The Sangh Parivar represents the Hindu nationalist movement of India.[12] Members of the Sangh Parivar or the supporters of its ideology are often referred to as Sanghis.[13]
These organisations started and supported by the RSS volunteers came to be known collectively as the Sangh Parivar.[16] Next few decades have seen a steady growth in the influence of the Sangh Parivar in the social and political space of India.
Ideology
Economics
While the BJP governments have been progressively seen to be industry friendly,[17] the opinions and the views of the Sangh Parivar constituents like Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) find consonance with the known leftist stands on labour rights.[18] The Sangh Parivar, as a whole, even the BJP in its earlier days, has advocated 'Swadeshi' (Self Reliance). Sangh Parivar leaders have been very vocal in their criticism of globalization especially its impact on the poor and native people. They have been suspicious of the role of international agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.[19] Sangh constituents have advocated and promoted decentralized village centric economic growth with emphasis on ecological protection.[20]
Ecology
The constituents of the Sangh Parivar have been known for their demands for steps to "protect the environment, natural-ecology and agro-economy" and for establishment of a "self-reliant village-oriented economy".[21] They have been vocal in their demand against the use of chemical fertilizers and have supported preservation and development of organic farming in India.[22] Many of these views are seen to mirror the concerns of the Green party.[23]
The Bharatiya Janata Party, a constituent of Sangh Parivar included the concerns on global warming in its election manifesto for the National Elections of 2009.[24] The manifesto promised prioritising "combating climate change and global warming", "programmes to arrest the melting of Himalayan glaciers", "afforestation" and emphasis on "protecting India's biodiversity".[24][25]
Reception
The Sangh Parivar has been described with monikers spanning the spectrum from "patriotic Hindus"[26] and "Hindu nationalist".[12] Some have also labeled them "Hindu chauvinist".[27] While its constituent organisations present themselves as embedded in the traditional ethos of Hinduism, their ideological opponents have characterized them as the representatives of authoritarian, xenophobic and majoritarian religious nationalism in India,[28] These organisations have been accused being involved with Saffron terror.[29][30] Flemish Indologist and Hindutva supporter Koenraad Elst has challenged the critics, in his 2001 book The Saffron Swastika, he wrote "So far, the polemical arrows have all been shot from one side, replies from the other side being extremely rare or never more than piecemeal."[31]
Social impact
The activities of the Sangh Parivar have had considerable social and religious impact.[32] And considerable influence over country's educational, social and defense policies.[33]
Social reform
In 1979, the religious wing of the Sangh Parivar, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad got the Hindu saints and religious leaders to reaffirm that untouchability and caste discrimination had no religious sanction in the Hindu scriptures and texts.[34] The Vishwa Hindu Parishad is also spearheading efforts to ordain Dalits as priests in temples across India, positions that were earlier usually occupied only by people of "upper castes".[35] In 1983, RSS founded a Dalit organisation called Samajik Samrasta Manch.[36]
The leaders of the Sangh Parivar have also been involved in the campaigns against female fetocide and movements for the education.[citation needed] VHP founded a number of educational institutes such as Bharat Sevashram, Hindu Milan Mandir, Ekal Vidalayas and schools in tribal locations.[36]
Social and political empowerment
The service programs, over the years, have led to the empowerment of the economically and socially underprivileged sections of the society, mostly the tribal, who have long remained politically under-represented. Babulal Marandi belonging to the tribal community, who was the organizing secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, became the first Chief Minister of the state of Jharkhand.[37] Other such leaders of Sangh Parivar who belong to the tribal community include Karia Munda, Jual Oram; both ministers in the Union Government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The emergence of the Sangh Parivar in Indian politics also brought many Dalits and representatives of the backward classes, who had been victims of social neglect, to prominent positions in the Government and Administration.[38] Suraj Bhan, a dalit, who had been a member of the RSS, became the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India, in 1998.[39] Other leaders of the Sangh Parivar from the backward classes, who rose to prominence include Kalyan Singh, the former Chief Minister of UP, Uma Bharti, the former Chief Minister of MP, Narendra Modi, the incumbent Prime Minister of India, Gopinath Munde, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra,[40] and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.[41]
In many villages across India, Dharma Raksha Samitis (Duty/Religion Protection Committees) promote religious discourse and form an arena for bhajan performance. The Sangh sponsors calendars of Hindu deities and provides instruction on sanctioned methods of conducting Ganesh Chaturthi and Navaratri.[42]
Politics
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which represents the Sangh Parivar in national politics, has formed three governments in India, most recently being in power from May 2014 under the leadership of Prime ministerNarendra Modi, reelected in May 2019.
