New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday (October 1) claimed that several Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders including founder K.B. Hedgewar went to jail during India’s freedom struggle as he released a postage stamp and a Rs 100 commemorative coin to mark the organisation’s “glorious 100 year journey”.

The opposition on the other hand has said that no leader from the RSS ever went to jail during the freedom movement, terming the organisation as one that “divides the country”, while slamming the commemorative coin depicting Bharat Mata as “highly objectionable” for promoting the sectarian concept of a Hindu rashtra (nation).

Modi’s remarks praising the RSS's role in the freedom struggle comes a little over a month after he glorified the organisation in his Independence Day speech, calling it the “world’s largest NGO” and lauding it for its 100 years of service.

At an event in Delhi, Modi released the postage stamp and commemorative coin and said that it was for the “first time in the history of independent India the image of Bharat Mata has been featured on Indian currency which marks a moment of great pride and historical significance”.

The Rs 100 coin features the national emblem on one side and on the other includes an image of Bharat Mata alongside RSS workers who are shown bowing.

“The great objective of nation-building … the clear path of individual-building … a simple, vibrant methodology like a branch … This became the foundation of the Sangh's century-long journey,” said Modi.

“The Sangh has given countless sacrifices. But the sentiment remained the same – ‘Nation First’.”

Modi said that the RSS had fought against the British during the freedom movement while leaders like Hedgewar were also jailed.

“The Sangh has fought against the atrocities of the British. Their only interest has always been love towards the nation," Modi said.

“During the freedom struggle, we see how Dr Hedgewar and many Sangh workers actively participated in the movement for independence. Dr Hedgewar was imprisoned several times. The Sangh continued to support numerous freedom fighters, gave them shelter, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with them in their struggle,” he said.

Modi said that even after independence RSS workers faced attacks and “conspiracies” were hatched against the Sangh.

“It is not that the Sangh has never faced attacks. Nor is it that conspiracies have not been hatched against it. We have witnessed how, even after independence, attempts were made to crush the Sangh. Countless plots were designed to prevent it from entering the mainstream.

“Highly respected himself, Guruji [M.S. Golwalkar] was falsely implicated in a case and even sent to jail. Yet, when he came out, he said with calm wisdom: ‘At times, the tongue may get caught under the teeth, but we do not break teeth’,” said Modi.

‘RSS divides the country’

The opposition on the other hand said that RSS had sought to divide the country.

The “RSS, an organisation that divides the country: At the time of independence, its leaders neither went to jail nor were ever banned by the British,” said the Congress in a statement.

“During the ‘Quit India Movement’ launched against the British in 1942, when the entire country was going to jail, the RSS was helping the British suppress this movement.”

The party said that the Hindutva organisation created “a communal divide between Hindus and Muslims, split the country into two and hollowed it out,” the party said, adding that its hands were also “stained with the blood of Mahatma Gandhi”.

In a statement, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) too accused Modi of falsifying history with the postage stamp and coin.

“The release of a postage stamp and a 100 rupee coin by the Prime Minister to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the RSS is a grave injury and insult to the Constitution of India which the RSS has never accepted,” the CPI(M) politburo statement said.

“It is highly objectionable that an official coin should replicate the “Bharat Mata” image of a Hindu goddess promoted by the RSS as a symbol of its sectarian concept of a Hindutva Rashtra. The postage stamp showing uniformed RSS volunteers at the 1963 Republic Day parade too falsifies history.”

The CPI(M) said that Modi had sought to conceal and whitewash the “shameful role of the RSS which was not just distant from the freedom struggle but actually strengthened the British strategy of divide and rule, thus seeking to weaken the unity of the people of India which was a crucial component of the struggle against colonial rule”.

In a statement, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh said that historical records show the RSS had supported the British.

“The organisation began in 1925, during British rule, and historical records show that the RSS supported the British. During the Second World War, RSS leaders encouraged Indians to join the British Army and support colonial rule. These are truths that the people of India must know and reflect upon," he said.

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