Here's everything you need to know about what RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale told journalists at a closed-door meeting in Tamil Nadu.
Published Aug 18, 2022 | 9:44 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 18, 2022 | 9:49 PM
An RSS event in Telangana in 2013. (Supplied)
The notoriously media-shy Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) seemed to tip its hand in Tamil Nadu at a closed-door interaction in Chennai with top journalists on Tuesday, 16 August.
The RSS, in an apparent attempt to “win over” the people of the state, may be looking to change its perception in Tamil Nadu. The outreach is said to have stemmed from that as well as the wish to appear more media-friendly.
Around 20 journalists and seven to 10 people from the RSS, including its general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, were present at the meeting, which went on for about two hours.
Hosabale started the meeting by talking about the RSS, its ideology, and its reach in different parts, of the country, among other things. The priority of the RSS, he is said to have told the journalists, was to “decolonise Indian minds”.
A journalist who attended the meeting told South First that the RSS was looking at expanding in the state.
“It currently has over 2,000 shakhas in Tamil Nadu. However, one shakha per mandal by 2025 is what they want to achieve,” the journalist said.
Shakha is the Hindi word for branch, and the RSS has these branches — Sangh shakhas — all over the country. It conducts most of its organisational works through these shakhas.
The speech by Hosabale was followed by a question-and-answer session, where journalists asked him about the RSS’ stand on topics and issues like majoritarianism, religious conversions and “ghar wapsi”, whether the organisation had become more assertive after the BJP came to power in the Centre in 2014, the RSS’ views of the Indian Constitution, and why the organisation hadn’t succeeded in penetrating Tamil Nadu, unlike in some North Indian states.
Speaking about Tamil Nadu specifically, Hosabale reportedly said that the RSS was facing challenges in growing stronger in the state due to the Dravidian movement and its impact on the people.
However, it was not just the RSS and the BJP that hadn’t been able to grow in Tamil Nadu, Hosabale told the journalists.
“If you say the RSS and the BJP have been rejected in the state, what about the Congress? The Congress is also a national party that hasn’t been able to expand in Tamil Nadu after a certain point. It is because of the Dravidian movement,” another journalist, who participated in the meeting told South First, quoted Hosabale as saying.
Speaking about social reformer Periyar, the RSS leader reportedly said that the RSS “respects him for his social work and reforms, but disagrees with his politics”.
Hosabale is said to have claimed: “Some people who were once staunch supporters of the Dravidian movement have been moving closer to the RSS.”
The RSS leader reportedly also spoke about Tamil Nadu having a spiritual bent of mind, and that the organisation supported the “Free Temples” campaign.
“You cannot discriminate against one religion. It is not the business of a secular government to control temples… Why is it that they don’t touch other religious institutions?” an editor who was present at the meeting quoted Hosabale as asking.
He also purportedly said that though the RSS believes everyone should have equal rights, the minority communities enjoy more privileges than the majority community.
To back his views, Hosabale reportedly used the example of educational institutions run by the majority and minority communities.
“While educational institutions run by the majority community have to follow the reservation rule, the minority educational institutions don’t have to do it,” he was quoted as saying.
While emphasizing that the RSS respected the Indian Constitution, Hosabale reportedly said that the main task of the organisation was the “character-building of every individual” and “organising the society” to make sure that everyone “cooperates and coordinates”.
