations' in the eyes of the ruling party.

The new law in UP shall be used by the RSS-friendly administration to harass the Muslims, interfere with their freedom to practice their religion and to establish educational institutions of their choice, on false pretexts of linkage with ISI which has so far remained unsupported by evidence. What is worse the law serves to generate suspicion and distrust in the Hindu mind against all Muslims and Muslim Institutions.

The three, taken together, constitute a matter of grave concern to the religious minorities, particularly the Muslims and to the secular forces.

The Insaf Morcha appeals not only to the opposition parties but also to the leaders of the coalition parties including George Fernandes, Sharad Yadav. Ram Vilas Paswan, Nitish Kumar, M. Karnuanidhi, Mamata Banerjee and Chandra Babu Naidu to stop Sangh Parivar from playing the vicious game of targetting the Muslims and poisoning the social environment".