Appendix D
Sewa Bharati: Hindu Consolidation at Any Cost
Sewa Bharati, like Sewa International described in the previous
Appendix, is a Sangh organization involved in the work of consolidating
Hindu communities. As described in the previous Appendix, Sewa
Bharati’s efforts also use development/service as a cover
to consolidate communities at the margin of mainstream Hinduism
into a politicized field of Hindutva and also to intimidate and
convert Muslim and Christian minorities to “Hinduism.”
D. 1 Sewa Bharati and Sewa International
Accordingly, this Appendix will remain brief with the sole intent
of establishing the similarity of the work. Probably the most
coherent way of understanding the links between Sewa Bharati and
Sewa International is to think of them as complimentary to each
other in terms of geographical spread and replicating each other’s
projects in substantial terms. Historically, Sewa Bharati is an
older institution set up with the objective of using the structure
of service/development to spread Hindutva. As the diasporic connection
became more important within RSS’s internal organization,
Sewa International was started with an initial intent of coordinating
foreign funds to Sewa operations within India and also to undertake
necessary Sewa activity within diasporic communities. However,
this distinction has not been strictly held in place with Sewa
International also operating directly in India.
D. 2 Sewa Bharati as a Sangh Organization
The RSS recognizes Sewa Bharati as one of its key organizations.[114]
Sewa Bharati functions as an umbrella organization for many different
projects and has many branches all over the country. Its range
of operations extends from urban slums to tribal areas, purportedly
for welfare/development functions. However, as in the case of
Sewa International, this claim is easily proven to be false. In
the book, ‘RSS: A Vision in Action’[115]
, H.V.Sheshadri, a former general secretary of the RSS, recounts
many examples of Sewa Bharati involved in conducting Hindu religious
functions in slums, teaching and conducting Hindu rites and rituals
(such as the home, havan and kirtan), building temples and organizing
visits to Hindu pilgrim sites. A brief example should suffice:
Neiraich is a village near Agra with
a population of 3 to 4 thousand. For many years, the place had
not partaken of any religious programmes like home, haven, katha
or kirtan. With the entry of the Seva Bharati, the villagers
came forward to conduct haven followed by the Ramayana [the
televised version of a Hindu epic] screened on the VCR. And
now the village life has become enlivened with religious fervour
and community life.
So also, Sewa International's website [116]
speaks extensively about Sewa Bharati, and its religious inclination
rather than a developmental inclination. The page on Social Harmony
describes Sewa Bharati volunteers organizing Ram Lila, Holi, Makar
Sankranti and Ugadi (all Hindu festivals) celebrations in different
localities. The page on ‘Ennobling Social Conduct’
further describes Sewa Bharati volunteers engaging the community
in singing religious songs (bhajans), celebrating Krishna Janmashtami
(a Hindu festival), or offering Hindu prayers.
D.3 Hindu Consolidation Revisited
A visit of the Supreme Leader of RSS to a function organized by
the Sewa Bharati is described as follows [117]:
The pradhan [chief] from Deenapurgaon
said, ‘Because of Sewa-karya [the work of Sewa Bharati],
in our locality the fanaticism of the Muslims has subsided’.
... The elder from Samatadham Basti said with folded hands,
‘[If] Sewa Bharati had not reached our Basti, many of
our people would have been converted to Christianity, as there
were none of guide us.’ He continued, ‘After Sewa-karya
started, a temple has come into being. Daily pooja [prayer service]
takes place in the temple with Arati. Because of this, the feeling
of Hindutwa in our households has been awakened. All this is
the contribution of Sewa Bharati.
Yet again, the mode of working is very clear. Muslim and Christian
communities are the ones from which difference is to be drawn,
and the “Hindu” population of an area so differentiated,
is then initiated into a series of activities that consolidate
them into active agents of Hindutva. As usual there is little
of no evidence of developmental work.
