Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s Stand on Nationalism
- The ‘Swadeshi Samaj’ Essay – Facts vs RSS Claims
- Why Tagore Opposed the Concept of the Nation-State
- Mohan Bhagwat’s Statement and Historical Distortion
- RSS, Fascism, and the Politics of Appropria
- Tagore’s Vision for India – Beyond Narrow Nationalism
- Internationalism, Human Values, and India’s Role
Protecting the Integrity of Tagore’s Thought
On Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s 84th death anniversary, revisiting his rejection of nationalism and exposing RSS’s distortion of his ideas
Today on the occasion of Gurudev's 84th death anniversary.
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| Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore |
Rabindranath Tagore and his concept of nation/state
There is a famous story of a demon named Bhasmasur in the Puranas. Whoever he placed his hand on would turn into ashes. Nowadays, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has taken the form of the same Bhasmasur. It has started placing its hand on the heads of our national leaders. From Swami Vivekananda to Yogi Arvind, Ramakrishna Paramhans, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Mahatma Gandhi, all have come under its influence and now it is the turn of Tagore.
Present Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, while introducing his Bhasmasur form in Sagar Sangh camp of Madhya Pradesh, said that "Rabindranath Tagore has given the concept of Hindu Rashtra and called for its creation in his book titled 'Swadeshi Samaj' (Marathi daily Loksatta, Nagpur, dated 20.01.2015 issue)
First of all, there is no book named 'Swadeshi Samaj', rather it is an essay of 30 pages. Tagore wrote this essay as a comment on the water problem of Bengal immediately after the partition of Bengal (1905). He did not support Hindu Rashtra anywhere in it. He said in it that "when Aryans invaded India, how the local castes here assimilated them. Later Muslims came. They were also accepted in the same way. He has highlighted this specialty of this land in this essay. The important thing is that Tagore has always criticized the concept of Nation State. He has said that 'it is purely a gift of Europe'.
In his 1917 essay named 'Nationalism in India', he has clearly written that "the political and economic organizational basis of nationalism is only a mechanical effort to increase production and achieve more prosperity by saving human labor.
The concept of nationalism has been used primarily to increase the prosperity and political power of the nation by taking advantage of advertising and other means. This concept of increasing power has created an environment of mutual animosity, hatred and fear among nations and has made human life unstable and insecure. This is a direct play with life, because this power of nationalism is used to control the internal situation of the nation along with external relations. In such a situation, it is natural for control over society to increase. As a result, the nation dominates the society and the personal life of the individual. And acquires a frightening controlling form.
Rabindranath Tagore has criticized nationalism on this basis. He has considered the idea of nation to be such an organized form of public selfishness in which not even a trace of humanity and selfhood remains. The effort to gain control over weak and unorganized neighboring states is the natural outcome of nationalism. The imperialism born out of this ultimately becomes the destroyer of humanity. There is no control on the increase in the power of the nation, there is no limit to its expansion. The seeds of destruction of humanity are present in this uncontrolled power.
When the mutual conflict between nations takes the form of a global war, everything is destroyed in its destructiveness. This is not the path of construction, but the path of destruction. This original thought of Rabindranath Tagore, which highlights how the concept of nationalism creates animosity and selfishness among different human communities on the basis of power, is an invaluable contribution to the entire world. And the Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Mohan Bhagwat, is trying to destroy him by calling him a supporter of Hindu nationalism.
Nationalism cannot be an option for India: Rabindranath Tagore has said that "Nationalism is almost non-existent in India. In fact, nationalism like that of Europe cannot flourish in India. Because if those who follow conservatism in social work talk about nationalism, then how will nationalism spread? Some nationalist thinkers of that time considered Switzerland (which is established as a nation despite being multilingual and multiethnic) as an exemplary model for India. But Rabindranath Tagore was of the opinion that there are a lot of differences and dissimilarities between Switzerland and India. There is no racial discrimination among people there. And they interact with each other. And they intermarry. Because they consider themselves to be of the same blood.
But in India, the right to birth is not equal. Due to racial diversity and mutual discrimination, it seems difficult to establish the kind of political unity in India that is very necessary for any nation. Tagore believes that Indians have become timid and cowardly due to the fear of being ostracized by society. Where there is no freedom even in food, political freedom will mean the control of a few people over everyone. This will only give birth to an autocratic state. And the life of those who oppose or have differences in political life will become difficult. Should we sacrifice our moral freedom for such nominal freedom?
