Skip to main content

From opposition to endorsement: The RSS and the tricolour

By Shamsul Islam 
The RSS-BJP government had called upon citizens to unfurl the Tricolour on the eve of India’s 79th Independence Day. In several BJP-ruled states, it has been made mandatory for madrasas to do so.
Ironically, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has historically expressed reservations about the Tricolour. On August 14, 1947, the RSS’s English weekly Organiser wrote:
“The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour but it will never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.”
In the decades after independence, the organisation’s stance did not change. In his essay Drifting and Drifting, later published in the RSS publication Bunch of Thoughts, the organisation’s second chief, M.S. Golwalkar, stated:
“Our leaders have set up a new flag for our country. Why did they do so? It is just a case of drifting and imitating…. Ours is an ancient and great nation with a glorious past. Then, had we no flag of our own? Had we no national emblem at all these thousands of years? Undoubtedly we had. Then why this utter void, this utter vacuum in our minds?”
(Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu, Bangalore, 1996, pp. 237–238)
This text continues to appear in the latest edition of Bunch of Thoughts, printed in 2022. There has been no public withdrawal or modification of these statements by the RSS.
While the organisation now publicly supports the display of the national flag, its earlier documented positions have been a point of discussion among historians, political observers, and critics. These contrasting phases — past opposition to the Tricolour and present-day promotion of it — continue to fuel debate about the RSS’s evolving relationship with national symbols.
---
*Links to Shamsul Islam’s writings and video interviews/debates:  
http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam;  Facebook: https://facebook.com/shamsul.islam.33;   Twitter: @shamsforjustice; http://shamsforpeace.blogspot.com/.
Link for procuring Shamsul Islam’s books:  
https://tinyurl.com/shams-books

Comments

Post a Comment

NOTE: Hateful, abusive comments won't be published. -- Editor

TRENDING

An open letter to PM: Before you forgive, ask for forgiveness

By Martin Macwan*  Respected Prime Minister,  The first step toward true forgiveness is asking for it, and it is out of respect for the Constitution that the title "Honourable" is used for the office of the Prime Minister. Every abuse is "dirty" because almost all abuse is uttered with the conscious intention of publicly humiliating a woman, much like the disrobing of Draupadi in the royal court. This includes remarks like "Jersey Cow," used at public meetings on the Gujarati land of Gandhi and Sardar; comparing a female MP's laughter in India's Parliament to "Surpanakha's laugh"; and using a vulgar address like "Didi O Didi" for a Chief Minister who holds a respected position in a democracy—along with every other such remark. In the 79-year history of independent India, you are better placed than anyone to say which Prime Minister has used such language against women.
3 comments
»

A fearless spirit lost: Rebecca Thomson dies at 17-hour Catalina Swim Mark

By Harsh Thakor  On July 26, 2020, Rebecca “Becky” Thomson suffered cardiac arrest while attempting the Catalina Channel Swim — a marathon open water crossing from Catalina Island to the California mainland. After swimming for 17 hours, Thomson collapsed in the water. Despite the painstaking efforts of emergency responders and the medical staff at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, she succumbed to a devastating hypoxic brain injury and died Friday evening.
Post a Comment
»

Bihar’s land at ₹1 per acre for Adani sparks outrage, NAPM calls it crony capitalism

By A Representative   The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has strongly condemned the Bihar government’s decision to lease 1,050 acres of land in Pirpainti, Bhagalpur district, to Adani Power for a 2,400 MW coal-based thermal power project. 
Post a Comment
»