From Delhi to Rampur and Lucknow, the Muslims are busy hatching a dangerous plot, piling up arms and mobilising their men ... to strike from within when Pakistan decides upon an armed conflict with our country" – RSS chief Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar in the late '60s.

Three decades later, there is a discernible change in the tone and tenure of pronouncements by senior RSS leaders. These days Prof. Rajendra Singh, the present RSS chief, eschews all talk of Muslims "hatching plots" and instead sees "unmistakable signs of a welcome change" in the attitude of the Muslim intelligentsia towards Hindutva. In fact ... in Bangalore, Rajju Bhayya took pains to emphasise that Hindutva "upholds equally the genuine interests of all sections of people, including theirs (the Muslims)".

Indeed, recent years have witnessed the opening up of a traditionally cocooned organisation. With the installation of a BJP-led government at the Centre, the RSS is now ready to go the whole hog to exploit the "Hindutva-oriented atmosphere" to expand its base. It is significant that Rajju Bhayya is no longer averse to regular interaction with the media.

Given the RSS' history and style of functioning, any shift in attitude towards the Muslims is bound to be viewed with suspicion. It is doubtful if it will translate into a dilution of the Hindutva agenda. The changes ... if any, can be better understood in the light of its efforts to come out of a long spell of isolation which increased with the demolition of the Babari Masjid, when the RSS and its 100- odd pocket organisations were condemned for damaging India's secular fabric. The recent utterances by RSS leaders about Muslims can at best be seen as an attempt to put up a more tolerant face, not a dilution of Hindutva.

The ideas propagated by RSS founders like Hedgewar and Golwalkar are still the source of inspiration for their successors. The ultimate goal is to transform the Indian society into a formidable monolith with "one nation, one people and one culture". The Sangh parivar realises that this cannot be achieved without a thorough change in the Constitution. In fact, the BJP's commitment to review the Constitution in its election manifesto is just a reiteration of Golwalkar's wish expressed 42 years ago ...

Golwalkar ... wanted to "bury deep for good all talk of a federal structure of our country's Constitution" and realise his desire for "One Country, One State, One Legislature, One Executive". Golwalkar mooted the idea of redrafting the Constitution way back in 1956. Immediately after the publication of the report of the States Reorganisation Committee, he wrote: "Let the Constitution be re-examined and re-drafted, so as to establish this Unitary (read centralised) form of Government.

That the so-called change in the tone is hardly a pointer to the dilution of the RSS' Hindutva agenda is evident from the reiteration by Rajju Bhayya recently that "these monuments (mosques at Kashi and Mathura) are a slur on our independence; they should go". Points out Mahesh Chandra Sharma, a BJP Rajya Sabha MP associated with the Deen Dayal Research Foundation: "We believe in the ultimate goal, the means to achieve it is not important to us. Gandhiji would have differed on this matter. The RSS is ready to even tear off the dark chapters of history. We only want to highlight the glorious past of the country".

Some sympathisers and activists of the RSS took the initiative to break the isolation of the Sangh parivar by holding a 'samvaad' at Vrindavan in January 1993. Former prime minister Chandra Shekhar ... even hosted one such meet in 1996 at his Bhondsi ashram ... The RSS drew a; lot of flak at these meetings for its "antagonistic" attitude towards the Muslims and other minorities.

Acceptability became especially crucial after the BJP fared poorly in the mid-term elections to four state assemblies in 1993. The defeat was attributed, among other things, to its anti-Muslim image and RSS activities ...

The whole exercise is aimed at gaining more acceptability not only for the RSS itself but for the BJP too. At the pratinidhi sabha in Bangalore the RSS top brass went to great lengths to drive home the point that "the minorities need not be apprehensive".

It is in this context that the RSS agreed to put "contentious issues" - Ram Janambhoomi, Article 370 and a common civil code - on the back-burner despite its rider to the BJP that Hindutva should not be diluted. Significantly, RSS general secretary K.C. Sudershan warned the BJP not to dilute Hindutva just when its prime ministerial candidate Vajpayee started soft-pedalling on Ayodhya and Article 370 during his poll campaign. The result: Hindutva was uppermost in the BJP's manifesto.

... With a friendly government at the Centre, the RSS leadership has chalked out a detailed expansion plan. The number of shakhas is sought to be increased from 27,000 to 50,000. The swayamsewaks, the RSS chief has declared, "will now concentrate on turning the popular Hindutva-oriented atmosphere into expanding the enduring organisational set-up". The organisation will now explore new areas of activity where till now it had no presence.

An equally important task for the RSS is finding berths for its sympathisers ion important positions in the bureaucracy, judiciary, foreign office, etc.

... For an organisation banned three times during its 72-year existence on charges of inciting violence and hatred, it is time to strike firms roots and branch out.                                                                                                           (Source: The Outlook, 6 April, 1998)