Adivasis:
A Cultural Cooption
By Ram Puniyani
06 April, 2006
Countercurrents.org
From
1987 Sangh (RSS) has activated its offshoot Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA)
into higher gear of activity. Adivasis, the most neglected part of society
are being wooed through newly devised cultural mechanisms.
To begin with Vanvasi Kalyan
Ashram used the word Vanvasi, instead of the correct nomenclature, Adivasi.
The claim put forward by Hindutva is that these are parts of Hindu society
who went to jungles to escape the conversion by Muslim kings. Due to
their long stay in jungles they became untouchables and drifted away
from the fold of Hindu society. This assertion kills many birds in one
stone. On one side it tries to project that despite Aryans coming here
from outside, Arctic zone, are not foreigners like the Muslims and Christians.
Then aggressiveness of Muslim Kings is restated and the inner cruelty
of Brahminical Hinduism is hidden as Adivasi 'problem' is projected
to be coming from outside. A shifting of the 'blame' of inner ills to
outside forces! Another aim achieved through this formulation is to
bring Adivasis to Hindu fold and claim that its not a conversion but
mere Ghar Vapasi, returning home, of these wretched of the earth. At
the same time for the political project of intimidating the Christian
missionaries working in the villages a ground is prepared to attack
them as foreigners.
The forays of Sangh in Adivasi
areas intensified from mid eighties when it was realized that by directly
attacking dalits, the way they were attacked in 1980 and 1986 in Gujarat
through caste violence, will be counterproductive at electoral level.
The strategy evolved was to 'use' them as foot soldiers against Muslim
minorities. At the same time electoral arithmetic brought to their attention
this substantial chunk of population of Adivasis trying to come up through
modern education and thereby disturbing the status quo, prevalent in
the far off villages. Its here that the Christian missionaries were
perceived as a big threat to the project of Sangh, which wants to maintain
status quo vis a vis Adivasis dalits and women. Through the network
of schools spread in the far off areas these Missionaries, whatever
be their own motives, were instrumental in getting a section of Adivasis
empowered and in the process the upper caste affluent base of Sangh
was getting jittery.
The posting of RSS volunteers
into the forest work was very systematic. Apart from attacking the Christian
missionaries as foreigners the Ghar vapasi was brought in at a big scale
in all the Adiviasi areas scattered from Gujarat to MP to Orissa. Around
this time many a swamis, descended in these areas, Lakkhanand in Phulbani
area, Aseemanand in Dangs, Asaram disciples in Jhabau and many other
such efforts were unleashed. In Adivasi areas they resorted to intimidation,
you are Hindus, Hindu rituals are like this and so these have to part
of your life. Dilip Singh Judeo, of the 'God is money' fame, of Chattisgarhg,
had the record number of Adiviasis converted in to Hinduism by newly
devised baptizing techniques.
At the same time Hanuman
was popularized as the God in this area and lately Shabri, the destitute
women who had the privilege of offering wild berries to Lord Ram is
being projected as the Goddess of Adivasis. The cultural symbolism cannot
be missed in the selection of these deities. Hanuman was the unquestioning
devotee of Lord Ram, with muscular power as the main virtue. He is capable
of flying while carrying a huge mountain. But all the more he is carrying
the mountain because he cannot identify the herb needed for treatment
of Laxman, Lord's younger brother. This is what is the signal to Adivisis,
unquestioning loyalty to Lord Ram, no need to have education. So what
are the Christian missionaries doing here? Why should they be trying
to educate you? They are foreigners. So Pastor Stains is picked up for
the treatment which they want to meted out to the white robed priests
and nuns.
Shabri, the embodiment of
poverty is being glorified on purpose. Your great ancestress had the
privilege to offer wild berries to the Lord. She is your role model,
poor, powerless and with blind reverence and devotion for the upper
caste. The recently held festival in Subir, Dangs district of Gujarat,
celebrated Shabri and lakhs of Advasis were brought from neighboring
Adivasi areas for the festival. The local people were scared that Sangh's
festival may create the trouble and they may try to forcibly do the
conversions to Hinduism. It was declared that Christians and Muslim
are foreigners and are a threat to Hindu religion. This Kumbh is meant
to protect the Hindus from the foreigners. In the beginning it was announced
that conversions are the aim of Kumbh and than silence was kept on this
point once various groups questioned their motives. This was boldly
stated in the CD produced by Shabri Kumbh organizers. By the time the
court ruling came to ban this CD was given, lakhs of its copies were
already circulated and had the desired effect of threatening the Christianity
community.
The Shabri samiti distributed
saffron flags to the villagers and spread the word that those who do
not put the flag will be regarded as anti Hindu, those who do not visit
the Kumbh will also be regarded as anti Hindu. In this intimidating
atmosphere the intervention of Human rights groups resulted in the Central
government sending its observers. Also the Adivasi leaders realized
the game being played by Sangh and mercifully a large section of native
adivasis kept away from the festival. But Sangh has succeeded in spreading
the seeds of hate and intimidation far and wide.
During Kumbh the inflammatory
speeches were delivered by different leaders of Sangh. It remains to
be seen as to what will be the long term impact of this festival. One
thing is sure that the whole Adivasi area at some level has been shaken
by this festival in which the major organizers were the city based traders,
contractors and other supporters of Sangh. The native Adivasi festivals
and gods are being undermined in various ways. Adivasis never used to
have the temple or place of prayer within the four walls, most of their
Gods were in the open. The festivals, dancing and feasting also were
held in the open. With the new influence things are changing. The rift
between the 'Hindu' and 'Christian' Adivasis is widening which surely
will have adverse impact on the life in the area. In pursuance of the
same tactics, now summer festival and Anjani mahotsav (festival) are
being planned. Anjani, mother of Hanuman was never the object of veneration.
Now she will be occupying a place amongst the deities.
During the festival of Shabri
(Feb 11-13) in Ghubadiya, a place near Subir, the graveyard was dug
up, the crosses on the graves were burnt. Not much notice of this has
been taken in the local media and administrative circles. The increasing
influence of Sangh and the religiosity is taking deeper turns. One understands
that from the villages young girls in the age groups of 14-15 are being
picked up to be trained as Sadhvis who can give recitation of Ramayana
and other Hindu scriptures. The whole emphasis is on the cultural manipulation
and the basic issues of Adivasis like land, education and health are
being cleverly sidetracked through this culturo-religious manipulation.
One can see the social engineering
in practice. The positive experience is that it seems that intervention
of Human rights groups can partly change the direction of events in
a healthy direction. Just before the Kumbh, human rights teams had investigated
and put out a reort, which was taken note of by the authorities and
local leaders. This put the Gujarat Government and Hindutva forces on
the defensive. THeexpected turn out did not materialize and even the
Ghar Vapasi was muted. The scare amongst the minorities was a bit less
and the event passed off relatively peacefully as Hindutva forces had
to be restrained. Question is, are the human rights groups willing,
do they want to bring the real Adivasi issues on the social focus? Can
we ask for social auditing of the activities of the relgio-cultural
groups working in these areas? Can we halt the process of spreading
hate against the minorities in these areas?