The RSS: Icons of the Indian Right

by Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay

Ironically, although the construction of the Ram temple was the leitmotif of the RSS, VHP, and later the BJP, it was first brought into focus by a former Congress leader. In the early 1980s, Gulzarilal Nanda who had stewarded India twice after the demise of Nehru and Shastri, joined the VHP. In May 1983, he wrote a letter to Indira Gandhi demanding the restoration of temples in Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi. When there was no response from her office, the Organiser ‘took up the theme,’79 but fearing the charge of fomenting communal violence, it had treaded cautiously and said, ‘according to hearsay’, such a structure had existed in the past etc. What this proved was that the agitation around the Ram temple wasn’t even part of the RSS’ narrative either during Hedgewar’s tenure, or when Golwalkar was the sarsanghchalak. Later, when the building of the temple became the lynchpin of the Indian Right-wing, Balasaheb Deoras had recommended that an attempt be made to secure the support of the Congress party, much like his predecessor Golwalkar had done by seeking help from Sardar Patel and his group for rebuilding the Somnath temple. Both Deoras, and before him, Golwalkar knew well that despite the Congress’ secular credentials, a particular section in the party had always acknowledged that the idea of Hindu vulnerability was real, and could only be reversed by restoring temples which had been destroyed by ‘outsiders’. Therefore, Deoras’ concern that the Congress party may hijack...