SKM has released a leaflet – Why RSS is Angry with Farmers – as part of its campaign to Expose, Protest, Punish BJP, and to build a bigger movement on its demands. The leaflet appeals to all patriotic forces in India to come together to isolate and expose the divisive ideology of the RSS that spreads canards against the patriotic farmers’ movement – that sincerely builds people’s unity to fight the corporate loot, consistently brings the livelihood issues back in the national agenda and protects the secular, democratic India.

Groundxero | March 30, 2024

The RSS has used the term “disruptive forces” to characterise the farmers of Punjab and Haryana who are fighting against the corporatisation of agriculture, and demanding legal guarantee of MSP on all crops, waiver of farmer’s debt, etc. among other things. The controversial allegations against the farmers’ struggle were made by RSS General Secretary Dattatraya Hosabale, while presenting the annual report 2023-24 of the organization at the start of a three-day meeting of the All-India Pratinidhi Sabha, RSS’ highest decision-making body, on 15-17 March 2024 in Nagpur.

SKM accused the RSS of working as a political agent of the corporate interests and betraying the farmers and workers of India, and appealed  the people to rebuff the landlord-corporate arguments being broadcasted by RSS who’s ideology of establishing Hindu Rashtra – a theocratic state, is hostile to the idea of modern democratic nation state and challenges the secular democratic constitution of India.

The National Co-ordination committee (NCC) of SKM held its extended meeting at Rohtak today (30 March), and endorsed its clarion call given in the14 March Mahapanchayat at Ram Lila ground for opposing, exposing and punishing the BJP for the ruinous pro corporate policies and authoritarian drive.

The meeting decided to expand the Kisan Mazdoor unity by roping in other mass organisations and social outfits into its fold and involve them into the broadest possible platform making it a mass movement against destruction of livelihood, safeguarding social fabric and defending constitutional institutions. The meeting reiterated that SKM will oppose pro-corporate model of development; demand legal guarantee of MSP for all crops and debt relief to revive peoples’ economy.

SKM has also released a leaflet – Why RSS is Angry with Farmers – as part of its campaign to Expose, Protest, Punish BJP, and to build a bigger movement on its demands. SKM said that more leaflets, posters, video clips in vernacular will be released to distribute in all constituencies.

We publish below the  leaflet released by SKM.

SKM Leaflet: 28/03/2024

Expose, Protest, Punish BJP Series No-1

Why RSS is Angry with Farmers?

The General Secretary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Dattatreya Hosabale, has denigrated the farmers’ struggle by terming them “disruptive forces are behind the farm protests”. The report placed in the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha held on 15-17 March 2024, at Nagpur mentions – “the separatist terrorism in Punjab has raised its ugly head. Under the pretext of Farmers’ Agitation, especially in Punjab, attempts have been restarted to spread anarchy, just two months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.”

These gross allegations are without any substance, part of the corporate efforts to paint any dissent against the anti-farmer, anti-worker, pro-corporate policies of the Modi government as ‘anti-national’. Yes, the RSS along with the entire corporate forces that have tightened their grip over the political system of the country during the last ten ‘Modi years’ is annoyed with the farmers of India. But why is it so?

The major factor is the united farmer’s movement under the banner of SKM in coordination with the platforms of workers, students, youth, women etc. has been largely successful to bring back the livelihood issues of the people as the principal agenda in the Lok Sabha election 2024, replacing the “Ayodhya” narrative and other religious disputes being blended by the RSS-BJP combine.

The SKM-led incessant united movement of farmers of 2020-21 at Delhi borders actively backed by the workers across India had forced the Modi Govt. to repeal the pro-corporate 3 Farm Acts – as never before in the history of the Indian Parliament.

The Kisan Movement in India has an outstanding history of raising and fighting in the public interest by making supreme sacrifice. The farmers fought massively against the colonial-landlord regime along with workers, thus enabling all sections of the people to attain independence.

The contemporary farmers’ struggle against the corporate-communal nexus is valiantly resisting the corporate loot of the people especially farmers and workers thus, uniting the people.

Why is RSS Silent on Livelihood Issues? 

The RSS has declared to ensure 100% polling in the forthcoming general election but did not declare its stand on MSP@C2+50% for all crops for guaranteed procurement, loan waiver for farmers, minimum wage of Rs. 26000 per month to the workers and the 4 labour codes.

Under the Modi Raj, the MSP@A2+FL – 30% below the rate@C2+50% – is being paid but that too benefits only below 10% of the farmers. Though 1, 00,474 farmers committed suicide during 2014-22; the Modi Govt. did not waive a single rupee of the loan arrear of farmers. But they waived loan arrears worth Rs. 14.68 Lakh crore to the corporate companies.

As per the recent RBI data, the lowest daily wage to agricultural workers is in the range of Rs. 221 to Rs. 241 (well below the national average of Rs.349) being paid in the BJP ruled states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The brutal exploitation of farmers and workers and the acute agrarian crisis and unemployment are the real issues that need to be debated in the election. The RSS never demanded land reforms, distribution of land among the landless and poor, end landlordism and ensure minimum wage to workers.

Their annual resolution is silent on resolving the livelihood issues including price rise, farmers’ suicide, food security and poverty. The Old Pension Scheme (OPS) of Employees was abolished in 2003, by the then Prime Minister AB Vajpayee. The RSS always stood with the interests of the landlord – corporate classes.

