From the mouths of babes and newbies, everything the RSS says is true

From the mouths of babes and newbies, everything the RSS says is true
ANURADHA NAGARAJ

AGRA, OCTOBER 14: It was during a regular biology class in a small school in Kosi three years ago that Saurabh Khandelwal's teacher first mentioned the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Saurabh, then 10 years old, and his classmates were told of the virtues of the RSS and asked to go to a local shakha. They went because they figured it was an assignment that would get them more marks.

Today, Saurabh falls in line with others at the ongoing RSS Mahashivir in Agra. Up at the crack of dawn, he spent the morning doing exercises, had a cold bath standing in line with other sevaks under outdoor showers, helped in serving breakfast to the swayamsevaks in his tent city and then heard a senior RSS member speak. He can't remember what was said, but rattles off a few sentences nevertheless.

``Basically, we were told that we should protect our country from forces that are working against it,'' he mutters. ``He spoke about internal and external threats and said we should be prepared to fight it.'' What about the organisation's ideology? ``I agree with everything they say.''

Post-lunch, while the older lot talk politics, the Ram Mandir and Vajpayee's knee, Saurabh wanders off with his classmates. Dragging their lathis behind them, they worm their way into a stall selling books. Thumbing through Nathuram Godse's autobiography, they look at the man behind the counter. ``The man who killed Mahatma Gandhi,'' he says crisply. One of Saurabh's friends pockets the book for Rs 3. They walk on, leaving behind 13-year-old Umesh Kumar Srivastava behind.

From Agra, Umesh is at the camp because his principal said so. ``He made an announcement in the assembly some days ago,'' he says. He knows as much about the RSS as does Saurabh. But 16-year-old Vivek Jain has graduated from being a lost boy at the shivirs to being a swayamsevak in command. ``Everything that is said by our leaders is true,'' he says authoritatively. ``Muslims don't think this is their country. It is not the same and only because they have changed.''

Jain is parroting what's written in the book Akhand Bharat aur Muslim Samasya. Being sold for just Rs 3.50, it talks about the Muslim community and its role in India. Muslims are different by nature and ``tend to change colours'', it says. Between stacks of books on the Gita, RSS philosophy and Indian culture are books on Akbar and why he wasn't that great after all. Plus, cheap copies of Taslima Nasreen.

With one more day at the camp, Saurabh is looking forward to returning home, while Jain wants to hear RSS chief K.C. Sudarshan and Home Minister L.K. Advani speak. Before he leaves, Jain says, ``Next time you meet Saurabh, he will be like me and all the other swayamsevaks. Take my word for it.''