In opposition to narrow nationalism, he further writes that the narrowness born of nationalism is an obstacle in the path of man's natural freedom and spiritual development. He considers nationalism to be war-mongering and anti-social. Because the uncontrolled use of state power in the name of nationalism gives rise to many crimes. He never accepted the dedication of a person to the nation. Human massacre in the name of the nation and the running of human organizations were intolerable to him. In his opinion, the biggest danger of nationalism is that man's tolerance and the sense of altruism born of morality in him will end due to the selfish policy of the nation. Making such an unnatural and inhuman idea the basis of political life will only lead to destruction. That is why Tagore insisted on rejecting the concept of nation not only for India, but at the global level. He was also critical of the political freedom aspect of India's nationalist movement, because he believed that India cannot gain power from it. He believed that India should adopt an international outlook, leaving behind the narrow concept of nation. Even if India is economically backward, it should not be backward in human values. Even a poor India can guide the world and achieve the ideal of human unity. India's past history proves that India has successfully propagated spiritual consciousness without worrying about material prosperity.
Society versus the State
Tagore criticizes nationalism because it gives more importance to society than the state and considers it more important in human development. He considered fascists as the symbol of the madness of nationalism. Before the advent of fascism, nationalism was associated with economic expansionism and colonialism. After the First World War, due to the increasing power of the state, nationalism was highly appreciated by the state. Benito Mussolini (Italian dictator) said that the nation does not create the state, but the nation is created by the state.
The concept of nationalism, which became a supporting concept in the political era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was cultural in its origin. Before this idea came into vogue, Western countries had a more global outlook and due to this reason nationalism remained dormant there. But the promotion of regionalism gradually changed the situation. Mechanization created a new environment. Traditional values began to be eliminated and the threads of unity of the human community began to disintegrate. The rise of Hindu nationalism and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in India has to be seen and understood in this context.
After the second Round Table Conference (1931), senior Hindu Mahasabha leader Dr. Dharamvir Munje went straight to Italy, where he travelled to many places and closely studied the schools, colleges and training institutes of the Nazi organisations. 13 pages of Dr. Munje's diary (which is available as a micro film in Nehru Memorial) reveal that he inspected the Military College and the Fascist Academy of Physical Education there from 15 March to 24 March 1931. He studied this for the training of the RSS which was started in Nagpur, Maharashtra in 1925. And before leaving Italy, he met Benito Musolino and highly praised these programmes going on in Italy.
The shape that he gave to RSS after meeting Dr. Hedgewar is the result of today's RSS. It runs the Bhonsala Military Schools in Nagpur and Nashik. After that, the Sangh is showing its strength today by forming various organizations in every field of life.
Rabindranath Tagore criticized this last aspect of nationalism, which shows brutality, morbidity and separatism. He considers nationalism as an organized collective form of power, and shows the exploitative side of the state. According to him, in the West, neat and compacted lumps of humanity were created by the national machine of commerce and politics.
RSS keeps advocating this concept in the name of nationalism from time to time. Under the same policy, its leaders keep distorting the words of national leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Ravindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar for their propaganda.
Rabindranath Tagore had advised India to stay away from the nationalism of the West.
According to him, for international cooperation it was necessary that India stay away from this Western nationalist poison. He used to say that Westernism is a dam that prevents their civilization from flowing towards nationless countries. He considered India a nationless country. Because India was a country of different races. And India had to maintain coordination among these races.
There was no problem of coordination of races in front of the countries of Europe. Hence, by drinking the wine of nationalism, they were creating a danger to their spiritual and psychological unity. According to them, in future, the western countries will either close their doors for the foreigners or make them their slaves again. This can be the solution to their race problem. It is clear that this cannot be an option for India.
The three main grounds for criticism of nationalism which Rabindranath Tagore presented were-
- 1. Aggressive policy of the nation-state,
- 2. The ideology of competitive mercantilism, and
- 3. Speciesism.
Tagore was a strong critic of fascists. Comparing fascism and communism, he called fascism intolerable despotism. He considered the position of fascists to be the most despicable. Because in that system everything is controlled.
