Shadow Armies: Fringe Organizations and Foot Soldiers of Hindutva

"The term Hindutva – explained by Savarkar as ‘Hindu-ness’ and not ‘Hinduism’ – is almost always used to refer to the core idea at the heart of the members of the Sangh Parivar. But on the ground, it is easy to get misled if one does not reverse the meaning of this term. It is Hinduism that is invoked to ensure the mobilization of masses and the polarization of voters. Hindutva as an ideological construct simply vanishes the moment one leaves the national headquarters of the BJP and the RSS.

The irony is that the young men from backward or lower castes who constitute a significant portion of the foot soldiers of these shadow armies are rarely able to recognize that the Hindutva to which they have dedicated their energies is nothing but brahminism. And that it is the same brahminical Hinduism that has kept them oppressed for centuries and against which they have their own legacies of resistance. They are so blinded by their growing Hindu religiosity and hatred for the ‘threatening other’ that they simply cannot see how the Hindutva they are working for ultimately seeks to revive the historical hegemony of brahmins and other upper castes.

Occasionally, the truth becomes visible. For instance, when caste hierarchies affect the distribution of power even at the local level. Sometimes this leads to the revolt of backward caste leaders and cadres (as in the case of the Sri Ram Sene), but the rebels hardly ever look for an ideological alternative.

 

The triumph of Hindutva, following the BJP’s striking victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and in many of the state polls thereafter, has resulted in brahminism trying to recolonize the spaces it had been forced to vacate due to social reform movements and anti-brahminical ideological struggles. In the chapters that follow I only offer vignettes illustrating how the shadow world of Hindutva, with its reliance on violence, hate speech and even terror, has contributed to these electoral triumphs as well as to the brahminical agenda underpinning the overall Hindu nationalist project."

- The Shadow Armies: Fringe Organisations and Foot Soldiers of Hindutva

Dhirendra K. Jha travels around UP and Bihar and narrates the story behind the so-called fringe organisations - Sanatan Sanstha, Hindu Yuva Bahini, Bajrang Dal, Sri Ram Sene, Hindu Aikya Vedi, Abhinav Bharat, Bhonsala Military School and Rashtriya Sikh Sangat.

Sanatan Sanstha filed a defamation lawsuit against the publishers of this book, but lost. Worth a read.