The RSS has long presented itself as a cultural organisation devoted to the preservation and promotion of Hindu culture.
Very few would disagree that government employees ought to adhere to a code of conduct which ensures efficiency, impartiality, predictability, and professionalism. By restricting political activities and ensuring accountability, conduct rules for government officials help maintain the integrity and neutrality of public administration. By prohibiting political affiliations and activities, the conduct rules aim to ensure that government employees act impartially and are not influenced by a political belief that may override the requirement of rational-legal objectivity. This reduces the likelihood of arbitrary actions under the influence of a political ideology. A key feature of bureaucracy or officialdom is a well-defined organisational structure where each level has distinct responsibilities and authority. Most importantly, the chain of command is well-enunciated and anchored in constitutional principles.
Membership of an organisation like the RSS, which has expressed a lack of faith in the Constitution of India, criticised the tricolour and harboured delusional ideas about regional and global geopolitics, can be particularly disastrous. Despite the official restriction on government servants, it is a well-known fact that high officials and foot soldiers affiliated with the so-called cultural organisation exist everywhere in the Indian executive and judiciary. The RSS’s own hierarchical order and vast network make it behave like a shadow executive. This has been normalised in the mainstream media by hanging on to every word of the RSS supremo and civil society actors addressing RSS on issues of national importance.
Being the organisation that gave birth to a phenomenon called Nathuram Godse — I use the term “phenomenon” and not “individual” because to blame only an individual for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi would be to ignore the magnitude of this event — no dispensation should have allowed its rehabilitation in the public sphere. Let us not forget that the RSS was banned soon after Independence, for its role in the killing of the father of the nation, and on two other occasions — the national Emergency and the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Its activities have often led to a crisis for the republic. The common thread running through these incidents is that the organisation pledged allegiance to power and, in some cases, petitioned for mercy, even if it meant disavowing its ideology and apparatchiks.
The RSS has long presented itself as a cultural organisation devoted to the preservation and promotion of Hindu culture. However, a closer examination reveals its cynical and relentless pursuit of control over national politics, the bureaucracy, and the academic sphere.
The RSS keeps up the pretence of being a cultural organisation alongside the open claim to having cultivated and supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which now dominates Indian politics. The RSS’s involvement in political strategy, candidate selection, and policy formulation is well-documented. Its sway over the BJP ensures that its ideological goals — centred on Hindu nationalism — are pursued at the highest levels of government. The RSS has consistently harboured ambitions to direct the political future of India.
The recent order, allowing government employees to participate in RSS activities, is merely a diversionary tactic by the government to shift focus from the attack of an Opposition strengthened by the mandate of the people of India. However, we must reiterate the facts, as many times as needed, to counter the push to align bureaucratic operations with the RSS’s ideology, effectively seeking to create a parallel system of governance that adheres to the organisation’s principles rather than the Constitution.
This move undermines the autonomy of the state apparatus, which is supposed to function impartially and uphold the Constitution. Instead, government officials could well be pressured to follow the RSS line, compromising their professional integrity and the foundational principle of neutrality in public service. This subversion of bureaucratic independence for ideological gain is a direct attack on the constitutional framework that upholds Indian democracy.
Let me remind you that the RSS also seeks to exercise control over the academic and intellectual sphere. Efforts to rewrite history textbooks, influence curriculum design, and suppress dissenting voices in universities reflect a broader strategy to mould the intellectual landscape in accordance with its vision. Curiously, to encroach on academic freedom, the broader Sangh Parivar has sought to silence public intellectuals and academics by trying to bring them under the rules for bureaucracy and officialdom that otherwise did not apply to them. This assault on intellectual autonomy is equally if not more dangerous as it seeks to indoctrinate future generations and reshape the cultural and historical narrative of the nation.
The RSS’s strategy of on the one hand, loosening the rules of political engagement for the bureaucracy, while shackling intellectuals on the other, serves its broader agenda of subverting the Constitution. By compromising the independence of officialdom, it aims to create an administrative machinery that is subservient to its ideological goals. Simultaneously, by exerting control over academia, it seeks to ensure that intellectual and cultural discourse aligns with its vision of Hindu nationalism.
This pursuit of power and influence at the expense of constitutional principles and intellectual freedom is a grave threat to Indian democracy. It is imperative for citizens to recognise and challenge this duplicity, ensuring that the autonomy of the state and the intellectual community is preserved. Only by doing so can India remain true to its democratic ideals and continue to uphold the values of diversity, pluralism, and intellectual freedom.
The writer is Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Rashtriya Janata Dal
