injecting poison in the rural vein of india

7/27/2019 Injecting Poison in the Rural Vein of India

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Book: Religious Division and Social Conflict: The Emergence of Hindu

Nationalism in Rural India

Author: Peggy Froerer

Pages: 296 + xx

Price: Rs 295

Publisher: Social Science Press

Injecting poison

in the rural vein of IndiaKhan Yasir

In 1948, RSS stood disgraced and banned in the wake of the ignominious assassination of

Gandhi. The ban was lifted soon enough but the organisation remained socially ostracised for a

long time. The RSS, however, left no stone unturned to spread its tentacles across the length

and breadth of India, though with meagre success. Even its political faction Jan Sangh and laterBJP failed miserably in gaining momentum. In 1984, BJP got two seats. But since then the

communal force enjoyed an unforeseen and unpredictable legitimacy especially in urban areas

and returned with the figures of 88, 120, 161, 182 and again 182, in the national elections of

1989, 1991, 1996, 1998 and 1999 respectively. BJP tasted government at the centre for 13 days

in 1996 and then 13 months in 1998. It realised that it cannot gain enough votes and seats to

form a government on its own. It did form a stable government (later in 1999) but only with

support of a dozen of allies under the banner of NDA. In this alliance BJP was the core party, yet

it had to concede communal demands like building of Ram temple at Ayodhya, making a

uniform civil code and repealing of the article 370 etc to the pragmatic concerns of the ruling.RSS realised, sooner than later, that depending on the upper caste votes based in urban areas

will not be enough. Need for penetration in rural areas was recognised and concrete steps were

planned and taken in this direction.

It is for this reason, argues Peggy Froerer in her Religious Division and Social Conflict, that

Mitigating the backwardness of Indias adivasicommunities is one of the objectives that has


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recently figured in the agenda of RSS (p. 3). This was not the first diagnosis of this

phenomenon which, even, earlier has been identified by scholars; for example by T.B. Hansen

who referred to this as Vernacularisation of Hindutva. In the following study: How these efforts

were made? How far they succeeded? What are the factors responsible for the respective

successes and failures of these attempts? These questions, as most of us recognise, are ofpivotal interest to understand the dynamics of politics in India.

Religious Division and Social Conflict is a research-based account of the emergence of Hindu

nationalism in a tribal community in Chhattisgarh. The method implied in the research for the

in-depth analysis of the field is ethnography. Ethnography is a qualitative research design. In an

era of Twenty-20 kind of research with haphazard and often incongruous statistical approaches,

ethnography stands out as a Test Match. It is a patient researchers domain and his quest for

meaning, in the culture of the people amidst whom he is spending his years of study

(fieldwork). It tries to observe phenomenon from the perspective of the people on whom the

research is based and not from biased point of view of the researcher. Though bias, invariably,

plays a fairly important role in such a study and so ethnographic studies needs to be considered

with caution. In this study the ethnographic approach is applied to gain a wider understanding

of the process by which Hindu nationalist ideology is successfully transmitted in rural adivasi

areas. Peggy Froerers main aim is to examine the role of, what Paul Brass refers to as

conversion specialists i.e. those RSS activists who serve as the primary facilitators in this

process.

The study is based on a village in Chhattisgarh, namely Mohanpur. The fieldwork for research

was conducted for 22 months between October 1997 and August 1999. Mohanpur is a typicalvillage which is relatively cut-off from urban mainstream due to thick forests and inaccessible

roads. The near most city Korba is 40 km away from Mohanpur, that takes four-hour of cycle (or

even bus) journey, a distance that local people think to be quite far. Hence, people here do not

visit the city generally, it is a distant dream. The universe of their access and visits is spree of

villages located around 10-12 km radius. Most common occupation of the villagers is rice-

cultivation. Besides, people also indulge in sale of non-timber forest products and produce and

sale of liquor. The area is plagued by the general problems of rural areas that exist throughout

India like lack of electricity, illiteracy etc. Presence of vehicles is not only unusual but also an

amusing sight for the children and youths of the area. Caste distinctions are as acute as

anywhere. Locally Ratiya Kanwar is at the highest ladder of the caste system and Oraon

community (which is Christian) is at the lowest. The area, like other adivasiareas in the country,

is characterised by practices that are considered Backward in urban areas.

