“I recognized two people pulling away my daughter Shabana. My … · 2009-04-21 · 2 “I...

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“I recognized two people pulling away my daughter Shabana. My daughter wasscreaming in pain asking the men to leave her alone. My mind was seething withfear and fury. I could do nothing to help my daughter from being assaultedsexually and tortured to death. My daughter was like a flower, still to see life. Whydid they have to do this to her? What kind of men are these? The monsters toremy beloved daughter to pieces.”

Medina Mustafa Ismail Sheikh, then in Kalol refugee camp, Panchmahals District, Gujarat

This report is dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of Indians who have losttheir homes, their loved ones or their lives because of the politics of hatred. Westand by those in India struggling for justice, and for a secular, democratic andtolerant future.

INFORMATION FOR READERS

� A separate report summary is available fromwww.awaazsaw.org. Each section of thisreport also begins with a summary of mainfindings.

� Section 1 provides brief information onHindutva and shows Sewa International UK’sconnections with the RSS. Readers familiarwith these areas can skip to:

� The key sections of the report. Sections 2–4look at Sewa International UK (the fundrais-ing wing of HSS UK), its activities around theGujarat earthquake 2001 and its other sup-ported projects.

� Section 5 documents extensive linksbetween the HSS UK family of organizationsand the Indian RSS.

� For readers unfamiliar with the RSS orHindutva, background information is given inAppendices 4–8.

� A glossary of Indian terms is given at the endof the report (Appendix 9)

� Updates to the report are available atwww.awaazsaw.org.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Any final conclusions of fact or expressions ofopinion are the responsibility of Awaaz – SouthAsia Watch Limited alone. Awaaz – South AsiaWatch would like to thank numerous individualsand organizations in the UK, India and the US foradvice and assistance in the preparation of thisreport. Awaaz – South Asia Watch would also liketo acknowledge the insights of the report TheForeign Exchange of Hate researched by groups inthe US.

All enquiries to [email protected]

A NOTE ON METHODS

The report is based on: site visits to Gujarat vil-lages in September 2003; interviews in Gujaratfrom March–May 2003; interviews in the UK, USand other parts of India during 2003; and analy-sis of paper and electronic documents, primarilythose produced by Hindutva groups.

ISBN 0 9547174 0 6

© Awaaz – South Asia Watch Limited, 2004

Published by Awaaz – South Asia Watch Ltd,London.

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IN BAD FAITH? BRITISH CHARITY AND HINDUEXTREMISM

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I N B A D F A I T H ? B R I T I S H C H A R I T Y A N D H I N D U E X T R E M I S M

RECOMMENDATIONS...........................................................5

SECTION 1: SEWA INTERNATIONAL UK ANDHINDUTVA...............................................................................6Section summary ...................................................................6Hindutva violence in India....................................................7How does this affect the UK?..............................................9Sewa International UK........................................................11SIUK: a part of the RSS Hindutva mission.......................12Links with Sewa International India.................................13Sewa Bharati’s supremacist agenda ...............................13

SECTION 2: THE GUJARAT EARTHQUAKE 2001 .............17Section summary .................................................................17The context ...........................................................................18Discrimination against Dalits and Muslims ....................18Intimidation of other NGOs ................................................19SIUK’s India Quake Appeal ................................................19Box: Hindutva intimidation .................................................20Sewa Bharati’s use of village reconstruction funds .....21The funding of RSS schools...............................................23Other RSS projects..............................................................25Box: Anti-minority violence in Chanasma .......................26

SECTION 3: THE SEWA INTERNATIONAL – FUNDEDVILLAGES ..............................................................................27Section summary .................................................................27Chapredi ................................................................................28Mithaspasvaria ....................................................................30Rapar......................................................................................30Badanpur...............................................................................31Rampura ................................................................................32

SECTION 4: OTHER RSS PROJECTS SUPPORTED BYSEWA INTERNATIONAL UK...............................................33Section summary .................................................................33Kalyan Ashram Trust UK.....................................................33Orissa Cyclone 1999 ............................................................34Sewa Education Aid............................................................36Bharatiya Shiksha Samiti ...................................................37Swa Roopwardhinee...........................................................38Prabhodhini Gurukula .........................................................38Devi Ahalyabai Smarack Samiti........................................39The scope of SIUK aid ........................................................40Conclusion ............................................................................40

SECTION 5: THE HINDU SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH UKAND ITS ALLIED ORGANIZATIONS ..................................42Section summary .................................................................42Modelled on the Indian RSS..............................................43UK affiliates...........................................................................43The HSS, religious sectarianism and religious hatred .45Links with the Indian RSS ..................................................46Attendance at major RSS / VHP events in India ............49The Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK ........................................50Links between VHP UK and HSS UK................................51Links with VHP India ...........................................................51

APPENDICESAppendix 1: The finances of HSS UK and Sewa

International...............................................54Appendix 2: Sewa International UK one year

progress report .........................................56Appendix 3: Non-earthquake related organizations

supported by HSS UK...............................57Appendix 4: Hindutva and the RSS ..............................59Appendix 5: Women, dalits, adivasis and the RSS....63Appendix 6: RSS service and education networks...66Appendix 7: Historical associations with

Nazi and Fascist ideologies ....................70Appendix 8: RSS languages of deception ..................73Appendix 9: Glossary......................................................75

LIST OF TABLESTable 1: Sangh parivar and violence ......................8Table 2: The UK and Indian sangh parivar ..........10Table 3: Sewa Bharati-Gujarat Schools

– Project 2 .................................................23Table 4: Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK

Summary of Funds ....................................54Table 5: Sewa International UK’s village

progress......................................................56Table 6: Sewa International UK’s

infrastructure facilities progress ...........56Table 7: Sewa International UK’s school

building progress ......................................56Table 8: Organizations, projects and other

work of Sewa International UK ..............57

LIST OF FIGURESFigure 1: HSS UK annual training camp 2001 .......11Figure 2: Homepage of Sewa Bharati....................15Figure 3: Another Sewa Bharati website ..............15Figure 4: SIUK homepage, December 2002 ..........21Figure 5: SIUK homepage, December 2003 ..........21Figure 6: Atalnagar (Chapredi village) ...................28Figure 7: RSS dedication plaque at rebuilt

Chapredi .....................................................28Figure 8: Hindu temple, Chapredi village ..............29Figure 9: Gateway, Chapredi village

(Malayala Manorama) .............................29Figure 10: Bird shelter and community pavilion,

Chapredi (Malayala Manorama) ............29Figure 11: K. S. Sudarshan, Mithapasvaria village30Figure 12: Bharat Mata Poojan at

Karnataka girls’ school ............................40Figure 13: HSS UK 9-day annual training camp .....43Figure 14: NHSF UK Annual lecture .........................70Figure 15: European HSS and VHP members

attending World RSS Camp.....................50Figure 16: Barry Gardiner, Brent North

Labour MP at VHP Wembley event .......51Figure 17: VHP rifle training camp, Patan,

Gujarat ........................................................52Figure 18: VHP UK at VHP International

Coordination meeting...............................53

CONTENTS

Because of their role in funding, promoting orglorifying RSS organizations that have beendirectly responsible for or implicated in seri-ous, large scale sectarian violence, hatred orviolation of human rights in India:

� The charitable status of HinduSwayamsevak Sangh UK, Vishwa HinduParishad UK and Kalyan Ashram Trust UK (allbranches of the extremist RSS family) be with-drawn by the UK Charity Commission.

� The Charity Commission take appropriateaction against the trustees of HSS. HSS / SewaInternational fundraising appeals for Indiancauses were not transparent and did not dis-close to the public that funds were beingraised for and sent to extremist and sectarianRSS organizations.

� Donors and the public refuse to give fundsto the HSS, Sewa International, the VHP UKand their allied organizations.

� Politicians, public and voluntary sectororganizations, religious and communitygroups publicly dissociate from the HSS, theVHP UK and their allied organizations.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

SECTION SUMMARY

� The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS –National Volunteers Corps) is a paramilitary,all-male political organization founded in the1920s and dedicated to turning India into anexclusive ‘Hindu nation’ based on ‘Hindustrength’ and ‘Hindu unity’. RSS founderswere strongly inspired by Fascist and Naziideas and the RSS was modeled on Fascistyouth organizations. The RSS and its allieshave been repeatedly named by judicialinquiries for their role in religiously-motivat-ed violence over several decades. The RSShas been banned three times in India, twicefor its role in fomenting religious hatred andserious anti-minority violence. M. K. Gandhi’smurderer was an RSS activist.

� The RSS’s world-view is ‘Hindutva’, an extrem-ist anti-minority ideology of Hindusupremacy formed in the 1920s. Hindutvahas little relation to Hindu religions. Rather, itis based on the claim that India only belongsto those who ‘share the blood’ of Vedic-Aryans and who consider India as theirholyland. Hindutva claims that Indian citizenswho are Muslim or Christian are not ‘true’Indians. If they do not swear allegiance to theRSS’s ideology, they should be treated as for-eigners and potential enemies. According toRSS followers, India has to be turned from asecular democratic state in which all citizensare equal into a Hindu nation-state in whichHindus have absolute supremacy.

� The RSS has a large ‘family’ (sangh parivar) ofclosely related organizations that share itsaims and world-view. RSS affiliates, includingthe Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP – WorldHindu Council), have been involved in largescale anti-minority violence or hatred, includ-ing riots and pogroms in which thousandshave died.

� The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK (HSS UK)is the UK branch of the RSS and shares theRSS’s aims and ideology. The HSS UK is a reg-istered charity. Sewa International UK (SIUK),though not a registered charity, is thefundraising arm of the HSS UK.

� SIUK is directly linked with the RSS and itsaffiliates, including Sewa International Indiaand Sewa Bharati; the latter is a key recipientof SIUK funds. SIUK’s claim to be a non-sec-tarian, non-religious and non-politicalorganization that ‘does not provide funds foranything other than humanitarian relief’ isfalse. Its main purpose is to raise funds forand support a distinct family of organiza-tions associated with the extremist RSS.

� Sewa International India and Sewa Bharatiare dedicated to building a Hindu nationbased on Hindu extremist ideas, glorifyingthe RSS, recruiting for the RSS and expandingRSS physical and ideological training cells(shakhas) in India.

� Sewa Bharati has been openly involved inHindutva extremist political work in India,including promotion of RSS ideology andpolitics. The state government of MadhyaPradesh revoked its license because ofalleged violence against Christians.Allegations of violence by Sewa Bharatiagainst Christians in Madhya Pradeshcontinue.

� We do not think it is a coincidence that thetwo Indian states where Hindutva networks,hatred and violence have grown phenome-nally in recent years both had natural andhuman tragedies (the Gujarat earthquake in2001, the Orissa cyclone in 1999) followed bymassive amounts of funding to Hindutvaorganizations under the guise of humanitari-an charity.

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SECTION 1: SEWA INTERNATIONAL UK AND HINDUTVA

HINDUTVA VIOLENCE IN INDIA

I am the first enemy of the Muslims…Killing Muslims was necessary. AllMuslims had to be taught a lesson… Ifthe Muslims do not learn, it will be veryharmful for them.

Harish Bhatt, Gujarat state vice president, VishwaHindu Parishad, describing the killing of 2,000 Indians,

almost all Muslims, in Gujarat during 2002

Virtually every judicial commission ofinquiry officially appointed to investigatecommunal riots since Independence andPartition has indicted organizations affili-ated with or allied to the RSS / VHP / BD /BJP combine, including the Maharashtra-based Shiv Sena, for their role in violentcrimes against India’s minorities.

Concerned Citizens Tribunal on the Gujarat 2002massacres, led by former chief justice of India,

V R Krishna Iyer

In India since the early 1980s, there has been amassive growth of violent Hindu extremist politi-cal movements and organizations. Theseorganizations follow a supremacist ideologycalled Hindutva. Hindutva has little relation tothe religion of Hinduism. Instead, Hindutva is anideology formed in the 1920s and 1930s andinfluenced by Fascism and Nazism. It claimsthat India belongs only to Hindus and thatHindus are a single ‘race’, people, culture ornation. India has to be turned into an exclusiveHindu nation-state in which minorities havelimited or few rights of democratic citizenship.Minorities are viewed by Hindutva organiza-tions as enemies, traitors, polluters and alienforeigners. From their beginning, Hindutvaorganizations have opposed secularism, freedomof belief and the democratic and tolerant valuesof the Indian constitution.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,National Volunteers Corps), formed in 1925-1926,is at the core of the family of Hindutva organiza-tions operating in India.

� The RSS is modelled on Italian Fascist youthmovements that were growing at that time.Its founders (K. B. Hedgewar and B. S. Moonje)and its second leader (M. S. Golwalkar) wereall strong admirers or supporters of both

Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

� The RSS is not a democratic organization butbased on obedience to and veneration of itssupreme leader.

� The RSS is not a formally registered society inIndia and is not regarded as a charity. Itclaims not to keep any bank accounts and itdoes not have to pay income tax. The RSS, itswomen’s and student affiliates, and the VHPare notified under section 5 of the ForeignContribution (Regulation) Act 1976 (FCRA) asorganizations of a political nature. The Actbans such organizations from receiving anyforeign funds, unless they receive prior per-mission from the central government on acase by case basis.

� The family of RSS-spawned organizations isknown as the sangh parivar or just sangh(meaning ‘organization’).

� The key sangh parivar belief is that Indiabelongs only to Hindus; all other religiouscommunities, and those Hindus who refuseto accept RSS leadership, are considered ene-mies of the country. The ideology of thesangh parivar is ‘Hindutva’. This is a rejectionof the secular and civic idea of Indian nation-hood and citizenship in favour of anextremist and discriminatory idea of anexclusive ‘Hindu nation-state’, called aHindurashtra.

� The RSS’s key method of recruiting andorganizing cadres is called sangathan – theconsolidation of all Hindus under its hate-driven ideology in order to create a Hindunation-state. RSS volunteers working to buildthe ‘Hindu nation’ are called swayamsevaksand RSS workers / activists are calledkaryakartas.

� The RSS is organized through cells calledshakhas in which uniformed membersundergo military drills, physical, ideologicaland weapons training, and prayers to its saf-fron flag. In RSS shakhas, images of HinduGods or Goddess are absent. The ‘god’ of theRSS is the ‘Hindu nation’ and members arerequired to venerate the RSS’s first twosupreme leaders, K. B. Hedgewar and M. S.Golwalkar.

Hindutva organizations have repeatedly floutedthe law, acted illegally, undermined judicial

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processes and the criminal justice system, infil-trated the federal state, and systematicallytargeted and massacred Indian citizens who areMuslims or Christians.

Since the late 1960s, the RSS has beenrepeatedly named in judicial commissions andenquiries into serious incidents of religiously-motivated violence in India. This included themurder of M. K. Gandhi by Nathuram Godse, anRSS propagator. The RSS has been banned three

times in independent India, twice because of itsassociation with violence and hatred. Over thepast two decades, there have been very seriousincidents of violence against Muslim andChristian communities by Hindutva organiza-tions, including the VHP, the RSS, the GujaratBJP and the Bajrang Dal. These incidentsinclude the killings in Bhagalpur in 1989, inBombay in 1992–1993 and in Dangs district,Gujarat from 1997 and 1998-1999. Over 5,000Indians were killed in these various events.

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Justice D.P. Madon Commission: ‘The organization responsible for bringingcommunal tension in Bhiwandi to a pitch is the Rashtriya Utsav Mandal [anarm of the Jana Sangh, the then RSS political wing].’Justice D. P. Madon Commission, as above.Justice Joseph Vithyathil Commission: ‘It was only after the RSS and theJana Sangh set up their units … that there came a change in the situation.Their anti-Muslim propaganda, its reaction on the Muslims … and the com-munal tension that followed prepared the ground for the disturbances.’Commission of Inquiry: ‘The dispute on the route of the procession becamesharp and agitated reactions from a group of persons … who systematical-ly distributed pamphlets to heighten communal feelings and hadorganizational links with the RSS.’Justice Venugopal Commission: ‘The RSS methodology for provoking com-munal violence is: a) rousing feelings in the majority community bypropaganda… b) deepening fear in the majority community by a cleverpropaganda that the [minorities’] population is increasing… c) infiltratinginto the administration… e) spreading rumours to widen the communalcleavage…’Commission of Inquiry, Majority Report of Justice Ram Chand Prasad andS. Shamshul Hasan: ‘The climax was reached when the BJP and VHP(Vishwa Hindu Parishad) workers led by their leaders demonstrated…’People’s Union for Civil Liberties: ‘The December 11 incidents… [were] avicious police operation carried out with communal bias, with so-calledHindutva activists and local [thugs] with a view to unleash terror on mem-bers of the minority community.’Human Rights Watch: ‘The violence in Bombay emerged out of an organ-ized and systematic ideological campaign directed primarily against India’sMuslim minority… During the preceding months, a movement … includingthe BJP, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP) and Shiv Sena, had called for the construction of a temple on the siteof the [Babri] mosque as an integral move in their struggle for Hindutva, orHindu rule.’Concerned Citizens’ Tribunal (chaired by former Chief Justice of India V.R.Krishna Iyer): ‘The leadership of large mobs running into thousands wasprovided by easily identifiable elected representatives of the BJP (includingcabinet ministers), and others from the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and the RSS...’

SANGH PARIVAR INDICTED BY:

78

43251

127–137

At least 918

19

At least 1,700

2,000

ESTIMATEDNUMBER KILLED,WHERE KNOWN

Bhiwandi 1970

Jalgaon 1970Tellicherry 1971

Jamshedpur 1979

Kanyakumari 1982

Bhagalpur 1989

East Delhi 1992

Bombay 1992 –1993

Gujarat 2002

LOCATION / DATE

SANGH PARIVAR AND VIOLENCE1 TABLE 1

1 Our purpose here is to demonstrate that the RSS and its family have repeatedly been indicted for violence over several decades; this is not to exonerate thepolice or other political parties who played a major role in several of these incidents.

The Gujarat pogroms in 2002 were the mostchilling illustration of the rise of Hindutva.From 27 February 2002, at least 2,000 Indiancitizens, the vast majority Muslim, were killed– most over the course of three days – andover 200,000 displaced in the worst violenceseen in India over the last decade. The pogromwas concentrated in the towns and villages ofGujarat. The violence continued for severalmonths and involved the active cooperation ofRSS leaders that head the Gujarat state govern-ment. It followed the killing of 58 Hindus on atrain just outside Godhra town in Gujarat, report-edly by a Muslim mob. The Gujarat carnage wasunprecedented in its brutality, its planning andmethodical execution. The violence included thesystematic rape and mutilation of women andgirls, the killing and burning of adults and chil-dren and the destruction and arson of homes,businesses and property.

The carnage was condemned by numerousgovernments, the European Union and humanrights organizations worldwide. NumerousIndian and international human rights reportsdirectly indicted the RSS and its affiliates in theviolence. In April 2002, a Human Rights WatchReport concluded that:

The groups most directly involved in theviolence include the Vishwa HinduParishad (World Hindu Council, VHP), theBajrang Dal, the Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) that heads the Gujarat state gov-ernment.2

A survey in 2002 by Citizen’s Initiative,Ahmedabad of almost 2800 Muslim familiesaffected by the violence named these sameorganizations as involved in the carnage3.Similarly, in 2002, a Concerned Citizens Tribunalheaded by Justices V.R. Krishna Iyer, HosbetSuresh and P.B. Sawant detailed extensive eye-witness testimony that named these sameorganizations for involvement in the atrocities4.

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT THE UK?

British citizens were victims of RSS and VHP-inspired violence: three members of the Dawoodfamily from Yorkshire, on holiday in India, werekilled during the Gujarat carnage in 2002. TheIndian RSS also has highly active organizationsworking in the UK. They have spread RSS ideolo-gy, provided extensive financial and politicalsupport for Hindutva organizations in India, andattempted to gain influence among Hindus inthe UK, especially among youth. They havereceived support from political parties, localauthorities, education authorities, MPs and mem-bers of the royal family. The UK organizationspretend to be simply religious or cultural organi-zations that represent Hindus and they attemptto disguise their links with political extremism inIndia. Several UK organizations raise funds fromthe general public in the name of charity andchannel them to RSS front organizations in India.UK organizations linked to the RSS include:

� Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS UK, a regis-tered charity, charity number 267309), the UKbranch of the RSS.

