Author: Christophe Jaffrelot
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 445
ISBN/UPC (if available): 019568365X
Description
This volume brings together significant readings on the Sangh Parivar-the family of Hindu nationalist organizations - and traces the rise of the right wing in Indian politics.
The volume describes the matrix of the Parivar - The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - and how it was constituted. It examines the core group of the Sangh Parivar which represents major arenas of the public sphere - The Bharatiya Janata Party (the political heir of the Jana Sangh) in the political domain, The Rashtra Sevika Samiti (women's wing of the RSS), and The Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (for welfare of tribal groups), The Seva Bharati (for socio-ideological work among the Dalits), The Vidya Bharati (and its network of schools), and The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (active in the economic domain since the 1990s). The reader therefore shows that the Sangh Parivar engages with different sectors of the Indian society.
Besides scrutinizing and providing the first-ever comprehensive overview of these components, the volume also examines the major role played by the RSS and the VHP in the expansion of the Sangh Parivar, concluding with an examination of the ways in which the Sangh Parivar has started to organize the Indian (Hindu) Diaspora primarily in the west.
This reader is the first volume in the new series, Critical Issues in Indian Politics, aimed at students and scholars of Indian politics, sociology, history, and an informed lay audience consisting of journalists, activists, and policy planners.
Contents
Introduction
Christophe Jaffrelot
I. THE MATRIX – THE RSS
RSS: Ideology, Organization, and Training
Walter K. Andersen and Shridhar D. Damle
The RSS: A Hindu nationalist Sect
Christophe Jaffrelot
The ‘Sangha’ Citadel in Pune
Thomas Blom Hansen
II. WOMEN OF THE PARIVAR – THE RASHTRA SEVIKA SAMITI
Hindu Nationalist Women as Idelologues: The ‘Sangh’, the
‘Samiti’ and their Differential Concepts of the Hindu Nation
Paola Bachheta
Heroic women, Mother Goddesses:
Family and Organization in Hindutva Politics
Tanika Sarkar
The Gender Predicament of the Hindu Right
Tanika Sarkar
Sevikas in Thane City
Thomas Blom Hansen
III. RE-EDUCATING THE YOUTH – THE VIDYA BHARATI,
THE VANAVASI KALYAN ASHRAM, AND SEVA BHARATI
Educating the Children of the Hindu Rashtra:
Notes on RSS Schools
Tanika Sarkar
Hindu Missionaries at the Frontier
Thomas Blom Hansen
Hindu Nationalism and the Social Welfare Strategy:
Seva Bharati as an Education Agency
Christophe Jaffrelot
IV. IN THE POLITICAL ARENA: FROM THE BJS TO THE BJP
The Leadership and Organization of the Jana Sangh,
1951 to 1967
Bruce Graham
The BJP at the Centre: A Central and Centrist Party?
Christophe Jaffrelot
V. FEDERATING HINDUISM? THE VHP AND BAJRANG DAL
The Vishva Hindu Parishad: Structures and Strategies
Christophe Jaffrelot
The Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini
Manjari Katju
VI. THE BMS: A HINDU NATIONALIST LABOUR UNION
The Hindu Trade Union Movement in India:
The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh
Kiran Saxena
Work and Workers in the Ideology and Strategies of
The BMS
Christophe Jaffrelot
VII. THE HINDU NATIONALIST APPROACHES OF THE ECONOMY
The Ethics of Hindutva and the Spirit of Capitalism
Thomas Blom Hansen
The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch: An Economic
Arm of the Hindu Nationalist Movement
Isabelle Boutron
VIII. ORGANIZING THE DIASPORA
‘Far and Wide’: The Sangh Parivar’s Global Network
Ingrid Therwath
The Vishva Hindu Parishad Abroad
Majari Katju
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors