|
The
Foreign Exchange of Hate
IDRF and the American Funding of Hindutva |
|
©
2002, Sabrang Communications & Publishing Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai,
India, and The South Asia Citizens Web, France
|
|
|
Download / Print |
2. A Brief Outline of
the Hindutva Movement
2.1 The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, or the ‘Sangh,’--
literally ‘National Volunteer Corps’), was started
in 1925 for ‘propagating Hindu culture.’ As an organization,
the RSS is elusive and shadowy—it is only open to Hindu
males – primarily upper caste; it maintains no membership
records; it has resisted being registered with the Government
of India as a public/charitable trust; it has no bank accounts
and pays no income tax. 2.2 Hindutva: The Ideology of the RSS The RSS advocates a form of Hindu nationalism, which seeks to
establish India as a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation), and rejects
the notion of a composite Indian identity brought about by a synthesis
of different cultures and faiths. The RSS claims to be inclusive
of all those who are racially and culturally Hindu and places
outside of the nation all those who adhere to and identify with
a different faith or ethos, thus establishing the idea of a Hindu
Rashtra as an exclusive one where minorities are, at best, second
class citizens. This particular ideology is variously called an
ideology of Hindu pride, Hindu patriotism, Hindu fundamentalism,
Hindu revivalism, Hindu chauvinism, Hindu fascism or Hindutva,
depending on who controls the definition. What is beyond doubt
is the exclusionary and discriminatory nature of the ideology.
In this report we use the term used most often in the mainstream
press – Hindutva – which translates literally to Hinduness
or Hinduhood. 2.3 The Hindutva Movement and the Sangh
Parivar While the foundational core of Hindutva is inculcated in the
RSS swayamsevaks (volunteers) through training that begins from
childhood in its local shakhas (cells), the broad based work of
spreading the ideology and its politics is undertaken through
a network of organizations. The RSS (or more commonly, the Sangh)
has created and propagated organizations in every facet of socio-political
life in India—from political parties to children’s
centers, trade unions and militias. These groups are together
known as the Sangh Parivar or the Sangh Family of organizations.
In recent years, the Sangh Parivar has also expanded its operations
outside India and made significant efforts to reach the ‘Hindu’
diaspora, especially in the US, the UK and the Caribbean. The spread of the Hindutva ideology in India is carried out at
the grassroots level through an army of swayamsevaks deployed by
the Sangh Parivar. The recruitment and ideological 'orientation'
towards Hindutva is done on many levels and fronts: at the grade
school level, or earlier, with Hinduised education, including such
'educational' activities as the holding of Ramayan and Mahabharat
competitions for school children in tribal areas—largely with
the goal of supplanting tribal culture and traditions; with the
'celebration' of Hindu festivals on a grand scale in areas with
large non-Hindu populations; and simultaneously, with the distribution
of anti-minority pamphlets and literature and the sporadic creation
of anti-minority programs such as the grabbing of minority land
or buildings or the promotion of riots and murder. For these purposes,
the Sangh has set up hundreds of smaller organizations all over
the country, all supervised by volunteers from the Sangh and centrally
coordinated, even though each claims to be independent of the Sangh.
While the RSS itself cannot currently accept monetary contributions
for its activities from abroad, each of the Sangh-affiliated organizations
has been designated a 'charity' and the Sangh actively solicits
foreign funding for these organizations. In other words, given that
the RSS has no corporate form and ensures an ambiguity around its
specific location and form, it would be quite correct to argue that
this myriad of smaller organizations together is what precisely
constitutes the RSS. The most visible and active organizations of the Sangh Parivar
are represented below in a necessarily incomplete organizational
chart of the Parivar. Each of these organizations has an equivalent
“sister” organization in the US, which is shown in brackets
in the chart below. The central organizations of the Sangh Parivar
are: Each of these has a US equivalent – Further, Sewa International is the Seva Vibhag’s coordination
body for all international funds and service programs. In India,
the Seva Vibhag operates through hundreds of single purpose organizations
spread across the country. A sample of some of the prominent Seva
Vibhag organizations are listed in the chart below. 2.5
Organizational Structure of the The Sangh Parivar {and the US
equivalents} 2.6.1 Violent
Underpinnings of Hindutva This training is meant for qualifying
and fitting our boys for the game of killing masses of men
with the ambition of winning victory… Violence has not remained an abstract desire
within Hindutva—there is ample evidence that this essential
and strategic understanding of violence has continuously been
practiced by the Sangh. Numerous government reports have clearly
indicted the Sangh for fomenting communal violence [2].