� Sewa International UK (SIUK, the fundraisingand ‘service project’ of HSS UK) which raisesfunds for RSS projects in India.

� Kalyan Ashram Trust (KAT, a registered chari-ty, charity number 261327) which raisesfunds for RSS ‘tribal’ projects in India.

� Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK (VHP UK, a regis-tered charity, charity number 262684), the UKbranch of the Indian VHP.

� Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP UK),which provides support in the UK for the BJPpolitical party which is part of the RSS family.

The close relation between the HSS UK, theVHP UK and the Indian RSS is described inSection 5. The following table shows how theHSS UK family of organizations exactly parallelsthe Indian RSS and its affiliates.

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2 Human Rights Watch, ‘We have no orders to save you’: State Participation and Complicity in Communal Violence in Gujarat, Human Rights Watch, New York,April 2002 Vol. 14, No. 3(C). Human Rights Watch, Compounding Injustice: The Government’s Failure to Redress Massacres in Gujarat, Human Rights Watch,New York, July 2003 Vol. 15, No. 3 (C).

3 Citizens Initiative Ahmedabad, Ten hard facts: survey of victims in Ahmedabad, (Period of survey: 4 – 13 March, 2002), Citizens Initiative / Centre for SocialJustice, 2002.

4 Concerned Citizens Tribunal, Crime Against Humanity: an inquiry into the carnage in Gujarat, volumes I and II, Concerned Citizens Tribunal / Citizens for Justiceand Peace, Mumbai, 2002.

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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (India)� Formed in 1925–1926 as paramilitary male

organization�Key decision making bodies are Akhil Bharatiya

Pratinidhi Sabha and Central Executive Committee(Kendriya Karyakari Mandal)

�Numerous Shikshak Vargs (training camps forinstructors)

�Branches are called ‘shakhas’ – daily physical andideological training cells attended by several millionmembers called ‘swayamsevaks’

�Reverence and devotion to saffron flag, K. B.Hedgewar and M. S. Golwalkar

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (India)Vishwa Hindu Parishad India – Overseas sectionVishwa Hindu Parishad International�VHP formed in 1964 as RSS ‘religious’ affiliate�VHP at forefront of anti-minority campaigns and vio-

lence in IndiaRashtra Sevika Samiti (India)�RSS women’s affiliate, formed 1936�Structure mirrors RSS�Organizes Samiti Shikshak Vargs

Bharatiya Janata Party (India)�Political party formed in 1980 by RSS activists�Senior leaders are RSS members

Sewa Bharati (India) / Sewa International (India)Gram Bharati (India)�RSS ‘service’ & rural project wingsVidya Bharati (India)Saraswati Shishu / Vidya mandirsEkal Vidyalaya Foundation (VHP)�RSS / VHP education projects / schoolsVanvasi Kalyan Ashram (India)�RSS adivasi (‘tribal’) projects

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (India)�RSS student affiliate� Largest body of Hindu students in India

Hindu Vivek Kendra (India)�Hindutva literature dissemination

Deendayal Shodh Sansthan (India)� Ideological unit�Publishes journal Manthan�Named after senior RSS worker, ideologue and

founder of a Hindutva political party in 1950sNational Medicos Organization (India)�RSS medical affiliate

INDIAN SANGH PARIVAR

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK� Initiated 1966, registered as charity in 1974, charity

registration number 267309�Key decision making bodies are annual Akhil UK

Pratinidhi Sabha, and three monthly CentralExecutive Committee (KKM)

�Key training event for workers is annual SanghShikshak Varg

�Has around 75 weekly shakhas, attended by around1500 members called ‘swayamsevaks’

�Reverence and devotion to saffron flag, K. B.Hedgewar and M. S. Golwalkar

�Has same hymns and prayers, and celebrates samefestivals as RSS

�Considers Indian RSS head as its supreme leaderVishwa Hindu Parishad UK� Formed 1971, acquired charitable status in 1972,

charity registration number 262684�Branch of VHP India operating in UK, part of Vishwa

Hindu Parishad international section�Has 12 UK branchesHindu Sevika Samiti UK�HSS UK women’s affiliate formed in 1975�Structure mirrors HSS UK�Key training event for workers is annual Samiti

Shikshak Varg�Has about 30 weekly shakhas attended by around

500 women andgirlsOverseas Friends of the BJP UK� Formed 1991� Lobbies for UK support of Indian BJPFriends of India Society International� Formed in mid-1970s during ‘emergency’ period in

India�Supports various sangh parivar-linked political

projectsSewa International UK� Formed 1991, became private limited company in

2002, company number 04482628�Uses the charity registration number of HSS UK,

267309� ‘Service project of HSS UK’�Key fundraising for Indian RSS affiliatesKalyan Ashram Trust UK�Registered as charity in 1970, charity registration

number 261327�Established to raise funds for Vanvasi Kalyan

Ashram projects in IndiaNational Hindu Students Forum UK�HSS UK student affiliate, formed 1991�Shares address of HSS UK, key activists also HSS

UK members� Largest body of Hindu students in UKHindu Sahitya Kendra� Formed in 1984�HSS UK literature dissemination outfitDeendayal Research Institute� Ideological unit�Named after senior RSS worker, ideologue and

founder of a Hindutva political party in 1950s

Hindu International Medical Mission�HSS UK medical affiliate

UK SANGH PARIVAR

THE UK AND INDIAN SANGH PARIVAR TABLE 2

SEWA INTERNATIONAL UKYet another development is the estab-lishment of an international organizationtitled SEWA INTERNATIONAL which nowhas branches in many countries. SewaInternational will look after the interestsof seva [RSS service] related issues notonly in the respective countries wherethey have chapters but also take upGLOBAL level care of sewa [service] workcarried out under the Sangh [RSS] ideol-ogy5.

Hindusthan is Hindu Rashtra–K.S.Sudarshan. The Sarsanghchalak [supremeleader] of the Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS), Shri K.S. Sudarshan haschalked out a systematic approach to beadopted by Sangh swayamsevaks [RSSmembers] to reach out to the last personin the village through various developmen-tal programmes and bring them all withinits organizational fold…The Sarsangh-chalak [RSS head] emphasised the needfor special efforts to expand the Sangh

[RSS] network in the remote parts of thecountry. He pointed out that variouspolitical parties realised the significanceof Hindus getting united, which couldultimately change the very contour ofthe nation’s polity.6

Sewa International UK (SIUK), formed in 1991, isthe ‘service project’ of the Hindu SwayamsevakSangh, the UK branch of the RSS. SIUK hasbecome in a short space of time a high profileorganization that raises funds for what it says arewelfare, education and development projects inIndia. It claims to be a non-sectarian, non-reli-gious and non-political humanitarianorganization. It presents itself as working for thegood of humanity, focusing on education, pover-ty and natural tragedies in India. It is widelypresented as simply an Indian or Hindu charity.SIUK has received the support of royalty, MPsand councillors, lord mayors, many local authori-ties, schools, large companies, prominentindividuals, voluntary and community groupsand members of the South Asian communities.SIUK received considerable coverage in the UK in

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Figure 1: HSS UK annual training camp 2001. Images of RSS founder Hedgewar, RSS secondsupreme leader Golwalkar and RSS map of India at front

5 K. Suryanarayana Rao (All-India RSS Service Head), Seva Disha – Building an Integrated and Self-Reliant Society, Chennai, 1997,http://www.hssworld.org/seva/sevadisha.

6 Manik Madhukar Kher,‘Hindusthan is Hindu Rashtra’, Organiser, 1 February 2004.The three-day camp at Raipur was attended by the VHP, Bajrang Dal, theRSS student affiliate, ABVP, and the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram.

the aftermath of the devastating earthquakethat centred on Gujarat state in 2001. It said itraised £4.3 million for Gujarat earthquake relief,rehabilitation and reconstruction. It has alsoraised funds for various other service and educa-tional activities in India. SIUK is not a charity, butuses the charity registration number of the HSSUK (267309) to collect donations from the gener-al public. It is also a limited company (companynumber 04482628, date of incorporation 11 July2002.) The company registered address is theLeicester office of the HSS UK7.

Our point is not about whether SIUK fundedservice activities in India, or whether or not thesehave benefited individuals. Nor does our argu-ment concern the detail of the financialaccounting procedures of SIUK. We show in thisreport that the main purpose of SIUK is to raisefunds in the UK for RSS projects in India inorder to directly help the expansion of theextremist RSS’s networks across Indian societyin line with the long term political and sectari-an aims of the RSS. SIUK was establishedprimarily to raise funds for one clear, distinctpolitical family of organizations entirely relat-ed to the RSS. The vast bulk of SIUK efforts aredirected to the principal aim of furthering theextremist RSS’s goals. One of SIUK’s slogans is‘service to humanity is service to God’. We think amuch more accurate slogan would be: ‘fundrais-ing for RSS service networks to create a Hindunation’.

In response to a Channel 4 News report inDecember 2002 which said that SIUK had raisedfunds for an organization, the Vanvasi KalyanAshram (VKA), that was directly involved in theGujarat carnage, HSS UK and SIUK stated:

HSS and Sewa International denies allthe allegations and will whole heartedlycontinue to help the Charity Commissionwith its on-going enquiries, in order toclear its name of ALL the biased andmalicious allegations that have beenraised. HSS and Sewa International confi-dently and unequivocally states that itdoes not provide funds for anythingother than humanitarian relief and reha-bilitation. Sewa International has never

sent money to any parties with theintention of spreading communal vio-lence or hatred, either directly orindirectly. Recent reports which centretotally on the communal violence inGujarat bear no relevance to any of therelief work or projects supported bySewa International.8

HSS / SIUK denied they had the intention offunding organizations for the purposes of hatredand violence. This is an easy denial to make.However, given the seriousness of the Channel 4allegations, HSS / SIUK did not make the relevantdenial – that organizations they fund and sup-port have not been involved in hatred orviolence. HSS / SIUK also state that the violencein Gujarat during 2002, which directly involvedthe VKA, bears no relevance to projects it sup-ports and funds, which include the VKA. HSS /SIUK do not make the important denial – that theVKA has not been involved in violence or hatred.We do not think it is a coincidence that thetwo Indian states where Hindutva networks,hatred and violence have grown phenomenal-ly in recent years both had natural and humantragedies (the Gujarat earthquake in 2001, theOrissa cyclone in 1999) followed by massiveamounts of funding to Hindutva organizationsunder the guise of humanitarian charity.

SIUK: A PART OF THE RSSHINDUTVA MISSION

…Sewa International is not an RSS-backed organization. The allegation istotally false and misleading, SewaInternational is a Sewa Project of HSS. Amalicious propaganda is going onagainst Sewa international by the Leftwings of UK.9

In an interview in 2002, the vice-chair of SIUKdenied that it is ‘backed’ by the RSS. However,this interview was from Organiser, the mainIndian weekly of the RSS. In fact the Indian RSSconsiders SIUK to be an integral part of work andmission. There are numerous strong ties betweenSIUK and the Indian RSS that occur through:

� Direct links between SIUK and the RSS

12


7 As at December 2003, the status of this company at Companies House UK was listed as ‘Proposal to Strike Off’. Current Appointments Report for SewaInternational Limited, Companies House, London, compiled 29 December 2003.

8 Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK & Sewa International UK,‘Statement’, 4 March 2003, http://www.sewainternational.com.9 AL Sharma,‘Sewa International encourages social integration, not social division’, The Organiser, 29 December 2002.

� Strong, extensive links between the HSS UKand the RSS (described in Section 5)

� Links with Sewa Bharati, the RSS service affili-ate in India

� Links with Sewa International India, whichcoordinates international fundraising for andpublicises RSS and VHP projects

� Various other ties between SIUK and otherRSS affiliates

The former Indian RSS supreme leader, RajendraSingh gave a talk titled ‘code of guidelines toworkers’ to HSS members in north London on 24April 1995. The first guideline is to SewaInternational on its areas of priority10. If SIUK isnot backed by the RSS, why would the most sen-ior RSS figure in the world consider it his remit toprovide codes of guidance for it?

RSS publications list SIUK and the KalyanAshram Trust UK as examples of the RSS (sangh)organizations the UK or as ‘sangh work abroad’11.An RSS brochure published on the occasion ofthe World RSS Camp held in Gujarat in December1995 describes the activities of the HSS UK, SewaInternational, Kalyan Ashram Trust UK, the VHPUK and other UK organizations as part of theRSS’s Hindutva mission in the UK12. One article inthis RSS publication is authored by the SIUK vicechair who discusses the Ayodhya temple cam-paign in the UK. (The Ayodhya temple campaignis a political VHP/RSS project which led to theillegal destruction by Hindutva mobs of the Babrimosque at Ayodhya in 1992 and which led tobloody riots throughout India.) The RSS’s ‘servicedepartment’ similarly states that SewaInternational is an RSS project working under thesangh’s ideology13.

The former HSS UK full-time worker, RamVaidya, one of two sons of M.G. Vaidya, a senior

RSS figure and media spokesperson, came to theUK in 1999 to evaluate the work of HSS UK andexpand and consolidate HSS work in Europe. In areport to the HSS UK central executive commit-tee on 13 May 2001 in Coventry, he maderecommendations regarding SIUK work aroundthe Gujarat earthquake that stressed the need toexpand HSS physical and ideological trainingcells (shakhas) and undertake charitable workwith ‘detached involvement’14.

The VHP UK Manchester branch newsletteralso stated ‘Sewa International (UK) is a serviceproject of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (UK) whichis working closely with the RSS and VHP in Indiato provide aid to the victims of the earth-quake.’15 SIUK’s anniversary report on itsearthquake work includes a message of supportfrom ‘Mananiya K. S. Sudarshanji’ – the ‘venerable’K.S. Sudarshan, who happens to be the supremeleader of the Indian RSS16.

The SIUK vice-chair also co-wrote a report onthe Gujarat earthquake of 2001 with two verysenior RSS officers. This celebrated the RSS andits members, and stated that:

It is indisputably impossible to fathomthe import of the training being impart-ed to the Swayamsevaks [RSS members]through RSS shakhas [cells]. Challengesfaced during the natural or other calami-ties provide the right testing ground forthe thus trained Swayamsevaks. The dis-aster management skills exhibited by theSwayamsevaks [RSS members] andKaryakartas [RSS activists] during themost difficult and painful hours inGujarat right after the dreadful tremors,is an excellent case in study.17

SIUK’s website shows extensive associations withRSS projects, though the RSS itself is rarely men-tioned. The email address listed for the contact

13


10 S.Tattwawadi, Sarsanghchalak Goes Abroad: a collection of lectures delivered by Prof. Rajendra Singh on foreign land, Suruchi Prakashan, 1995, p.9.11 S.Tattwawadi, Sarsanghchalak Goes Abroad: a collection of lectures delivered by Prof. Rajendra Singh on foreign land, Suruchi Prakashan, 1995, pp. 77-78.12 Sanghshaktih Vijetreeyam, Antar Rashtriya Sahyog Pratishthan, Ahmedabad, 12 December 1995.The other organizations listed are Hindu Sevika Samiti UK,

FISI, NHSF, OFBJP, the Hindu Marathon, Bharat Vikas Parishad International UK and the Hindu International Medical Mission (HIMM UK).13 K. Suryanarayana Rao (All-India RSS Service Head), Seva Disha – Building an Integrated and Self-Reliant Society, Chennai, 1997,

http://www.hssworld.org/seva/sevadisha/sevadisha1/rss_seva_vibhag.html14 Sangh Sandesh, May – June 2001, vol. XII, no. 3, p. 20.15 VHP UK Manchester Branch, VHP Newsletter, April 2001, Issue 20, p. 4.16 Sewa International UK, Gujarat Earthquake – 26 January 2001 Anniversary Issue. One Year After, undated, p. 5.The other three messages of support were

from an SIUK officer, a member of the House of Lords and a UK Gujarati organization.17 ‘Report of the visit to Earthquake struck Gujrat by Sewa Team comprising of Dr.Yashwantji Pathak, Sah-Sanyojak Vishwa Vibhag, Shri Arjun Lalji Sharma,

Sewa International UK and Shri Shyam Parande on 5-7th February 2001’, http://www.hssworld.org/seva/Gujarat/sewa_report.html.

person for Sewa Bharati Gujarat, a key recipientof SIUK funds, begins ‘rssgujarat@’18. Similarly,Sewa Bharati Gujarat’s letterhead states it is‘Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Inspired’. SIUK’saddress is the HSS UK Leicester office, which wasitself inaugurated by the former RSS supremeleader, Rajendra Singh in 1995. The SIUK / HSSheadquarters is called ‘Keshav Pratishthan’,named after the Indian RSS founder, KeshavBaliram Hedgewar.

LINKS WITH SEWAINTERNATIONAL INDIASIUK is closely associated with SewaInternational India. On the latter’s homepage(www.sewainternational.org), SIUK and the US-based India Development and Relief Fund, andonly these two, are listed as ‘associated organiza-tions’19.

Sewa International India, based in New Delhi,is an openly ideological and political project thatpromotes RSS and Hindutva ideas. It was formedby the RSS, promotes international fundraisingactivities for RSS and VHP projects in India, andpromotes RSS projects among Indians outsideIndia. The main purpose of Sewa InternationalIndia is to organize all Hindus under RSS ideolo-gy. Its website states that the ultimate aim of allits work is Hindu sangathan – the ‘consolidatingand strengthening of Hindu society’ and theneed to ‘constantly seek unifying factors and jet-tison divisive factors’20. Its website extols the RSSand its leaders and celebrates the work of RSSmembers. It is very closely related to SewaBharati, the RSS’s service wing, and its website isvirtually exclusively focused on Sewa Bharati andRSS projects. The general secretary of SewaInternational India is Shyam Parande, who is alsoin charge of the RSS external affairs cell. His mail-ing address is listed as the RSS headquarters inNagpur21. In December 2000, he confirmed thatHSS UK and therefore SIUK are branches of theIndian RSS22.

SEWA BHARATI’SSUPREMACIST AGENDA

Sewa Bharati is the main recipient of funds fromSIUK. It is the RSS service affiliate, founded in1979. It became very important after 1989, whenthe RSS decided to expand its service sector. Thesenior vice president of Sewa Bharati, New Delhi,D. V. Kohli said, ‘We make no secret of the factthat we are members of the RSS’23. Sewa BharatiMadhya Pradesh was implicated in violenceagainst Christian communities, leading the stategovernment to revoke its license to operatethere24, and its role in violence against Christianscontinues25.