Mohanpur has a population of 886 people in 163 households. The history and geography of the

area, nearby villages, their demography is analysed and described in detail by the author in the


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introduction of the book. However the main point is the fact that Christians are largely

concentrated in this village comprising 241 people (42 households). This unusually large

population of Christians, though comparatively, leads to various crises and the book argues that

One of the objectives of this book is to show that it is partly due to the relatively large

Christian presence that the RSS has been able to successfully employ its instrumentaliststrategies in the manner that it has done in Mohanpur. (p. 27)

Local beliefs and customs (both of Hindus and Christians) are much more altered than

mainstream Hindu and Christian practices. Local people themselves identify this difference as

difference between Sahari and Jangli customs. The distinction applies more severely to

Hindu practices which has almost nothing in common with what it ought to have been. These

Dehatior Janglipractices of innumerable local deities, animal sacrifices, supernatural ways of

treating ailments etc are a pretext utilised by both RSS and church to justify their existence and

civilising missions. The author tells us about RSS,

When I first began my research in October 1997, this organisation was relatively unknown in the

area. The four RSS activists or organisers (pracharaks) who visited Mohanpur every few months

to conduct meetings amongst few interested young men held the interest of the majority of

locals more for their motor bikes and fancy clothes than for their message of Hindu unity. By the

time I completed my research nearly two years later, visits by these activists had increased to a

weekly frequency. (p. 3)

Objectives of research:

As per the statements mentioned the book following objectives of the study stand out,

The emergence of Hindu nationalism in a mixed and culturally plural village (hereHindu/Christian adivasivillage) and the impact that this has had on the lives of local

people are the principle concerns of this book. (p. 27)

With respect to the broader concerns of this book, [author tries] to show how RSSemphasis on the Hindu-ness of local adivasi Hindus, in opposition to the threatening

Christian, is an attempt to include the former in a sort of imagined community of

Hindus. (p. 39)

Specific aims are twofold:1. To identify the local conditions and cleavages that have contributed to the

transmission of Hindu nationalism in this community, and to explore how nationalist

ideology is tailored by individual activists to correspond with local concerns.

2. The broader objective is to understand the manner by which, through theinstrumental involvement of its activists in local level issues, groups like the RSS are

able to gain a legitimacy on the ground, and to extrapolate from this analysis in


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relation to the complex link between the growth of Hindu nationalism at the grass-

roots level, and broader discourses of Hindu nationalism. (p. 3)

Rationale behind the politics of inclusion:

Froerer indulges in fairly extensive literature review over the theme of RSS and Hindutva andtheir activism and argues, Beyond the generalised descriptions of how members of the Sangh

Parivar modify their message to suit the situations and histories of different communities

however, the specific activities in which these activists engage at the local level remain largely

undocumented and unanalysed (p. 7). Hence this study!

The author recognises that Hindutva thrives on the ideological bedrock, as Hansen puts it, of

Muslim-enmity. But this threatening-other has been replaced at times with Christians and

other minorities for convenience sake, by the RSS. Yet in mid-1990s, author points out, adivasis

became major focus of the RSS. Shuddhi and ghar-wapsi movements gained momentum. A

Plethora of factors are responsible for this but the author hastily jumped to regard this as a

shift in RSSs strategies. This is not a shift but expansion of the work area.

The root of the adivasi problem is identified by the Froerer as Indian States dubious recognition

of Hinduism as default religion of the adivasis, which is far from truth (to say the least!). It is

in this regard that Froerer argues, RSS activists ability to successfully endear themselves to the

community as a whole is made easier by the failure of the state to guarantee entitlements to

local adivasis and to prevent their economic rights from being infringed (p. 14). To view the

world from RSSs perspective, it is clear that Hindus can remain in majority, in India, only when

adivasis do not declare to be outside that majority. This strategic importance of adivasis forcesRSS to pay adequate attention there and also cry foul at any attempt at conversion (obviously

other than that of Hinduism). Yes, ghar wapsi itself is conversion because adivasis are not

Hindus. Mass conversions of tribal people have shown the Sangh Parivar that they cannot take

the Hindu identity of marginal groups like adivasis for granted (p. 11). Sangh has always

justified its paranoiac activism in adivasi communities as a defence of Hinduism but author

argues that:

The fact that Christians number less than 2.5 per cent of Indias population suggests that the

Sangh Parivars shift in attention toward Christian adivasi communities is less a defence of a

threatened religion in the face of conversion and more a tactic aimed at breaking out of its urbanand upper caste cocoon (ibid).

Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram for tribal development and Vidya-Bharati schools across India are

specimen of such strategy. Youths are especially targeted with simple and gradual brain-

washing. The power and effectiveness of this indoctrination lies in the simplicity of the message

convened. It is based on the following points:


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Hindus alone constitute realIndian nation. (original inhabitants) Hinduism is extremely tolerant but this tolerance has been exploited by Muslims and

others.

Due to such cunning, Hindu nation has been conquered by Muslims and Christians in thepast, though it is added meaningfully that, despite every effort, they could not convertthe whole India.

To avoid such a future conquest, from within or without, organisation of Hindus isnecessary.

However, ideology does not have the final say on such matters. Ironically it comes in the last.

First the youths of rural areas are lured by the motor-bikes and fancy clothes (especially

uniform of RSS). They are shown the city (bahar ki dunya) and the whole world of

opportunities. The sophistication of language and the feeling of being with an organisation

which can help its workers in distress also increase RSSs hold in rural areas.

What the Sangh has achieved through this so called rural-shift? The author exemplifies:

The active engagement in civilising strategies, manifested in the form of medicines and other

material assistance, has enabled RSS activists to successfully legitimise their presence locally and

to endear themselves to both Christians and Hindus. This seemingly constructive outcome is the

product of one of the more insidious means through which Hindutva is propagated in this area

and elsewhere; for, under the auspices of good works, it conceals the more aggressive

communal agenda that underpins the Hindu nationalist movement as a whole.

The second strategy through which Hindutva has been propagated locally is more directly related

to this wider agenda, and that is the communalisation of local grievances and the promotion ofthe threatening other. Specifically, it is by involving themselves in the local land and liquor

disputes, and attaching these to the one-nation, one-culture agenda that the RSS activists have

successfully facilitated the spread of Hindu nationalism.

In her analysis Froerer used the theoretical tools employed by Tambiah (1996) like focalisation

whereby the original incident or dispute is progressively denuded of its contextual particulars,

and transvaluation where the incident is then distorted and aggregated into larger collective

issues of national or ethnic interest. (p. 17)

Mohanpur soon became the arena between church and RSS. As church is active in rural areas of

India, since the early age of colonialism, RSS is facing tough resistance in terms of social work

and proselytising efforts of church. And so RSS knows that in rural areas its ...success is

achievable only if Christianity and its associated good works are discredited and its efforts are

replaced by those of the RSS and its affiliated organisations (p. 14). Thus in Mohanpur the

problem is compounded by Churchs attempt to make Oraons proper Christians (p. 20) and RSS

trying the same with respect to Hindus. RSS has skilfully exploited local tensions and launched


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its ideological agenda from that platform, thereby endearing itself to the local populace and

joining and directing their grievances (p. 22).

How barely interested are village people, in RSSs intricacies, is well-exhibited by the author in

terms of three instances sifted out from the book:

1. Raj the most active RSS activist of the area decides that to communicate the propercultural ethos and civilisation, Mohanpur needs a school. Word spread that a new

school will be launched for every child in the village. A teacher was arranged at 300 per

month. However, The mild interest that was initially expressed quickly waned when

people realised that the students who attend this school would not receive a free

meal unlike the pathetic government nursery school (p. 64). Even in the absence of a

proper school, this attempt of RSS failed miserably with eventually five students

signing up for the same amongst whom three were Rajs nephews. The school died its

natural death within a couple of months.2. RSS, as is said earlier, is against local traditions and customs. It abhors the local deities,

animal sacrifices and other things that are practiced locally. One of its main agenda is to

teach adivasis proper and mainstream Hinduism i.e. Hinduism as practiced by the

Sangh. Once Raj along with three accomplices visited the village. All four sported a choti,

three draped a scarf with Shri-Ram inscribed on it. Greetings of Jai Shri Ram were

exchanged. They were on a mission and Mohanpur was their first destination in a

planned four-village visit. Raj instructed one accomplice to gather all village women.

Despite every effort only five women with several suckling children assembled. Two

were close relatives of Raj. One was most outspoken and public woman a necessity.Only two general women arrived who consistently complained of being pulled away

from their important works. Five teenage girls too were called and they were happy to

escape their routine work. To cut the long story short none was interested in the

speeches that were delivered, procession that followed, and the saharideity (i.e. Shiva),

sahari festival (i.e. Mahashivratri) and proper methods ofpuja that were introduced.

