Give a dog a bad name and hang him

Give a dog a bad name and hang him
Give a dog a bad name and hang him
Rakesh Sinha
27 December 2010

Recently, and particularly in the last few weeks, the public discourse has been vitiated by reckless allegations against Indian nationalists, particularly members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and RSS as an institution, and terms like “Hindu Terror” and “Saffron Terror” are freely bandied about. In the forefront of the attack is the Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, and their prize minion, Digvijay Singh, who have all literally labelled the RSS as a terrorist organisation.

Some of the vituperative attacks have been explained as a ‘side show’ to divert attention from the Congress’ crushing defeat in the Gujarat local elections (a blow to Ms Sonia Gandhi) and near complete rout in Bihar (blamed on the non-charisma of Rahul Gandhi). Then there is the Muslim disenchantment with the party, and the scam-a-day regime (Commonwealth, Adarsh housing, bank loans, and above all, 2G and the scandalous price rise).

Above all, however, there is complete consternation in the anti-Hindu political circles that the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has unanimously accepted the disputed site in Ayodhya as the birthplace of Sri Rama, to which Hindus have the pre-eminent claim. Muslim scholars and leaders who failed to do their homework properly and did not appear in the court proceedings, preferring to direct affairs from behind the scenes and relying on seasoned rhetoric to carry the day, are taken aback by this turn of events.

The question arises: is the attempt to vitiate the atmosphere part of a ploy to ‘guide’ the inevitable proceedings in the Supreme Court in a particular way? Certainly it is a signal to the Muslim community that Hindus will somehow be ‘contained’ and somehow cut to size.

In this connection, it is pertinent that former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh chose to preside over the release of a book in Urdu, RSS ki Sazish – 26/11 (RSS’ Conspiracy – 26/11) this month. The 788-page volume has been penned by journalist Aziz Burney, who has managed to raise the funds to publish a staggering 25000 copies, when the standard print order for a book is just 500 copies!

It goes without saying that this is a command performance, funded by vested interests, and intended for a target audience which will probably receive the book free of cost. As a work of fiction, it probably has some amusement value. Certainly it is not a work that deserves a serious rebuttal, and we present below some of the key highlights of the book, without comment:-

RSS ki Sazish – 26/11
- The BJP and the RSS are responsible for 26/11 attack in Mumbai. The BJP did not raise its voice against the delay in probe (p. ll)

- ATS chief Hemant Karkare was about to disclose many facts regarding Malegaon blast in which he was expected to expose many sadhus and saints including the BJP and the RSS (p. 28)

- Mossad and CIA had assisted the Sangh Parivar in the attack carried out in Mumbai. With the
tacit understanding of the USA, Saudi Arabia's Maulana Bedi had collected fundamentalists. Even Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had helped in attackers' arrival and stay (p. 41)

- Post 1993, all attacks in the country is the result of the nexus between the RSS and
Mossad. Karkare was about to make all these disclosures to the media and was going to leave the country to settle abroad. Karkare was not killed by AK-47 but by the service revolver of the police. RAW and Home Ministry are investigating the role played by the Gujarat ATS in Karkare’s murder case. Karkare was killed by Hindutva-minded police officials and people from the Chota Rajan gang (p. 61)

- The Congress is suspecting the involvement of the BJP in the Malegaon blast other than the RSS and Bajrang Dal. The BJP decided to give legal assistance to Sadhvi Pragya, the day Purohit told the CBI that the VHP leaders had given special contribution in formation of Abhinav Bharat. RSS leader Indresh Kumar has taken Rs 3 crore from the Pakistan intelligence agency ISI. The same day Karkare received the threat call and the very next day he was killed (p. 99)

- The RSS and Israel are trying to make India unstable (p. 190)

- In order to make India a Hindu nation, such blasts are being carried out (p. 219)

- Abhinav Bharat was getting financial aid from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Weapons were bought from the money provided by Praveen Togadia to kill Indresh Kumar (p. 232)

- While the RSS is distributing ‘Trishul’ to youths and women, the Bajrang Dal is providing training to people for making bombs and causing blasts. The VHP had planted bombs in several mosques in Maharashtra to explode them (p. 584)

- The RSS and VHP are trying to defame Muslims by forming terrorist organizations like Indian Mujahideen and Islamic Security Force. Indian Mujahideen was not involved in the bomb blasts in Assam. Bajrang Dal is a dubious organization and Indian Mujahideen is the code name of it. Editor of Communalism Combat Teesta Setalvad mentioned in a report that the CBI is trying cover up Hindu Terrorism and Batla encounter was fake (p. 597)

- Election Commission of India must consider banning the BJP to contest elections. From Nathuram Godse to Sadhvi Pragya, violence is part of the RSS culture. About 100 Hindutva Organisations associated with the RSS are involved in the violent activities. Mentality of the police and the army in the country is anti-Muslim (p. 606)

Who Killed Karkare?
This is another book, aimed at denigrating the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Police, in order to demoralize them. The author, S.M. Mushrif, is a retd. senior police office of Maharashtra, and the book was published in Delhi privately, in 2009.

