Being a Right Wing Nationalist.

Traditions and culture. Heavy words, aren't they? 

Every 7 out of 10 fellow country men feel traditions and culture are important but most often fail to be good ambassadors for taking it forward.It was just the other day,when one of my colleague from France put across a question about the "Ratha-Yatra" which takes place in Odisha. Pat comes a reply from one of the Indian colleague, "All I know about it is that a lot of people die there due to stampedes". I was disappointed. My dear colleague just lost a wonderful opportunity to present one of the glorious traditions followed by lakhs of Hindu devotees. 

The above was just an example. Most of you might disagree with me saying, no, it was situational and individual-centric and I might not very well argue against it. You may be right, but at least for me, I have come across several instances where I felt my country was let down by our own nationals.

The point here is, how many of you find yourself in a position to present a strong case-study about one of the tradition followed in your country when asked by a foreigner? Are you well verse with the nitty-gritties of the event which associates themselves with the traditions? Most would say, "No". Well I'm not boasting about me being an expert in explaining our culture, but having said that I ensure about having at least a certain amount of knowledge where a non-Indian cannot put me off using his half cooked information acquired by Internet research.

This is not what I intent to present in this blog though. With full respect to all the seculars out here in this forum, I feel, you are not doing a good service to our country. Every attempt by a right wing nationalist is portrayed as an act which demeans the status quo of our society.Whats wrong with an RSS or a VHP spreading Hinduism? Every religion does it, so why cannot Hinduism be given its right to spread further? Most of the times, their tools for propogation are the culture, tradition and way of life of our beloved country.

Mahatma Gandhi in the year 1934 once said, “When I visited the RSS Camp, I was very much surprised by your discipline and absence of untouchablity.” RSS and VHP are indeed our strong fundamental building blocks which is the sole reason why Hinduism is still afloat and spreading across the world. Seldom does the secular parties credit them with noble words. Most often than not, they are accused of spreading communal disharmony and religious violence. I feel the very reason why secular parties survive on the very divide between religions. They are the first to highlight the differences in opinions which until snowballed to controversies, hardly matter to the sects involved. 

It is not surprising that the great Congress party which calls itself "most-secular" is in shambles. They do not have any road-map for their party neither a vision for the country. The lefts are reeling with lack of leadership and in fights. The Janata Dals are busy embracing their political rivals whom they were ready to kill until a few months back.

Everyone feels it was one man who single handedly brought BJP to power. While I love my prime minister from the bottom of my heart, I would disagree that he was the sole reason for the uprising. It was the efforts, planning, ground mobility, selfless devotion of thousands of sevaks which played a huge role in bringing back BJP to power. They are the true nationalists and proud ones too. Our country had almost lost its way in the last decade due to incessant mis-rule full of corruption. It took some real efforts and anger to throw them out of power. It becomes even more important to keep them away which I am pretty sure, the BJP is pretty well equipped to do so.

My effort with this blog is to bridge a gap between the selfless and hardworking sevaks and the fellow country men, who somehow fail to appreciate their mere existence. Below are some of the facts vs myths about the RSS quoted in the IBTL blog by the author Kiran KS:

Myth :RSS Killed Gandhi

Fact :Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. Godse had left RSS in 1930s itself. This has been reiterated countless number of times by RSS, and the recent one is from December 2010, when Ram Madhav of RSS claimed court records clearly showing RSS had nothing to do with Gandhi's murder. Justice Kapur Commission Report clearly says: Blaming RSS for Gandhi's murder just because Godse was a former member of RSS, is like blaming Congress for Muslim League's mass murder and atrocities during Partition, because Jinnah was a member of Congress earlier. Jinnah was a member of Congress party between 1906 and 1920. So someone who was a member of Congress for long 14 years, was instrumental in inciting Direct Action Day and other mass atrocities against Hindus, resulting in 1000s of deaths. Will today's Sonia Gandhi's Congress claim responsibility for all the wrong doings of Jinnah, including breaking up an age old civilization resulting in millions of deaths?

Myth : Sardar Patel disliked RSS

Fact : Sardar Patel had to take action in 1948 due to political pressure from "secular" Nehru and group. But when the ban on RSS was lifted, read Sardar's letters to Guruji, the RSS chief. Patel was the happiest man then! All the bans till date on RSS, including the ones after Sardar's death, are purely the hate that Congress party nurturers for RSS. 

Myth : RSS is anti national

Fact : RSS is the most nationalistic organization in India. In fact, even the most bitter enemy of RSS, Jawaharlal Nehru, invited RSS to come participate in the 1963 Republic day parade. 3500 Swayamsevaks marched on that day, in their typical Gana Vesha. During his final years, Nehru realized the patriotic pulse of RSS, that too only when his Congress party's foreign policy went seriously wrong resulting in a humiliating defeat at the hands of China. It was RSS that helped Indian soldiers and civilians greatly in 1962, for which even Nehru was forced to invite them to be a part of 1963 Republic Day parade. I am sure the icon of secularism, Nehru would not invite an anti national organization to march with Indian army during republic day. In fact, the so-called secular folks like members of Indian communist parties, were busy raising donations for India's enemy China during 1962 war!

