The Marathi newspaper gave considerable space to the political reforms carried out by Mussolini, in particular the substitution of the election of the members of Parliament with their nomination and the replacement of parliament itself with the Great Council of Fascism. Mussolini%u2019s idea was the opposite of that of democracy and it was expressed by the dictator%u2019s principle, according to which %u2018one man%u2019s government is more useful and more binding%u2019 for the nation than the democratic institutions.
Is all this not reminiscent of the principle of %u2018obedience to one leader%u2019 (%u2018ek chalak anuvartitva%u2019) followed by the RSS?
Finally, a long article of August 13, 1929, %u2018Italy and the Young Generations%u2019, stated that the Italian young generations had succeeded the old one to lead the country. That had resulted in the %u2018fast ascent of Italy in every field%u2019. The article went on to describe at length the organisation of the Italian society according to fascist models. The principal reasons of the discipline of the Italian youths were strong religious feelings, widespread among the population, attachment to the family, and the respect of traditional values: no divorce, no singles, no right to vote for women, whose only duty was to sit at home, by the fireplace. The article focussed then on the fascist youth organisations, the Balilla and the Avanguardisti.
One can easily come to the conclusion that, by the late 1920s, the fascist regime and Mussolini had considerable popularity in Maharashtra. The aspect of fascism which appealed most to Hindu nationalists were, of course, both the militarisations of society and what was seen as real transformation of society, exemplified by the shift from chaos to order. The anti%u2013democratic system was considered as a positive alternative to democracy which was seen as a typically British value.