In each of these communal riots that the RSS fomented and participated
in, the central strategy to greater power is clear. For the Sangh
each religious riots translates to greater polarization between
the majority Hindu community and the minority communities. Further,
riots serve as a basis for the RSS to work with those parts of
the “Hindu” community that are not part of the Hindutva
project. In other words, every communal riot that the
Sangh incites is the basis for both: While this dual process of polarization and
consolidation has been central to the rise to power of Hindutva,
what has changed in more recent times with the ascension of the
BJP to State power, and the growth of the VHP and the Bajrang
Dal, is that the communal riot has now transformed into an organized
pogroms, where minority populations, residences, businesses and
institutions are targeted with almost military precision. 2.6.3 Targeted
Violence Against Minorities: Two Recent Examples Anti-Christian Violence (1998-2000) After
1998, when the BJP party came to play a leading role in the government,
violence against Christian minorities in India has significantly
escalated [3]. Between
January 1998 and February 1999 alone, there were 116 attacks against
the Christian community in India [4],
specifically targeting Christian missionaries, priests, nuns,
schools and churches. Documenting anti-Christian violence in 1999,
the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Center report states:
“Most of these attacks have
been perpetrated by individuals connected to the Sangh Parivar,
which is comprised of rightwing Hindu fundamentalist organisations
including elements from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bajrang Dal and Hindu Jagran Manch.”[5]
The Gujarat Genocide (2002) The Gujarat Genocide of 2002 has been by far
the most elaborate and well-planned pogrom to date. Numerous reports
have documented the massacre of more than 2000 Muslims, the rape,
mutilation and murder of Muslim women, the specific targeting
of Muslim businesses for burning and arson, and the destruction
of Muslim homes leaving in excess of 150,000 Muslims homeless
[6]. According to
the Human Rights Watch, “The groups most directly involved
in the violence against Muslims include the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(World Hindu Council, VHP), the Bajrang Dal, the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that
heads the Gujarat state government. Collectively, they are
known as the sangh parivar, or family of Hindu nationalist
organizations. … Numerous police reports filed by eyewitnesses
after the attacks have specifically named local VHP, BJP,
and Bajrang Dal leaders as instigators or participants in
the violence.” [7] What is currently unfolding is no longer simply
the processes of polarization and consolidation (though these
continue), but a planned effort at eliminating any semblance of
power that a minority community may have, either economic or social.
Probably there is no better way to understand
the growth of violent Hindu fascism in India than to look at it
as the violent history between two moments in independent India.
The first is the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle
of peace, by Nathuram Godse, a prominent member of the Hindutva
movement in 1948 and the second is in Gujarat Genocide of 2002,
in Gandhi’s homeland of Gujarat. (This part of the report describes various aspects
of the Sangh and the Hindutva movement in a summary form. For a
more detailed discussion of Hindutva and the Sangh see Appendix
A.
2.4 Constituents of the Sangh Parivar
Figure 1 - Organization Chart of the Sangh
Parivar {and the US equivalents}
2.6 The Methods of the Sangh: From Violent Riots
to Planned Pogroms
Violence is a central strategy in the Sangh’s rise to political
power. Often the Sangh presents its use of violence as “self-defense”
against armed minority gangs—an idea that is supported by
a claim that Hinduism is inherently a tolerant and peaceful religion.
While large numbers of Hindus living all across India would shun
violence just as many others of different faiths do, Hindutva
has, from its inception, been very clear on the necessity of violence.
2.6.2 The Sangh’s Participation in Communal
Riots
| Next >> |