Where possible, the agenda goes further to conversion from Islam
or Christianity to Hinduism as in the case titled ‘Hindu
Identity Reclaimed’ in Western Uttar Pradesh [118]:
A Samskar Kendra [an activity of the
Sewa Bharati, meant to help children develop ‘character’]
had been opened in the Nagla Singi extension near Hathras in
Braj. On the first day, when the teacher asked the children's
names, one replied, 'Mahmood', another 'Rashid', and so on.
The teacher was surprised, since Nagla was predominantly a locality
of the Hindus. How could there be so many Muslim boys? It came
out that a certain Moulvi [a Muslim preacher] had been visiting
the area from time to time, and it is he who had named the children.
Hindu priests had hardly ever come to them. Even dead bodies
were disposed of in the Muslim fashion.
Such was the state of affairs in this
hamlet. The people belonged to the Ghumantu Banjara caste and
traditionally lived by cattle-rearing. They had no contact at
all with Hindu society. This had encouraged the Moulvi.
After activities of Sewa Bharati started, things changed. Children
got new names. The life-style of the people too began changing.
Children began to take an interest in learning. They were gradually
introduced to tenets of Hinduism.
The script is clear and similar to what we have already seen in
Appendix C vis a vis Sewa International. The community in question
is identified as Ghumantu Banjara caste of cattle-rearers. Cattle-
rearing is traditionally a backward caste occupation, with some
tribal populations on occasion also being involved in the same.
Whichever the case maybe, what should be clear is that backward
caste Hindus would share very few of the upper caste Hindu rituals
and practices, and would hold themselves as distinct from upper
caste Hindu formations. Even if the basic premise as described
in the story – a moulvi converting Ghumantu Banjaras to
Islam is taken as true – then, as Muslims the community
would have been escaping, at least nominally, distinctions of
caste. The process of conversion to Hinduism is thus effective
at two levels: first, it clearly is an effort to consolidate a
Hindutva identity and second, it brings the community back into
the traditional caste order by virtue of which the community is
yet again, subject to a hierarchy.
D.4 Hindutva at Any Cost
Probably the most recent example of how Sewa Bharati works to
differentiate “Hindu” communities and sow the seeds
of tension between “Hindu” communities and other minorities
is during the Gujarat earthquake last year. Sewa Bharati, Gujarat,
received a lot of funds last year following the earthquake, from
foreign donors as well as the Indian government for rebuilding
villages in Gujarat [119].
Sewa Bharati utilized these funds to include a temple and a crematorium
in each village that it rebuilt and built no mosques, churches
or graveyards [120].
Either all the villages that Sewa Bharati chose to rebuild were
predominantly Hindu villages (which begs the question as to why
it chose villages so selectively), or it built only temples in
villages that had significant non-Hindu populations. The reason
why this example is a critical one is simply to show how fundamentally
instrumental the Sangh is. Even the most disastrous of human calamities
are for Sangh operations like Sewa Bharati moments for political/religious
consolidation rather than humanitarian aid. This example will
be revisited in some detail in a later appendix that details such
discrimination on the part of the Sangh in situations of extreme
crisis.
In summary therefore, like Sewa International, Sewa Bharati is
fundamentally a part of core Sangh activity, and uses every instance
possible to consolidate a Hindu identity and involve itself in
conversion activity. Thus it is simply important to underscore
the fact that when funds from the US are received by Sewa Bharati,
its primary use is for ideological/religious propaganda work.
114. http://www.rss.org/Variousbranches.html
115. http://www.hindubooks.org/Vision/ch7.html
116. Social Harmony,
http://www.sewainternational.org/social.html
; Ennobling Social Conduct, http://www.sewainternational.org/ennobling.html
117. Inspiring visit
of P. P. Sarsanghchalakji, Delhi http://www.sewainternational.org/ennobling.html
118. Hindu Identity
Reclaimed Braj Prant (Western Uttar Pradesh), http://www.sewainternational.org/ennobling.html
119. An article
about Goa state funds being used by Sewa Bharati for rebuilding
Gujarat villages, Parrikar uses Goa funds to boost RSS image in
Gujarat, http://www.freenewsgoa.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=42
120. http://www.sewainternational.org/rajrepo.htm
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