What RSS chief's 'Muslims aren't outsiders' view really means

For as long as I remember, Muslims have had their Indianness and loyalty questioned (Muslim first? Or Indian first?) and these days they are openly called “Babur and Aurangzeb ki aulad”. But now in a significant intervention, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has chided Hindutva activists for treating Muslims as outsiders saying they were as much Indian — or "insiders" as he called them — as any other Indian."Some communities came from outside. We fought those who brought them. But the outsiders have gone. Everyone is an insider. So, forgetting the relations of the outsiders and even now those who may be under the influence of those outsiders, we must realise they are our own people and behave with them accordingly," he said while addressing a gathering of the Sangh Shiksha Varg (RSS' educational wing) in Nagpur recently.In a thinly veiled dig at vigilante politics, he urged party activists to "embrace dialogue instead of dispute" arguing that India's religious and cultural diversity was an asset which should be used to build national unity — not divide the country. "Our diversity is not a division but our unity," he said, urging "restraint in interpersonal interactions". Muslims are waryMuslims have sought to dismiss it as another of Bhagwat's interventions meant to soften the RSS image. But a dispassionate reading shows that it represents a marked departure from RSS' core theory about Muslims.It is perhaps the first time that a senior Hindutva figure has effectively questioned the "outsider" tag attached to Muslims by even moderate Hindu nationalists. He went on to assure Muslims that their identity was "secure" in India."The fear of losing one's identity and the baggage of the past often prevents us from uniting as a community,” he said.Muslim scepticism about Bhagwat's statement arises from a broader Muslim distrust of RSS leadership. They believe he knows how to sugar-coat the bitter pill his hawkish colleagues dish out to minorities.Judging him on his record, however, one is inclined to take a more charitable view — namely, that he sincerely believes in reducing Hindu-Muslim tensions and is prepared to stare down his internal critics. Over the past year, a number of his reconciliatory interventions, including the Gyanvapi mosque dispute, have been shrugged off by the wider Sangh parivar. But he ploughs on.Bhagwat, Madhav not on the same page?His Nagpur speech was an important one coming from the head of an organisation that is at the heart of the hard-edged Hindutva movement. Its conciliatory tone was in sharp contrast to the harsh rhetoric of his colleagues, including moderate leaders like Ram Madhav who once told me how keen he was to reach out to Muslims and wanted Muslims like me to help out. But, lately, his tone has hardened. In an interview to The Print last year, he insisted that the starting point for any attempt at reconciliation was for Muslims to abandon three key Islamic concepts — "kafir", "ummah" and "jihad". They were hindering the assimilation of Muslims into Indian society at large, he claimed.Watch: Muslims must abandon kafir, ummah and jihad mediumhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiCVzb7IN58&t"The concept of ummah which means, ‘we are a separate nation, because we are Muslims’. They have to give this up. They have to stop believing in the whole concept of kafir. According to them, non-Muslims are kafir, or sinners. In day-to-day parlance, nobody is a kafir. They have to stop using that. And then they have to sacrifice their way of jihad. If it is jihad, it has to be internal. Many Muslim scholars say ‘jihad has to be internal’. Jihad does not mean you kill people of other religions,” Madhav said. I am not a religious man but even the average devout Muslim doesn't get up every morning thinking of conspiring with ummah to harass kafirs or wage jihad against non-Muslims. Just as I am sure the average Hindu doesn't start the day plotting to harm Muslims. To conflate the actions of extremist groups whether Muslim or Hindu with their religion's teachings is simply misleading. ShowBlurbsAnd it's not Madhav alone who has hardened his line. There are other previously moderate leaders — Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan (so mild he earned the sobriquet "mamaji"), the once-cosmopolitan Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma — who have become hawkish amid a scramble to imitate Uttar Pradesh's strong man Yogi Adityanath. It is in this palpably partisan context that Bhagwat's emollient remarks assume significance. But the problem is that it is Madhav et al — not Bhagwat — who appear to represent the dominant opinion in RSS. Going by the recent chain of events Bhagwat is ploughing a lonely furrow. Bhagwat has been a consistent voice against Hindutva excesses. He initiated a RSS-Muslim dialogue last year, but it has stalled because those he entrusted with the task of taking it forward have shown little interest. Since the initiative was launched last August amid much optimism only two rounds have been held. The last was held in January with Indresh Kumar, Ram Lal and Krishna Gopal.Not reaching out to MuslimsNearly six months later, there is no indication when, if at all, the next round would be held. Meanwhile, RSS' powerful general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale has clarified that there has been "no outreach from the Sangh". "The initiative is from that side. If someone wants to meet us, we will meet. We meet Muslims, we meet Christians, we meet foreigners," he clarified when queried by the media on the progress of the dialogue weeks after the last round. medium101106325His remarks have been interpreted as a snub to Bhagwat revealing the RSS chief's isolation over the issue. Unless, of course, it is a deliberate good cop, bad cop double act to confuse people. But either way, it doesn't portend well for Hindu-Muslim relations, especially as the populist urge to whip up sectarian passions is likely to become irresistible in an election season with the general election barely months away. Fasten your seat belts, stormy weather is ahead.Read more from the author here