The River Sutra

The River Sutra
T V R Shenoy

Give a dog a bad name and hang him!'' Today, I would like to amend it just a bit -- change ``hang'' to ``drown'', and you have a perfect analogy for what happened on the banks of the Ganga and the Sabarmati recently. I refer to the protests staged by the Congress in Gujarat and by assorted groups in Varanasi. Frankly, I find it hard to judge which was more ridiculous.

Let me begin with the events on the Sabarmati. On the third of January, the Government of Gujarat withdrew an old order which had stated that membership of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) was barred to public servants. Please note that nobody said that government servants must join the RSS, nor even that it was advisable to do so; no, the Gujarat ministry simply threw out an outdated (and legally untenable) provision.

In 1573, the newly-conquered Mughal province of Gujarat rose in revolt. When this news reached the emperor, it took an aroused Akbar just 11 days to march from Fatehpur Sikri to Ahmedabad and crush the rebellion. SoniaGandhi, that latter-day would-be Mughal, obviously possesses poorer communication facilities. (Or perhaps she isn't in command of her troops as the great Mughal was?) She did not react to the news from Gujarat until the 30th of January a good 27 days later!

Let us be charitable and assume the lady was waiting for Bapu's blessings on Martyrdom Day. But what precisely was Sonia Maino Gandhi complaining about? Flying off to Ahmedabad, she urged a wafer-thin audience to ``fight communalism''. She failed to explain, however, precisely which ``communal'' act her troops were supposed to battle. Was she urging them to fight for reimposition of the ban? If so, she demonstrated a remarkably poor grasp of Indian history.

In the days of the Raj, government service was banned to members of the Congress. After Independence, associating with the Communist Party of India was taboo, and certain states extended that ban on the RSS as well. (A proscription on the organisation after Mahatma Gandhi's murder was lifted withina year for lack of proof of any complicity; as Sardar Patel himself wrote to Nehru, ``It emerges clearly from these statements that the RSS was not involved in it at all.'')

I wrote above that such prohibitions have no legal validity, let me now explain why. Thirty-four years ago, a man who had been placed high Number 14 on the merit list for appointment to the subordinate judiciary was passed over. He was rejected on the ground that he was an RSS volunteer. He appealed for justice to the Mysore High Court.

``We are put to the necessity,'' said their lordships, ``of examining the material that has been placed before the court regarding the aims, objects, and activities of the RSS'' necessary because it was his association with that organisation that had led to the plaintiff being passed over. And what conclusion did the judges reach after sifting through all the evidence?

Permit me to quote from the judgment delivered on the fifth of July, 1966: ``The RSS is a non-political organisation without anyhatred or ill-will towards non-Hindus; many eminent and respected persons in the country have not hesitated to preside over its functions or appreciate the work of its volunteers.'' In 34 years no Congress government, whether at the federal or state level, has challenged that ruling in the courts.

They would have got little satisfaction if they had anyway. The Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Gujarat High Court are on record as approving of the ruling. And on subsequent occasions other high courts have disapproved of dismissing government servants on the ground that they were associated with the RSS. In other words, the law of the land is very clear -- no government has the right to tell its employees that membership of the RSS is banned to them.

Actually, it didn't really require a court judgment, no matter how gratifying, to underline the fact that the RSS was persona gratis. Let me go back to that passage by the Mysore High Court, where the judges speak of ``eminent and respected persons'' whopresided over its functions or otherwise participated in its activities. This, please remember, was in 1966 and their lordships might well have had in mind something that happened at the Republic Day parade just a few years earlier.

This took place just two months after the Indo-China War, at a time when Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister. The RSS was invited, certainly with Pandit Nehru's approval, to participate in the parade, a very high honour indeed. (It bagged the first prize for marching!)

Later still, in 1964, Jaisukhlal Haathi, who was then minister of state for home affairs, gave the RSS a clean chit while speaking for the government in the Rajya Sabha. (Sonia Gandhi might be interested to know that he was a Gujarati.) This was in pointed contrast to Prime Minister Shastri's comment in the Lok Sabha that the Communists had no business making rude remarks about split personalities, given that they couldn't decide whether it was China or India that had committed an aggression.

Where doesthis leave Sonia Gandhi? The courts have clearly, and repeatedly, stated that RSS membership is no disqualification. Pandit Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi did not challenge that position. Are we expected to believe Sonia Gandhi is wiser than them?

Ignorance of the law and of history might be pardonable, but surely her own common sense should have told Sonia Gandhi not to be so silly. Think about it if the prime minister, the Union home minister and for that matter the chief minister of Gujarat can be full-blown members of the RSS, on what grounds do you prevent a government servant?

Speaking of common sense, it was as uncommon in Varanasi as in 10 Janpath. I don't know if Deepa Mehta misrepresented facts; the point is that the mob which wrecked her set was equally ignorant. The mob was acting on mere rumours -- which is stupid. And in trying to pull the plug on a film before it was shot, it was attacking freedom of expression -- which is dangerous.Shrill cries of ``Secularism in danger!''on the Sabarmati. Howls of ``Hinduism in danger!'' on the Ganga. What a ghastly beginning to the year!