In 1928, Vallabhbhai Patel led a Bardoli satyagraha, and its success earned him the title of Sardar. In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi led the historic salt satyagraha at Dandi, about 60 kms from Bardoli. Sarojini Naidu and Maulana Azad kept up the spirit of Dandi march at Dharasana satyagraha the same year. In many ways, south Gujarat, then part of the Bombay presidency, became the nerve centre of nonviolent satyagraha movements.
Unfortunately, by the last decade of the 20th century, the land of South Gujarat, particularly the densely forested region of Dang and surroundings, became the laboratory for right wing extremists. Through social engineering they penetrated deep into the tribal belt.
Aseemanand, a fire brand Hindu fanatic, originally from West Bengal, started operating from the Dang in 1996. He started his activity under Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram, an organisation part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. His main motive was the conversion of Adivasis from Christianity to Hinduism. The Adivasi community worships nature, mountains, rivers, jungles, animals etc since eons. They were never a part of the organised religions and follow their own indigenous customs. Some converted to Christianity when Christian missionaries landed in the region in the first decade of the 20th century. Aseemanand, reportedly converted thousands of Christian tribals into Hinduism in a short span of time. He managed to polarise the tribal community in such a way that just within two years of his entry into the region, Dang faced the worst of the religious conflicts in Gujarat.
International organisations, including Human Rights Watch, reported his direct involvement in the 1998 riots against Christians in Dang. Dozens of churches were burnt down, properties damaged and followers of Christianity attacked. Aseemanand’s Hindu Jagaran March, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and other Hindu extremist groups led these attacks. Ram Janmabhoomi Andolan in late 1980s and early ’90s had already polarised Gujarat’s urban population. Aseemanand ’s dangerous experiments deepened the religious divide in the tribal belt too. In the same year, BJP won the Gujarat assembly elections and Keshubhai Patel became the chief minister. Aseemanand, hailed as ‘hero of Dang’ by RSS mouthpiece ‘Organiser’, continued his hindutva project and spread it in other tribal belts of Gujarat including Panchmahal which became the epicentre of 2002 Gujarat riots. The rest is history – history created in the laboratory of Gujarat politics, and then repeated throughout the country.
Aseemanand built the Shabridham temple in a Dang’s Subir village. It is believed that Shabri met lord Ram at this place. Aseemanand wanted to bring Adivasis, worshipers of ‘Jal-Jungle-Jameen’, into Hinduism by means of creating new identities for them. Shabri Kumbh was organised here in 2006 with the help of the state government. It attracted more than five lakh people. It was attended by Narendra Modi, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and religious leaders like Asaram.
Madhya Pradesh, adjacent to Gujarat, has a large population of Adivasis. The Kumbh was seen as a gathering for the ‘Ghar Wapsi’ of the community and to create a Hindu identity among Adivasis across the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. These experiments in the laboratory of Gujarat politics helped BJP in gaining power not only in Adivasi constituencies of South Gujarat but also in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.
Later, Aseemanand was booked in the Ajmer Dargah, Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta Express bomb blast cases but was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The damage caused to the secular fabric of the society by such extremists is irreversible.
Mehul Devkala is a poet and an award-winning filmmaker.
