As the RSS enters its 100th year, the organisation’s chief Mohan Bhagwat’s Vijayadashami address was eagerly awaited but it failed to enthuse cadres or the general public. There was nothing new in the call for unity of Hindus and a warning against the ‘deep state’, ‘wokeism’ and ‘cultural Marxism’ that, he said, are threats to India’s cultural traditions. The RSS chief’s Dussehra speech is often critically analysed as it signifies the organisation’s stand on various sissues and outlines the Sangh Parivar’s vision and future direction. By extension it is a gauge of how the BJP that is ruling the country will move forward. In his speech Bhagwat dwelt on the attacks on Hindus in neighbouring Bangladesh in the wake of the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government. He praised Hindus in Bangladesh for uniting to protest the attacks against the community but called for Hindus the world over to raise their voice against what was happening to minorities in Bangladesh. It is indeed ironic that Bhagwat did not feel the need to berate the BJP government for turning a blind eye to the atrocities against minorities, particularly Muslims, in India. There have been no reactions to the repeated attacks and lynching of Muslims on the pretext of cow vigilantism. Not surprisingly, the Opposition hit back asking the RSS chief why he was backing the BJP which was spreading disunity in the country by its constant attempts at communal polarisation.
Bhagwat warned of inimical forces that were out to halt the advances made by India. In this context he called out wokeism and cultural Marxism as forces that attack a country’s culture and then infiltrate its educational institutions leading people to despise their own heritage. This was as clear an indictment as any against the so-called Left liberal culture that according to the RSS had overtaken the education system of the country. One of the organisation’s pet projects is the saffronisation of education whereby colonial heritage is given short shrift and India’s so-called golden age of the pre-Islamic invasions period is glorified. This attempt to erase history is slowly gaining ground and there may soon come a generation which will be unaware of certain periods of Indian history.