The highlights include:-
- “From the very beginning Brahmins started infiltrating into the organization and, within ten years of independence acquired near full control over the IB”(p. l9)

- ‘The Brahmin-dominated Indian intelligence agency’ (p. 19)

- “The IB had, thus, taken over by the RSS; it set out to implement the RSS agenda very meticulously as if it was an organ of RSS” (p. 20)

- “The IB has, thus, gradually assumed the role of the real crusader of Brahminism” (p. 21)

- “Intention of IB and RAW in engineering such ‘attacks’ or ‘encounters’ is only to create ill feeling among common Hindus against the Muslim community” (p. 40)

Big Lie
Mushrif made a serious allegation that IB was under the grip of the RSS. His allegation damages the reputation of both the RSS and IB. Is there any grain of truth in his allegation? Following facts unravel the truth:

- Former Inspector General of Police, Maharashtra, S.M. Mushrif first publicly made this sensational statement in New Delhi at a three-day workshop in March 2007 on the subject, ‘Trends in Intelligence and Law and Order agencies’ under the aegis of Mumbai’s Citizens for Justice and Peace [controlled by Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand, editors & publishers of Communalism Combat].

- Mushrif exploded the lie that the RSS has penetrated the IB to the extent that it is working as an RSS wing. He ‘substantiated’ his allegation by stating, “B.G. Vaidya, brother of RSS leader M.G. Vaidya, an IPS, spent his entire career in the IB.” He further stated that “it was the reason that the IB always shielded the RSS.” B.G. Vaidya, a retired IPS, who lives in Poona, has no relation with the former RSS spokesperson M.G. Vaidya, whose younger brother, the late B.G. Vaidya, was a bank employee in Amravati (Maharashtra) and died in 2003 [It’s Hindu anger not terror, Rakesh Sinha, The Pioneer, November 1, 2008]

- This was repeated by Muslim journals and intellectuals. For instance, Syed Shahabuddin-edited journal Muslim India reproduced his statement without probing the fact. Milli Gazette too prominently wrote the same story [Milli Gazette, 1-15 April, 2007, B.G. Vaidya from Maharashtra remained in IB till his retirement and reached the highest post of DIB and, interestingly, when he was the IB chief, his real brother M.G. Vaidya was RSS chief of Maharashtra state. See Who Killed Karkare? p. 20]

- The unchecked and uninterrupted propaganda damages institutions, misguides media and public and also encourages such elements to continue with the similar constructed stories. Mushrif’s work ‘Who Killed Karkare?’ is its classical example. He repeated the lie in his work in a more assertive manner [B.G. Vaidya from Maharashtra remained in IB till his retirement and reached the highest post of DIB and, interestingly, when he was the IB chief, his real brother M.G. Vaidya was RSS chief of Maharashtra state. See Who Killed Karkare? p. 20]

On 26/11 (Mumbai terrorist attack):
- ‘there is no reason to suspect that Ajmal Kasab was arrested by Nepalese forces and was handed over to Indian intelligence agencies...sounds quite logical. (p. 198-199)

- Mushrif’s imagination and sympathy for Kasab goes to the extent that he unhesitatingly writes ‘as the terrorist was already in the custody of IB, his photograph could have been taken either before or after the incident’ (p. 201)

- IB behind conspiracy and preparation to kill Hemant Karkare (p. 220-223)

- CIA could not be fully controlled by Zionists...as Brahmins could not fully control IB and RAW (p. 239)

- Brahmins have been hankering for Peshwa (p. 267)

- Out of 48 incidents connected with the terrorism as detailed in chapter II of this book, as many 35 pertain to Maharashtra... a detailed enquiry into them would reveal that the Brahmins have been their masterminds (p. 270)

- The IB connive at the assassination of the Father of the Nation by willfully omitting to take action against conspirators (p. 276)

- Under the pretext of ‘intelligence’, the IB intentionally spreads rumours of anticipated ‘attacks’ by Muslim terrorist outfits on VVIPs, vital installations and religious places, with a view to create an anti-Muslim atmosphere in the country (p. 277)

- Some of the so called ‘terrorist attacks’, wherein all the terrorist were killed, as in the case of Parliament or RSS headquarters in Nagpur, were suspected to be handiwork of the IB. Such cases should be inquired into by fact-finding committees (p. 290)

- Unless media is taken out of the Brahmins’ control, there is hardly anything which the government and judiciary can do (p. 294)

- TV channels knowingly promote the Brahminist ideology, demonise Muslims, foment communal trouble... (p. 295)

- Kasab’s following photograph (at CST station) taken either before or after incident by IB (p. 201)

Such is the laughable endeavour of those trying to give the RSS a bad name, to equate it with Islamic terror and instill fear and hatred regarding the organisation in the minds of ordinary citizens. But as the Bihar elections have shown, the ordinary Indian national has his/her own way of keeping informed about events and even the most persuasive media propaganda does not sway the public from a chosen path or deflect its considered opinions.

This is, therefore, an exercise in futility. I feel sorry for those who invest so much time and energy in such vacuous enterprises.

The writer is Hony. Director, India Policy Foundation, and Associate Professor, University of Delhi, Delhi;
his email is indiapolicy@gmail.com