How the RSS Ghar Wapsi Programme Actually Hurts Hindus

OPINION

How the RSS ghar wapsiprogramme actually hurtsHindusSince Ambedkar, the threat of Dalit conversions has driven reformSince Ambedkar, the threat of Dalit conversions has driven reformwithin Hinduism.within Hinduism.

The Sangh Parivars ghar wapsi programme to convert members of

minority communities to Hinduism is driven by anxieties of Hindus

being lured away in droves from the faith of their ancestors by

Abrahamic missionaries. While the fears of an exodus from Hinduism

Shoaib DaniyalToday 12:30 pm

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Contrary to the Hindutva narrative, there were no missionaries

involved. Shyam Singh, a Dalit of the Valmiki caste, had converted to

Islam because he and his community members had been denied the

right to perform a puja at a local temple. Infuriated by the constant

harassment of law and order authorities, who supported the

dominant Yadav caste in denying Singhs Dalit Valmiki caste their

religious rights, Singh decided to change his faith altogether. For this

act of religious conversion, Singh was booked for disturbing peace

and communal harmony.

Terrified by the repercussions of his act, the Valmiki community of the

area is thinking of migrating to some other part of the country. Singh

is reported to be thinking of leaving the country altogether and

migrating to Nepal.

Empowering strategy for Dalits

This incident is a sharp case study of conversions in India and how

they act as an empowering strategy for Dalits. It also illustrates how

measures to stop conversion, both by the state and powerful political

forces, cause a great deal of harm to Dalits within Hinduism.

This is, of course, hardly the first instance of such a conversion. In the

60-odd years since Independence, Dalits across the country have used

conversion to protest caste atrocities several times. A prominent

example is the Meenakshipuram conversions of 1981, when more

than a 1,000 Dalits in a Tamil Nadu village converted to Islam as a

means to escape oppression from the landed Marava caste.

Wednesday, March 18th 2015


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repealed, five other states Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh still have similar provisions on theirbooks.

In 2002, in Jhajjar, Haryana, after a mob beat five Dalits to death on

suspicion that they were hiding a dead cow, hundreds of Dalits

converted to Buddhism, Islam and Christianity as a protest. More

recently, in September 2014, four Dalits converted to Islam in

Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh as a reaction to caste discrimination.

However, they reverted to Hinduism after the police booked them

under the state's draconian anti-conversion law and Sangh Parivar

organisations, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, threatened to

punish them by destroying their crops and dispossess them of their

land.

The first and largest conversion of Dalits, though, was in 1956 in

Nagpur led by BR Ambedkar, the architect of India's Constitution.

Almost four lakh Dalits converted to Buddhism along with Ambedkar.

It was this act that started the process of Dalits employing conversion

as a tool to gain more rights within Indian society.

Ambedkarite conversion strategy

Ambedkar was very clear that conversion was vital for Dalits to

improve their lot. In 1935, he declared that he would not die a Hindu.

In a speech to the Bombay Presidency Mahar Conference in 1936, he

laid out his philosophy and strategy for religious conversion. He

declared that the caste system among the Hindus has the foundation

of religion, so long as the Dalits remain Hindus, you will have to

struggle for social intercourse, for food and water, and for inter-caste



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change your religion."

The roots of the Dalit movement to convert in order to gain better

rights go all the way back to the original Dalit reformer, Jyotirao

Phule. Sociologist Gail Omvedt writes: To Phule, the conversion

efforts of both Islam and Christianity were at least initially

emancipatory; he had written a long ballad, for example, on

Muhammad, and made statements of the sort that Muslims forcibly

converted the Shudras and Ati-Shudras and freed them from the

bonds of slavery to the Bhat-Brahmans.

The state and conservative elements of caste Hindu society have, of

course, not reacted too well to this Ambedkarite plan. Dalits who

convert are not allowed to benefit from reservation quotas. Five

states have anti-conversion laws to prevent a change of faith. Even in

states that do not have this law, the police comes down hard on Dalits

and adivasis converting, as was seen in Meerut a few days ago, with

Shyam Singh being farcically booked for disturbing peace and

communal harmony.

Ghar wapsi programme

The most recent reaction from the Sangh Parivar though is the ghar

wapsi campaign. Though this programme hit the headlines after

Narendra Modi came to power, attempts by the Sangh to convert

mainly Christian adivasis and Dalits to Hinduism are decades old.

Most of this consists of offering education and healthcare facilities,

though in places like Kandhamal in Orissa and the Dangs in Gujarat, it

has also resulted in mass violence.



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of impact is forgotten: caste emancipation. The Ambedkarite strategy

of using conversion as a stick to fight casteism has been quite

successful, even without mass conversions taking place or the fact that

caste, in varying degrees, still exists across all religions in India. The

mere threat of Dalit conversions has resulted in significant reform

within Hinduism (and the pace of reform since Ambedkar converted

has not been insignificant). In the present case, for instance, until

these Valmikis in Meerut decided to convert, the media ignored the

caste apartheid against them.

By restricting the freedom to convert, however, the ghar wapsi issue

undermines this Ambedarike strategy. In fact, for the Sangh Parivar,

the final aim of ghar wapsi is quite clear: a national anti-conversion

law. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief, Mohan Bhagwat had

suggested in December that there be a legislation in Parliament to

stop this practice [conversion]. By removing the stick of conversion,

the pace of reform within Hindu society will slow down.

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How the RSS Ghar Wapsi Programme Actually Hurts Hindus