Ram Mandir or Article 370 are not permanent issues to attract the Hindu society which is still caste ridden, say experts
Sami Ahmad | Clarion India
PATNA – Mohan Bhgwat, chief of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), must be a busy man and Bihar seems to be his important assignment as he will be reaching the BJP-JDU ruled state on Tuesday for a week. This is going to be his second visit in little over two months.
Though RSS is a ‘cultural organization’, yet what is intriguing is that its two former associates are the deputy chief ministers of Bihar and a ‘never so late’ cabinet expansion is round the corner. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) has expressed his anguish for being late in cabinet expansion as he was yet to get the list from his partner the Bhartiya Janata Party, now the bigger one with 73 seats. It seems that things are settling down.
Last time it was a two-day meeting of the North-East area of RSS’ All-India Executive Council. This week there is a meeting on February 10 of Sangh’s South Bihar State Executive. But that is just one of the programmes Bhagwat is slated to attend.
He will do a Bhumi Poojan in Patna near AIIMS and inaugurate the newly constructed RSS office at Muzaffarpur, besides a few other works in his itinerary.
On December 6, 2020, RSS issued a press release after its two-day meet concluded in Patna. ‘Social Harmony’ was one of the key features apart from the usual family, environment, water conservation, and, of course, the service rendered by RSS Swayamsewaks during Corona crisis. The other very noticeable issue was its expansion plan.
About RSS’ December 2020 meeting, the local newspapers had a headline which said that temples, water bodies and cremation grounds should be open for all people. It said that there should not be any discrimination with any person.
This seemingly guiltless message of the meeting attended by 40 senior functionaries including ‘sar sangh chalak’, or chief, Mohan Bhagwat and others like Bhaiyaji Joshi and Suresh Soni had a subtle message for the Dalits.
In a very subtle way RSS tried to send a message that Hindus should shun inaccessibility of the three places mentioned above. It was also an acknowledgement that through this measure the Dalits can be won back as they are the victims of such discriminations. In Bihar and Jharkhand, cases of such discriminations are widespread.
Author of a Hindi book on RSS, Sangham Sharanam Gachhami, Vijay Trivedi observes that these days RSS, and particularly its current chief Bhagwat, are trying hard to woo the Dalits and Adivasis. He says, ‘Ram Mandir or Article 370 are not permanent issues to attract the Hindu society which is still caste ridden. In Hindu society, particularly in rural areas, caste-specific water sources, temples and cremation grounds do exist.’
A young Dalit journalist Meena Kotwal has written a series on the discrimination faced by the Doms, a Dalit community, even on Chhath- considered the most pious Hindu festival in Bihar. She says that such discrimination is a crime but we can see this anti-constitution act prevalent. She says that the statement by RSS to make the place of worship, cremation and water source equal for all won’t help until it discards the book like Manusmriti.
Apart from Bihar, RSS focuses on Jharkhand, particularly on its Adivasi population. It has more than 3,000 ‘Shakhas’ or branches in the two states that was separated in 2000.
Senior journalist of Jharkhand, Ashok Varma says that RSS, not by its own name, has been working for the ‘Hinduaization’ of Adivasis though they have their own sets of religious practices. He says that in the last state government led by BJP’s Raghubar Das, RSS got its expansion quite easily. He is of the view that it is because Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s proximity to BJP, RSS has expanded in Bihar too easily.
