By Pranoti Chirmuley
‘Bharatmate chya viraanna, 1857 chya swatyantra samaraatlya krantikaryanna na apan shraddhanjali deyu ya…’ read the board put up at the entrance to our lane. It was the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s appeal to people in Girgaon to come together to remember and felicitate the martyrs of the revolution of 1857.
I wondered who would attend such an event. Girgaon is, or used to be till at least a decade ago, a typical Maharashtrian and upper caste Hindu locality in Mumbai. The RSS shakhas or local units here no longer functioned with the same zeal as in the past because a large number of those who went to these shakhas - the Maharashtrianaudience - have moved away to the suburbs or other cities. But I was wrong.
When I was eight or nine years old, my mother would send me early in the morning to buy bread, or milk and I would see several men in their 40s and 50s, in khaki shorts and black caps, rushing to the nearest shakha for their daily exercise session (kavayat). When I walked the streets of Girgaon with my parents, we would often spot a man with a black cap (the particular stiff black cap that shakha-going men wore) and my parents would point him out and say that man was a shakhawala, and when I asked them what that meant, they would tell me that he was special. I never understood what that meant.
As children we heard a lot about the shakhas. When I visited my relatives in Pune, I would find my aunt and my cousins going daily to the shakha. I used to wonder what they did there every day. Because I came from a city like Mumbai, which was seen as a metropolis that lacked a ‘culture’ (which meant following age-old norms and practices), my relatives would evade answering my queries. I used to get this feeling that they were speaking a very different lingo, their ideas about the roles of men and women too were different. Once, when we were all watching the movie Black Friday, there were scenes of some Muslim men being interrogated and tortured and I heard comments like “these Muslim men deserve it”, which I found quite disturbing. It was especially disturbing to see young people being pulled into this hate politics. I was not able to find an answer to what it is that makes people follow and/or believe in such fundamentalist ideologies. So, I thought, why not start with the RSS which many of my family members so diligently followed.
I did my M Phil dissertation on the history of the RSS, and I did find answers to many of the questions that had puzzled me as a child. I now know who these men in khaki shorts and black caps are. And today I also know why my parents used to look upon these men with awe: it was for their discipline and unity that many Maharashtrians uphold even today.
Back to the present, and May 10, 2008, the anniversary of the 1857 uprising that was being advertised in our neighbourhood. One of my cousins, who attended a shakha, called round at the end of the day and I asked him what sort of day he had had. He told me that he had got up at 4.30 am because he was so excited about the day ahead. With some of his shakha friends, he sat with the local newspaper vendors to insert pamphlets into all the newspapers inviting the public to attend the 151st celebration of 1857. He repeatedly described it as a thrilling experience. At the end of the day, he attended the shakha celebration. All his friends went out for chai and sandwiches that night.
While everyone has the right to his ideas and beliefs, I am concerned that many young people don't understand the significance of major historical events and those who do, learn of it through an organisation that is known for promoting religious hatred. I don’t justify forms of Muslim fundamentalism or its moral policing either. Any ideology or group that wants to convert people into speaking about and spreading hatred for other communities needs to be condemned.
Two of my concerns and worries that I want to share here are, first, that I have this feeling that the youth of today don’t understand the importance of the war of 1857; some have never heard of it. It has become just a fact in history textbooks, or is discussed and debated only in academic circles. Second, was my cousin’s elation at commemorating the martyrs of 1857. Sometimes referred to as the first Indian war for freedom, or the first Indian war of independence, it is an important event in our history because it was actually one of the very first consolidated efforts to shake the British government. However another, equally important, point about it is that it continues to be the greatest example of Hindu-Muslim unity to fight a common enemy. Maybe the RSS has forgotten this crucial point - the unity of communities. So, even when the event is remembered and celebrated, it is not done in the right spirit.
So, what does one call this experience of my cousin’s? A joyous one or a disturbing one? It is nice to know that a younger generation is keeping abreast of Indian history and celebrating key events. When I was my cousin’s age, I did not think about or keep track of these events. On the other hand, the mentors of these young minds are those with a long history of anti-Muslim hatred, and moral-cultural policing.
What drives young people to join organisations like the RSS anyway? When I asked my cousin to tell me one thing that draws him into the activities of the shakha, he replied: “I get to serve people.”
I don’t quite see how one can serve the people or society if one is already biased to serve only particular religious communities and not all. I am also anxious about the youth of this country not knowing about their own history on the one hand, and on the other, if they learn it, it is in this manner. Can I put this anxiety to rest by saying that at least some youth speak of serving the people, the community at large, unlike hundreds of others who are least interested in such activities?
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