Even if they could have tried to understand they would have not for the pure Hindi that

was spoken all through. Raj had to scold the five women several times to listen what

was being said and stop chattering. When the ceremony ended the author asked two

women what all they got from it. One said, Who knows I did not understand. The

other one said, We have enough festivals to celebrate here in the village. Why do we

have to also celebrate saharipeoples festivals? (p. 65-69)

3. RSS conducted a kind of programme by collecting young people of the village. Not asingle youth was interested in ideology and barely understood the message they

brought. They wanted to be sahari walla too and knew that RSS could help in realising

that dream as it had realised it for Raj. But after 12 months, the participation in these


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meetings gradually decreased and only four semi-regular participants remained by the

time the fieldwork ended.

Such are the adivasipeople who are target of RSSs civilising onslaught.

The book can be divided in three parts. The first part gives us a glimpse of the life in Mohanpur;the backward and jangli practices of adivasis; their beliefs, whims and customs; means of

livelihood; caste discriminations and biases etc. This part describes the relationship and biases

of Hindus who are original inhabitants of the area (sons of the soil) and Christians who are

developing economically, and how this complex relationship is exploited and channelled by RSS

into communal hatred. Separate chapters have been devoted to describe the Hindus and

Christians of the area. The earlier chapter chiefly discusses the dominant local caste Ratiya

Kanwar and its hold on the village. The later chapter discusses, after giving some historical

background of the missionary work in India, Oraon peoples relationship to church and its

impact upon their individual and communal life. These chapters also briefly discuss how theintervention of RSS on one hand and church on another has fuelled the communal tensions in

the area. Author also goes on to argue that RSS emulates the missionary strategies, proven

successful by history, albeit with a difference and more vengeance.

The second part examines, what author refers to as, civilising strategies of the RSS. Such

strategies aim at providing the raison dtre and legitimise RSSs presence in the area. While

such strategies could be many and analysing and deriving conclusions from them could be

problematic. Hence the author has chosen only two strategies and analysed them in separate

and detailed chapters. The first strategy is of installation of a medical doctor in the area. The

second strategy is supporting the dissenting group in the village against a corrupt village

headman. Author says, It is argued that these methods together are part of a more implicit

strategy to emulate the successful methods that the Church has historically employed in its

proselytising efforts in adivasiareas, with a view to gaining further local legitimacy. (p. 39)

The third part examines, what according to author are, aggressive strategies of the RSS in

order to directly propagate its communal and hatemongering agenda. Froerer pays special

attention to RSSs invocation of the threatening other (here Christians) and poisoning the

minds by igniting and aggravating the local biases, which in many cases are based on false

assumptions. Local issues are connected to national and international ones and economic

grievances are readily exploited by RSS to communalise a harmonious society. Here too, twospecific issues are raised in separate chapters. One chapter examines the nature of land

disputes. These disputes are between original settlers (i.e. Ratiya Kanwar Hindus) and first-

clearers (i.e. Oraon Christians). Author argued that such conflict symbols can be stretched

totally out of context to serve the communal agenda of the RSS. Another chapter examines the

liquor dispute between the two communities and how was it communalised yet again by the

conversion specialists of the RSS at the local level. Authors specific attention is on how these


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tensions have been appropriated by RSS activists who then strip such tensions of their local

particulars and attach them to one of the most powerful discourses of the Hindu nationalist

movement: the threatening other. (ibid)

Civilising strategies:

Villagers of Mohanpur classify diseases in two categories i.e. simple diseases and supernatural

diseases. Simple diseases are treated by medicine for which a clinic facilitated by church is

available at a distance of 6 km from the village (one hour walking distance). Such diseases

basically include fever, cough, diarrhoea and headache etc. it is established practice in the

village that for every ailment villagers visit the clinic and get three-days medicine. But in case of

not recovering within a day or two, or falling ill again after brief recovery they say that the

illness is not simple one but a bhuti bimaricaused by divine disapproval of human misconduct.

Then gunias i.e. local healers would be called and they would investigate which deity is angry,

why it is angry and what does it wants.

Both RSS and church strongly disapprove of these healers and such practices which result in

many casualties. Often medical treatment is prematurely abandoned especially in case of

malaria and typhoid where fever returns after intervals, which signifies for local people that

illness is not simple, if it would have been, it would have been cured by the medicine.

