Review of Ratan Sharda's Book: Conflict Resolution The RSS Way

A quote attributed to Winston Churchill often goes around on social media, "History is written by the victors." Although it is pretty easy to stick one's thoughts to a famous personality on the internet. But it still raises the question - if it is written by victors, what remains for the professional historians?

 

Dr. Ratan Sharda and Dr. Yashwant Pathak's book - Conflict Resolution the RSS Way - published in 2021 by Garuda Prakashan, is a stellar attempt where independent historians, outside the cozy card-carrying historians club, burnt night-lamps to chronicle history in a more academic way than most celebrated historians do today. They have done what actually should have been done by card-carrying historians - write true history. Interestingly, I, who came forward to write the review, am no historian either, but a scientist and strategy analyst. But this coming together of people from diverse professional backgrounds reiterates the yearning of Bharatiya janmanas to unravel our history and find Bharat's rightful place in the world. To that end, victors may write history, but the task to rewrite history is the responsibility of flag-bearers of truth.

 

The book I am reviewing here is a heavy chronicle at almost 1.5 lakh words. No, that is not a deterrent to reading it. Those who have seen the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (Sangh hereafter) closely and lived listening to its marvelous anecdotes and accounts will find the book a nostalgic revision. Those who have only heard mainstream opinions about the Sangh will find the book revealing. The numerous episodes in the book affirm the Sangh's constructive yet 'free from vanity' role in many momentous events that shaped modern Bharat.

 

The departure of the British Raj from the Indian subcontinent led to numerous conflicts, including the gruesome partition of the nation. To this day, India suffers from the sinister demarcations of international perimeters and internal regional margins. Since then, large tracts of our nation have used innate wisdom to develop competencies to make India what it is today - a rising superpower. However, there were some regions where the wounds deliberately and at times unwittingly caused by colonialists were left bleeding for a long time. The colonialists' idea was clear: these wounds can be turned gangrenous and exploited later as India progresses. The book chronicles the Sangh's stellar but less-known contributions in placating and healing these wounds. The book does wonderfully by way of extensively written chapters, each a book in itself, focusing on the conflicts and insurgencies triggered by supranational entities in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and North-Eastern India. Looking at the table of contents, the readers will obviously notice the authors have identified contemporary target regions of India's adversaries. This fabulous book is a testament to the realization increasingly dawning upon the Indian populace that history is not meant for textbooks only.

 

The regions of conflicts, the socio-economic dynamics subjected to the citizens living there, the actors interested in keeping the conflict raging have been vividly described with undeniable references. As a student of geostrategy, one can immediately notice the significance of these regions. The authors have beautifully brought out the obvious but seldom discussed fact that the Kashmir Valley is hardly 2000 km from Dubai and around 3000 km from Moscow. The chapters on India's North-East Region bring about the strategic significance of this region as a bridge between South, South-East, and East Asia. The book also highlights the lesser-known tribulations suffered by native people of NER due to intrusive actions of external players right since the British Raj. This is an important segment as modern textbooks have seldom taught us about the highly-forested and hilly regions about which contemporary textbooks have seldom taught us. The players' single-minded goal has been to create multiple nation-states from India based on the baleful idea of "One Race - One People - One Nation."

 

The book also discusses the various logistical instruments - banking, smuggling, media propaganda, governmental and non-governmental organizations - used by external players and their pawns in the conflict-prone regions. Although the information is tremendously enraging for any right-minded Indian, the names and heroic deeds of ordinary volunteers sprouting across the length of the book give a glimmer of hope. It reiterates the belief that India's Independence and post-Independence struggles are a collective effort of known and unknown heroes from all upbringing. The book pays homage to the countless Sangh pracharak who have traveled across the length and breadth of these conflict-prone regions, not thinking twice of their own well-being, with no guarantee of food or bed, and providing ground intelligence to the national and state governments. The Sangh has made sure that the tribal traditions and faiths are restored, thereby reversing the damages of imperialism and making these fragile regions stakeholders of the Indian government.

 

The book gives a Mariana-Trench-like in-depth into the colossal diversity of India. The number of societies and tribes, political groups, geographies, rivers, hills, mountains, heroes, anti-heroes mentioned in this book are the epitome of impeccable research. The book does not try to make a case for the Sangh. As a reader goes through the simply put chronicle, one only feels closer to the Sangh. The Sangh's ability to stress synthesis rather than anti-thesis is a lesson for all those groups who want to spread messages. The Sangh finds similarities and focuses on them rather than stress differences; this sets it apart from any other organisation of its dimensions. The Sangh is not dogmatic of this practice. It and its pracharak's live by it on any sunny, rainy, or wintery day in Bharatvarsha and across the globe. The book is a homage to the patriotic pracharak.

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