The CPI-M dubs the entire exercise as to whitewash the shameful role of the RSS which strengthened the British strategy of divide and rule
NEW DELHI — The Centre’s decision to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with a special postage stamp and a ₹100 coin has triggered strong criticism, with opponents calling it a “grave insult” to the Constitution of India.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in a sharply worded statement said that the release of a postage stamp and a 100-rupee coin by the prime minister to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the RSS is a grave injury and insult to the Constitution of India which the RSS has never accepted. It is highly objectionable that an official coin should replicate the “Bharat Mata” image of a Hindu goddess promoted by the RSS as a symbol of its sectarian concept of a Hindutva Rashtra.
The party underlined that the postage stamp showing uniformed RSS volunteers at the 1963 Republic Day parade too falsifies history.
“This is based on the lie that Nehru invited the RSS to participate in the 1963 Republic Day parade as recognition of its patriotism during the Indo-China war when it has been shown through evidence that the 1963 republic day parade was essentially a huge gathering of more than one lakh citizens. The presence of uniformed RSS volunteers if at all, was unreported and incidental,” it added.
The CPI-M dubbed the entire exercise as to whitewash the shameful role of the RSS which was not just distant from the freedom struggle but actually strengthened the British strategy of divide and rule, thus seeking to weaken the unity of the people of India which was a crucial component of the struggle against colonial rule.
The history of independent India has seen the worst communal violence in which the role of the RSS has been detailed in numerous reports of official commissions of inquiry. Today it is the RSS and its Parivar who continue to target minority communities and also marginalised sections of society through the promotion of manuvadi ideologies, it further stated.
The left party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of misusing his position to appease the rabid communal organisation.
“This is the reality of the history of the RSS that the prime minister seeks to conceal, by misusing his position. In doing so, he has lowered the dignity of the constitutional position he holds.”
The controversy underscores deepening concerns that state power is being deployed to mainstream a sectarian vision of India, while concealing uncomfortable truths about the RSS’s history.