Church in Sunday sermons discards these practices. It conducts various health workshops to

increase awareness regarding health matters. These efforts are not totally falling on deaf ears.

Awareness, though gradually, is spreading in the area. Due to the monopoly over the health

service i.e. clinic it is considered that churchs influence is increasing with this awakening. This

was too much for RSS which installed a local doctor a relative of Raj after three months

training in primary healthcare. This was a challenge to church clinic only medical authority for

villages within a 15 km radius. RSS is much against what has been described as clinical-

Christianity. The RSS sponsored doctor had many advantages. Unlike nurses of the clinic RSS

doctor was local and knew people personally; unlike them he also visited home and was

conveniently available. Soon people from other villages too started calling him. Froerer deduces

the following from the whole incident:

By identifying a social need and mobilising a response to that need, Raj and the other RSS

activists were successfully able to endear themselves and engender respect and trust from thecommunity as a whole. In this way, they were able to establish a platform from which more

aggressive strategies could be initiated later on, and to ensure that their appeals would be taken

seriously. (p. 144)

Second such strategy that RSS adopted was to extend support to those, especially angry youths,

who sought to contend the corrupt local power but could not have done so without outsider-

help. RSS made the most of this opportunity and threw its weight behind the disgruntled


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people of the village. Patel was the village headman. He was also the government-appointed

Munshifor the collection oftendu leaves collected by locals. People will collect leaves and give

in bundles of fifty to Munshi who was responsible for counting, colleting and handing over

these bundles to the government. He was also in charge of distributing the payments of these

leaves to the collector families. Predictably, he devoured a major sum of money in between.Though this was open secret in the village, no one dared to rebel against the Patel. The

condition of the village was such that State is subordinated to Patel (p. 165). Everybody

desired a change but everybody lacked initiative. RSS took the initiative and intervened. As a

national organisation was involved, though clandestinely, everyone grew confident that they

could do it. Patel was removed from the position ofMunshi. The concluding observation of the

author is, ...part of the RSSs broader strength lies in the fact that it performs these kinds of

social services even as it holds out the (unspoken) threat of aggression and violence. (p. 178)

Aggressive strategies:

Establishing itself through civilising gimmicks described above, RSS adopted more aggressive

stances regarding the local land disputes. Land disputes were rooted in village history. Ratiya

Kanwars were original settlers of the village and they (i.e. their ancestors), as a gesture of grace

and for flourishing of the budding village population, allowed the Oraons to settle on the

outskirts of the village. There was no land for Oraons though they were allowed to cultivate

some nominal portions by clearing the forest. Oraons naturally are hardworking people. With

their hard work and toil they cleared a lot of forest and increased their land holding to a

considerable large area. This comparatively prosperous situation of the Oraons was a cause of

suspicion and envy for the Hindus in general and Ratiya Kanwars in particular who thought thatthey possess the distinguished right to the land for they are the first settlers of the area. This

claim was contradicted by the Oraons that they were farming on the land that they cleared with

their own toil. The problem can be said of a threatened high caste versus an aspiring low caste

and clash between them. This is also explained by Horowitz as politics of entitlement. Angry

Ratiya Kanwars gradually started asserting claims on the lands on which they have never

laboured. Such claims as author says, are being made on the basis that, as the sons of the

soil and rightful proprietor, this land belongs to them. Even lands cleared and cultivated by

Oraons for the last three decades also came under dispute.

Author notes the point that though many Hindus are also involved in land encroaching, the

encroached landholdings of Oraons come under attention of RSS. How nominal is the threat of

encroached landholdings of the Oraons is explained statistically by the author who argues that

despite every encroachment, Hindus, even today, have 94% lands of the area and only 6% is

owned by Oraon.


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Another significant point is that Oraon community is the possessor of cash as it indulges in sale

of labour in village farms and mainly outside village. They indulge in construction works.

Therefore they receive cash payments, while for their daily needs Hindus rely on barter system

using rice as a currency. But there are certainly occasions when cash is needed. This cash

Hindus get from Oraons by selling rice or mortgaging land. This led to the creditor and lenderrelationship between the communities. While this sort of indebtedness might not be unusual,

it creates a power relationship between the borrower and the lender, in favour of the latter (p.

