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From The Editor In Chief
The
ironies of history. Seventy-five years ago, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh was founded by a group that thought of itself as a moral force.
For decades it waited for its political wings, first the Jan Sangh and
then the BJP, to come to power and change the world, or at least the country.
Now the BJP heads a government but the RSS, far from being the power behind
the throne, is the in-house opposition party. Just when the Government
thinks all is going swimmingly, up pops the RSS with some hobby horse
or the other. It has a sense of economics that died with the Soviet Union.
The market is vile, multinationals are downright horrid. In addition,
it has raked up bizarre issues like the "swadeshikaran" (Indianisation)
of churches and asking Muslims to acknowledge their Hindu origins. All
quite unnecessary.
 Over
the past week, 60,000 swayamsevaks gathered in Agra to celebrate the RSS'
platinum jubilee. If the sight of old men in khaki shorts was, as always,
a trifle bemusing, the discourse bordering on economic isolationism and
religious intolerance caused more concern. Our team of Senior Editor S.
Prasannarajan and Associate Editor Farzand Ahmed travelled to witness
the conference, which Prasannarajan, who wrote his story in a style that
is not quite standard political reportage, calls "a mix of cowdung
capitalism and Hindu paranoia".
The RSS is
entitled to its views but the problem is that it makes an impact on governments
it is associated with. In 1979, the Morarji Desai regime fell on the issue
of Janata MPs' dual membership of the RSS. Now the RSS is giving even
the prime minister, a self-declared swayamsevak, a hard time. With its
immense manpower, the RSS could render enormous service if it took its
role of a "cultural organisation" seriously. It has performed
yeoman service in providing relief after natural calamities yet its thrust
is negative. Over two decades we have carried 11 articles on the RSS.
In 1979, we published our first cover story on it: "Waiting for Direction".
After 21 years, it has found a direction but unfortunately the world seems
headed in the opposite one.
(Aroon
Purie)
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CII’s
conference on Friday on corporate governance is called Independent Directors:
Why, How and Who. Why Not, How Not and Who Not, would have been better,
says INDIA TODAY Associate Editor, V Shankar Aiyar