Sewa Bharati runs a very large network ofRSS service projects in India. These often overlapwith those of Vidya Bharati (the RSS educationand schools network), the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram(the violent RSS affiliate working among ‘tribal’groups), ekal vidyalayas (VHP-organized ‘one-teacher schools’) and other projects of the VHP.The key question is not whether RSS affiliatesprovide services to groups, some funded fromthe UK and US, but about the aim, nature andultimate political purpose of such services. Thefundamental aim of these projects is to pene-trate communities through service activities inorder to promote RSS ideology and organization.For example, Sewa International India’s website26

shows how work undertaken by Sewa Bharati isexplicitly based on political recruitment for theRSS, expanding the RSS physical and ideologicaltraining (shakha) network and training newworkers for the RSS. Its work in a slum in UttarPradesh is described in the following way:

The Sangh has a tradition of convertingstrangers into friends, friends intoSwayamsevaks [RSS volunteers], andSwayamsevaks into karyakartas [RSSactivists]… Soon some fifty studentsfrom ten Bastis [slums] also startedattending. Different classes had to be

14


18 Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, Coming Together, September 2001.19 http://www.sewainternational.org.20 http://www.sewainternational.org/social.html.21 http://www.organiser.org/23feb2003/page10.htm.22 Deepshikha Ghosh,‘Rediscovering their Religion’, India Abroad, 8 December 2000, http://newsarchives.indiainfo.com/2000/12/08/rss.html.23 Edward Luce and Demetri Sevastopulo,‘Blood and money’, Financial Times, 20 February 2003.24 Sudha Ramachandran,‘US firms linked to extremist Indian cause’, Asia Times, 10 January 2003.25 T. J. Rajalakshmi,‘Terror in Jhabua’, Frontline, 14–27 February 2004.26 www.sewainternational.org is the Indian site, www.sewainternational.com is the UK site.

organized. After the day’s tuition, theBhagwa Dhwaj [RSS saffron flag] is hoist-ed and the Prarthana [RSS prayers] tootakes place. On Sundays, a regular full-fledged Shakha [RSS cell] is conducted…Sewa, Sangh and Hindutwa [service, theRSS and Hindu supremacism] could thusenter the Basti [slum]. After this, thekaryakartas [activists] of Sewa Bharatiand Sangh started visiting the Basti fre-quently. As a result, two residents of theBasti have now become full-timekaryakartas [activists] working withVanvasis [the RSS term for adivasis, the‘tribal’ peoples]. Even when the BahujanSamaj Party [Dalit-Muslim political party]fever gripped the neighbourhood, hun-dreds of youths of this region held aloftthe flag of Hindutwa [Hindu supremacy].Even now, a daily Shakha [RSS cell] takesplace in the Ambedkar Park, where theattendance averages 30-35.27

Similarly, Sewa Bharati Madhya Pradesh, speak-ing about ‘tribal’ groups, said:

I hope you will kindly agree that, evenone girl taken over today by us andbrought up in environment prevailing inour institutions will not only bring her-self above, but also surcharge theatmosphere in her tribe besides her ownfamily. It may appear unbelievable, but it

15


Figure 3: Another Sewa Bharati website showing RSS founder Hedgewarand second RSS supreme leader, Golwalkar. http://www.sevabharati.org.

Figure 2: Homepage of Sewa Bharati showing RSS founder Hedgewarand the RSS map of ‘India’ with the RSS saffron flag held (bizarrely) bythe goddess ‘Bharatmata’, http://www.sewabharati.org.

is even numerically true that one singlesuch girl, will grow in to 500 or moresuch males and/or females, having theprecious ancient culture of this divineland i.e. BHARAT, endeared at theirhearts.28

Sewa Bharati’s work is openly linked to the needto build a ‘Hindu nation’. The former all-Indiahead of the RSS service wing said:

Bharat is a Hindu Nation… The deprivedmasses of poor and ignorant of our soci-ety also have an inherent strength andingenuity in them to contribute to the allround development of our Nation. Oncethey are awakened they get back theirlost personality. They are to be weldedtogether to form the backbone of thenascent Nation.29

Sewa Bharati has also openly engaged in politi-cal activity with the RSS and the VHP. Forexample, on 17 January 2002 at Jhabua, MadhyaPradesh, a large Hindu gathering aimed at ‘tribal’groups was attended by the supreme leader ofthe RSS, K.S. Sudarshan who warned ‘Christianmissionaries’ to halt their activities. SadhviRithambara, the inflammatory VHP representa-tive also attended this meeting. An RSSpublication stated that ‘As a result, on 17 Januarythe whole area was filled by the upsurge ofHindutva-inspired Vanavasi [‘tribal’] brothers, sis-ters and mothers’30. Sewa Bharati described howthe purpose of this event was to convert ‘tribals’into RSS followers.

Sewa Bharati started its activity at about5 years back with a single OTS (OneTeacher One School)… Behind the suc-cess of Hindu Sangam is the devotionand hard work of 350 Ekal Vidyalayas[one-teacher schools], and 250 wholetime workers of Sewa Bharati. They trav-elled continuously to practically everyvillage for 3 months and visited about 3Lakhs 25 thousand [325,000] familiesand established a place of worship byputting a photo of Bajrangbali (ShriHanumanji). They also taught them how

27 http://www.sewainternational.org/social.html.28 Vishnu Kumar,‘Sewa Bharati Madhya Pradesh’, 25 July 2000, http://www.hvk.org/articles/0700/68.html.29 K. Suryanarayan Rao,‘Concept of service – sewa and worship’, Sanghshaktih Vijetreeyam, Antar Rashtriya Sahyog Pratishthan, 21 December 1995, p.30.30 RSS Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (RSS general council) resolution, Bangalore,17 March 2002, reprinted in J. Dayal (ed.) Gujarat 2002: untold and retold

stories of the Hindutva lab, volume 1, Media House, Delhi, 2003, pp. 1139-1140.

to worship and also made them learnand sing Bhajans [Hindu hymns]…Similarly, Bhagwa [RSS saffron] flags werealso hoisted on practically each andevery Tribal house… The gathering, inagreement time and again encouragedthe speakers by shouting slogans such as‘Jai Shri Ram, Jai Hanuman, and Keshav kijai jai [victory to the RSS founder] –Madhav ki jai jai [victory to the RSS’s sec-ond leader]’ etc. The patriotic feeling wasalso quite evident as the slogan JaiBharat Mata ki [Victory to the HolyMotherland!] was also frequently heardfrom the crowd… The whole environ-ment in and around Jhabua waspervaded with the enchantment of theslogans in praise of Shri Ram, ShriHanuman and Bharat Mata. The wholecity was full of saffron flags.31

The political importance of Sewa Bharati’s workamong ‘tribal’ groups also became clear throughthe involvement of the BJP in this same event.

The much publicised congregation – theidea of which is said to have been con-ceptualised at the RSS meet in Nagpur inearly 2001 – was organized by SewaBharati – an RSS outfit… Though initially,the BJP kept away from the campaign,later it joined hands with Sewa Bharatiand the top BJP leaders including itsstate president Vikram Verma attended ameeting at Jhabua on January 6 to work

out arrangements for the Hindu Sangam[gathering]. The BJP’s interest in the cam-paign is seen as an attempt by the partyto get a foothold in the tribal areas of thestate something which has been eludingit so far.32

Sewa Bharati has also been involved in politicalcampaigns with the VHP.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad todaydemanded that foreign missionariesworking in India should go back to theirrespective countries as they wereinvolved in forcible conversions and alsoin stoking insurgency in the North-East…In a simultaneous development,the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh todaydecided to fully back the nationwidecampaign launched by Swadeshi JagaranManch [RSS ‘nationalist’ developmentaffiliate] to raise public awarenessamong the people about the threatposed by multi-national corporations. Aspart of this campaign, the RSS and itsfrontal organizations such as theBharatiya Janata Party, BharatiyaMazdoor Sangh [RSS labour affiliate],Bharatiya Kisan Sangh [RSS farmers affili-ate], Sewa Bharati, Akhil BharatiyaVidyarthi Parishad [RSS student affiliate]and the VHP will join the Chetna Yatraorganized throughout the country bythe SJM.33

16


31 Vishnu Kumar, Sewa Bharati Madhya Pradesh,‘Adarniya Bandhuwar’, 23 January 2002, http://www.hvk.org/articles/0102/98.html.32 Sanjay Sharma,‘Stop conversions, RSS chief warns missionaries’, Sify News, 18 January 2002.33 ‘Quit India,VHP tells missionaries’, Indian Express, 1 October 1998.

SECTION SUMMARY

� In the aftermath of the devastating Gujaratearthquake in 2001, the RSS attempted tocontrol relief work and attempted to preventother NGOs from providing relief. RSS cells(shakhas) were initiated in relief camps.Serious allegations of discrimination inearthquake relief to Muslims and dalits weremade. Serious allegations of violence andintimidation by the RSS of other NGOsundertaking relief work were made.Earthquake relief work was accompanied byHindutva hatred and violence againstChristians.

� SIUK became a high profile fundraisingorganization after the Gujarat earthquake.SIUK raised around £2.3 million for its IndiaQuake Appeal from the UK public, though italso claimed to have raised £4.3 million.

� In key Gujarat earthquake fundraisingappeals, SIUK did not disclose its associationswith the HSS UK and the RSS, it did not statethat it was fundraising exclusively for RSSaffiliates, and it did not state the sectarian orpolitical agenda of the RSS or its affiliates

� SIUK misled donors and the general publicwho wanted simply to contribute to humani-tarian causes in India. It even mislead its ownpatrons of the earthquake appeal who werekept unaware of the link between SIUK andthe RSS.

� Funds raised in the UK by SIUK for earth-quake reconstruction and rehabilitation werefor a major RSS affiliate, Sewa Bharati Gujarat.Like all RSS affiliates, Sewa Bharati is explicitlycommitted to building a Hindu nation basedon Hindutva extremist ideology, recruitingfor the RSS and using service work to expandthe network of RSS physical and ideologicaltraining cells.

� About a third of funds sent for earthquakereconstruction and rehabilitation were forbuilding sectarian, highly controversial RSSschools. These are primarily run by VidyaBharati, the RSS educational affiliate. RSSschools are intended to inculcate RSS ideolo-gy among schoolchildren and recruit them

to the RSS. Vidya Bharati’s teaching materialwas condemned by India’s statutory NationalCouncil for Educational Research andTraining as blatantly promoting bigotry,fanaticism and hatred. The funding of RSSschools by SIUK is a key example of thefinancing of hatred in India.

� Some funds for earthquake reconstructionwere for the RSS’s Lok Kalyan Samiti inChanasma village, which has been directlyimplicated in the violent ‘cleansing’ of allMuslims from the village and the illegaloccupation of premises and land belongingto the statutory Muslim waqf board.

� Another RSS project, Jankalyan Samiti, was arecipient of SIUK earthquake funds. TheJankalyan Samiti’s Maharashtra branch hasbeen involved in violence against Christiansand Christian organizations.

� A medical project funded by SIUK is namedafter the RSS founder and run by the RSSmedical affiliate.

� SIUK claimed to fund the rebuilding of any-where from 10 to 25 villages. It also claimedto have ‘totally funded’ the rebuilding of 10villages. However, records show six villages inwhich SIUK funds were used for reconstruc-tion and rehabilitation. In these villages,there was also at least one other agencysharing the financial burden.

� British donors unwittingly gave funds thatwere channelled by SIUK to the RSS’s SewaBharati and used to build RSS schools, fundRSS organizations implicated in violence, andpromote the RSS’s political and ideologicalagenda.

The state of Gujarat in western India experienceda devastating earthquake on 26 January 2001.The Gujarat earthquake was one of the two mostviolent earthquakes to have affected India inrecorded history. A month after the earthquake,the official death toll was put at almost 20,000,with almost 170,000 injured, 600,000 people dis-placed, about 350,000 homes destroyed andover 840,000 homes damaged. These figuresincreased considerably as the actual scale of thedisaster became known. The earthquake resulted

17


SECTION 2: THE GUJARAT EARTHQUAKE 2001

in a massive national and international disasterrelief, reconstruction and rehabilitation effortinvolving numerous Indian and internationalNGOs, governments, groups and individuals. Themain phases of activities were immediate rescueand relief, temporary rehabilitation of victims, amassive process of reconstruction of destroyedhomes, businesses and villages, and finally, thepermanent rehabilitation of victims. The focus ofthese operations was mainly Kutch district, par-ticularly around the town of Bhuj, near theearthquake epicentre.

THE CONTEXTThe RSS in India was very keen to promote itselfas the key organization that provided relief andassistance in the aftermath of the earthquake.Similarly, both SIUK (tacitly) and SewaInternational India (explicitly) promoted the roleof the RSS and its members during the reliefoperations, but failed to mention the work oforganizations that are unrelated to the RSS fami-ly. Moreover,

…a greater aim and effect of these res-cue and relief operations… is to createthe impression among the people that[the RSS] are practically the only oneswho are active on this front and implicit-ly as well as explicitly discredit the workof other organizations, local and national.Another aim is to actually penetrate thegovernment rescue efforts in a mannerin which the activity becomes part of anRSS patronage machine.34

The RSS’s Sewa Bharati was the main recipient ofSIUK’s earthquake-related funds. We do not wishto minimize any of the sincere relief efforts bynon-sectarian volunteers and donors who raisedfunds entirely in good faith for SIUK. However,since it often appeared to many people in Britainthat SIUK, and thus Sewa Bharati, were the mainorganizations doing anything regarding therelief operations, we want to briefly highlight the

larger context of relief operations. The GujaratState Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA)was the main body for coordinating and over-seeing and managing relief, rehabilitation andreconstruction efforts following the earthquake.As at 3 September 2001, it showed the involve-ment of 77 secular and religious NGOs inplanning to construct some 46,000 permanentshelters35. Sewa Bharati is listed as planningabout 620 permanent shelters. A further survey36

in Kutch district showed 76 NGOs, including sev-eral UK-based NGOs, working in Bhuj (theearthquake epicenter); of all these we were ableto identify four that were directly RSS-affiliated.The pattern that emerges from these surveys ismainly of the involvement of RSS organizationsin education work, some shelter reconstructionand some health projects.

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST DALITSAND MUSLIMSHow did the RSS-affiliates operate on the groundduring the relief operations and later reconstruc-tion? Reports claimed that the RSS wasdistributing relief selectively to higher caste vic-tims and neglecting dalits and Muslims37. TheRSS was also organizing training cells (shakhas)in relief camps. A team of human rights organiza-tions found that:

The role of the RSS in getting relief to theupper castes among the Hindus in par-ticular has been blatant. In Anjar, forexample, the well-tended RSS campwhich houses only Hindus and barring ahandful of exceptions, only caste Hindus,sits cheek by jowl with another in whichthe far poorer population of the home-less Anjarites – Muslims mostly and asubstantial number of lower casteHindus – live. All of this is being acceptedwithout question and rationalized on thebasis that we cannot expect anythingother than that people will ‘naturally’help ‘their own’. 38

18


34 Radhika Desai, Gujarat Earthquake of January 26, 2001: relief, rehabilitation and discrimination, Indian Social Action Forum, 4 June 2001, p.10.35 Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, Coming Together, September 2001.This issue of Coming Together, compiled by the Kutch Nav Nirman Abhiyan

and the United Nations Development Programme, contains extensive information and data on the work carried out by NGOs across a very wide range offields in Gujarat. Sewa Bharati primarily emerges through the education projects.

36 Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, Coming Together, August 2001.37 Earthquake Affected Relief and Rehabilitation Services,‘Earthquake Relief: Issues Of Concern’, EARSS Documentation Centre, Ahmedabad.

http://www.onlinevolunteers.org/relief/earss0213-concerns.html. For further details, see EARSS documentation athttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/GUJARATDEVELOPMENT. See also: Indian Centre for Human Rights and Law, Gujarat Earthquake, January 26, 2001 –Background for the Indian People’s Tribunal, August 17-20, 2001, pp. 26-27.

38 Radhika Desai et al,‘Human rights investigation team finds rampant discrimination against dalits and Muslims in quake-hit Kutch and Saurashtra’, PressRelease, 2 April 2001.

INTIMIDATION OF OTHER NGOS

Further reports alleged that RSS organizationswere hijacking relief supplies donated by otheragencies39. Reports also claimed the RSS was vio-lently preventing other international NGOs fromundertaking relief operations in Kutch. Ironically,the RSS accuses these organizations of receivingforeign funds.

RSS does not want any organization fromoutside to come and carry out any reliefwork in Kutch. It does not want any NGOthat received foreign funds to work inKutch. It has decided to send all theNGOs out of Kutch within 15 days resort-ing to physical violence if they do notleave the place voluntarily. RSS hasalready begun using violence. In Adhoi,Kotada and Ratnal villages where Gantar[an NGO] is doing relief work, RSS work-ers (a large crowd of 2000 or more) wentand threatened the volunteers…RSSaccuses NGOs of receiving foreign funds[for] converting people to Christian reli-gion.40

In our interviews, village representatives inGujarat were surprised that anyone would beinterested in distinguishing between SewaBharati and the RSS, the VHP, Bajrang Dal andother sangh parivar organizations, since locallythe same people were often involved in each.The relief and rehabilitation work of SewaBharati was intimately associated with promo-tion of the RSS’s sectarian agenda. In relief workat Adhoi village, VHP priests were giving nightlylectures to villagers on the need to be vigilantagainst Christians and Muslims.

SIUK’S INDIA QUAKE APPEALMany British NGOs and individuals were involvedin fundraising efforts around the earthquake.However, one UK organization achieved a partic-ularly high profile: Sewa International UK. Itdominated much of the publicly visible fundrais-ing work for the earthquake in the UK. Itlaunched a national appeal for funds, the GujaratEarthquake / India Quake Appeal, and a websitethrough which online donations could be made.

It coordinated, through the HSS UK network,numerous community-based fundraising activi-ties, ranging from street collections toindependent events organized by other groupsand institutions in order to raise money. SIUK’sIndia Quake Appeal received the patronage offour members of the House of Lords (Dholakia,Parekh, Patel, Bagri), two Members of the Houseof Commons (Barry Gardiner, Gerry Sutcliffe) andseveral prominent Asian business people, includ-ing Nat Puri, Laxmi Mittal, Manubhai Madhvaniand G. K. Noon. Numerous large corporationsdonated money to the appeal. We are not imply-ing that patrons, non-sectarian supporters andany individual or corporate donors were awareof the RSS connections of Sewa International UKor the HSS UK, nor are we implying that patrons,non-sectarian supporters or donors acted out ofany considerations other than humanitarian con-cern following the earthquake. We have seenstatements from local councillors, business peo-ple and students which show that duringfundraising events SIUK was presented to com-munity groups, companies and student bodiessimply as a Hindu or Indian charity and thenature of its links with the HSS UK or RSS werenot disclosed. These donors would not havegiven funds if they knew the links and associa-tions with extremist hate politics. Our focus isnot therefore on donors but on the use of SIUKfunds to promote the hate-driven political agen-da of the RSS.

The message given by SIUK through its web-site (www.sewainternational.com) and itspublicity material was that fundraising was forhumanitarian aid. This included pictures ofinjured children and adults, village devastation,and slogans such as ‘rebuilding lives and homes’.Few well-meaning people could object to givingfunds for what appeared to be a neutral humani-tarian cause. What few donors and even patronsof the India earthquake appeal were aware ofwas that:

� SIUK was not a registered charity but usedthe charity registration number of the HSSUK to raise funds.

� The association between SIUK and the HSSUK was often not stated. While SIUK did state

19


39 Amit Sengupta,‘Dalits, minorities cry discrimination’, Hindustan Times, 7 February 2001; Sheela Bhatt,‘Tents now decide the social hierarchy in Bhuj’,Rediff.com, 5 February 2001.

40 EARRS Documentation Centre / Fr.William Macwan,‘RSS creating havoc in the name of conversion with Quake relief – Abhiyan NGOs in Kutch’ 10 April2001. http://www.ambedkar.org/News/RSSCreating.htm.

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We were told about the followingincidents of intimidation by theRSS and its allied organizationsagainst other NGOs:

BSC [a voluntary organization]decided to carry the work for-ward through the rehabilitationphase and hence set up its reha-bilitation base camp at a villagenamed Rajansar in Bhachau talu-ka. In the course of our visits tovarious villages we did find volun-tary organizations of variouskinds, some of them secular andmany of them overtly religious.We did observe to some extentthe communalization andcasteization of relief. But whatwas more intriguing was thepresence of some ‘preachers’from the Sangh Parivar who werespreading communal poison inthe villages. They were providingrelief to those who needed it butwere also holding ‘religious dis-courses’ in the evenings, in whichthey were using extremelyprovocative and derogatory lan-guage against the Muslims andwarning the people to beware ofChristian missionaries in theguise of relief workers. Rumoursof conversions, distribution ofbibles and crosses had starteddoing the rounds; and peoplewere getting restive. Some of theBSC staff members in fact lis-tened to one such speech in avillage named Adhoi in the monthof April, and were worried aboutthe provocative language usedand the exhortation to oppose the‘evil designs’ of the minorities.The local RSS and VHP activistsspread the rumour that the volun-teers who came under thisprogramme had been trying toconvert people into Christianity.They collected a sizeable moband went looking for Christiansamong the relief workers camp-ing in Adhoi. Soon afterwards anunruly mob of almost 2000 peopleransacked the relief tent set up byActionAid India in Adhoi under itsSneh Samudaya (a programme toprovide relief and trauma coun-

seling to the victims from themost vulnerable groups like wid-ows, orphans and thehandicapped). Unfortunately theyidentified the sole Christian youthnamed Denis in this group of stu-dent volunteers and abductedhim. Denis… came through a net-work of NGOs in Gujarat… andwas not even remotely connectedwith any Christian agencies. Justbecause he had a Christian name,[he] was accused of trying toproselytize and was threatenedwith lethal weapons, locked up ina room, assaulted and terrorizedby the leaders of the mob…Deniswas released after sometime bythe mob, but only after ransackingthe Sneh Samudaya tent andwarning the volunteers to leavethe village immediately.