210). Hindus are also jealous of this overflowing cash of the Oraon community. When

someone from the Oraon community bought a TV, it became a constant source of scorn and

irritation in the Hindu basti.

RSS jumped on the bandwagon of these tensions and oiled them a great deal ...the concern

that the Ratiya Kanwars have for the Oraons increasing wealth, land and overall economic

advantages has created a sense of growing unease that has spilled out into the rest of Hindu

community. RSS played an important role in this. The Oraon were acceptable neighbours

when they were poorer than their Hindu hosts three decades ago. Their increasing wealth and

steady acquisition of land through encroachment and mortgages not only creates resentment

but also threatens the power and status of the original sons of the soil (p. 217-8). Author

concludes this discussion on a theoretical note:

Through a process that Tambiah (1996) calls focalisation and transvaluation... local tensions,

which are connected to the relationship that both communities have to land, labour and access

to cash, are stripped of their particulars and attached to one of the most powerful discourses of

the Hindu nationalist movement: the threatening other. It is through the strategic

transformation of original settler claims into conflict symbols that a cultural allegiance betweenlocal Hindu adivasis and Hindus elsewhere in India has been successfully created. As land

tensions move beyond the local, caste conflicts acquire communal elements in a process

whereby religion has come to be used as a tool for economic and political gain (p. 219).

Another tension in the area that is fuelled by RSS is tension over liquor sales. Liquor is

consumed by both Christians and Hindus however it is generally produced by only Christians.

Most Oraons produce it on occasional basis while half of them sell it regularly. Froerer argues

that main source of income for Oraon people is wage-labour and liquor produce adds negligible

amounts to their profits But the perception remains that the income that Oraon Christians are

able to generate from liquor sales has not only contributed to their material affluence, but has,more critically, enabled them to purchase mortgages for Hindu land (p. 220). In short Oraon

Christians are cause of social deterioration of Hindus. Liquor in the area is made from the

flowers called mahua after drying and treating them. Sale of dried mahua flowers is a

monopoly of Hindus and author substantiates, through statistics, that by selling this raw

material, they acquire more profits than Oraon Christians who produce liquor out of it. Before

the issue of liquor was communalised by RSS, drinking was the only means of interaction


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between local Hindu and Christian community. Hindus would visit the Oraon bastiin the quiet

hours of morning or evening, spend at least half an hour drinking and chatting about village

affairs, would also be offered a free drink or two by the host Oraons and who themselves would

drink with their customers. Hindus would pay for liquor with rice as they lack cash. Hindu

women are pretty much against drinking of their men for two reasons. First they are victim ofdomestic violence that increases after men drink liquor and secondly they are concerned about

their ever depleting resources of rice (i.e. their money) by consumption of liquor by their men.

Based on her study, author concludes that women are more concerned about the later than

former. Notable point is that Church is as much against the liquor as Hindu women. It launches

several campaigns in the village and adjoining areas against liquor production and

consumption. Church has launched these initiatives more as a reform of Christians than for any

social service.

In village there is an organisation of women. To be specific this organisation is branch of a larger

organisation initiated by church at the district level. This was an attempt of church, after

proselytising was legally prohibited, to outreach the local people. In local meetings of this

organisation in Mohanpur liquor issues were raised, but earlier they were raised more as a

general issues demanding attention. However as the meetings progressed and RSSs influence

increased, Hindu women started raising the liquor issue more prominently. Christian women

protested at this and argued that focus on liquor was interfering with wider aims of

organisation such as electricity and clear water. But tensions kept increasing until a boycott was

announced from both sides. Hindus will not go to Oraons for buying liquor and Oraons will not

sell. But the immediate ceasing of regular sales to and consumption by local Hindus would last

only a few days, however, as Oraons would begin to sell quietly to trusted customers, and then

more openly, to others. Within a week or so, another meeting would be called because another

Hindu customer would be caught drinking (p. 236). This became an endless cycle. Author

makes a sharp point here,

That the Oraon vendors have taken the brunt of the blame for the social and economic problems

felt by the Hindu consumers is an important point. The attitude amongst Hindus was that

consumption of liquor in itself is not bad; to be sure, it is an acceptable cultural practice when

exercised within a locally appropriate manner. And indeed, at least one member of nearly every

household consumes liquor on certain ritual, social or private occasions. Selling, however, is

perceived as bad. (p. 237)

Most of the Oraon, on the other hand, thought that liquor issue is only blown out of proportion

due to the jealousy of Hindu community over their wealth and improving material status.

