By Team Onmanorama
Dhirenda K Jha, the author and journalist who has extensively researched Hindutva, gave a truncated demonstration of debunking popular narratives about the RSS during his session with Naresh Fernandes, the editor of Scroll.in at Manorama Hortus in Kochi on Friday. Fernandes was curious about the superhuman aura of RSS ideologue M S Golwalkar.
One of the narratives went like this. As a child, Golwalkar was a sharp boy with a prodigious memory, destined for greatness. He knew the Bible better than his British teacher. His thirst for knowledge was so insatiable that he went on writing an examination even after being bitten by a scorpion.
Jha didn’t blink and said, “A lot of lies have been told. He himself participated in the process of spreading lies. In fact, it was his failures which led him to the RSS,” said Jha.
According to Jha, RSS was born out of desperation. “When Savarkar was jailed in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, he became desperate to get out of jail. In his second last mercy petition, he said he could be useful to the British and that his enemy and theirs were the same. He was then shifted from the cellar. In his last petition, he elaborated on this idea. He was released later, and he began the process of establishing RSS,” said Jha.
This story was originally published in onmanorama.com. Read the full story here.