On 27 January 2001, the day fol-lowing the earthquake that struckGujarat… the first task [Citizen’sInitiative] undertook was to fanout all over Ahmedabad to assessthe rescue operations and see toit that technical and expert helpwas made available as fast aspossible. I was with the team thatvisited a number of collapsedbuildings in Maninagar area ofAhmedabad City. To our surprisewe found all the collapsed build-ings cordoned off by the RSSvolunteers. They were ostensiblytrying to control the inquisitivecrowd; but in spite of informingthe RSS leaders present therethat we could coordinate theavailability of sophisticated equip-ment, we were very curtly told toleave the place and that every-thing was being taken care of.This happened in three housingcomplexes that had collapsed.We learnt that the actual rescueoperations were being done bythe army personnel still strugglingin their operations with limitedequipment, but we were prevent-ed from meeting the army officersto get a first hand understandingof the needs. The irony of the sit-uation was that finally the rescuein some of the most difficult cases

was possible only after theCitizen’s Initiative managed to getthe Swiss Rescue team into thearea with the help of seniorGovernment officials.

On 30 January 2001, a team ofvolunteers from Citizens’Initiative… reached Bhachautown in Kutch District to offerrelief assistance whereverrequired. The Governmentmachinery was functioning fromthe traffic island at the main junc-tion and the team was headedby… a senior IAS officer. Theleaders of the CI teamapproached him for assistanceand information and to theirshock they were told that the RSSwas in complete control of therescue and relief operations inBhachau town, and there was nomore assistance needed. Theyobjected to this observation of theofficials and demanded preciseinformation; this seemed to havebrought them back to their sensesand subsequently they providedinformation as to the relief andrescue needs in the rural areas. Aperfunctory round of the ill-fatedBhachau town (where almost8000 people died) was enough toestablish the same pattern wesaw in Ahmedabad; the army atwork and the RSS volunteers cor-doning off the areas where suchoperations were going on.

Volunteers from Janpath [a volun-tary organization] were running ahelpline service for children indistress called ‘Child Line’ from atent in the traffic island inBhachau. Activists of the VHPabused them and shouted thatthey were Christian missionariestrying to proselytize. They threat-ened the volunteers and askedthem to vacate the place within24 hours. The volunteers in ChildLine happened to be quite tough;they refused to be cowed downby the threats and dared them tocarry out their threat.

HINDUTVA INTIMIDATION

it was a ‘service project of HinduSwayamsevak Sangh UK’, this was often innon-prominent places and sometimesabsent entirely. The SIUK homepage inDecember 2002 stated ‘registered charity’without mentioning the HSS UK. Similarly,the HSS was not mentioned at all in SIUK’sfundraising video for the earthquake41,which simply gave the charity registrationnumber of HSS UK, implying that SIUK wasitself a registered charity.

� The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK is aHindu supremacist organization having aclose, long-standing association with theRSS.

� The RSS and its affiliated organizations areimplicated or have been involved in some ofthe worst anti-minority violence India hasseen over the last fifteen years. They have ahate-driven agenda and their aim is to turnIndia into an exclusive Hindu nation.

SIUK’s Gujarat earthquake fundraising video alsoclaims that what it calls ‘dedicated SewaInternational volunteers’ were the ‘first on thescene to coordinate the relief operation’ after theearthquake – but fails to mention that any suchvolunteers would have been RSS members andnot members of SIUK42. Neither of the twofundraising videos43 on SIUK’s website mentionthe HSS at all. Individuals raised funds anddonated in good faith to the Gujarat Earthquake/ India Quake appeals of SIUK, but many wouldnot have done so had they known that SIUK wasan HSS project or that it was associated with theIndian RSS. Lord Adam Patel, former patron ofSIUK’s earthquake appeal resigned in shock afterthe connections between SIUK and the RSS weremade public. That a patron of the SIUK’s largestever appeal did not know the nature of SIUK’slinks and agendas says a great deal about theway SIUK conducted itself.

SEWA BHARATI’S USE OF VILLAGERECONSTRUCTION FUNDS

SIUK’s first anniversary report on the Gujaratrehabilitation44 was produced to show SIUK’sachievements one year after the earthquake. The

21


Figure 5: SIUK homepage from December 2003 which nowstates that it is a ‘service project’ of the HSS UK, after increasedmedia attention and the investigation by the CharityCommission.

41 http://ww.sewainternational.com/video/sewa1.asf.42 http://www.sewainternational.com/video/sewa1.asf.43 http://www.sewainternational.com/earthquake.htm, http://www.sewainternational.com/video/sewa1.asf.44 Sewa International UK, Gujarat Earthquake – 26 January 2001 Anniversary Issue. One Year After, undated.

Figure 4: SIUK homepage from 15 December 2002 which makesno mention of the fact that it is a project of the HinduSwayamsevak Sangh, and simply states ‘REGISTERED CHARITY’.

report states that SIUK worked in action withSewa Bharati, but does not mention that SewaBharati is an RSS organization, in fact one of themost important RSS affiliates in India. Of the fourmessages of support in the report, one is fromthe RSS supreme leader in India, K. S. Sudarshanand another is from SIUK’s chairperson, who isalso the service head of the HSS UK. Included inthe list of SIUK contacts across the UK are HSStrustees, HSS activists and VHP UK activists.

SIUK states a figure of over £4 million raisedin the earthquake appeal, and said elsewherethat it raised £4.3 million. The report shows that£1 million was a single donation by the PuriFoundation, and another £1 million was collect-ed by the Shri Kutch Leva Patel Community (UK),a Kutchi patidar organization in the UK also saidto be working closely with Sewa Bharati in India.SIUK directly raised around £2.3 million forGujarat earthquake relief; the other £2 millionrelated to two single donations from separateorganizations.

SIUK’s fundraising video stated that ‘SewaInternational are adopting and reconstructingtwenty five villages, providing each village with

houses, schools, community halls, shops, watertanks, hospitals, road and other facilities’45. In itsanniversary report, under the title ‘Progress sofar’, the report provides a detailed list of the vil-lages reconstructed or planned to be rebuilt. Thereport states that ‘house construction in 8 vil-lages has already started, with 2 more villages onthe cards’. A list of ten villages is given, detailingthe number of houses created and the value ofthe project in Indian rupees and US dollars. Italso provides further details of village halls, com-munity centres, health centres and schools,including the state of construction of schools insix Gujarat districts46. This information from itsanniversary report is given in Appendix 2. Exactlythe same data are presented in Sewa BharatiGujarat’s progress report for the period ending30 September 200147. However, Sewa BharatiGujarat received funds not only from SIUK butother international RSS-related bodies, includingthe US-based India Development and ReliefFund (IDRF)48. Indeed, another report fromSeptember 2002 by Sewa International India liststhe funding agency for two villages (Jivapar andVisnagar) as only ‘IDRF’, though these are inSIUK’s progress report. In fact, in this SewaInternational India report, only two villages,Mithapasvaria and Chapredi, are listed with SIUKas the funding agency49. However, nothing in theanniversary brochure tells us that funds used orearmarked for village reconstruction by SewaBharati may have been raised by organizationsother than SIUK, or that government contribu-tions were a significant part of the costs. Mostimportant is SIUK’s claim made on its website inMay 2001 which states that:

Sewa Bharati in partnership with SewaInternational are rebuilding twenty-fivevillages along with fifty primary schoolsand one hundred community centres.

Ten of the villages are totally funded bySewa International (UK).50

A document we obtained from sources inGujarat shows how approximately £1.9 millionraised by SIUK was to be used by Sewa Bharati inGujarat51. We also have grounds for believingthat all of the approximately £2.3 million raisedby SIUK during its India Quake Appeal was forSewa Bharati, an RSS organization.

This Sewa Bharati document shows six vil-lages funded by SIUK, not the ten claimed in itsanniversary report or the ten it claimed to be‘totally funding’ on its website or the twenty fiveit said it was adopting and reconstructing in itsfundraising video. The six villages are Chapredi,Mithapasvaria, Sayan, Badanpur, Rapar andRampura and five of these are discussed in detaillater. Two ‘schools projects’, a Bhunga project(bhunga is a house structure used in someregions of Kutchi Gujarat), an emergency reliefmedical centre, a mobile hospital in Kutch, amobile dispensary and a proposal for a ‘disastermanagement institute’ are also listed.

One of the recipients of SIUK funding is theDr Hedgewar Rugnalay. Given SIUK’s denials thatit is backed by the RSS and its claim that it is notsectarian, it seems strange that one of the keyprojects it has funded under earthquake relief isnamed after Keshav Hedgewar52, the founder ofthe RSS and promoter of a hate politics of Hindusupremacy. The Rugnalay is a project of theNational Medicos Organization, the RSS medicalaffiliate founded in 1977 and having a stronglyideological purpose. The National MedicosOrganization is described by Sewa InternationalIndia as:

Working with close relation and ideology

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45 http://www.sewainternational.com/video/sewa1.asf46 One item on its website from 21 July 2001 (six months after the earthquake and associated fundraising) states that ‘Sewa International UK will fund 5 villages and

that it will be supporting the reconstruction of Mitha Pasvaria (Anjar), Chapredi (Bhuj), Rapar (Morbi), Bhadra (Bhuj), and Chawbari (Bhachau)’ – though some ofthese villages are different from the ones finally chosen. However, the same item also mentioned construction activity having been launched or starting in the fol-lowing other four villages: Devgarh, Mayapur, Jakhotra and Jivapar, http://www.sewainternational.com/archive9.htm. Another item from May 2001 refers to adoptedvillages being conditional on agreements reached with the state government and mentions government contributions –http://www.sewainternational.com/gujarat_quake_rehab.htm. Nevertheless, the argument stands, since the anniversary report detailing ten villages was producedafter these statements.

47 Sewa Bharati Gujarat (Poornavasan),‘Progress report for period ending 30.09.2001’.48 http://www.idrf.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Hncontent&pa=showpage&pid=191.49 Rajesh Sinha,‘Rehabilitation work near completion: a visit report by Rajesh Sinha’, 10 September 2002, http://www.sewainternational.org/rajrepo.htm.The same two

are also listed by the Gujarat RSS media outfit,Vishwa Samvad Kendra, with Sewa Coventry UK, and Sewa Nottingham UK named as the donor agencies,http://www.vskgujarat.com/like_minded_organization/seva_bharti.htm.

50 http://www.sewainternational.com/gujarat_quake_rehab.htm.51 Sewa Bharati Gujarat,‘Costing Summary for Projects Financed by Sewa International UK’, Sewa Bharati Gujarat, Ahmedabad, not dated.52 Buried in SIUK’s website is a report that states that ‘the hospital is run by the National Medicos Organization, which is another one of the many arms of the RSS organ-

ization, along with SEWA Bharati’, http://www.sewainternational.com/archive8.htm.

of RSS having nodal point medical/den-tal students and doctors. The studentsand doctors work in co-operation ofsewa vibhag [RSS service wing] andVanvasi Kalyan Ashram [a violent RSSaffiliate working among ‘tribal’ groups].53

A report54 by Sewa International India states thatJivapar village, listed in SIUK’s anniversary report,was renamed ‘Keshav Nagar’, ‘Keshav’ being thefirst name of the RSS cult founder.55 The renam-ing of villages after the extremist RSS cultfounder is part of a larger political agenda thatseeks to normalize and habilitate a dangerousorganization. We are aware that SIUK also fundedhomes for some Muslim families. SIUK makesmuch of this, celebrating the eight homes givento Muslims in its rebuilt Chapredi village56.However, this does not alter the primary aim ofSIUK fundraising: to fund RSS affiliates and pro-mote the RSS’s dangerous and divisive Hindutvaactivities.

THE FUNDING OF RSS SCHOOLS

Set in a quiet forest, the private institu-tion [in Waghai, Gujarat] appears to be anideal place to study – except that its 28pupils don’t seem to be getting a veryfair education. Many of the boys are tooyoung to realize it, but near Shivaji’simage are paintings of several leaders ofthe Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),the Hindu chauvinist organization thatruns the school. A short Hindi poeminscribed under Shivaji’s portrait affordsa glimpse of what the students learn.‘If itweren’t for Shivaji,’ the ballad goes, ‘wewould all be circumcised.’ The message:Shivaji saved Hindus from being forciblyconverted to Islam.57

The Sewa Bharati document shows that twoschools projects make up about 31 percent ofSIUK funds (approximately half a million pounds)and village reconstruction makes up about 56

23


53 http://www.sewainternational.org/upa-nmo.html.54 Rajesh Sinha,‘Rehabilitation work near completion: a visit report by Rajesh Sinha’, 10 September 2002, http://www.sewainternational.org/rajrepo.htm.55 Mithapasvaria, adopted by SIUK, was renamed after reconstruction to ‘Ramnagar’ (loosely translated as ‘the god Ram’s town’). Another village, Badanpur,

was renamed as Siddhnath (a reference to the Hindu deity Ganesh). Another village, Chapredi, was renamed ‘Atalnagar’ after the BJP prime minister ofIndia.

56 Sangh Sandesh, September – October 2003, p.11.57 Ajay Singh,‘A real textbook case’, Asiaweek, 26 March 1999.

Shri Sarasvati Vidya MandirShri Sarasvati Vidya MandirShri Sarasvati Primary SchoolLok Kalyan TrustShri Sarasvati ShishumandirShri Sarasvati ShishumandirShri Sarasvati Vidya MandirShri Sarasvati ShishumandirShri Sarasvati ShishumandirShri Sarasvati Vidya MandirShri Sarasvati Vidya MandirShri Sarasvati Vidya MandirMaharashtra Shikshan MandalShri Sarasvati ShishumandirMiddle SectionShri Sarasvati EducationalComplex up to High school Forland 5000 Sq.Mt. For BuildingBorder Jankalyan Samiti

NAME OF SCHOOL

MandviBhachuKalavadChanasmaChakarkotdaRatnalAdipurAntarjalGadpadarRadhanpurTharaSurajkardiSaijpurBhuj

Bhachu

Madhapar‘Bani’ West

VILLAGE

MandviBhachuKalavadChanasmaAnjarAnjarAnjarAnjarAnjarRadhanpurKankrejDwarkaAhmedabadBhuj

Bhachu

Bhuj

TALUKA

KutchKutchJamnagarPatanKutchKutchKutchKutchKutchPatanBanaskanthaJamnagarAhmedabadKutch

Kutch

Kutch

TOTAL

DISTRICT

11.8515.005.00

10.0023.8621.6511.3012.0019.3015.005.00

15.0021.3028.00

70.00

20.95

305.21

SEWA INTERNATIONAL’SCONTRIBUTION

(RS. 100,000)

1234567891011121314

15

16

SEWA BHARATI GUJARAT SCHOOLS – PROJECT 2 TABLE 3

Source:‘Details of New Projects to be taken up by Sewa Bharati Gujarat. Schools – Project 2’, Sewa Bharati Gujarat, Ahmedabad, not dated.

percent of SIUK funds (approximately a millionpounds). The medical projects make up about 4percent, and the disaster management instituteabout 9 percent of all allocated funds.

The proportion allocated to schools appearsto be high, making up almost a third of all fundsby SIUK for Gujarat earthquake reconstructionand rehabilitation, though it would seem that per-manent shelters and capital infrastructure shouldhave been key priorities. SIUK school funding islisted in the Sewa Bharati document under‘Schools Project 1’ and ‘Schools Project 2’. ‘Schools– Project 1’ included government contributionsand made up about 7 percent of SIUK’s funding.The information we have so far on ‘Project 1’shows three Jodiya schools having large RSSboards and plaques that confirm SIUK involve-ment. However, revealing information from SewaBharati Gujarat on the much larger ‘Schools –Project 2’, amounting to almost a quarter of SIUKfunds, is given in Table 3. Unlike Project 1 schools,these are said by Sewa Bharati Gujarat to be inde-pendent of any government funding.

Every single school under its SchoolsProject 2 was an RSS school, financed by fundsraised in the UK in the name of earthquakerehabilitation and reconstruction. SarasvatiShishu Mandirs and Sarasvati Vidya Mandirs arenames for RSS schools, usually run by VidyaBharati, the RSS’s educational affiliate. VidyaBharati describes its purpose as:

To develop a national system of educa-tion which may mould the posterity intosuch a youthful generation as fully satu-rated with the feelings of Hindutva andpatriotism.58

A common curriculum and literature is usedthroughout Vidya Bharati schools59 which sys-tematically promotes RSS ideology amongschoolchildren. Vidya Bharati’s website states:

The message of Hindutva has workedwonders. During the birth centenary yearof Dr. Hedgewar [RSS founder], the stu-dents prepared his biography in 18 triballanguages and these were published in

book form by Vidya Bharati. In duecourse of time, this project will bringmany people of that area into the mainstream of Hindutva and prepare them tostand once again as sentinels ofBharatiya Sanskriti [the RSS view ofIndian culture].60

Vidya Bharati is similarly open about the need toideologically indoctrinate children from asyoung an age as possible.

In India formal education of the childstarts at 5+… Seeds of English way of lifeand conversation are sown at this verytender age. Vidya Bharati has started‘Shishu Vatikas’ in large number to pro-tect the initial stage of children fromgetting vitiated with the virus of westernculture. There is a psychological endeav-our to reduce the weight of the bag andencourage play-way methods of inculcat-ing Hindu ideology in the tiny-tots.61

In 1993, India’s National Council for EducationalResearch and Training, a statutory body chargedwith producing, supplying and evaluating text-books and teaching materials, issued a report onVidya Bharati materials used in Saraswati ShishuMandirs. The report said that much of the materi-al in the so–called Sanskrit Jnan (‘culturaleducation’) series was ‘designed to promote big-otry and religious fanaticism in the name ofinculcating knowledge of culture in the younggeneration’ and that Vidya Bharati schools arebeing ‘clearly used for the dissemination of bla-tantly communal ideas’. The report went on tostate that:

The Committee recommends that theeducational authorities of MadhyaPradesh and other states should disallowthe use of this series in the schools. Thestate governments may also considerappropriate steps to stop the publicationof these materials which foment commu-nal hatred and disallow the examinationswhich are held by the Vidya BharatiSansthan on the basis of thesematerials.62

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58 http://www.vidyabharati.org/aim_education.asp.59 http://www.vskgujarat.com/like_minded_organization/vidya_bharti.htm.60 http://www.vidyabharati.org/haflong.asp.61 http://www.vidyabharati.org/shishu.asp.62 Extracts of NCERT’s report are reproduced in Communalism Combat, October 1999.

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The report also noted that Vidya Bharati text-books: promoted Aryan supremacy; claimed thatancient Greek, Chinese and other major civiliza-tions were all Hindu-Aryan; celebrated thedestruction of the Babri mosque; claimed thatthe stone in the Kaaba at Mecca was originally aHindu object of worship (Shivalingam); claimedthat Islam was spread by means of ‘rivers ofblood’; and claimed that Christian conspiraciesexisted that aimed to divide India.