Political opponents of the BJP allege that the party's moderate face merely serves to cover the Sangh Parivar's "hidden agenda" of undiluted Hindutva, detectable by the BJP's efforts to change the content of history textbooks and syllabi as well as other aspects of the education system.[43]
Such criticism of the BJP arises from the fact that BJP had only 2 seats in the parliament in 1984 and after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 the party gained national recognition, and only then it rose to power in 1998.[44][45][46][47][full citation needed][48][49]
Babri Mosque demolition
According to the report of the UPA instituted Liberhan Commission the Sangh Parivar organised the destruction of the Babri Masjid.[50][51] The Commission said- "The blame or the credit for the entire temple construction movement at Ayodhya must necessarily be attributed to the Sangh Parivar".[52]
It also noted that the Sangh Parivar is an "extensive and widespread organic body", which encompasses organisations, which address and bring together just about every type of social, professional and other demographic grouping of individuals.
Each time, a new demographic group has emerged, the Sangh Parivar has hived off some of its RSS inner-core leadership to harness that group and bring it within the fold, enhancing the voter base of the Parivar.[53]
List of Sangh Parivar organisations
The Sangh Parivar includes the following organisations (with membership figures in brackets). They are also categorized.
My Home India, Organisation to promote nationalism and cultural assimilation between Northeast India and rest of India. Provide helpline to Northeast India people across the country.
Bharat Vikas Parishad – Organisation for the development and growth of India in all fields of human endeavour (1.8 million as of 2002)[57][70]
Hindu Jagarana Vedike, literally, National Volunteer Association for men to protect the Hindus
Dharm Jagaran SamitiOrganisation for conversion of non-Hindus to Hinduism[76] and their coordinating committee "Dharam Jagaran Samanvay Samiti"[75][77]
^Hansen, Thomas Blom (2014), "Controlled Emancipation: Women and Hindu Nationalism", in Bodil Folke Frederiksen; Fiona Wilson (eds.), Ethnicity, Gender and the Subversion of Nationalism, Routledge, p. 93, ISBN978-1-135-20566-9, archived from the original on 7 February 2023, retrieved 26 May 2019: "The RSS usually calls its network of organisation the RSS family (Sangh Parivar), consciously evoking connotations of warmth, security and emotional attachment beyond ideology and reasoning. The family metaphor is central and highly operational as an instrument of recruitment and cohesion for the movement, which offers a sort of surrogate family to the activists. The family metaphor also refers to the authoritarian and paternalist authority structure which operates within the movement."
^Parashar, Swati (5 March 2014). Women and Militant Wars: The politics of injury. Routledge. p. 27. ISBN978-1-134-11606-5. Retrieved 13 February 2021 – via Google Books. The Sangh Parivar (literally known as the Sangh family) includes groups such as the Rashtriye Swayamsewak Sangh, the Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. They articulate a militant Hindu nationalist politics, opposing the Muslim 'other'.
^Jerryson, Michael (15 July 2020). Religious Violence Today: Faith and Conflict in the Modern World. ABC-CLIO. p. 275. ISBN978-1-4408-5991-5. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2021 – via Google Books. The magazine Tehelka carried out a six-month undercover investigation in 2007 that resulted in video evidence that the riots were organized and supported by Gujarat police and Chief Minister Modi. The video also implicated several members of the Bajrang Dal (a militant Hindu nationalist group) and the BJP (one of India's main political parties).
^Jaffrelot, Christophe (2010). Religion, Caste, and Politics in India. Primus Books. ISBN9789380607047. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2021 – via Google Books. In May–June, the VHP provided itself with an organization, which assembled young Hindu militants, the Bajrang Dal. Its founder, Vinay Katiyar, had until then been a pracharak of the RSS. However, the Bajrang Dal proved to be less disciplined than the RSS and its violent utterances as well as actions were to precipitate many communal riots.
^Suresh Ramabhai, Vinoba and his mission, Published by Akhil Bharat Sarv Seva Sangh, 1954
^Martha Craven Nussbaum, The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future, Published by Harvard University Press, 2007 ISBN0-674-02482-6, ISBN978-0-674-02482-3
^Smith, David James, Hinduism and Modernity P189, Blackwell Publishing ISBN0-631-20862-3
^Yasir Hussain (2008), Congress Voted to Power Why?, Readworthy, p. 213, BJP will pursue national growth objectives through an ecologically sustainable pathway
^"Laghu Udyog Bharati" Jaffrelot. Christophe (1 December 2014). "Parivar's diversity in unity". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 3 June 2015.
Andersen, Walter K.; Damle, Shridhar D. (1987) [Originally published by Westview Press], The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism, Delhi: Vistaar Publications
Jelen, Ted Gerard (2002), Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective: The One, The Few, and The Many, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN978-0-521-65031-1
Mishra, Pankaj (2006), Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond, New York City: Macmillan, ISBN978-0-374-17321-0
Saha, Santosh (2004), Religious Fundamentalism in the Contemporary World: Critical Social and Political Issues, Lexington, MA: Lexington Press, ISBN978-0-7391-0760-7