Though liquor sale does not contribute much income as distinct from wage labour, it is highly

regular and visible source of income and hence the tension. Author points out, In the past,

such tensions would have been contained locally resolved, perhaps, in the context of the


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village council. During the course of my fieldwork, however, they took on a new urgency due to

their appropriation and transformation by the RSS into issues of communal concern (p. 242).

During such a meeting of the womens organisation that had reached the breaking point, and

amidst shouting Christian women were about to leave, that Raj came and calmed all of the

women down. He then accused church of instructing Christians to make and sell liquor to

Hindus. For this allegation he supplied so innocuous but so convincing an argument. He asked

Christian women: why, when the catholic fathers visit the village in their jeep, they go directly

to the Oraon Christian locality? He alleged that fathers have a secret plan to bring Hindu

community down through liquor like Christians of all over India. Nobody listened to the

forceful denials of the Christian women. Meeting exploded and ended with Hindu men beating

some of the Oraon men accidentally present there and Hindu women shouting you Christians

are using liquor money to buy our land, you Christians should give us our land back and

leave, if we see you buying anything else like a television with liquor money, then we will

destroy it. Author significantly points out at this stage that,

...this was the first time that local Hindus used the category Christian (isai) in place of Oraon as

a term of identification in a public context (p. 244). And the speed with which communal

categories began to be utilised locally points to the success of the introduction of Hindu

nationalist sentiment particularly the ideology of the threatening other. This was related to

the kind of conflict symbol liquor that was utilised to transmit this sentiment (p. 250).

Conclusion:

It required no study to note that the main emphasis of RSS is to emphasise the otherness of the

Christians or Muslims whomever they can lay their hands upon. Through this scarecrow ofthreatening-other they could easily rally together the scared Hindus and make them conscious

of their Hindu identity. Frequent invocation of a national and international conspiracy of

Muslims or Christians (depending on situation) that they will convert or outbreed Hindus and

will become majority also works in favour of RSS.

It is perhaps no coincidence Froerer asserts, that local tensions have increased in tandem

with the growing frequency of RSS training meetings... which are more often conducted on the

same day that the panchayat or womens meetings are held (p. 252). This is why she further

states Raj could be classified as what Brass calls a conversion specialist, a person whose

pivotal role is to attach new meaning to local conditions or convert an ordinary local incident

into communal discourse, enabling its potential escalation into communal violence. (ibid)

As an ethnographic study, the book was based on personal and firsthand observations of the

author. Besides collecting the firsthand observations she also enjoyed a unique privilege. In her

own words:


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...the arrival and increasing presence of RSS activists in this area paralleled my own. This placed

me in a unique position to observe how, in the space of two years, they managed to endear

themselves to the local community. I also observed how they inculcated some of the tenets most

crucial to the success of Hindu nationalism, and was able to consider the impact that this has had

on the local people. (p. 256)

The RSS model of exerting influence in rural areas of India raises some deeper problems besides

concerns of communally plagued environment. One of such distressing implication of the way

in which RSS, over the years, has legitimised its presence in rural areas is that a precedent has

been set whereby the provision of basic needs requires the involvement of an extra-state

power that is widely associated with aggression and violence. (p. 180)

It is important to note that RSSs efforts to inject the communal poison in the rural vein of India

proved remarkably successful. In 1998, Madhya Pradesh assembly elections were held. Talking

specifically of Mohanpur, it was a Congresss stronghold. Patel is the dominant political and

spiritual head of the village and Congress is known, instead of its name, as Patels Party. Butin assembly polls Congress lost to BJP. BJP victory was helped by the votes that were

unexpectedly cast in its favour by people from Mohanpur, a village that, until the 1998 election,

had been a traditional congress stronghold.

It significant to note that since 1990s when RSS turned towards adivasis, the anti-Christian

violence has increased. It reached its high between 1997 and 2000. Author substantiates

different studies on communalism focusing on RSS especially by Paul Brass who argues that

collective violence often evolves out of circumstances that are not necessarily communal in

nature. He is also critical of accounts that describe communal riots as spontaneous acts

instead he argues that as riots have functional utility for dominant political ideologies they are

more often than not carefully orchestrated. He holds that there are specific, identifiable

individuals who work intentionally to produce riots.

injecting poison in the rural vein of india

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