Ram Puniyani
Like
people of all regions and religions, a large number of Hindus have been
migrating to all the parts of World. The reason behind this is better
pastures and better living standards in those places. In most of the
parts of the World one can see a substantial number of Hindus/people of
Indian origin. The concentration of these émigrés is particularly more
in richer countries. Earlier large number of Indians migrated to UK,
Canada and currently United States is the hot favorite. The émigrés from
here do tend to adapt to the countries they adopt, still retaining
their umbilical cords. Some of them locally meet to celebrate their
Indian-ness; some also meet bearing their religious identity as Hindus
or Muslims in particular. There is a large Diaspora, from India
scattered all over the US. Some Hindus among them recently held World
Hindu Congress in Chicago and invited RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to address
the same.
Some
of these NRI’s, as they are known popularly, identify RSS combine as
representative of Hindus. At one level it should be surprising as to how
RSS combine can be representing all the Hindus. RSS upholds a version
of Hinduism, which is wedded to Brahmanical norms; majority of Hindus
all through freedom struggle chose Gandhi as their icon and identified
with freedom struggle. In contrast RSS, which has the agenda of Hindu
nation, kept totally aloof from the freedom movement. These Hindus,
behind the WHC, may well know that greatest Hindu of twentieth Century,
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was killed by a person who was the follower
of RSS ideology of Hindu nation.
Be
it so! Addressing the Congress Mr. Bhagwat made many comments which are
indirectly insulting to the people of other religions and ideologies in
India. While emphasizing the need for Hindu unity he said “wild
dogs can invade and destroy even a lion if he is alone”, a remark that
was interpreted by some as a veiled reference to the Sangh parivar
narrative of Muslim invaders dominating and leaving their imprint on
India, and Christian missionaries work in poor areas leading to
conversions. He also made a reference to pests and the use of pesticides
in agriculture, analogy being to religious minorities in India.
Summarizing his ideology and understanding of history Mr. Bhagwat, said, “Why are we suffering for thousand years? We had everything and we knew everything. We forgot to practice what we knew. We also forgot to work together,”
Reacting to this many a spokesmen of Indian political parties poured their anguish. Mr.
Nawab Malik of NCP stated “The ideology of RSS and BJP is anti-Hindu
and they only know how to do caste politics…The day they stop dividing
Hindus on the basis of caste, every Hindu and people from other
religions as well will be lions. Similarly Sachin Sawant from Congress
said, that "RSS ideology is anti-Hindu. It is known for hatred towards
other castes and religions. It is shameful of the RSS chief to describe
any religion in this way."
At a more forthright level Prakash Ambedkar of Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar felt that that the "dog" reference was for the "opposition parties" in the country. And "I condemn this 'mansikta' (mentality) of Mohan Bhagwat that he has referred to Opposition parties in the country as dogs."
Interestingly
at the site of the WHC there were posters which showed RSS agenda in a
blunt way. One such poster related to Love Jihad, depicted the marriage
of Shramila Tagore to Mansoor Ali Pautadi as love jihad. Posters
question whether Saif Ali Khan will force his wife to Kareena Kapoor to
convert to Islam and also as to why they gave an Arabic name to their
son (Taimur). In loud and clear manner the posters say that interfaith
marriages are a silent Holocaust of Hindus, showing a clear patriarchal
mindset of the organizers. These assertions of WHC council did not go
unchallenged from the progressive Indians community. Many from Indian
origin community stood to challenge with a statement and labeled RSS
politics as “Hindu
supremacist ideology that is spearheading the violation of human rights
and religious freedom of minorities in India.” Many young activists
from Chicago’s ‘South Asians for Justice’ shouted slogans "RSS Turn
Around, We don't want you in Our Town," and "Stop Hindu Fascism." These
protestors had some fracas with those attending the conference.
Overall
the organizations like WHC have come up cashing on ‘identity crisis of
Hindus’ in US. Many a first generation Hindus who migrate for jobs or
better business opportunities to US get a cultural shock there. The
shock is that related to equality; related to social norms as such and
to gender equations in particular. The whole first generation of Hindus
landing up in US see women in very different role there, women as
autonomous beings, which come as a threat to their own mindset. It is at
this juncture that RSS ideology of glorification of the past, a decoy
to hide caste and gender inequality, comes in as a succor to these
troubled souls, longing for their mother land but pinned down to United
States by lure of lucre. RSS type Hinduism gives them the identity they
needed to sustain their original values. So for this section; RSS is
synonymous with Hinduism, which surely it is not.
This
was the ground on which VHP of America, HSS and other parallel
organizations started flourishing in US. In elections in Gujarat many
NRI Indians come regularly to campaign for BJP, similarly a good amount
of donations pour in for RSS combine and BJP electoral campaign in
India. Today RSS, parallel Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh has thousands of
active shakhas (branches) in US. The statement of RSS chief are a clear
denigration of the religious minorities in India, one hopes that the
progressive organizations like South Asians for Justice continue to
promote secular values, values of amity and counter the divisive agenda,
which RSS is spreading there.