Myth : RSS is fundamentalist

Fact : RSS is pro India, pro Hindutva. RSS' ideology says that there are only two kinds of Hindus in India. Those who are Hindu today and those who were Hindus yesterday. That makes every single human in India (and rest of Indian subcontinent), Hindus by culture, ancestry and tradition. That is the Hindut-va (Hindu essence). Tva in Sanskrit means characteristic, essence or hood - like Bhratrutva (brotherhood), Maatrutva (motherhood), Shatrutva (Enmity) and so on. RSS never preaches any religious doctrine using any sacred book with the eventual goal of converting everyone to that doctrine 100%. RSS does not believe in converting anyone to its "religion". So calling such organization fundamentalist is silly. If at all RSS has any fundamentals, it is that of calling India as Bharat, and treating her as the mother of every single human in Indian subcontinent. In fact, RSS supports uniform civil code in India, meaning one type of marriage/divorce/inheritance laws for ALL citizen, which is opposed by so called progressive parties like Communists and Congress!

Myth : RSS is fascist and a terrorist organization

Fact : When you show the long list of social service organizations that are a part of Sangh Parivar (family), the favourite line of Jihad supporters is that Jamat ud Da'wah also does social service. But they don't understand the basics that RSS does not preach violence in any of its shakha. It only teaches people to be proud of India's glorious 5000+ years culture and tradition. It teaches swayamsevaks (volunteers for the nation), self defence. Every human on this planet has the right to defend himself or herself. RSS never advocated for killing or converting "non-believers", like Jihadi terrorists or radical evangelicals do.

Myth : RSS is only for Hindu males

Fact : This is the favourite line of ignoramus feminists. There are two kinds of RSS setups. Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh for males, and Rastra Sevika Samiti for females. Both are thriving in India for decades. Both take out marches, celebrate India's heritage festivals and glorify India's national Hindutva icons. 

Myth : RSS is anti Muslim and RSS is anti Christian

Fact : RSS treats Muslims, Christians and everyone else in India, irrespective of caste and creed as cultural Hindus. Hindutva is an all encompassing ideology of RSS. This is the reason why RSS never has RSS Muslim shakha (daily assembly) or RSS Christian shakha. Anyone can become a member of RSS as long as they are ready to respect Bharat Mata (Mother India). RSS is against only those whose work against India's soverignty and heritage.

Myth : RSS only concerns with Hindus

Fact : RSS deals with all sections of Indian society. RSS is the first one in majority of natural disasters like 2004 TN Tsunami, 2001 Gujarat Earthquake, 2009 Karnataka-AP massive floods, 2013 Uttarakhand floods, or any rail/bus/building disasters. RSS volunteers are found from Jammu and Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, rushing to help every single natural disaster. 

The above are only few among the many facts which were misconstrued by the secular parties to divide India by religion. I am proud of being a right wing nationalist and will continue to spread awareness about the rich heritage, culture, traditions of my great country at every possible opportunity.

L’art de vivre - The art of living

Ok, I love the perks of my job. Of all the stress and pressure situations it puts me in, the opportunities to travel is something which I really cherish.

I loved France. Especially after having stayed in two Asian countries for substantial chunk of time, it was something really different.

It brimmed with good life and a special appreciation for culture,music,art,food and wine.

I was awed with the casual sophistication of the French people. They were matchless when it came to just anything which is suave and urbane.

Take cheese for example. For me it was just a yellow square of wrapped in plastic. I felt weird when it was offered to me as a desert in a project dinner event (for the most part of my life, I have different interpretation of desert). When I understood from my French colleagues, it was happy creation of a local artisan - which for me was the first invitation into l'art de vivre - The art of living.

From there on, my outlook towards each and every minute of my stay in France had become critical, not for anything, but to know and understand the French way of living.

Food - if I look at the food, I felt it is one of the great passions of French people. French cooking is highly refined and involves careful preparation, attention to detail, and the use of fresh ingredients. Oh! how can I forget the lamb made by the chef at a local restaurant. I never had a better cooked slice of lamb which melted instantaneously as I kept it in my mouth. As I inquired further, I learnt that the food varies by region and is heavily influenced by what is grown locally.

Living - for the French, the art of living is not just a pleasant expression, its a foundation for their life. With five weeks of paid vacation, plus every catholic holiday ever started, they have indeed become experts at living well.
Its no surprise, that France is home to past times like cafe-lounging and fine dining.

People - they are as polite as much they take pride in their language. A bonjour in the beginning and a merci at the end is sure to get you a pleasant smile. I was not that comfortable about cheek kissing though, thanks to my Hindu roots but nonetheless it was incredible how my entire office wished each other every day.

Wine - by the end of my stay I had become a huge fan of French wines. I had tasted Chilean and Chinese wines many times in the past but French wines are a class apart. No wonder they are considered one of the best wines in the world.
It echoed the French themselves - elegant, well-dressed and showing an appreciation for the good things in life. It went the best with food with a beautiful taste and and a well mannered spirit.

Music - this is where I felt, I ran out of time. But as they say, there is always a next time. This is one aspect, I have left it to learn more as I take forward my keen interest to know more about the French culture.

Being an ardent student of cultures, places, people and history it was a pleasure to experience this wonderful country. Au Revoir.