The link between RSS schools and RSSrecruitment was highlighted in an investigationby the UK Financial Times which reported a com-missioner for Dhar (a town in Madhya Pradesh)as saying:

… dozens of Sangh Parivar schools fund-ed by foreign donations have beenopened up in his district over the past 12months. Volunteers who teach at suchschools frequently organize Shakhas, orRSS paramilitary training sessions, hesays. The drills, modelled on thosedevised by Benito Mussolini, Italy’s dicta-tor in the 1920s, often take place onschool premises.‘The schools are part ofan integrated RSS attempt to split thecommunity along communal lines sothat Madhya Pradesh will go the sameway as Gujarat,’ Mr Dubey says.63

Similarly, the national Indian daily, The Hindureported:

Vidya Bharati is, says its head DinanathBatra, one of the ‘organizations throughwhich the Sangh’s vichardhara [RSS ide-ology] is propagated’. Its aim is toprovide an education which will turn out‘self-less citizens... suffused with the spiritof Hindutva’…The walls of Vidya Bharati’sschools do speak, to those willing to lis-ten. They are lined with calendar artimages of ‘mahapurush’ [great men] –RSS gurus, M.S. Golwalkar and BaliramHedgewar, Shankaracharya, DayanandaSaraswati, Vivekananda, Shivaji, RanaPratap, Subhash Chandra Bose,Chandrashekhar Azad, sometimes SardarPatel, but not Mahatma Gandhi… ’64

British donors were unwittingly providingfunds for Gujarat earthquake relief that wentto the RSS’s key affiliate Sewa Bharati, and ofwhich a large proportion went to fund theexpansion of the RSS’s hate-driven schools inGujarat. About half a million pounds wenttowards the two schools projects, of which thevast proportion (around £450,000) went to RSSschools. This is a key example of way that over-seas funds are used for furthering hatred inIndia.

OTHER RSS PROJECTSTwo other earthquake projects shown by SewaBharati as funded by SIUK need noting. The LokKalyan Trust in Chanasma village is an RSS affili-ate. Chanasma, formerly a peaceful village inPatan district, witnessed a period of considerableviolence by Hindutva mobs against Muslimsfrom 1999. By 2002 this violence had escalatedand become a ‘cleansing’ by Hindutva andBajrang Dal mobs of all Muslims in the village.The Lok Kalyan Trust allegedly illegally obtainedland in the village that was previously used asburial grounds by Muslims. Muslim graves weredug up, bodies removed and saffron flags plant-ed. The takeover of Muslim land was done byintimidation and subterfuge, illegal entry, con-structing a ‘temple’ on the land, and getting aresolution passed in the local municipality inDecember 1999 to transfer land and premisesbelonging to the Muslim waqf board (a statutoryagency) to the Lok Kalyan Trust. SIUK funded anRSS organization directly implicated in theforcible religious ‘cleansing’ of a Gujarati vil-lage and responsible for the illegal occupationof statutory premises formerly under thecharge of Muslims.

The Border Jankalyan Samiti is also listed asan organization funded by SIUK. JankalyanSamiti is the name for an RSS network of healthand service organizations that emerged after1989. In Maharashtra, the Jankalyan Samiti hasbeen responsible for violent attacks on Christians– Jankalyan activists attacked Shruti, a voluntarygroup in Nandugarh, Latur district which is runby the Catholic Health Association of India65.Gujarat state shares a border with Pakistan, andthe border areas have become a focus of consid-erable RSS-and especially VHP activity in recentyears.

63 Edward Luce and Demetri Sevastopulo,‘Blood and money’, Financial Times, 20 February 2003.64 Anjali Mody,‘Manufacturing Believers’, The Hindu, 10 February 2002.65 Asian Age, 11 July 1998.

26


The following are extracts of afact-finding team’s report66 on theevents at Chanasma village (ourtranslation, original in Gujarati).

In the wake of the Bajrang Dal[VHP youth wing] onslaught,around 550 Muslim men, women,children and old people havebeen forced to flee the town ofChanasma in Patan District andthe town’s Navgaja Pir burialground has been occupied andsaffronized. Muslim graves in theburial grounds have been dug outand the earth leveled. Greensheets covering the pir’s [reveredMuslim preacher] grave (Dargah)have been replaced by whitesheets. The square structure forlighting lamps on the Dargah hasbeen converted into a temple bybuilding a typical temple domeover it, painting it saffron colourand adorning it with a trident anda white flag. An iron birdhouse forpigeons has been erected in themiddle of the vast waqf-owned

burial site…Numerous saffronflags are fluttering over theDargah, the ramparts and thebirdhouse. The slogan ‘Victory tothe Holy Motherland!’ is scribbledall over the Dargah. A new four-foot wall construction withoutplaster, built to annex the waqfland, is in full view. It is obviousthat high caste Hindus conspiredto seize the land because situatedin their midst the waqf land wasboth an irritant and a preciousresource in the growing town.Intent on gang rape and withswords drawn, the Bajrang Dalmob surrounded Indiranagar, theMuslim quarters of the village. Ifthe Dalits of Chanasma had notgiven refuge to Muslim women inthe Dalit quarters for the wholenight, Chanasma would haveseen a repetition of gang rapeson the scale of Surat (1993). ‘Weare not prepared to go back tothe town. Our mothers, sisters ordaughters are not safe there’, saythe frightened migrant Muslims of

Chanasma. Only a few days priorto our team’s visit Muslims fromthe nearby village of Vadavaliwere attacked at the bus stand inChanasma town, a town wheremore than eighty percent of thepopulation is Patel by caste.Chanasma municipality passed aresolution on 12.2.1999 to donatethe Muslim waqf-owned land tothe high caste Hindus’ Lok KalyanTrust, Chanasma. How canChanasma Municipality resolve topass the waqf’s land to others?You can imagine the situation ofthe minority community in a townwhere the municipality can passwith impunity such resolutionsoutside its jurisdiction… Rightnow some 550 powerless andfrightened Muslims from 130 fami-lies are living under the openskies in scorching heat. Neithersocial workers nor friendly organ-izations have so far come to theiraid.

ANTI-MINORITY VIOLENCE IN CHANASMA

66 Chanasma na Musalimo ni Hijrat, Council for Social Justice, Ahmedabad, 2001.

SECTION SUMMARY

� An alarming chain links unsuspecting donorsin the UK to the active political promotionand glorification of the extremist RSS inGujarat. UK donors gave funds in good faithto SIUK for humanitarian reconstruction andrehabilitation following the 2001 Gujaratearthquake; these funds went from SIUK tothe RSS’s Sewa Bharati which managed thework, with additional funds from govern-ment agencies; work was started throughRSS ceremonies, or completed villages wereinaugurated by very senior RSS officers –SIUK funds Sewa Bharati; the RSS hands overthe completed village to residents. Theextremist RSS and its dangerous ideologywere actively promoted in Gujarat throughthese processes. The Hindutva political agen-da of the RSS was explicit in thereconstruction and opening ceremonies ofseveral villages funded by SIUK. The agendato glorify and expand the RSS was wellknown by SIUK but not revealed to donors.SIUK enthusiastically promoted extremistorganizations in India whose activities, histo-ry and ideology would horrify most Britishdonors.

� One village (Chapredi) funded by SIUKincluded an important dedication plaqueglorifying the RSS, its founder and its affili-ates. A Hindu temple topped with saffronflags and funded through SIUK was also builtin this village. No evidence was found of SIUKfunding the rebuilding of destroyedmosques or churches in any adopted village.

� The RSS supreme leader, K. S. Sudarshan,presided over the foundation stone layingceremony for one village (Mithapasvaria)funded by SIUK. The new village was ‘handedover’ to residents by an RSS joint general sec-

retary. Chief guests included the western sec-tor RSS head (who is also a Sewa BharatiGujarat trustee), and the Gujarat state RSSservice section head. There was no clearorganizational distinction between SewaBharati Gujarat and the RSS.

� The RSS supreme leader, K. S. Sudarshan,undertook the opening ceremony for anoth-er village (Rapar) funded by SIUK. At theceremony, Sudarshan stressed the need toexpand RSS organizations and networks inthe area. Funds were raised for this villagethrough a multicultural event in the UK.

� RSS physical and ideological training cells(shakhas) were initiated by Sewa Bharati dur-ing the rebuilding of another village(Badanpur) funded by SIUK.

� In the villages claimed to have been ‘totallyfunded’ by SIUK, we found substantial gov-ernment or other NGO contributions.

Approximately £1 million from SIUK went toSewa Bharati for reconstructing six villages. SIUKsaid it had ‘totally funded’ the construction of thevillages. The RSS Gujarat media section reportedthat four of the villages (Badanpur, Rampura,Sayan, Rapar) were funded by the Governmentof Jharkhand67, a BJP ruled state. Sewa BharatiGujarat documents also show substantial gov-ernment funds for these villages68. With Chapredivillage, another NGO constructed permanenthousing and other buildings at the original vil-lage location. We look below at five of the sixvillages in order to evaluate SIUK’s claim that it isa non-sectarian, non-religious, non-politicalorganization that only provides funds forhumanitarian relief and rehabilitation.

We are aware that SIUK funded some homesfor Muslims and we are aware of the extent andquality of the reconstruction work overseen by

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SECTION 3: THE SEWA INTERNATIONAL – FUNDED VILLAGES

67 http://www.vskgujarat.com/like_minded_organization/seva_bharti.htm.68 The details below are from Sewa Bharati Gujarat and show SIUK’s figures with government contribution in brackets (all amounts in Rupees 100,000):

Mithapasvaria 114.60 (97.26), Chapredi 233.72 (172.92), Sayan 41.49 (26.7), Badanpur 47.62 (29.37), Rampura 61.46 (38.98), Rapar 126.64 (75.02). SewaBharati,‘Details of Completed / Outgoing Projects:Villages’, Sewa Bharati Gujarat, Ahmedabad, not dated.The area of government contributions during theearthquake rehabilitation was based on the official assessment of the severity of damages to buildings and the proportion of buildings, houses and infra-structure damaged.The government offered six different packages of funding. In cases of complete village reconstruction and rehabilitation funded underone government package, NGOs and government agencies typically worked in partnership, with the government contributing fifty percent of costs and theNGO expected to contribute a minimum of fifty percent of costs. Full consultations with villagers was a requirement, especially when complete village relo-cation rather than same place reconstruction was involved.

Sewa Bharati. This is not the point. The key issueis that SIUK used earthquake funds as a vehiclefor the promotion of a hate-driven and divisiveorganization whereas numerous other NGOsundertook reconstruction and rehabilitationwork transparently and on a large scale withoutpromoting an extremist and dangerous politicalagenda. We show Hindutva supremacist strate-gies at work in what should have been purelyhumanitarian activity. There was a chain of linksthe exact nature of which SIUK never madetransparent. At one end, in Britain, were genuine,non-sectarian donors who gave funds in goodfaith to SIUK. At the other end, in Gujarat, wasthe expansion and glorification of the extremistRSS and its networks. SIUK knew exactly what itwas doing and how it suited the aims and agen-da of the RSS.

CHAPREDI VILLAGE (BHUJ SUB-DISTRICT, KUTCH DISTRICT)Chapredi was considered an important, highprofile village by SIUK. It was adopted by theCoventry branch of SIUK and by ‘the people ofCoventry’ and visited by a SIUK delegation inJanuary 2002, which included Barry Gardiner MP,representatives of the Labour Friends of India,the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Coventryand the former Lord Mayor of Derby. Chaprediwas adopted by two NGOs: Sewa Bharati, whichreconstructed the village at a new site; and theMalayala Manorama Charitable Trust, whichreconstructed the village at its original location.Rebuilding by Sewa Bharati was also done withfinancial contributions from the Vajpayee NagarVikas Yojna, a government rural infrastructuredevelopment programme. The Sewa Bharati-rebuilt Chapredi, renamed ‘Atalnagar’ after theBJP prime minister, was opened in March 2002.

Whereas SIUK denied the nature of its RSSlinks, the RSS backing is stated very clearly onSewa Bharati boards in the village. A dedicationplaque in the new village (original in Gujarati,translation ours) states:

Rashtriya Swayamsevak SanghVenerable Keshav Baliram Hedgewarestablished the Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh in 5026, 1926 in the Christian cal-endar, on the auspicious day of VijayaDashmi. Removing all the differences insocial life, creating a united societybased on Hindutva and through it creat-ing a powerful, autonomous and wealthynation is the goal of the Sangh. The

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Figure 7: RSS dedication plaque at rebuilt Chapredi village,translation given in text.

Figure 6: The sign reads ‘Atalnagar [i.e. Chapredi], Bhujblock. Village rebuilt by Sewa Bharati Gujarat, inspired bythe Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’.

Sangh, a great tree created from aseedling is a national organization andan idea with international appeal. TheSangh is a vehicle for work. Its volunteersraised in the culture of the daily Shakha,selfless service, clean character and disci-plined society are directed towardsmany fields. Let us spread the Sangh’swork among all classes of this society bykindling the values of love and charity.

Sewa Bharati – GujaratThe Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghinspired Sewa Bharati is always and for-ever at the forefront of service andsupport of victims at the time of naturalor man made disaster. The trust formedto help affected areas in disasters suchas the Morbi floods, the terrible droughtin Saurashtra and Kutch, the horribleplague in Surat, the earthquake in Latur,the destructive hurricanes in Saurashtra,Andhra and Orissa is Sewa Bharati –Gujarat. Victory to the Holy Motherland!

In response to a Channel 4 News investigationinto SIUK, the latter stated that it ‘has never sentmoney to any parties with the intention ofspreading communal violence or hatred, eitherdirectly or indirectly’69. Examples such as theplaque at Chapredi demonstrate the funding,promotion and glorification by SIUK of anorganization and an ideology that is dedicat-ed to religious hatred and whose membersand affiliates have been involved in politicallyand religiously-motivated violence. SIUK knewthat it was funding the promotion of the RSS,its founder and its affiliates in Gujarat. SIUKglorified extremist organizations in Indiawhose activities, history and ideology wouldhorrify most British donors.

We found no evidence that Sewa Bharatirebuilt any mosques, Muslim shrines or churchesdamaged during the earthquake. However, it didbuild Hindu temples using funds from SIUK. TheHindu temple shown right, built in Chapredi andtopped with RSS saffron flags, is an example.

Another organization, Malayala ManoramaCharitable Trust, associated with the MalayalaManorama newspaper group in Kerala, alsoreconstructed the village in its original locationand built 125 permanent houses70. We also didnot find in Malayala Manorama’s efforts the kindof sectarian propaganda that accompanied RSSwork.

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69 Sewa International UK,‘Sewa International’s statement on Channel 4 allegations’, 16 December 2002.70 The Tribune, 4 June 2003; Government of India,‘Quake-Wiped Chapredi takes rebirth; Dr. Joshi hands over key to village-head’, Press Release, 3 June 2003

Figure 8: Hindu temple, Chapredi village. A plaque in frontof the temple states ‘This temple has been built fromdonations received from Shree Radha Krishna CulturalCentre, Coventry, Sanatan Dharam Hindu Temple, Coventry& Hindu Temple, Coventry, UK. Donor agency: SewaInternational (UK)’.

Figure 9: ‘Gateway’ to Chapredi village, stating the nameof Malayala Manorama.

Figure 10: Bird feeding shelter (chabutra) and communitypavilion built in Chapredi with the help of MalayalaManorama.

MITHASPASVARIA VILLAGE (ANJARSUB-DISTRICT, KUTCH DISTRICT)

This village was adopted by ‘Derby andNottingham cities’ and is another village thatSIUK claimed to totally fund. A document fromSewa Bharati Gujarat shows that there was also agovernment contribution of Rupees 9,726,000towards reconstructing the village71. This villagehas 164 households, of which four householdsare Muslim. Sewa Bharati had constructed 154units in the village. When we visited the villagein the summer of 2003, the Muslim families werenot found living in the newly constructed hous-es of Sewa Bharati at the new site, but wereinstead living in the old village area. The founda-tion stone laying ceremony for Mithapasvariavillage was undertaken on 17 April 2001 by thesupreme head of the Indian RSS, K. S. Sudarshan.It was also renamed ‘Ramnagar’ (‘the town ofRam’). Sewa International’s banner was promi-nently displayed behind the RSS leader andother RSS senior figures.

A plaque at the new Mithapasvaria statesthat the RSS joint general secretary, MadandasDevi (who has also participated in VHP protestsregarding the Ayodhya Ram temple issue), hand-ed over the village to residents on 3 June 2002.One of the chief guests at this ceremony wasPravin Maniyar, the western sector RSS media

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71 Sewa Bharati Gujarat,‘Details of Completed / Outgoing Projects:Villages’, Sewa Bharati Gujarat, Ahmedabad, not dated.72 http://www.sewainternational.com/gujarat_quake_coventry_at_work.htm; another news item also reports that ‘Coventry will be adopting the village of

Chapredi instead of Rapar according to latest reports from Mukeshbhai Shah of Sewa Bharti in Ahmedabad’http://www.sewainternational.com/index.php?start_from=16’.

73 Sangh Sandesh, May–June 2001, vol. XII, no.3, p.21.

Figure 11: RSS supreme leader K. S. Sudarshan at founda-tion stone laying ceremony for Mithapasvaria village, nearBhuj, 17 April 2001. The Sewa International banner is dis-played prominently. Other individuals include thoseclosely associated with HSS UK. The Sewa Bharati banner(in Gujarati) states its origin as ‘RSS inspired’. www.sewain-ternational.org/sudar.html.

head who is also a Sewa Bharati trustee. Anotherchief guest was Bharat Amin who is in charge ofthe state’s RSS service wing. It is in examples likethese that the organizational distinctionbetween the RSS and Sewa Bharati becomeshighly ambiguous. Why, for example, is virtuallyevery dignitary present at the foundation stone-laying or handover ceremony a senior nationalor local RSS officer?

It is not simply that Sewa Bharati is ‘RSSinspired’ but appears to be the RSS acting underanother name. SIUK provides funds to SewaBharati to rebuild a village, but it is the RSS that‘hands over’ the completed village. The extent ofdirect RSS involvement is significant enough toraise questions about legal regulations that pro-hibit the receipt of foreign funds by the RSS.

RAPAR VILLAGE (MORBI SUB-DISTRICT, RAJKOT DISTRICT)Rapar village was initially adopted by Coventry,UK. SIUK released the following statement:

The Coventry Branch of SEWAInternational officially adopts Rapar. Thevillage of Rapar, which was totally devas-tated and destroyed by the GujaratEarthquake, will be totally reconstructedand adopted by the people from the Cityof Coventry. Coventry has been asked tobe the first city anywhere in the UK tofund the complete rebuilding of a vil-lage.72

The Government of Jharkhand also reportedlyfunded the reconstruction of this village. SIUKorganized a large fundraising event in April 2001in Coventry for this purpose. This was a multicul-tural variety show which raised almost £22,000.SIUK said:

Sikh, Hindu, Muslim and Christian com-munities happily worked together to dotheir little bit…Coventry has emulatedthe way forward once again – andproved that ALL Religions and Culturescan work together effectively and har-moniously to serve Humanity.73

These are admirable goals that demonstrate howUK South Asians from different communities canwork together to support victims of natural dis-asters. But how many supporters of the UKfundraising event were aware of the nature ofthe opening ceremony of the village on 26 April2002? The media division of the RSS in Gujaratreported this:

Sewa Bharati of RSS constructed thehouses at village Rapar, in associationwith Sewa International (U.K.) and Govt.of Zharkhand [Jharkhand] at a cost of Rs.2.60 crores. The work has been complet-ed within one year and the civic facilitieslike road, tapped-water to each house,school, temple, dispensary etc. have beenprovided to the village. Shri Sudarshanji[RSS supreme leader] addressed a func-tion at this village which was attendedby large number of people of nearby vil-lages. He said that people should notsolely depend on Govt. help but theythemselves should come forward toassist others like Sewa Bharati accordingto Hindu Sanskruti and Hindu Dharma[the RSS’s version of Hindu culture andHindu religion]. He emphasized that oneshould not depend for everything fromschool admission or for job, on MLA orMP [politicians]. Everyone should standon its own. Villages should developthemselves and therefore, the RSSshakhas are creating an atmosphere ofcooperation for people everywhere. Headvised the Swayamsevaks [RSS mem-bers] to create 5 committees for socialeducation, social health, social security,social samrasta [‘harmony’] and socialprosperity. People are always good butthey should be motivated to undertaketree plantation and water conservationactivities, he said. RSS is doing such ayeoman sewa [service] activities forwhich not only people connected withRSS donate money but even those, whoare not attached to RSS, also donatefunds to Sewa Bharati…Shri PravinbhaiManiar, the Sampark Pramukh [publicityhead] of Western region of RSS statedthat for the earthquake affected persons,1823 new houses are constructed in 14villages at a cost of Rs. 40.54 crores and294 school-rooms are constructed in 64villages at a cost of Rs. 6.57 crores by

Sewa Bharati. Prant Sanghchalak [RSSregional head] Shri Amrutbhai Kadiwalasaid that we are committed to remainwith the people in their time of sorrowsas per ideals of Dr. Hedgewar [RSSfounder].74

The same pattern emerges: British individualsdonate funds in good faith, this time througha multicultural fundraising event in the UK,but these end up being used in India for aproject organized entirely by the RSS and itsaffiliates, aimed at spreading the RSS organi-zation and its cells, and fuelled by an ideologyof Hindutva extremism that has resulted inhatred, violence and the death of thousands.

