Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien said that PM Modi was trying to surpass Sarsanghchalak MS Golwalkar. Derek’s statement came a day after Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar praised RSS in the House.
TMC leader Derek said in a post on X, “Modi is trying to outdo RSS’s Golwalkar” and alongwith shared a post of Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who also criticized the RSS.
The TMC MP mentioned in an article shared on his personal blog that “Seven out of 10 ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government come from the Sangh Parivar. Four out of 10 governors are former pracharaks and volunteers of RSS and its affiliates. Chief Ministers and deputy chief ministers in eight out of 12 BJP-ruled states are swayamsevaks. Many officials, trained and subscribing to the Sangh ideology, currently work under various union public services.”
Sainik schools run by RSS supporters
In the same article shared on his personal blog, he wrote, “Nearly 90 years since, six out of 10 agreements to run Sainik School have been awarded to RSS sympathizers or allied organizations. Two of these are run by a Sangh stalwart who was among the 68 people accused by the 2009 Liberhan Commission of leading the country “to the brink of communal discord.” The Sangh-affiliated Bhonsala Military School, run by Central Hindu Military Education Society (which allegedly trained persons accused in the Nanded and Malegaon blasts) has also been approved to operate a Sainik school.
He also said that six out of 10 agreements to run Sainik schools have been given to RSS supporters or affiliate organizations.”
RSS has been providing paramilitary training
Highlighting RSS cadres undergoing paramilatry training, he wrote “An answer to a question in the Rajya Sabha showed that the RSS has been providing paramilitary training. The RSS chief has publicly admitted that the Sangh is capable of raising its own military force (even faster than the state’s own forces). In 2016, the offspring of the RSS, the Bajrang Dal, was charged with conducting “mock drills” with rifles.
B S Moonje, a former Hindu Mahasabha leader, in 1935 in his ‘Preface to the Scheme of the Central Hindu Military Society and its Military School’, wrote: “This training is meant for qualifying and fitting our boys for the game of killing masses of men with the ambition of winning victory with the best possible casualties of dead and wounded while causing the utmost possible harm to the adversary.”
RSS distanced itself from freedom struggle
O’Brien further said the RSS distanced itself from India’s freedom struggle and in the 1930s, when Mahatma Gandhi began the Dandi March or Salt Satyagraha, RSS founder KB Hedgewar declared that the organization would not participate. The RSS has been banned thrice by the Indian government since independence.
During Question Hour in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Ramji Lal Suman of the Samajwadi Party (SP) said the RSS affiliation was the criterion for government in selection of head of National Testing Agency (NTA). At this point, Dhankhar had ordered expunging of the comment.
RSS has full constitutional right to participate in Vikas Yatra
Rajya Sabha Chairman Dhankhar said in Rajya Sabha, “I maintain that the RSS is an organization which has full constitutional right to participate in Vikas Yatra of this country. The credibility of this organization is impeccable, it consists of people who are committed to serving the country selflessly.’
Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge had defended Suman, saying that if a member was speaking under the rules and was not violating any rule, then he should not be stopped from making his statement. What Suman said was correct and what Dhankhar was doing was not right, he added.
Will not allow targeting of an organization doing national service: Dhankhar
Rajya Sabha Chairman Dhankar said that Kharge had indicated that the Chairman could intervene if rules were violated. He said, ‘I agree with this. The member was not violating the rules, he was trampling on the Constitution of India. I will not allow any member to target an organization that is doing national service. This is a violation of the Constitution.’ He further said that Suman’s statement was a violation of fundamental rights and the Constitution.