By denigrating the farmers’ movement as ‘disruptive forces’, the RSS is serving as the political agent of the corporate interests- both domestic and foreign.

Divisive Ideology Caused Division of India   

The RSS efforts to demonise the farmers’ movement across India in general and the Punjab – the land of Jallianwala Bagh martyrs – in particular are a loyal continuum of its trajectory of collaborating with British imperialism and denigrating the greatest anti-imperialist martyrs. In 1931, when the entire country was up on the streets condemning the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, the RSS were busy denouncing them. The RSS which couldn’t produce a single freedom fighter worth the name opted to belittle the immense sacrifices of these revolutionaries as “failure”, as clearly demonstrated in MS Golwalkar’s book – the “Bunch of Thoughts”.

The RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha – the predecessor of the present-day BJP – did not take part, rather accused the anti-British freedom struggle based on territorial integration as ‘reactionary’ and held the revered freedom fighters as ‘enemies of the country’. As per its narration, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh and other freedom fighters as well as martyrs were all ‘reactionaries’ and ‘enemies of the country’. Will such a proposition be acceptable for the people of modern India?

It was V D Savarkar, the Hindu Mahasabha leader, who mooted the theory of religion-based nationalism and raised first the demand for partition of the country by blindly denying the cosmopolitan history of the people of India.

The divisive and communal ideology of the RSS had originated from the British Imperialist strategy of ‘divide and rule’ and consistently instigated communal polarization in colonial India. That triggered the painful tragedy of the brutal bloodshed and separation of the two major linguistic nationalities of India – Punjab and Bengal.

Both the Hindu and the Muslim communal forces by playing in the hands of the colonial rulers fanned animosity among the people resulting in the division of the country – India and Pakistan.

History cannot forgive RSS as well as its Muslim counterparts for the forced division of the Indian people resulted in extensive bloodshed, huge loss of life, atrocities on women and children and the still haunting pain for generations. Unfortunately, even after 77 years, the RSS did not learn a lesson and still spread venom of intolerance and religious hate.

The ideology of Hindu Rashtra – theocratic state – is hostile to the idea of the Modern Democratic Secular Nation State. The struggle for Independence was fought by the people of all religions. The RSS had betrayed it thus; the ideology of RSS is undeniably anti-national. That is why the father of the Nation – Mahatma Gandhi, who himself proclaimed to be a “Sanatani Hindu”, was totally determined to stand against dividing the people and the country in the name of religion and made the supreme sacrifice to protect the secular India. 

The various official inquiry commission reports have identified the nefarious role of the RSS in inciting communal riots. This very reason had led to its ban in 1948 after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and in 1992 after the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The role played by the Sangh Parivar functionaries in the 2002 Gujarat genocide and many communal riots is well documented.

The divisive politics of the RSS rooted in the landlord- corporate class interests could only yield eternal communal tension, riots and bloodshed. How Israel, a theocratic state backed by the Imperialist forces founded on the erroneous idea of ‘majoritaraianism’ has become a peril to world peace and colossal human tragedy is an example.   

When the secular and democratic Constitution of India is in danger, upholding the pluralistic culture of India, unites the people of India as well as developing long-term friendship and permanent peace with the people of the nations in the neighbourhood are the supreme obligation of the two main producing classes – farmers and workers.

Why the RSS Silent on “Swadeshi Economic Policy” 

The divisive ideology of the RSS is closely aligned with international finance capital and big business that devastate the livelihood of the people of India. CIA Agent JA Curran, who enjoyed unusual access to the top brass of RSS from 1949 to 1951, in his book had identified RSS as a tool that would help the imperialist block led by the USA to contain the militant peasant and workers’ movement in independent India.

Now, the RSS is silent on its ‘Swadeshi Economic Policy’. During the last ten years, the Modi regime –under the grip of the RSS was succumbing to the WTO dictates and opening the agriculture, allied sectors and services by signing many Free Trade Agreements that endanger the food security and self-reliance of the people.

The RSS is behind the large-scale privatisation of the public sector units including Air India, Railways, Banks and Insurance sectors, casualization of labour and handover of natural resources including large tracts of land, forest and mineral resources to the corporate forces – both domestic and foreign. The decisive role of the RSS in the privatisation had been vindicated when Mr. Ratan Tata visited Nagpur; subsequently Air India was handed over to TATA group. By demonising the farmers’ movement, the RSS is proving its loyalty towards the imperialist – corporate forces in their project to devour Indian agriculture, industry and the economy as a whole.

Now, the largest corruption scandal India has ever seen becomes public under the duress of the Supreme Court in the form of Electoral Bonds thus, exposing BJP as the fountainhead of corruption. The RSS is equally responsible for the corruption since BJP essentially is its political arm and most of the BJP leadership including the Prime Minister primarily belongs to RSS.

PM Modi has emerged as the dictator – hunting the opposition leaders – even chief ministers, putting them in jails without trial. The RSS – that had the experience of its top leaders like Vajpayee and LK Adwani imprisoned during the entire Emergency period – is silent on the murder of democracy.

All patriotic forces in India shall come together to isolate and expose the divisive  ideology of the RSS that spreads canards against the patriotic farmers’ movement – that sincerely builds people’s unity to fight the corporate loot, consistently brings the livelihood issues back in the national agenda and protects the secular, democratic India.

Issued by: Media Cell | Samyukta Kisan Morcha

Contact – samyuktkisanmorcha@gmail.com

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