BADANPUR VILLAGE (JODIYA SUB-DISTRICT, JAMNAGAR DISTRICT)This is another of the six villages said to betotally funded by SIUK. The Government ofJharkhand was also involved in funding villagereconstruction. The dynamics of Sewa Bharati’sengagement with ‘lower’ caste groups in a badlydamaged village Badanpur can be comparedwith Sewa Bharati’s involvement in Rampura vil-lage which contained a homogeneous andrelatively ‘higher’ caste group and which was notas seriously affected by the quake (see below).

Badanpur village is made up of four mostly‘lower’ caste groups and contains 205 families.During the earthquake, about seventy per centof the village buildings were destroyed. SeveralNGOs came to the village to assist in rehabilita-tion and reconstruction. The first of these wasSETU from Ahmedabad, which undertook theimmediate relief work and constructed 205 tem-porary dwellings. Soon after, some workers of theRSS camped at the end of the village and donat-ed their labour. Through the RSS group, a neworganization came into the village – SewaBharati Gujarat. An RSS physical and ideologicaltraining cell (shakha) operated throughout theperiod of Sewa Bharati’s rehabilitation work inBadanpur. Children enlisted on an educationalprogramme run by a secular NGO wanted theirclass times to be changed. On further inquiry itwas discovered that the reason for this was atime clash with the RSS shakha started by SewaBharati.

Sewa Bharati Gujarat called a meeting of thevillagers and discussed their project to build 205

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74 http://www.vskgujarat.com/current/view.asp?msgID=56

homes. All villagers initially accepted this schemeand agreed to have the village relocated to anew site (relocation was a common option if theproportion of severe damage was assessed to bevery high.) However, at the next meeting SewaBharati said that the villagers would have to bearthe cost of clearing the new land. A disputeeventually emerged between Sewa Bharati andmany of the villagers, resulting in 150 villagersremoving their names from Sewa Bharati’s pro-posed scheme.

Disputes between villagers then multipliedand have reached a serious level. The reasonsgiven to us for the disputes relate to the inabilityof Sewa Bharati to create trust among the vil-lagers, and, in particular, a dispute overnon-agricultural, publicly-owned common land(‘khara’ land) used by all the villagers for cropthreshing and other activities. Local sourcesclaimed that Sewa Bharati contrived to have thisland brought under private ownership on behalfof the 55 families that accepted its scheme, butagainst the wishes of the other 150 families. Bylaw, this land should have been auctioned pub-licly, but we were told that Sewa Bharati used itsinfluence with the BJP Gujarat state governmentofficials to get its own way. When the other 150families occupied this public land, they werevacated by the police. A court case is on-goingregarding this issue. However, Sewa Bharati builta new village (Siddhnath) on the disputed landand a handover ceremony was conducted. The150 remaining families have lost their rights overtheir public land. We were told that the new vil-lage committee formed in Siddhnath is made upof staunch Hindutva supporters and this hasresulted in constant clashes in the village.

RAMPURA VILLAGE (SANTALPURSUB-DISTRICT, PATAN DISTRICT)This village is also one of the six said to be totallyfunded by SIUK although the Government ofJharkhand was funding Sewa Bharati for the con-struction of houses, the community hall, thewater supply network, the water tank and the

drainage network, and the Gujarat state govern-ment funded the construction of the schoolbuilding. The funds allotted to this village bySewa Bharati from SIUK funding were Rupees7,323,000 (approximately £108,000)75. Rampuracontained seventy households, of which sixty-five were from the relatively ‘higher’ Thakurcaste. While parts of the village were damagedby the earthquake, only 5 houses were damagedaccording to the criteria for complete non-repairable damage used by the government. Noother houses were apparently damaged accord-ing to any other official criteria of lesser damage.Given the low level of permanent shelter dam-age it was curious that Sewa Bharati / SIUK hadadopted this particular village.

Sewa Bharati had previously been lookingfor a maximum of two villages in Santalpur sub-district for complete rehabilitation and wasready to adopt any village that would accept apartnership proposal and contribute land. Thefirst village adopted, Vavadi did not agree tocomplete rehabilitation organized by SewaBharati, mainly because of emergence of inter-caste differences among villagers. Sewa Bharatithen left Vavadi. Meanwhile Rampura villagershad purchased seven acres of land andapproached Sewa Bharati to coordinate rehabili-tation. We were told that Sewa Bharati adoptedRampura ‘for the sake of fame’ despite partialdamage (since only five houses were officiallyrecorded under the most extreme damage cate-gory.) No other village nearby agreed tocontribute land therefore it was not feasible forSewa Bharati to adopt any other village. Moresignificantly, with the exception of five house-holds, all others belonged to the same castecommunity and therefore there was very littlechance for disagreement. A board at the new vil-lage states ‘RSS Inspired Sewa Bharati’,acknowledges SIUK and shows that the commu-nity centre (Samaj Mandir) is named afterDeendayal Upadhyaya, possibly the mostrevered RSS figure after Hedgewar andGolwalkar.

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75 Sewa Bharati Gujarat,‘Costing Summary for Projects financed by Sewa International UK’, Sewa Bharati Gujarat, Ahmedabad, not dated.

SECTION SUMMARY

� Each of the ‘supported projects’ which SIUKpromotes through its website are RSS proj-ects. This is not disclosed by SIUK to thegeneral public or donors. From HSS UK litera-ture it appears that every Indian organizationsupported by SIUK is an RSS affiliate or ispromoted because it is linked to the RSS.

� SIUK and the Kalyan Ashram Trust UK, a reg-istered charity, raise funds for the VanvasiKalyan Ashram (VKA), an RSS organizationresponsible for considerable violence againstChristian and Muslim groups, including dur-ing the Gujarat carnage in 2002.

� The bulk of £260,000 raised by SIUK forOrissa cyclone relief after 1999 went to a keyRSS front, the UBSS. The HSS UK said thefunds would be channeled through RSS vol-unteers. It also said it funds organizationsthat get their workforce from the RSS.

� SIUK’s fundraising for Orissa cyclone reliefhas been used to finance and expand theextremist RSS’s affiliates and networks. Boththe Orissa cyclone and Gujarat earthquakeappeals demonstrate a pattern in which anatural tragedy is used to enable the dramat-ic expansion of RSS institutions, especiallyeducational ones, in the afflicted regionthrough the use of funds from overseas.

� In members’ newsletters, HSS UK / SIUK oftenspeak of RSS affiliates in the same breath asthe RSS itself. If this amounts to funding theRSS, the VHP, the RSS women’s wing or theRSS student wing, then it is a potential viola-tion of FCRA regulations. Since the RSS hasmanifestly political aims, any foreign fundingof the RSS or of organizations that are under-taking the work of the RSS under anothername can be seen to contravene the spirit ofthe FCRA.

� The main education projects SIUK (includingthrough its ‘Sewa Education Aid’ wing) raisesfunds for are RSS and VHP affiliates. Theseextremist education projects have a strongpolitical purpose for the RSS and the VHP,

particularly in educating children and theyoung into accepting a pro-Hindutva, anti-minority view of Indian society.

� SIUK raises substantial funds for ‘one-teacherschools’. These are strategic political projectsrun by the violent and extremist VishwaHindu Parishad, the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram,Sewa Bharati, Vidya Bharati and other RSS /VHP affiliates.

� Over a three year period, we found men-tioned in HSS UK literature a few thousandpounds donated to non-Indian causes.

KALYAN ASHRAM TRUST UKThe Muslims are also trying to createchaos in these communities, either byenticing these tribals or by raping thetribal girls by force. The Kalyan Ashram atSidumbar is trying to put a stop to theseactivities of Muslims as well asChristians… The workers of KalyanAshrams are required to give a toughfight to the Christian missionariesbecause they keep on harassing the localresidents.76

Kalyan Ashram Trust (KAT UK) is an HSS UK proj-ect formed in July 1970. It is supported by SIUKbut is also an independent charity (charity regis-tration number 261327). It has the same addressas the HSS UK. Its key focus is on the adivasi(‘tribal’) populations of India in order to ‘bringthem into the mainstream of our society’, ‘main-stream’ being an RSS word for its view of Hindusociety. The RSS and VHP ‘tribal’ projects areextremely important and the activities of the KATUK are part of this political enterprise. KAT UK’sgross income between April 1996 and April 2000has remained low (the highest gross incomeshown at the Charity Commission website is£35,496 for the financial year starting April 1998).While KAT income is limited, SIUK also raisesfunds for similar projects.

Both these organizations have a clear agen-da in mind: fundraising for the Vanvasi KalyanAshram (VKA), an RSS affiliate which has beeninvolved in anti-Christian violence in Gujarat and

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SECTION 4: OTHER RSS PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY SIUK

76 S. H. Ketkar, Amrut Kumbha of Service Streams, Ekta Prakashan, Pune, quoted in A. K. Sen,‘Deflections to the Right’, Outlook, 22 July 2002.

elsewhere since the late 1990s and which wasinvolved in considerable anti-Muslim violence inGujarat during the carnage in early 2002.

Several independent investigations havelinked the VKA and its activists to anti-minorityviolence in India. Human Rights Watch reportedin October 1999 that there was a link betweenattacks on Christians and the activities of theKalyan Ashrams. Similarly, an important Channel4 News investigation in December 2002 providedextensive evidence of VKA involvement in theGujarat 2002 pogroms. Channel 4 interviewed aHindutva activist who said that a VKA leader inthe Baroda area of Gujarat, had organized attackson Muslim villagers during 2002.

He threatened the villagers saying that ifthey didn’t join in provoking the Muslimsand burning them, they would also betreated like Muslims and burnt. And hesaid the government is on our side, noth-ing will happen to you. So the KalyanAshram activists gave the villagers bowsand arrows and revolvers and sucharms.77

Fifty–six people were killed in the village in just afew days and hundreds more injured. Twentynine mosques were destroyed and thousands ofvillagers were driven from their homes. The localpolice also accused this VKA organizer of leading2,000 tribal people in another large attack. Thissame VKA organizer was said to be workingdirectly for the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Gujaratcoordinating ‘educational’ projects for tribalgroups. The Channel 4 team further reportedthat ‘In village after village, we spoke to severalvictims who blamed the violence on KalyanAshram.’ A retired Supreme Court judge, P.B.Sawant, who sat on a citizens tribunal on the2002 Gujarat carnage, told Channel 4 that:

The organization called Vanvasi KalyanAshram through which the tribals arebeing indoctrinated into communal phi-losophy was roped in and all those whowere trained there were also enrolled forviolence… The communal violence thaterupted as well as the communal indoc-trination which has been going on, allthese activities were being funded by

this money that came from SewaInternational.78

ORISSA CYCLONE 1999

[In Orissa] development and educationare key vehicles through which conscrip-tion into Hindu extremism is takingplace. After the cyclone of 1999, reliefwork undertaken in a sectarian mannerby RSS organizations granted the sangh[RSS] a foothold through which tostrengthen enrolment… In Gajapati dis-trict, RSS and BJP workers torched 150homes and the village church in October1999. A Dalit Christian activist said, ‘RSSworkers tell me that Christianity broughtcolonialism to India, and I am responsiblefor that legacy. How am I responsible?…In June 2002, the VHP coerced 143 tribalChristians into converting to Hinduism inSundargarh district.79

Excluding the Gujarat earthquake appeal, thelargest amount raised by SIUK seems to havebeen for the Orissa cyclone in 1999 (£260,000).

Sewa International launched OrissaCyclone Appeal to help the victims ofone of the worst cyclones known to theman kind. Nearly £100,000 has alreadybeen pledged which is being collectedand sent to fund the relief work. SewaInternational is channeling these fundsthrough the well disciplined volunteers ofRSS in India. RSS is today the largest volun-tary organization in the world. It hasestablished credibility by providing reliefwork to victims of earthquake inMaharashtra, cyclone in Gujarat, flood atMorvi in Gujarat, aircrash in Haryana andtrain accident in Punjab irrespective ofvictims’ caste, creed or religion.80

SIUK claims that the RSS is non-discriminatory.Yet the RSS glorifies, worships and idolizes fig-ures in its cells (shakhas) such as M. S. Golwalkarwho strongly believed in the supremacy of thecaste system (‘a supreme and scientific socialorder’) and who wanted India to be turned intoan aggressive Hindu nation in which minorities

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77 Jonathan Miller,‘Funding Gujarat extremists’, Channel 4 News, 12 December 2002, UK.78 Jonathan Miller,‘Funding Gujarat extremists’, Channel 4 News, broadcast 12 December 2002, UK.The term ‘communal’ is used in India to refer to sectarian

hatred or discrimination based on religious, caste and other factors.79 Angana Chatterji,‘Orissa: a Gujarat in the making’, Communalism Combat, 2 November 2003.80 Sangh Sandesh, November – December 1999, vol. X, no. 6, p. 16.

had ‘no rights whatsoever, not even citizensrights’. After the Gujarat carnage, the general sec-retary of the major RSS affiliate, the VHP, calledfor all Muslims to have genetic testing to showthat they do not have ‘Arab blood’81. In 2002, theRSS threateningly said that the safety of minori-ties lies in the ‘goodwill of the majority’. Can theRSS provide services without discrimination togroups it already considers to be alien foreign-ers, polluters and traitors? SIUK also states theRSS is simply a voluntary organization. This is anattempt to normalize and habilitate a dangerousparamilitary organization devoted to creating anexclusive Hindu nation. There is also slippery wayin which the HSS UK / SIUK glorifies the RSSwhile seemingly talking about RSS affiliates. TheRSS is credited above with relief work in Maha-rashtra, Morbi and Gujarat, yet these same threenatural disasters are mentioned in connectionwith Sewa Bharati’s work (see Section 3). Did theRSS undertake this work or Sewa Bharati? Or isthis an admission that they effectively one andthe same?

HSS UK also admits in its members’ newslet-ter that charitable funds pass from SIUK to RSSvolunteers. The main beneficiary of the Orissaappeal was the Utkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti(UBSS), stated to get its workforce from the RSS.In 2000, the HSS UK reported:

We began our tour [of Orissa] with thepresentation of a cheque for Rs1,400,000 (£200,000) at the inaugurationceremony of a youth hostel by ABVP [RSSstudent affiliate]. The cheque was madepayable to Utkal Bipanna SahayataSamiti (UBSS), one of Orissa’s leadingNon-Government Organizations. It wasestablished in 1982 and has a network ofvolunteers from all walks of life. It enjoyspatronization of the RSS from where itgets disciplined workforce.82

UBSS received £200,000 from SIUK in 2000. Theaddress of the UBSS in Orissa is the same as thatof the RSS (Sanskriti Bhavan, Chandi MandirMarg, Cuttack 753008). Other SIUK beneficiariesof the Orissa appeal were Vidya Bharati, the RSS

education affiliate and, apparently, the AkhilBharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the RSS studentaffiliate. The HSS UK also stated that seventySaraswati Shishu Mandirs (RSS schools) were tobe ‘rebuilt’ and the RSS supreme leader inaugu-rated one of these. Both the Orissa cyclone andGujarat earthquake appeals demonstrate apattern in which a natural tragedy is used toenable the dramatic expansion of RSS institu-tions, especially educational ones, in theafflicted region through the use of funds fromoverseas. In Orissa, the 1999 cyclone, followedby floods and then a drought, were importantfactors that enabled the RSS and VHP to massive-ly expand their organizations and schools. Thereis a very large and increasing number of RSS andVHP fronts in Orissa. The growth of these organi-zations in Orissa has also led to considerableviolence against minority groups. In 1999,Graham Stewart Staines and his two young sonswere burned to death by a Hindutva mob led bya Bajrang Dal activist who had also attended RSScells (shakhas)83. Orissa is seen as the next‘Hindutva laboratory’ after Gujarat84.

A final point needs to be made about SIUKfunding in relation to Orissa, a point also relevantto its funding of Sewa Bharati Gujarat. SIUK fundsRSS fronts such as the UBSS, seemingly also theABVP’s (the RSS student wing) hostel in Orissa,and Sewa Bharati. HSS UK / SIUK state that theychannels funds through RSS volunteers and toorganizations which get their workforce from theRSS. They often speak of RSS affiliates in thesame breath as the RSS itself in a way that sug-gests HSS UK / SIUK are aware either that there isa real ambiguity in where the RSS institutionallyends and where its affiliates start or that theseparticular affiliates are for all practical intentsand purposes the same entity as the RSS. If thisamounts to funding the RSS, the VHP, the RSSwomen’s wing or the RSS student wing, then it isa potential violation of FCRA regulations thatprohibit these organizations from receivingfunding from abroad, unless they receive specificprior permission on a case by case basis decidedby central government85. The intent of the FCRAis to prevent foreign funding from interfering inIndia’s political process. Since the RSS has mani-

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81 Concerned Citizens Tribunal, Crime Against Humanity: an inquiry into the carnage in Gujarat, volumes I and II, Concerned Citizens Tribunal / Citizens for Justiceand Peace, Mumbai, 2002, Annexure 10.

82 Sangh Sandesh, March – April 2000, vol. XI, no. 2, p. 3.83 The Hindu, 8 May 1999.84 Angana Chatterji,‘Learning in Saffron: RSS schools in Orissa’, Dissident Voice, 13 November 2003; Angana Chatterji,‘Orissa: a Gujarat in the making’,

Communalism Combat, 2 November 2003; Pralay Kanungo,‘Hindutva’s Entry into a “Hindu Province”: early years of RSS in Orissa’, Economic & Political Weekly,2 August 2003.

85 AccountAid India, FCRA – AccountAble Handbook, AccountAid India, New Delhi, 2002, p. 105, p.110, p.140.

festly political aims, any foreign funding of theRSS or of organizations that are undertaking thework of the RSS under another name can beseen to contravene the spirit of the FCRA.

