68th anniversary of Indian constitution: when nation celebrated its adoption, RSS mourned it

An amazing fact about the Indian Constitution adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India (CA) on November 26, 1949 is that out of the 35 constitutional polities born after World War II, India is the only country which survives with its Constitution. All other countries fell prey to totalitarianism, civil war or military takeover. It is not that the Indian democracy was smooth sailing, the constitutional structure had no infirmities and Indian polity was able to do justice to the have nots but it is here that a Constitution based on liberal democracy and secularism continues to survive. Its emphasis on all-inclusive polity assuring social, political and economic justice was, in fact, continuation of the anti-imperialist legacy.

It took 2 years, 11 months and 18 days of hard work after which CA adopted the Constitution on 26 November, 1949 and the 284 members signed the document when it was drizzling outside. It was also decided that the whole Constitution would be enforced on January 26, 1950 to be celebrated as Republic Day. This great accomplishment was celebrated not only in India but the world over. In almost all parts of India, there were jubilant scenes celebrating the occasion.

However, there was a significant exception. The Hindutva camp, led by RSS, which had consciously denigrated anti-British freedom struggle, mourned this historic achievement. Three days after the CA passed Constitution the RSS English organ, The Organiser, on November 30, 1949, in an editorial, rejected it and demanded Manusmriti as constitution. It read:

“BUT IN OUR CONSTITUTION, THERE IS NO MENTION OF THE UNIQUE CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN ANCIENT BHARAT. MANU’S LAWS WERE WRITTEN LONG BEFORE LYCURGUS OF SPARTA OR SOLON OF PERSIA. TO THIS DAY HIS LAWS AS ENUNCIATED IN THE MANUSMRITI EXCITE THE ADMIRATION OF THE WORLD AND ELICIT SPONTANEOUS OBEDIENCE AND CONFORMITY. BUT TO OUR CONSTITUTIONAL PUNDITS THAT MEANS NOTHING”.

Even after Independence, RSS kept on denigrating the Constitution of India. MS Golwalkar, guru to most of the present Hindutva rulers including our PM and the most prominent ideologue of the RSS, rejected in totality the Indian Constitution in the following words:

“OUR CONSTITUTION TOO IS JUST A CUMBERSOME AND HETEROGENEOUS PIECING TOGETHER OF VARIOUS ARTICLES FROM VARIOUS CONSTITUTIONS OF WESTERN COUNTRIES. IT HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WHICH CAN BE CALLED OUR OWN. IS THERE A SINGLE WORD OF REFERENCE IN ITS GUIDING PRINCIPLES AS TO WHAT OUR NATIONAL MISSION IS AND WHAT OUR KEYNOTE IN LIFE IS?”

This hatred towards democratic-secular Indian Constitution is overflowing in the everyday prarthana (prayer) of RSS which worships Hindu Rashtra and pledges to accomplish a Hindu state. It reads:

“AFFECTIONATE MOTHERLAND, I ETERNALLY BOW TO YOU/O LAND OF HINDUS, YOU HAVE REARED ME IN COMFORT/O SACRED LAND, THE GREAT CREATOR OF GOOD, MAY THIS BODY OF MINE BE DEDICATED TO YOU/I AGAIN AND AGAIN BOW BEFORE YOU/O GOD ALMIGHTY, WE THE INTEGRAL PART OF THE HINDU RASHTRA SALUTE YOU IN REVERENCE/FOR YOUR CAUSE HAVE WE GIRDED UP OUR LOINS/GIVE US YOUR BLESSINGS FOR ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT."

Importantly, the RSS organ The Organiser in its issue on the very eve of Independence, dated 14 August, 1947, rejected the whole concept of a composite nation (under the editorial title ‘Whither’):

“LET US NO LONGER ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE INFLUENCED BY FALSE NOTIONS OF NATIONHOOD. MUCH OF THE MENTAL CONFUSION AND THE PRESENT AND FUTURE TROUBLES CAN BE REMOVED BY THE READY RECOGNITION OF THE SIMPLE FACT THAT IN HINDUSTHAN ONLY THE HINDUS FORM THE NATION AND THE NATIONAL STRUCTURE MUST BE BUILT ON THAT SAFE AND SOUND FOUNDATION. THE NATION ITSELF MUST BE BUILT UP OF HINDUS, ON HINDU TRADITIONS, CULTURE, IDEAS AND ASPIRATIONS”.

RSS not only decried the democratic-secular Indian polity but all those symbols which represented an all-inclusive India. It was ruthless in denigrating the Tricolour. On the eve of Independence, The Organiser, in its issue dated August 14, 1947, rejected this choice in the following harsh words:

“THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE COME TO POWER BY THE KICK OF FATE MAY GIVE IN OUR HANDS THE TRICOLOUR BUT IT WILL NEVER BE RESPECTED AND OWNED BY HINDUS. THE WORD THREE IS IN ITSELF AN EVIL, AND A FLAG HAVING THREE COLOURS WILL CERTAINLY PRODUCE A VERY BAD PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT AND IS INJURIOUS TO A COUNTRY.”¬

If RSS is dead against the democratic-secular Constitution of India and all symbols related to it, then question arises that why RSS cadres like PM Modi and many of his colleagues are celebrating the 68th anniversary of Indian Constitution. As masters of doublespeak, these Hindutva rulers are buying time and waiting for an opportune moment to strike from within. In the last three and half years, they have been destroying democratic institutions of Indian polity one by one, just waiting to demolish democratic-secular Indian polity as a whole. This plan was outlined by Guru Golwalkar long back in 1940. Golwalkar while delivering a speech before the 1350 top level cadres of the RSS at Resham Bagh, RSS headquarters in 1940, declared:

“RSS inspired by one flag, one leader and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva in each and every corner of this great land”.

All those who are concerned about the future of democratic-secular Indian polity must come together to resist the anti-national agenda of the RSS. The Indian Constitution today faces most critical challenge to its existence. The Hindutva rulers are openly declaring that they would overthrow the democratic-secular Indian Constitution. It is first time in the history of independent India that a cultural nationalist leader like Narendra Modi is our PM.

All patriotic Indians should unite to smash the Hindutva conspiracy to destroy a historic democratic-secular polity, the only one which survives out of the nations born after the World War II.