From September 21-23, the Prajna Parvah, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliate umbrella organisation of think tanks, organised a three-day symposium – ‘Lokmanthan’ in Assam. In attendance were vice-president of India Jagdeep Dhankar, Assam governor Jagdish Mukhi and chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Meanwhile, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was in Meghalaya on a two-day visit from September 24. And earlier this year, the RSS chief visited Agartala as a declared ‘state guest’ by the Tripura government.
These developments in India’s Northeast serve as yet another prototype for the RSS’s alternative strategy of establishing itself as India’s ‘political laboratory’. It is well known that the RSS and its associates have faced challenges in expanding their influence outside North India, particularly in Kerala and the Northeast. This pattern has, however, been gradually shifting.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Assam has largely supported the RSS’s activities in the Northeastern hill states, with a predominance of indigenous peoples, while in Kerela, the saffron party has employed the administrative leadership of the governor.
Intriguingly, former Congressman Sarma has accomplished what a lengthy succession of pracharaks and RSS affiliates have failed to do in the region. Sarma, who has no previous record of RSS engagements to his credit, has provided the organisation with the bedrock it was always looking for.
Similarly, Kerala governor and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU)-educated intellectual Arif Mohammad Khan, who again bears no RSS tag and has had a political career centred on cross-party choirs, was seated in Kerela to help the RSS achieve its goal of establishing itself. Furthermore, his unwavering support for the RSS today goes above and beyond what the organisation might reasonably anticipate from a member of the minority community.
The RSS’s entry into the Northeast
The Sangh’s early Northeastern pillars were Dadarao Parmarth, Vasantrao Oak, and Krishna Paranjpe. On October 27, 1946, they arrived in undivided Assam from where they went on to establish the first shakhas in the region, in Guwahati, Dibrugarh, and Shillong.
According to the 2011 Census, Assam’s population is 34% Muslim, while the majority of people in five other northeastern states are Christians. An early barrier to the spread of a Hindu nationalist ideology was the absence of Hindus in the Northeast.
However, even the Sangh’s most fervent rivals would be enthralled by the degree of pragmatism and devotion that the RSS cadres have displayed in the Northeast. For instance, the RSS has remained silent on the issue of eating beef in the region due to the demographic differences, even as it has mounted aggressive campaigns against it throughout the rest of the country.
Also read: What Mohan Bhagwat’s Visit to a Madrasa Tells Us About the RSS
The RSS is also able to win over the youth in the region through its various outreach programmes. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and other student organisations are only some of the Sangh’s many youth outreach strategies. Young people in the Northeast are actively engaged in the RSS via organisations like the Ekal Vidyalaya, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Rashtra Sevika Samiti, Vidya Bharati, and Vivekananda Kendra.
Winning over the youth through education
One reason behind the RSS’s success in realising its goal in the region through education is the government’s abject failure in providing a high standard of education there.
Earlier, high-quality private education in the area was provided only through Catholic schools. Christian missionaries have historically served in native communities. In Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya, Christians make up over 70% of the population.
The RSS has, however, rejected efforts to convert large segments of the tribal population to Christianity. According to the RSS, Christian missionaries have exploited tribals by forcing them to convert in exchange for education and the Sangh is now attempting to “bring them back” – regardless of what the tribal people may truly believe, according to the RSS’s ideology, all animist traditions are a part of the larger Hindu fold.
Even outside the northeast in educational hubs like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, the RSS offers outreach programmes for Northeastern students. In states like Tripura, where the Left has had long-running administrations, RSS outreach has been extremely helpful in generating support for the BJP.
Using sensitive topics
The goal of the RSS cadres is to persuade a significant portion of first-time voters to support the BJP by focusing on topics that are important to young people, such as infrastructure, unemployment and corruption. The RSS is typically joined by young people who want to network with influential intellectuals and politicians.
With a ring-wing government returning to the Northeast, the RSS, once again, has the chance to promote nationalist conduct in the region, using issues such as ‘illegal’ migration from Bangladesh and the like. Further, the Sangh’s long-standing criticism of past Union governments’ tendencies to lump the issues of Northeastern states with those of the mainland, too, have allowed it to woo voters here.
Also read: CAA-NPR-NRC Represent the Culmination of Golwalkar and RSS’s Vision
Internal strife among tribal communities also allowed the RSS to gain ground in the tribal-dominated Northeast. The majority of the tribal communities in the Northeast are currently in a state of flux and the RSS has been able to align their demands and claims with the goals of the Sangh.