SEWA EDUCATION AIDThe Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) hasnow embarked upon a plan to start its‘Ekal Vidyalaya’ (single teacher schools) inthe border areas to prepare the localpeople for countering anti-national activ-ities by infiltrators and subversiveelements. Such schools were till nowbeing run in remote forest areas andnorth-eastern states with the aim of cre-ating awareness among the tribals andthe poor and preventing their conversionto Christianity by missionaries.86

There is considerable venom againstChristianity and Islam in the books…taught at the Shishu Mandirs and EkalVidyalaya [one-teacher] Schools… TheSocial Studies, grade IX text of theGujarat Board has a section with a sub-heading,‘Minority Community’, thatlabels Muslims, even Christians andParsees, as ‘foreigners’. One statement onChristianity in a Shishu Mandirs and EkalVidyalaya School book regards the ‘con-spiratorial policies of the followers of thisreligion’ to be the cause of ‘partition ofIndia’. It goes on to say, ‘Even todayChristian missionaries are engaged infostering anti-national tendencies in ourcountry because of which there is gravedanger to the integrity of present dayIndia’. 87

Under the name Sewa Education Aid88, SIUK rais-es funds for one-teacher schools (ekalvidyalayas) with the following stated aims:

To combat illiteracy and bring educationfacilities to the mass rural population,

Sewa international has initiated ‘OneTeacher Schools’ in which a local educat-ed youth is trained and employed as ateacher to run a non-formal school ofabout 40 children. No capital is requiredto start such schools. The teacher alsobecomes a focus of community leader-ship within the village by generating asense of pride in the Indian culture andheritage. 30 one teacher schools areclubbed into a ‘cluster’ for the purpose ofefficient administration and propersupervision. Each cluster covers about 60villages. 70 such clusters have beenplanned for Bihar, 10 clusters for Orissaand 7 clusters for west Bengal.89

The amounts raised and the number of one-teacher schools sponsored by Sewa EducationAid are not insignificant. For the year endingMarch 2000, Sewa Education Aid had raised over£166,000 (HSS UK reported a target of £200,000),spent almost £85,500 and had a remaining bal-ance of about £162,000.90 The number of‘sponsored children’ had grown from twelve in1994 to over three thousand in 2000. Work wasbeing undertaken in eleven Indian states, withforty seven one-teacher schools sponsored. TheLord Mayor of Birmingham was also stated tohave launched an appeal for £10,000 for SewaEducation Aid.91 The HSS UK Trustees AnnualReport and Accounts for the year ended 31 March2001 shows total funds under direct charitableexpenditure for Sewa Education Aid of over£78,500 and again a balance of almost £162,000.It says that Sewa International sponsored twohundred and thirty-five children and thirty-fiveone-teacher schools.92 At 31 March 2002, totalfunds for Sewa Education Aid under donationshad increased to about £175,000 and the bal-ance was almost £300,000.93 Significantly, theHSS UK trustees report for that year also statedthat the previous ‘sponsor a child’ scheme ofSewa Education Aid was being scaled down inorder to be replaced by the one-teacher schoolsscheme.94

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86 ‘VHP plans schools in border areas to counter infiltration’, Hindustan Times, 9 May 2001. See also ‘VHP plans meet to counter conversions’, Indian Express, 27January 1999, which reports on a meeting in Gujarat of the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and other groups at which the one-teacher schools were discussed.

87 Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK, Trustees Annual Report and Accounts,Year ended 31 March 2001, p.13, p.4.88 In 1999 the HSS stated that Sewa Education Aid had acquired premises, under a short-term lease, which would function both as its offices and the local

(Leicester) office of the newspaper Gujarat Samachar. Sangh Sandesh, July – August 1999 vol. X, no. 4, p.18.89 http://www.sewainternational.com/education.htm.90 Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Trustees Annual Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 March 2000, p. 11.91 Sangh Sandesh, May – June 2000 vol. XI, no. 3, p. 14.92 Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK, Trustees Annual Report and Accounts,Year ended 31 March 2001, p.13, p.4.93 Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK, Trustees Annual Report and Accounts,Year ended 31 March 2002, p.10, p.14.94 Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK, Trustees Annual Report and Accounts,Year ended 31 March 2002, p.3.

The material taught in one-teacher schools isbased on that used in all RSS and Vidya Bharatischools and was described by India’s statutoryNational Council for Educational Research andTraining as ‘designed to promote bigotry, reli-gious fanaticism and outright communalchauvinism based on RSS and VHP agenda in thename of inculcating knowledge of culture in theyoung generation’95.

The formally private one-teacher schools(ekal vidyalayas) are strategic RSS projects run bythe Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Vanvasi KalyanAshram, Sewa Bharati, Vidya Bharati, BharatKalyan Pratishthan (the VHP fundraising front)and other RSS affiliates. One-teacher schools arepresented in the UK as simply literacy projectsfor poor and neglected ‘tribal’ groups. However,in India the RSS and the VHP have been explicitabout the political purpose of these schools (asindeed have senior RSS leaders in their visits tothe HSS UK). One-teacher schools are usuallybased in adivasi (‘tribal’) areas, in border regions,in slums and in the north-eastern states of Indiathat contain autonomous ethnic movements.Their prime purpose is not to provide literacyand humanitarian development but to inculcateHindutva ideology among the next generationof ‘tribal’ children, educate them to oppose otherreligious or independent influences, convertthem to the RSS version of ‘Hinduism’ and extendthe RSS’s penetration into all areas of civil life inIndia. It is also a relatively inexpensive way forthe RSS to penetrate adivasi civil societies. Oneeffect of Hindutva adivasi projects has been achange from previously unusual but now clearlyvisible participation of some adivasi groups inviolence against Christians and Muslims inGujarat, Orissa and elsewhere.

The VHP considers the purpose of theseschools in the border regions as being ‘to pre-pare the local people for counteringanti-national activities by infiltrators and subver-sive elements’ and to oppose the influence ofChristianity among ‘tribal’ people96. This is part ofa fear propagated by the RSS and its currentleader K. S. Sudarshan that the presence of otherreligions in India will mean ‘Hindus will become a

minority by 2060...It is essential that we beextremely vigilant over all the efforts to divideHindu society.’97 He therefore stressed the strate-gic importance of such schools for the RSS.98

Similarly, the previous RSS leader Rajendra Singhstated during a talk to the HSS UK in 1995 thatone-teacher schools have reaped political bene-fits for the BJP and can be used to opposeautonomous political movements in ‘tribal’ areas.

The number of [converts to Christianity]is increasing greatly leading to the cre-ation of an atmosphere of fear… a fewyears back, the scheme of ‘one teacherschools’ was introduced… The effect ofthis scheme is visible in the Jharkhandregion. The Jharkhand movement hadpopularised a secessionist demand as inNagaland and Mizoram. But in the lastelections the BJP candidate, who wassupporting the demand for a Vananchalstate as against secession got more votesthan the Jharkhand party.99

BHARATIYA SHIKSHA SAMITIThis is a project aimed at providing education forchildren from the Hindu population (mainlyKashmiri Pandits) of Jammu and Kashmir ‘whohave been persecuted by Pakistani-sponsoredterrorism’. What SIUK does not mention is thatBharatiya Shiksha Samiti is part of the RSS’s VidyaBharati, a sectarian education network based oninculcating RSS ideology among schoolchildren.Vidya Bharati’s work in Jammu and Kashmirarose from a meeting of its general body held in1988 which had the aim of instilling ‘self-confi-dence, courage and the national spirit’ amongKashmir’s Hindus. By ‘national spirit’, Vidya Bharatimeans Hindutva. Vidya Bharati said its schoolswere necessary because all government-runschools in Jammu and Kashmir were ‘instillinganti-nationalism in the minds of the new genera-tion in the name of imparting religiouseducation’. In other words, Vidya Bharati opposedstate secular education of Indian schoolchildrenin Jammu and Kashmir. Vidya Bharati also saidRSS-run schools were necessary to counter themadrassas run by the Jamaati-i-Islami. Hence, the

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95 C. Palmer and M. I. Baig,‘Creating Indian version of Taliban thru Hindutva Madrassas’, The Daily Mail, 10 April 2003,http://dailymailnews.com/200304/10/news/101.html.

96 Hindustan Times, 9 May 2001.97 ‘Address of RSS Sarsanghchalak Shri K.S. Sudarshan delivered on Vijaya Dashami 04-10-2003 at Nagpur’, http://www.hssworld.org/usa/.98 Kalyani Giri,‘An RSS Officer and a Gentlemen: interview with Sri K. S. Sudarshan. President of RSS’, March 2000,

http://www.hssworld.org/usa/houston_interview.html.99 S.Tattwawadi, Sarsanghchalak Goes Abroad: a collection of lectures delivered by Prof. Rajendra Singh on foreign land, Suruchi Prakashan, 1995, pp. 54–55.

Bharatiya Shisksha Samiti was given the respon-sibility of organizing Hindutva education inJammu and Kashmir.100 Textbooks published byBharatiya Shiksha Samiti describe the mobs whoillegally demolished the Babri mosque atAyodhya as ‘national heroes’.101

SWA ROOPWARDHINEEThis project (whose title in the form given bySIUK refers to the ‘enhancement of one’s self-image’) is described in SIUK’s website as a projectfor ‘all round rural development’ which workswith Vigyan Bharati to cater ‘to the educationaland cultural aspects of school children in thefringe villages of Pune City.’ The website alsodescribes several development activities under-taken by Swa Roopwardhinee, including ‘watersupply for irrigation and human consumption’the promotion of ‘good health and well being’,‘cattle wealth’, ‘eliminate adult literacy’ [sic] and‘upliftment of women’102. When the US-basedCampaign to Stop Funding Hate exposed SwaRoopwardhinee as an RSS associated projectfunded by IDRF103, the campaign received arebuke from Hindutva supporters who claimed itwas nothing more than an adult literacy andslum development project. However, SewaInternational India’s website lists the purpose ofSwa Roopwardhinee as ‘motivations for socialdiscipline, character formation, dedication tobuild Bharat through selfless social service, andlists other activities as ‘supplementaryobjectives’104. The former are unmistakably RSSphrases – ‘character formation’, for example,invariably means attending a cell (shakha).

Vigyan Bharati, the organization that SIUKworks with in the Swa Roopwardhinee scheme,calls itself a ‘science council’. The ‘inspirer, motiva-tor, philosopher and guide of Vigyan Bharati’ isthe supreme head of the RSS, K. S. Sudarshan105.Vigyan Bharati was established in 1992 followinga conference in Jabalpur which resolved to pro-mote the compulsory study of Sanskrit for alluniversity research students, and urged govern-mental educational institutions ‘to take

appropriate steps for inclusion of a true pictureof the cultural and scientific heritage of India inall text books of primary, secondary and colle-giate level in order to inspire the youngergeneration with national pride and self confi-dence’106. It publishes a journal (Vigyan BharatiPradeepika) that promotes views about the ‘sci-entific’ foundation of ancient Indian culture aspart of its Hindutva ideology.

PRABHODHINI GURUKULASIUK describes the Prabhodhini Gurukula thus:

Gurukula school was started in 1995 inHariharpura, a humble village inChickmagalur district of Karnataka statein southern India. Gurukula is impartingeducation based on Indian Cultural her-itage and values. The need of the hour inIndia is to look at alternative approachesin education which helps the individualto develop knowledge/skills and atti-tudes which has its base in Hinduculture. This we believe will develop anindividual who has responsibilitytowards self/family/society and thecountry.107

In another dismissal of state secular education, italso states that:

The current system of education in Indiain schools has been found to be not suit-able. It is linked to western values andnot based on the culture and values ofthe land. Consequently the educationimparted is not conducive to building upa self reliant and self respecting socie-ty.108

Prabhodhini Gurukulas, so-called child centeredschools, are a relatively recent development inthe RSS’s educational activities, alongside itsshishu and vidya mandirs and the VHP’s one-teacher schools. The gurukulas are organized bythe Hindu Seva Pratishthan and the Jana Seva

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100 http://www.vskgujarat.com/like_minded_organization/vbprint.html.101 K. N. Pannikar,‘Shourie is wrong’, Asian Age, 7 July 1998.102 http://sewainternational.com/swa.htm.103 http://www.stopfundinghate.org.104 http://www.sewainternational.org/m-swa.html.105 http://www.vigyanbharatipradeepika.org/beginning.htm.106 http://www.vigyanbharatipradeepika.org/institution.htm.107 http://www.sewainternational.com/projects.htm.108 http://www.sewainternational.com/projects_more_info.htm?id=16.

Vidya Kendra, both RSS affiliates from Karnataka.The Vikasan Foundation promotes and raisesfunds for the gurukulas. The aim of the educa-tion imparted in the gurukulas is given as‘physical, mental, moral and spiritual develop-ment’, ‘promotion of self discipline and selfreliance’, ‘elevation of national fervor’ and ‘cre-ation of a healthy and harmonious society’109.SIUK is raising funds for an RSS project thatseeks to elevate ‘national fervour’ (militantHindutva) – a strange charitable purpose.Additionally, each of the goals are RSS phrases.For example, ‘physical, mental, moral and spiritu-al development’ is about the RSS approved formof physical and ideological training. Similarly, ‘ahealthy and harmonious society’ refers to theRSS concepts of ‘samajik samarasta’ and sangath-an, in which what are seen by the RSS as divisivefactors or Hindu ‘disorganization’ are to be eradi-cated.

The content of the education in the guruku-las is based on what RSS affiliates consider to beHindu or Vedic principles. These educationalactivities run counter to the principles of nation-al state education in India based onnon-sectarian, secular goals that educate chil-dren about India’s multi-religious diversity, notan exclusive and glorified Vedic or Hindu great-ness. The principles of RSS gurukula educationinclude ‘Sanskrit taught as a mode of impartingcultural values’ and therefore ‘No reliance onalien language systems’, and ‘UnderstandingIndia’s struggles through the objective study ofits long and eventful history’ and ‘Not studied assad stories of defeat and subjugation’110. RameshRao, a US academic and ardent defender of RSSeducation states

These gurukulas incorporate lifestyle andcultural agendas, including the nurturingof a strong sense of patriotism, that areaimed at molding a strong, happy, intelli-gent, and disciplined citizen whobelieves and leads a simple lifestyle.111

He describes one of the daily activities at a girls’gurukula in Karnataka as ‘Samiti praarthane(group prayer, saluting of the flag)’. It is not saidwhether the children were made to salute theflag of the Indian nation or the saffron flag of theRSS, but the accompanying photograph showsunmistakably the salute of the RSS shakhas.

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109 http://www.vikasan.org/aboutus.htm.110 http://www.vikasan.org/principles.htm.111 Ramesh N. Rao,‘Gurukulas – where students aren’t merely schooled’, 13 April 2001, http://www.sulekha.com/expressions/column.asp?cid=111795.112 Anosh Malekar,‘Winds of Change – RSS at 75: RSS may get a new boss next month’, The Week, 20 February 2000.

DEVI AHALYABAI SMARACK SAMITI

This project is a memorial society named after aHindu personality (Devi Ahalyabai) who is glori-fied by the RSS women’s affiliate because of herduty to Hindu religion. The Samiti run a girls’hostel in Nagpur called Vanvasi Kanya Chattravas(tribal girls hostel), part of a network of women’sprojects organized by the Vanvasi KalyanAshram, a violent RSS front that also works close-ly with the VHP112. The aim of the project is theso-called development of selected vanvasi (‘trib-al’) girls. In the RSS and VHP worldview, theadivasi populations are seen to have strayedfrom Hinduism, have adopted other religions(especially Christianity) and require conversionto the RSS world view. Adivasi populations arealso seen as potentially subversive by the RSS(mainly because of a range of secessionist andautonomous adivasi movements in India, partic-ularly in the north eastern states), and hencehave to ‘be protected’ from subversion and ‘inte-grated into the national mainstream’. Adivasis arealso seen as numerically important for theirrecruitment potential. The RSS project is notabout the protection and preservation of indige-nous peoples’ rights, beliefs and cultures, but anattempt to substitute these with its ideology.Similarly, the RSS views the independent forumsand activism of adivasi groups as a threat to itsidea of a united ‘Hindu nation’.

Figure 12: ‘Bharat Mata Poojan’ at a Karnataka gurukulafor girls. Source: Ramesh N. Rao, ‘Gurukulas – where chil-dren aren’t merely schooled’, 13 April 2001www.suleka.com/expressions/column.asp?cid=111795.

THE SCOPE OF SIUK AID

Information on SIUK donations to all, not justIndian, causes is not available in comprehensiveform in annual reports of SIUK or HSS UK.Therefore, we scanned the ‘Charity News’ and‘Sewa International’ section of the HSS’sbimonthly newsletter, Sangh Sandesh, since thisis the only publication available that gives infor-mation on HSS UK activities, including its charitywork. We looked at all issues of Sangh Sandeshbetween March–April 1999 and May–June 2002.This was a complete set bar one missing issue(March–April 2002). The issues covered a periodof over three years, and should therefore give afair representation of the kinds of organizationsSIUK supports. The summary findings are givenin Appendix 3. Assuming that this is an accuraterepresentation of SIUK’s sponsored organizationsand donations, where amounts are indicated thehighest single amount SIUK is listed as havingdonated to a clearly non-RSS cause is around£2,000, with a typical amount being £400–£500.The total amount we found listed in SanghSandesh as donated to such causes over the 3year period is just over £6,000. If there existedother sizeable or substantial SIUK funding tonon-RSS organizations over the three year periodanalyzed, we were unable to find any furtherinformation about this in the newsletter.

Aside from the Gujarat earthquake andOrissa cyclone appeals, SIUK has raised funds forvarious other natural disasters and conflict situa-tions. This has included the Maharashtraearthquake and drought relief in Gujarat andRajasthan. It has also made smaller donations to

several UK groups, mainly medical organizationsand charities. Donations were also made to theTurkish Embassy Earthquake fund (£401 found inperiod analyzed), the Ethiopia Refugee Crisisappeal and the war in Kosovo (£501 found inperiod analyzed). The latter can be construed asdonations to ‘Muslim’ causes. However, webelieve the adoption of some non-sectarianactivities is strategic and can disguise the factthat the vast bulk of fundraising by SIUK is forRSS affiliates. SIUK’s website also mentions anappeal for Afghanistan earthquake relief and theAmerica Disaster Fund.

Other organizations mentioned under‘Charity News’ or the work of SIUK are theSanjeevni Sharda Kendra, an RSS organizationwhich the VHP UK charity correspondent visitedduring a trip that also included meeting theJammu and Kashmir VHP; Sanskar Bharati, an RSS‘cultural’ organization that has attempted tobecome the authoritarian judge of what is or isnot Indian and Hindu culture113; and the AkhilBharatiya Poorva Sainik Seva Parishad, an ex-sol-diers association and a key recipient of fundsraised by SIUK under its ‘Kargil Martyr’s appeal’.Two other supported projects listed on its web-site include: Bharatiya Nivarak Sangh Ashram, aleprosy colony in Madhya Pradesh formed underthe inspiration of the second RSS supremeleader, M. S. Golwalkar, and whose educationalactivities for ‘tribal’ children are conducted inassociation with the RSS’s Vidya Bharati; andAruna Chetna, a project for disabled children inKarnataka, run by an RSS affiliate, the Hindu SevaPratishthan.

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113 N.Vyas, M. Dasgupta and J. P. Shukla,‘The unmasking of an ugly agenda’, The Hindu, 6 February 2000.

CONCLUSION

SIUK and the HSS UK, the latter a registered char-ity, state repeatedly and unequivocally that theyare charities raising funds in the UK for humani-tarian projects aimed at needy populations,particularly the most marginalized of India’s pop-ulations, the ‘tribals’ and dalits. If a faircomparison was made with actual humanitarianorganizations working for equality, social justice,anti-discrimination and genuine need amongdalits and adivasis in India, we believe that theprojects SIUK funds would clearly demonstratethe political and ideological agenda of the RSSand VHP.

Most striking of all was the behaviour ofthese organizations in the wake of the Gujaratcarnage in 2002 which left 2,000 dead and over200,000 displaced and languishing in miserablerefugee camps. The response of SIUK, the HSS,the VHP, the National Hindu Students Forum andevery other UK Hindutva group to appeals forhumanitarian relief was silence. This was despiteconsiderable coverage of the carnage in the UKmedia and desperate major appeals by secularGujarati NGOs. This is not surprising: the majorityof the victims of the carnage were Indian citizenswho were Muslim. They were victims of organiza-tions such as the VHP, RSS and VKA whose workthe HSS UK, the VHP UK and SIUK promote andglorify.

All funds raised by SIUK for the Gujarat earth-quake appeal were for Sewa Bharati, a major RSSaffiliate. The overwhelming bulk of funds wefound in other HSS UK sources were for RSS affili-ated organizations. Virtually all the organizationsin India that SIUK supports or sponsors are RSSaffiliates. We did not find mention of a single sec-ular non-RSS linked NGO working in India thatwas funded or sponsored by SIUK. For non-Indian causes supported, we found over a threeyear period that a small amount was donated bySlUK.

