In line with its ethos of selfless service, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has once again joined at the frontlines during the Coronavirus outbreak. An affiliated trust of the RSS- the Bharathi Seva Sangam (BSS), is working in close co-operation, and collaboration with the Greater Chennai Corporation providing food to the needy sections of the society across all 15 zones in face of the ongoing lockdown.
The BSS has set up a helpline number for senior citizens- 044-35893020 and has received a total of 280 calls till now, with a number of requests including medicines, groceries and food. But this doesn’t seem to have gone down well with the Dravidian nationalists who have started a vile propaganda against the RSS, and soon a manufactured, sponsored hashtag “#ChennaiCorpRemoveRSS” was trended on Twitter.
Those sponsoring this hashtag are actually spewing venom and directing hatred against the RSS for its relief work and reaching out to the needy sections of the society. Twitter handles on this hashtag can be seen making some of the most outrageous insinuations against the RSS for no real reason.
From alleging “moral policing” to saying that the RSS doesn’t have any right to be in Tamil Nadu to calling it the “murderers of Mahatma Gandhi” and even raking up Dravidian Nationalism, some of the most bigoted tweets have been made under this hashtag.
The real issue is not that the RSS is providing relief work, but it is the insecurities of the Dravidian nationalists that are coming to haunt them amidst all the philanthropic work being done by the RSS.
We don't want RSS to do such moral policing in Tamilnadu.
dont give them access to our homes
#ChennaiCorpRemoveRSS pic.twitter.com/KnsdwpjQAC— Erode Lukman Hakkim (@sdpilukman) April 14, 2020
https://twitter.com/ramasamyJP/status/1250221399920140289
https://twitter.com/cheirosum/status/1250131102921945088
It is the same tribe that had remained quiet when the Tablighi Jamaat was wreaking havoc in Tamil Nadu. Today, the Dravidian chauvinists are directing hate against RSS, but they didn’t have the spine to speak up against the Tablighi Jamaat whose misadventures have left 1,204 people infected in the state.
In fact, some of the first Tablighi Jamaat preachers tested positive in Tamil Nadu only, and the state has also been one of the worst affected given that 1,500 residents from Tamil Nadu had travelled to the Tablighi Jamaat gathering at the Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid in the Nizamuddin area of South Delhi, which was attended by 8,000 people.
All the 1,500 Tablighi preachers hailing from Tamil Nadu returned to the state, causing a sudden spike in the number of cases, but those who are spewing venom against the RSS today didn’t write a single tweet against the Tablighi Jamaat, leave alone the question of trending a hashtag against the fundamentalist Islamic organisation.
And, how could they? Speaking against the RSS entails no consequences, you can spew venom against it and go unscathed, but showing any bravado against the Tablighi Jamaat- an organisation with terror links across the globe can lead to dire consequences.
A man in Prayagraj learnt this the hard way when he was shot down in broad daylight for criticising the Tablighi Jamaat for spreading the Coronavirus. This doesn’t happen when you speak up against the RSS, and that is why the Dravidian nationalists dare to run a hashtag against the RSS for its relief work, but turn a blind eye when Tablighi Jamaat engulfs the state with the COVID-19 outbreak.
The RSS itself has been doing a lot of philanthropic and altruistic work, even as its cadres who have presence across the country have reached out to the needy right from the Northeast to Gujarat, and from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu.
100 kitchens across Tamilnadu!
RSS's Seva Bharti along with Rajasthani Sangh, feeds 200,000 poor people a day across Tamilnadu as #COVID relief
30,000 face masks, 12,000 pairs of hand gloves, 1500 grocery kits & food to 11,000 in Chennai, on daily basis!
No mention in MSM! pic.twitter.com/7llAySDZJ8
— Ethirajan Srinivasan 🇮🇳🚩(Modi Ka Parivaar) (@Ethirajans) April 12, 2020
In fact, such has been the benevolence of RSS that cuts across religion, region, language and caste, that a Muslim woman from Jammu and Kashmir donated her savings of Rs 5 lakh, meant for the Hajj pilgrimage, to a sister organization of RSS named ‘Sewa Bharati’. Tamil Nadu is no exception, and it is entirely absurd that when the political rivals, like the Dravidian chauvinists do not find anything against the RSS they start running a senseless, bigoted hashtag against the Sangh even for carrying out relief work in times of a Pandemic.