Today, RSS has been doing this work in India for a long time. After the BJP government came to power in the centre in May 2014, the enthusiasm of the Sangh Parivar has increased. That is why they have started singing different songs at a fast pace, from the construction of Ram temple to Article 370, NRC, love jihad, hijab, cow slaughter ban, Ramzade-Haramzade to Ghar Wapsi, Ek Desh Ek Bhasha.
From saints of the poor like Mother Teresa to attacks on churches, riots and presenting quotes of various national leaders in a distorted manner to propagate their Hindutva has become their strategy. In the same sequence, the current head of the Sangh is repeatedly trying to make Rabindranath Tagore a supporter of Hindu Rashtra and insulting him.
RSS has earlier tried unsuccessfully to present Vivekananda in a similar way in a distorted manner. Swamiji was a world class thinker. But the Sangh has reduced his stature by binding him in the narrow confines of Hindutva and molding him into a Hindu Monk or Sadhu. Vivekananda was the most famous in the whole world. In his speech at the World Religion Conference in Chicago, he had said that the word (Exclusion) should not be there in any civilized language of the world. And the foundation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is based on the word (Exclusion). And that is why their political unit BJP has been continuously excluding people from the 140 crore people of India through NRC and SIR for the last eleven years.
Resorting to lies, presenting things in a distorted manner is part of the Sangh's strategy. It is not me who says this, but Acharya Vinoba Bhave himself says this. After Gandhiji's assassination, a discussion meeting was held in Sevagram from 11 March to 15 March 1948, in which Vinobaji, while presenting his views, said in clear words, "I belong to the same province in which RSS was born. I have left my caste but I cannot forget that I belong to the same caste, Nathuram Godse, who killed Gandhiji. And he was a member of the same organization, which was established by a Brahmin of Maharashtra, Dr. Hedgewar. After his death, the person who has become the Sarsanghchalak today, Mr. Golwalkar, is also a Maharashtrian Brahmin. Most of its preachers, whether they work in Punjab, Madras, Bengal or anywhere in North India, are mostly Maharashtrian Brahmins. This organization has been spread on such a large scale with great efficiency. Its roots are very deep. This organization is a true fascist type of organization.
In this, mainly the intelligence of Maharashtra has been used. All its officials and directors have mostly been Maharashtrians and Brahmins. People of this organization do not take others into confidence. Gandhiji's rule was of truth. It seems that their rule should be of untruth. This untruth is a part of their technique, their system and their philosophy.
In a religious newspaper, I read an article or speech of the Sarsanghchalak of their organization, Mr. Golwalkar, in which he wrote that the best ideal of Hindu religion is Arjun. He had love and respect for his teachers and loved ones. But as a part of his duty, he killed them after bowing to them humbly. The one who can commit such a murder is a person of steady wisdom. Those people worship the Gita no less than me. And they must be reading the Gita with as much devotion as I do. If a man can kill his respected teachers and loved ones, then he is a person of steady wisdom. This is the meaning of their Gita. Poor Gita. It is used in every way. It means that this is not just a group of rioters, it is also a group of philosophers. They have their own philosophy, their own technique.
From the Gita to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore's essay 'Swadeshi Samaj', interpreting it in one's own way and propagating it is part of the same technique which the Sangh has gradually developed since 1925. On October 2, this year, on the occasion of Dussehra, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is completing 100 years of its establishment.
Due to Rabindranath Tagore receiving the Nobel Prize in 1913, he got the opportunity to travel around the world. During the same trip, he had sharply criticized nationalism in his visit to Japan in 1917. At that time Japan was suffering from the fever of nationalism. That is why Tagore had to return from Japan without giving a speech. Mohan Bhagwat is calling such a Tagore a supporter of Hindu nation. Vinoba ji has absolutely rightly said that "This is a group of philosophers, who have their own special technique. They are experts in presenting everything from Gita to Rabindranath Tagore, Vivekananda to Gandhi and Nehru, Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose Dr. Ambedkar in their own way. That is why I have started this article with the story of Bhasmasur from the Puranas. Humble greetings on the 84th death anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.
Dr. Suresh Khairnar,
7 August 2025, Nagpur
