RSS Ideology of Social Unification without Discrimination

 

If one historically traces social ideology guiding Golwalkar and the Sangh, one can notice the deep impact of Brahmanical hegemony on them. Golwalkar has always believed in the idea of Varna system i.e. four fold division of the society. He had staunchly defended it and had called the tasks performed by these Varnas as “selfless service”. Terming caste discrimination as phenomenon attributed to the British rule, he wrote: “The feeling of inequality, of high and low, which has crept into the Varna system, is comparatively of recent origin. The perversion was given a further fillip by the scheming Britisher in line with his 'divide and rule' policy. But in its original form, the distinctions in that social order did not imply any discrimination such as big and small, high and low, among its constituents. On the other hand, the Gita tells us that the individual who does his assigned duties in life in a spirit of selfless service only worships God through such performance.”

AT the root of the malady of “untouchability” lies the belief among the common mass of people that it is part of dharma, and transgressing it would be a grave sin. This religious perversion is the chief reason why this pernicious practice has continued to stick to the popular mind till now in spite of dedicated efforts put in by a host of religious stalwarts and social reformers over centuries to eradicate this standing blot on Hindu society. But the blot remained. Even now the so-called higher castes refuse to treat the so-called untouchables as their equals. Papers have reported that in a village in Rajasthan a Harijan youth was beaten to death because he grew moustaches, which was supposed to be the prerogative of only the Kshatriya! Not did our dharmagurus condemn such practices because even they mistook the custom for Dharma.

This social evil draws its sustenance from a religious misconception suggests that the traditional mathadhipatis, who are looked upon by the people at large as the authentic spokesmen of Dharma, should come forward to set right this anti-religious practice. All the various sampradayas in the Hindu fold– the Shaiva, Veerashaiva, Madhwa, Vaishnava, Jaina, Buddha, Sikh – were represented in the conference of the Vishwa Hindu Sammelan at Udupi in 1969. A resolution calling upon the Hindu world to banish “untouchability” in all their religious and social affairs in accordance with the directive of the revered dharmagurus and acharyas, was passed unanimously. The historic directive reads as follows: “In pursuance of the objective that the entire Hindu society should be consolidated with the spirit of indivisible oneness and that there should be no disintegration in it because of tendencies and sentiments like ‘touchability’ and ‘untouchability’. The Hindus all over the world should maintain the spirit of unity and equality in their mutual intercourse.”