After RSS was formed it went on creating many organizations steeped in its ideology of Hindutva or Hindu nationalism, a concept based on the Aryan race, Brahminical values and the land from Sindhu (Indus) to the seas. It has given birth to many organizations which are more than 100. Many other organizations have sprouted which may not be a formal part of Sangh Parivar, as known popularly, but are having the same ideology. These include many others like association of sadhus and sants outside the VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad), the cow vigilantes and those out to initiate violence at the drop of a hat in the name of Hinduism. It seems that by now many such aggressive organizations are spouting things which go much beyond what limits RSS wants to put on its followers.

For cow vigilantes Modi had said that murder in the name of cow is not acceptable, and just a few hours later a Muslim man was beaten to death. Apart from the phenomenon which is continuing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said on the occasion of Christmas that the "significance of love, harmony, and brotherhood are central to the teachings of Lord Christ." He also urged people to strengthen these values. 

Just a couple of days later vigilante groups and even Bajrang Dal groups attacked a person in Ahmedabad who had dressed as Santa Claus and was distributing Christmas gifts. A video went viral where two men dressed as Santa Claus being beaten up by hoodlums at the Kankaria Carnival in Ahmedabad. This probably is the first year where people dressed as Santa Claus are being attacked. The anti-Christian assault was just a continuation of the decades old propaganda against Christians that they are converting by force, fraud and allurement.

Already there were cases of carol singers being beaten up since the BJP came to power. Carol singing has been stopped in Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace, at the time of Christmas.  Bajrang Dal had also issued warnings to Hindus to stop attending Christmas parties. 

Ubiquity of hate 

Recently one also saw the claims on mosques in Sambhal and Varanasi, both in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly were built over temples and so these needed to be resurrected a la Babri Masjid style. Seeing the spate of such claims, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat  said that "we should not keep looking for Shivling under every mosque". It is amazing that the claim is made, and dispute created in Varanasi, PM Modi's parliamentary constituency, where a fountain looking structure is claimed to be a Shivling and demand for converting the mosque into a temple boosted. After the Sambhal claims, the violence followed.

Probably shaken by this and the feeling that the supreme leader of the supra political outfit felt it will bring loss of face for ‘RSS Combine’ he gave a moderating call, "The Ram Temple was about faith, and Hindus wanted it built. But raising disputes about new sites out of hate is unacceptable," he said. "Some people think they can become leaders of Hindus by creating new controversies. How is this allowed?"

And lo and behold most of the fringe organizations of Hindutva politics are coming out to oppose Bhagwat. One knows that RSS is a strict disciplinarian organization, and its members do not disobey the commands of its leader. So who are these Senas, Dharma Sansads springing up by a dozen and going against the appeal of Bhagwat? To cap it all, RSS's unofficial mouthpiece Organizer itself articulated the fringe elements’ demands and wrote that “Temple restorations are a quest for our identity" and to seek "civilizational justice".

How come the hate is so pervasive that it is crossing the limits set by its own leaders? Is it that the leaders like Prime Minister Modi want the actions leading to hate to continue as it strengthens their politics? If not then why are the perpetrators of violence enjoying impunity? Why does the whole system, from spreaders of hate speech, to those responsible for maintaining law and order, and even to some extent even the judiciary, have a soft corner for these criminal elements?

Challenging of authority

The phenomenon of Organiser opposing Bhagwat arouses curiosity. Is there a split within RSS on the issue? Is Bhagwat trying to talk peace and harmony while the editorial managers of Organiser feel that the path of hate and violence should be pursued to its logical end?

There is another aspect which needs to be understood. When such forces are unleashed for political benefits, initially the leaders congratulate themselves for the success of these actions in the electoral arena. Diverse elements spring up and as Bhagwat said some of them aspire for higher political position and influence. They are the ones nurturing their political roots which were sown by the same leaders. 

All the guilty of the dastardly crime of Babri demolition were given a ‘not guilty’ chit and the judge who did this for the communal politics got a plum job after his retirement. The Babri demolition process as a whole tells us that it was not just a case of spreading fake narratives of temple destructions and myths against Muslims. The result is for all to see where even the supreme authority of the RSS is being challenged. The likes of Bhagwat and Modi are seeing that the genie can be unleashed from the bottle, but to put it back is a task which is close to impossible. 

(The writer, a former IIT Bombay professor, is Chairman, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai. Views expressed are the author's own.)