Since Independence, the RSS has been steadfastly trying to advance its nationalist narrative and largely credits the BJP’s control in Assam for this. The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), four of its factions, the All Bodo Students’ Union and a civil society organisation signed the Bodo Accord on January 27, strengthening the Sangh and the BJP’s position in the Bodo-dominated districts of Assam.
This culturally diverse zone has adopted this long-elusive political face because both the BJP and the RSS have benefited from Narendra Modi’s popularity in influencing the region’s youth. However, the RSS has given equal emphasis to both fighting armed insurgency and tangible development. Strengthening its ideological vision of an ‘Akhand Bharat’ (Undivided India) is a very important yet underappreciated component of RSS’s impact in the Northeast, and given the region’s diversity, it becomes both critical and vulnerable to the organisation.
The Northeast has also dispelled the misconception that the BJP is a Hindu-dominated party, with Tribal and Christian candidates winning on BJP tickets from Christian majority seats. Given that Hindutva credentials are neglected in the Northeast, detractors have also dubbed the party the ‘Bharatiya Jesus Party’.
Kerala
The RSS first made its presence known in Kerala in 1942, although its operations remained mainly restricted to the Malabar region for the first two decades.
The Sangh began its operations in Calicut through fisherfolk communities. Due to their inferior caste status, this community had been ignored by society, but the RSS shakhas welcomed them. The earliest recruits in erstwhile Trivandrum were young students, although the majority of them were not locals. On the other hand, the group in Malabar was able to win over the local populace.
Years later, the RSS opened a school/hostel to teach young men contemporary fishing and marketing strategies after they had lost their jobs to mechanical fishing.
Due to the Sangh’s strident opposition to the Muslim League’s demand that Malapurram become a district with a majority of Muslims, the RSS in Kerala established a separate section within the organisation in 1964, and its membership increased dramatically in 1967.
The emergency was another factor that allowed it to establish a solid foothold in Kerala. During this time, the RSS experienced a surge in membership and gained a newfound prominence. The group had used the well-known catchphrase ‘From Marxism to Humanism’ to appeal to disillusioned young Marxists.
Also read: BJP Won’t Capture Kerala Yet But RSS Culture Is Sweeping the State
The Sangh did not ignore the fact that Kerala has a healthy diversity of cultures and ideas. Because of this, the RSS expanded its support for cultural and educational organisations through institutions like Tapasya, Bharatiya Vichar Kendra, and Bhartiya Vidya Niketan.
Moreover, the state’s political preferences have been evolving. Even though it was unable to win any seats in the state, the BJP saw a significant increase in support in Kerala as its vote share in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections jumped to 15.2% from 10.85% in 2014. This transition can be attributed to the RSS karyakartas’ preliminary effort.
Additionally, because of its Hindu nationalism, it was also able to attract Hindus that believed the Muslim and Christian communities had received too much attention. The organisation was successful in inflaming Hindus in the state’s caste and religious sensitivities.
By 2017, Kerala was one the states with the highest number of shakhas, with around 5,000 held each day. The RSS has been successful in enticing the youth with all of its ideals, despite the failure of political organisations affiliated with it to establish a presence in the area.
This is because of its Hindu nationalism and commitment to fostering acceptance of Hindus, particularly the lower castes. Moreover, the Sangh was crucial in helping those affected by the Kerala floods in August, 2018 by providing aid. In addition to setting up more than 300 relief camps, the organisation’s 1.20 lakh karyakartas worked together to rescue the victims.
The Muslim Rashtriya Manch, an RSS outfit, attempted to reach out to Kerala’s Muslims through door-to-door campaigning in light of the Citizenship Amendment Act. The RSS has also advocated against letting women into the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala.
As a result of such actions, the RSS in Kerala has become embroiled in still more controversies. Despite their attempts, the RSS’s current relationship with Kerala remains tense. Conflicts over politico-religious issues, such as the Sabarimala issue, have resulted from Kerala’s ruling CPI(M)’s opposition to the RSS’s tenets.
Moreover, there are frequent conflicts between RSS employees and communist student unions.
Despite the fact that the dynamics in the two locations are very different, the RSS is very pragmatic when it comes to luring young people to the areas where they do not yet have a large presence. It is a very forward-thinking organisation because of its adaptability when it comes to tackling difficulties that are peculiar to a certain region.
Perhaps it is not an exaggeration to describe the RSS as ‘machiavellian’ in character given how realistic and goal-oriented it is and how quickly it is making progress, despite its nefarious politics.
Ashraf Nehal is a political analyst and columnist who mainly tracks Indian politics.