Veteran Congress leader Digvijay Singh has stirred up a storm in a teacup without any apparent reason. His tweet praising the RSS, saying that an ordinary worker in the RSS can reach the pinnacle of glory, with a reference to Narendra Modi, has sparked a debate that Congress should also focus on organisation building. The picture he has posted, in which Modi is sitting on the ground, along with the comment, has definitely sparked a discussion: if Congress has to regain its past glory, it has to imitate or copy the RSS style of organisation-building. I know this whole debate embarrasses the Congress leadership, especially Rahul Gandhi, and I am sure Rahul Gandhi will be mocked once again by the BJP and its leaders, but a few things need to be understood before passing judgement.

Let’s not forget that the RSS was started by K.B. Hedgewar with the idea of uniting Hindus to face the challenges of other religions. Hedgewar and others, in their diagnosis, had concluded that Hindus remained slaves first under Islam for 700 years and afterwards under Christianity till India got independence because they were never organised. It was the lack of organisation in the Hindu community that proved to be their biggest weakness and the reason for being ruled by other religions for such a long time. Therefore, Hedgewar created an institution whose basic ethos and lifeline is organisation, and if one removes this ethos of organisation, then the RSS is a big zero. Without........

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