RSS eulogises Kazi Nazrul as 'good Hindu'

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has found in Bangladesh’s national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam an epitome of a “good Hindu”, reports The Hindustan Times.

The revolutionary poet’s “nationalism”, which the Sangh says is reflected in his opposition to the British imperial rule in India and his efforts at uniting Hindus and Muslims, has earned him the epithet, the Indian newspaper said in a report on Sunday.

To honour the poet-laureate, the RSS is planning to mark his birth anniversary on 25 May in Indian state of West Bengal. It will also translate Nazrul’s works into all Indian languages, the Times said.

A Hindi translation of 39 poems by him is expected to hit the stands by the year end, according to the report.

“Being Hindu is not practising a religion, but a way of life. Kazi Nasrul practised Islam, yet he lived as a dedicated Hindu, fighting for Indian ethos and against the British,” RSS’s West Bengal unit secretary Jishnu Basu was quoted to have said.

The RSS, and its protege the BJP have been in conflict with the Trinamool government in West Bengal over what they allege is the “government’s vote bank policy”. While the TMC accuses the RSS and BJP of perpetrating anti-minority sentiments, the Sangh at a meeting of its highest decisionmaking body in March, passed a resolution expressing “grave concern” over “violence against Hindus” in the state.

Eulogising Nazrul, a Muslim as the “good Hindu”, is also an attempt to reposition the Sangh as an inclusive organisation not opposed to Muslims, but to the radicalised sections, the newspaper said.

In the past statements by RSS functionaries describing all Indians as Hindus have been criticised as an attempt to obliterate religious identities.

“Hinduism is not clearly understood by a lot of people. When the RSS says Hinduism it does not mean a communal school of thought that wants to throw out Muslims. I tell people Nazrul was a better Hindu because he was a nationalist,” Basu said.

On why the Sangh has chosen to co-opt Nazrul who passed away in Bangladesh in 1976, Sangh ideologue Rakesh Sinha said, “The Sangh puts Nazrul like former president Abdul Kalam on a pedestal, because he identified the bonds between philosophy, culture and spirituality. He was a revolutionary secular.”

Nazrul’s works capturing his rebellion against the colonial forces, his writings on Durga Puja and goddess Kali, will also be introduced to the Sangh affiliates, according to the report.

“We have been celebrating his memory by singing Nazrul geet (songs written and composed by him) at various events; this was also done on the 150th year celebrations of Swami Vivekananda,” Basu was quoted as saying.