SIUK and the HSS UK could have statedexplicitly in their campaigns that they arefundraising from the UK public virtually exclu-sively for RSS organizations in India. They couldhave informed the UK public of the aims, ideolo-gy, organization, history and nature of the RSS sothat potential donors could decide whether ornot they wanted to give funds for such activities.They did not undertake either of these two cru-cial tasks, essential for facilitating informedchoice among potential donors. By not statingthat it is raising funds almost exclusively forextremist RSS affiliates, SIUK is deceiving thepublic. We conclude that the main purpose ofSIUK / HSS UK fundraising is to channel funds toRSS organizations in India, including to organiza-tions repeatedly singled out for involvement andculpability in hatred, intolerance and violence inIndia.

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SECTION SUMMARY

� The Hindutva extremist RSS and key mem-bers of its family have branches in the UKwhich report to the Hindu SwayamsevakSangh UK (HSS UK), a registered charity.

� The UK organizations are not simply Hindubodies promoting Hindu culture and reli-gion, but are UK branches of the Indian RSSfamily dedicated to promoting the RSS andits ideology.

� The HSS UK follows RSS structures, ideology,language, rituals, hierarchy, methods oforganizing and techniques of physical andideological training.

� The VHP UK is a branch of the Indian VHP. TheIndian VHP’s central office and board oftrustees has ‘jurisdiction’ over the entireorganization of the VHP outside India, andconsiders VHP organizations outside India asits branches.

� There are regular, close and extensive linksbetween the UK and the Indian RSS family.These are deep connections which work inboth directions to and from India. This hasinvolved visits by the most senior Indian RSSfigures possible to the UK, as well as regularvisits by HSS UK and VHP UK members tomajor RSS and VHP events in India.

The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK (HSS UK) wasinitiated in 1966 and became a charitable trustfrom 29 April 1974, charity registration number267309. The UK register of charities states that itis involved in general charitable purposes, edu-cation, training, overseas aid, famine relief, sportand recreation. It ostensibly provides care andcounselling services, advocacy, advice and infor-mation. Its service group is listed as ‘elderly/oldpeople’. It is stated to operate in Greater London,Leicestershire and the West Midlands. Theseclaims are very different from the actual activi-ties of the HSS UK, described extensively in itsregular publication Sangh Sandesh (started in1977) and other internal documents. These bearthe unmistakable stamp of the RSS and showregular, close and extensive links between theHSS UK and the RSS in India.

The HSS is also the core body to which theother UK sangh parivar organizations report. TheHSS UK has a board of six trustees and ten officebearers for its central executive committee(Kendriya Karyakari Mandal). The HSS UK head-quarters is in Leicester. The Leicester office iscalled ‘Keshav Pratishthan’ (institute), ‘Keshav’being the first name of the Indian RSS founder.The inauguration of the office on 22 April 1995was presided over by the then supreme leader ofthe Indian RSS, Rajendra Singh. This Leicesteraddress is also the official address of severalHindutva organizations in the UK, includingSewa International UK (SIUK), the National HinduStudents Forum (NHSF), the Kalyan Ashram Trust(KAT) and the Hindu Sahitya Kendra. The HSSalso has offices in Bradford and Birmingham.

The primary aim of HSS UK activities is tocreate physical and ideological training cells(shakhas) and organize and strengthen Hindus(sangathan) under RSS ideology. HSS guidelinesfor its expansion and development workers,called vistaraks, states:

1. The work of a vistarak consists of openingnew Shakhas, strengthening old Shakhas orcarrying out a project for sangh

2. Vistaraks are full time workers for sangh [HSSfamily] during the set period. Vistaraksshould not be engaged in any other activi-ties in this period.

3. During this period, the vistarak should try hisbest to meet as many Hindu families as pos-sible. Our objective is to make themunderstand our mission (Sanghathan) andwin their hearts.

4. Vistaraks should maintain a diary of theirwork everyday and log all names, addressesand experiences.

5. Vistaraks should have a sound knowledge ofSangh’s objectives and method of work…

10. Vistaraks should carry with them varioustypes of literature e.g. Sangh Sandesh, SanghMail, Prarthana, geet book, khel, book, NHSFmaterial, Sewa leaflets etc…

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SECTION 5: THE HINDU SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH UKAND ITS ALLIED ORGANIZATIONS

14. Vistaraks should have basic knowledgeabout the sangh parivaar FISI, BJP, NHSF,SEWA, KAT, VHP and Hinduism.114

MODELLED ON THE INDIAN RSSThe HSS UK structure is modelled on that of theIndian RSS. This includes the priority given tocreating cells (shakhas) and creating organiza-tions that mirror the RSS sangh parivar. The HSSUK shares the same ideology as the RSS anduses the same languages as the Indian RSS,including the various officer titles of the latter115.In 2002, the HSS reported 72 weekly physicaland ideological training cells (shakhas) in 38 UKcities which were attended by about 1500 indi-viduals. The HSS UK shakha structure isorganized by zones that cover the UK. HSS UKshakhas are run in almost exactly the same wayas RSS shakhas. This includes the same RSSprayers, hymns and slogans, devotion to the RSSsaffron flag, adulation of K. B. Hedgewar and M. S.Golwalkar (the first two RSS supreme leaders),physical exercises, sports, martial arts and ideo-logical inculcation sessions. The HSS and RSSshakhas do not allow any images of or prayers toHindu Gods or Goddesses. Prayer is to the RSSsaffron flag of the ‘Hindu nation’ and devotion isto the RSS founder and leaders. The HSS UK alsohas a uniform, one different from that used inIndian RSS cells.

The HSS UK and its affiliates celebrate thesame six festivals (utsavs) as the Indian RSS. TheHSS UK also organizes an important annualtraining camp (Sangh Shiksha Varg). This is an 8to 10-day intensive training camp for nominatedmembers who are moving up the HSS hierarchy.It also organizes the national HSS activist camp(National Karyakarta Varg) as well as othercamps related to activities in Europe and India.

The HSS shares the same ideology as theRSS. The HSS UK’s ideology is given in its publica-tions, Sangh Darshan (RSS philosophy), Patheya(a publication of the RSS founders’ philosophyand quotes), Sangh Sandesh (its regular newslet-ter), in other publications and material used in itsshakhas, and in other publications recommend-

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114 Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK,‘Guidelines for Vistaraks’ (Vistarak Yojna), not dated.115 Just as the Indian RSS has its leader, full-time propagators (pracharaks), development and expansion officers (vistaraks), joint and section secretaries (sah-

and vibhag karyawahas), media and networking head (sampark pramukh), ideological heads (bauddhik pramukhs), physical training heads (shareerik pra-mukhs), expansion head (vistaar pramukh), service head (sewa pramukh) and inculcators (mukhya shikshaks), so does the HSS UK.The HSS UK emulatesthe Indian RSS hierarchy, including the annual general meeting of its central assembly (Pratinidhi Sabha), the central executive committee (KendriyaKaryakari Mandal) and its regional and departmental division.

116 Aiden Jones,‘Society fundamentalist links’, Warwick Boar, Summer, 2003, vol. 25, issue 21.

Figure 13: HSS UK 9-day annual training camp, Leicester,2000. Sangh Sandesh, July – August 2000, vol. XI, no. 4,page 1.

ed by the Hindu Sahitya Kendra (HinduLiterature Centre). These include writings by andabout Golwalkar, Hedgewar, Savarkar, the RSSand writings on Aryanism and Hindutva byDavid Frawley, Koenraad Elst and other extremistHindutva ideologues.

UK AFFILIATESThe HSS UK family (sangh parivar) makes up aclosely related set of Hindutva organizationsoperating in the UK. These share the same aimsbased on RSS ideology. At the annual generalmeeting of the HSS UK, reports are received fromeach of the main UK sangh parivar organizations,the progress of sangh work discussed and priori-ties planned for the coming year. In addition toHSS, Sewa International, Kalyan Ashram Trust(discussed previously) and the VHP (discussedbelow), other Hindutva groups operating in theUK include:

� National Hindu Students Forum – the HSSstudent affiliate, modelled on the RSS’s AkhilBharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. NHSF has affiliatedHindu societies in some thirty UK universities. Ithas two regular publications (Hum and Inforum)and an e-list. The NHSF vice president stated inAugust 2003 that ‘We have no direct link withthem [the HSS UK]. There is no religious or politi-cal affiliation; we are not funded or bonded tothem, but there is a moral affiliation as withevery other Hindu organization.’116 In fact, NHSFwas formed by the HSS. The NHSF address is the

same as the HSS UK address. The NHSF websitestates ‘NHSF enjoys a close working relationshipwith HSS UK and benefits from the activeinvolvement of the ‘karyakartas’ (volunteers)within HSS. The spread of this organizationthroughout towns and cities in the UnitedKingdom means that branches of HSS form anintegral part of the support network for NHSFUK.’117

� Hindu Sevika Samiti – the HSS women’s affili-ate formed in 1975. It is modelled on the RSSwomen’s affiliate (Rashtra Sevika Samiti) and hasabout thirty branches (shakhas) in the UK,attended weekly by around 500 women andgirls.

� Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP) formedin 1991 to provide support for the Indian BJPand BJP politicians. OFBJP organized the visit ofNarendra Modi to Britain in 2003; every singleindependent report into the Gujarat pogroms in2002 indicted him personally for his role inencouraging, condoning and supporting theanti-Muslim violence that took place.

� Hindu Sahitya Kendra – a bookshop dissemi-nating Hindutva literature in the UK and based atthe HSS UK headquarters.

� Friends of India Society International –formed in the mid-1970s during Indira Gandhi’semergency period. It promotes Hindutva politi-cians and views in the UK.

� Deendayal Research Institute – a Hindutvaideological seminar group.

Other smaller outfits include Hindu HumanRights and small groups of Bajrang Dal / HinduUnity118 supporters.

Interestingly, the HSS trustees report for2001, intended for public bodies, mentions theactivities of some of these organizations, such asSewa International, but not others such as theVHP, the NHSF, the KAT, the OFBJP, the SevikaSamiti or FISI. In contrast, an extract from the1999 HSS UK annual general meeting reportshows how HSS UK is the key body to whichother sangh parivar organizations report:

The annual Pratinidhi Sabha [AGM ofcentral assembly] of Hindu SwayamsevakSangh (UK) was held on 28 November1999 at Wellingborough. Shri SurenderShah, sahkaryawah [general secretary] ofUK, chaired the baithak [meeting]. Man.Shri Shankar Rao ji Tatwawadi introducedVishwa Vibhag’s pracharak [RSS interna-tional section’s full-time worker], ShriRam Madhav Vaidya, who has come tothe UK to replace Dr Sanjiv Oza. Shri Ramji will be based at the Sangh Karyalah[HSS headquarters] at Leicester. He is 3rdyear OTC [RSS officer training camp]trained and has doctorate degree inSanskrit. He will be carrying forward theprachar [RSS propagation] work inEurope whose sound foundation waslaid by Dr Oza… Shri PravinbhaiRuparelia, Karyawah [secretary] ofHSS(UK), presented his annual report. Henoted ten major events which wereorganized in the UK in the last year. Hereported that there are now 63 upashakhas [cells] in the UK with weeklyaverage attendance of 1200. The threeSangh karyalahs (Leicester, Birminghamand Bradford offices) are vibrant withactivities and the total Guru Daxina[donations to the RSS saffron flag] hasincreased. He announced that 114 shik-sharthis [educational propagators]received training at the 8-day long SSVE[HSS annual training camp] held atHounslow. The 16th Hindu Marathonheld at Warwick University with partici-pation from local Sikh bandhus was a bigsuccess. A number of dignitaries had vis-ited UK particularly those who had cometo attend the 6th Vishwa HindiSammelan. He praised the work of VHP,FISI, OFBJP, NHSF, Sewa International andKAT in the field of education, politicalawareness, student welfare and charita-ble projects. Hindu Sahitya Kendra hasnow become a leading supplier of booksand educational material related toHindu way of life… Additional emphasisis to be paid in holding vibhag wise shiv-irs [department-based camps] duringEaster holidays to celebrate 75 years ofSangh [RSS] and 25 years of Samiti [RSS

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117 http://www.nhsf.org.uk/aboutus.htm.118 Hindu Unity is the official website of the VHP’s violent Bajrang Dal. It publishes a ‘blacklist’ of ‘enemies of Hindus’, accompanied by a logo of dripping blood,

that includes personal details of secular, Muslim and Christian individuals. It also runs a hate-filled discussion forum hosted by ezboard.http://www.hinduunity.org.

women’s affiliate]. Hindu Marathonreport was presented by Rajni Parmar.Shanti Mistry reported on SewaInternational’s work …Shri KishoreRuparelia presented the report [on VHPUK]. VHP(UK) is taking active part in the[Millennium] dome project. NHSF[National Hindu Students Forum] reportwas presented by Anand Vyas. Totalnumber of chapters is 35 with 3000members… KAT [Kalyan Ashram Trust]report was delivered by Jitu Kotecha…Hindu Sevika Samiti [women’s affiliate]report was presented by Shmt VidulaAmbekar. There are 32 shakhas with aver-age sankhya [numbers attending] of555.119

Other HSS annual general meeting reports simi-larly show how the HSS UK is the key body towhich VHP UK, the Sevikas, NHSF, SewaInternational and KAT report to. If it appears oddthat formally independent organizations in theUK account annual to the HSS UK, this is a keymethod of sangh parivar working, modelled onthe RSS’s family in India. These UK organizationsalso work under the direct guidance of theIndian RSS, as will be seen shortly.

THE HSS, RELIGIOUSSECTARIANISM AND RELIGIOUSHATREDIn a Channel 4 News report in 2002, the secretaryof the HSS UK stated that

It boils up my blood. Hindus in India havegone through a period of humiliatingsubjugation for the past seven hundredyears. We are prepared to forgive for that.We cannot forget it.120

If this is an irresponsible statement from thenational secretary of a UK charity to make, it isnevertheless part and parcel of the HSS UK’s ide-ology. Sangh Sandesh, the HSS newsletter,regularly carries Hindutva sectarian propaganda,political material from sangh parivar organiza-tions in India, regular reports on RSS, VHP andBJP activities in India, or anti-minority articlesrelating to Muslims and Christians.

This is sufficient to challenge the claim byHSS UK / SIUK that it is not sectarian. Why, forexample, would the followers of a UK charity beinterested in, and only in, the changes in thehierarchy of the Indian RSS, the activities of theIndian VHP, the electoral fortunes of the BJP, theactivities of Sewa Bharati and VKA, and the needto oppose Christianity or ‘predator religions’ inIndia? Similarly, what possible charitable purposeis served by the following:

To prove our point, just look at the fol-lowing statistics about the prisoners inBritain provided by Ven D Fleming of theHM Prison Service: Total prisoners 64,589,Hindus inc. Sikhs 795, Muslims 4195. Theabove data was taken on 31 March 1998.In among the so called Asian prisoners,over 84% are Muslims. It is known fromother surveys that these Muslim prison-ers come from Pakistan and Bangladesh.Whilst the Hindus (including Sikhs) arealmost entirely from India. It should benoted that the number of Indians inBritain (about a million) is twice thenumber of Pakistanis. In an editorial inThe Times newspaper, it was acknowl-edged that Indians now outperform theirwhite compatriots at school. All Asiansface same hardships and prejudices.Without causing any more controversy,we leave it for our readers to judge andconclude why are there more Muslims inprisons.121

The Shakha is thus a crucible whereSwayamsevaks are moulded and who arein turn spread into the society and allwalks of life. A simple analogy to Shakhais a university where one learns anddevelops skills which are then utilisedfruitfully in the progress of the society.The work of moulding Swayamsevaks inShakha is thus a long lasting process. Thedifference between a University andShakha is that a student leaves Universityat a certain time whereas a Swayamsevaknever leaves Sangh.122

Does this mean that if one becomes a memberof this particular charity, one can never leave?

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119 Sangh Sandesh, November – December 1999, vol. X, no. 6, pp. 5-6.120 J. Miller,‘Funding Gujarat Extremists’, Channel 4 News, 12 December 2002.121 Sangh Sandesh, September – October 1999, vol. X, no. 5, p.10.122 Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Sangh Darshan, HSS UK, not dated, p.12.

The overlapping nature of UK Hindutva organiza-tions is also illustrated in the example of BipinPatel. He is a regular letter and column writer forthe Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh newsletter123. Healso wrote an article for Sewa International UK’swebsite titled ‘SEWA International: a noble faceof humanity’124. He was also the VHP’s represen-tative on the London Borough of Brent’sStanding Advisory Council on ReligiousEducation125 and is a key figure in the BrentHindu Council.

A ‘hard-core Hindutva activist’ from the UKwas reported in the Indian national newspaper,The Hindu, as stating that Gandhi’s murderer,Nathuram Godse’s ‘outlook and action’ had to beadvocated,‘every anti-national Mulla-Commie[i.e. Muslim-Communist]’ had to be challengedand ‘every drop of blood needs to be avenged.And we are ready at any cost.’ He also statedthat:

We see the merit in Gandhis, but onlyafter all theology-inspired terrorists arereduced to dead meat… And if, in themeantime, a Gandhi comes to create hur-dles in the way, then that Gandhi wouldneed to be put out of the way.126

LINKS WITH THE INDIAN RSSThere are extensive links between the HSS UK /VHP UK and their Indian counterparts. Thesemultiplied and strengthened following a deci-sion at the World RSS Camp held at Bangalore in1990 to divide overseas RSS work into specificzones and expand work in Europe.

The Indian RSS is quite open about its linkswith the UK organizations. For example, the RSSpublication RSS Spearheading NationalRenaissance specifically mentions the HSS UK aspart of the sangh’s mission abroad, and describesthe 1984 Bradford Hindu Sangam, a gatheringorganized by the HSS127. Another RSS publica-tion, Sanghshaktih Vijetreeyam, published on theoccasion of the World RSS Camp held in Gujaratin December 1995, a camp attended by HSS UK

representatives, describes the activities of theHSS UK, the Hindu Sevika Samiti UK, the VHP UK,FISI, NHSF, OFBJP, Kalyan Ashram Trust, SewaInternational, Hindu Sahitya Kendra, the HinduMarathon, Bharat Vikas Parishad International UKand the Hindu International Medical Mission UKall as part of the RSS’s Hindutva mission in theUK128. This RSS publication also includes articleson the National Hindu Students Forum, theHindu Sevika Samiti and the Hindu Marathon.One article in this Indian RSS publication isauthored by a key Sewa International UK workerand vice chair who discusses Hindus in the UK,the Ayodhya temple campaign in the UK and thelike. Another Indian RSS publication,Sarsanghchalak goes abroad, under the heading‘Sangh work abroad’ similarly mentions SewaInternational and Kalyan Ashram Trust UK. It listssangh organizations in the UK as the HSS, VHP,KAT, FISI, HSK, NHSF, OFBJP, HS Samiti, Hindu Vigil,Hindu Marathon, Sewa International and the Dr.Hedgewar Institute. It also mentions SanghSandesh (the HSS UK newsletter) and Hum (theNational Hindu Students Forum periodical) asamong ‘notable’ sangh (RSS) publications.129

Various other Indian RSS publications, includingRSS – A vision in action, Hindus Abroad – dilemma:dollar or dharma, RSS – Widening Horizonsdescribe similar associations between the RSSand the HSS UK.

These are not paper links but deep connec-tions that work in both directions. The last twosupreme leaders of the RSS, (the late) RajendraSingh and K.S. Sudarshan have been on tours tothe UK at which they have addressed HSS UKmembers and given guidelines for HSS for workin the UK. The visit by Rajendra Singh to Europefrom 13 – 25 April 1995 was the first ever visitabroad by an RSS supreme leader (sarsanghcha-lak). An RSS publication listed Rajendra Singh’stalks to UK sangh parivar groups as including:

� 14.5.1995 – Workers Responsibility (Guidancegiven by Mananeeya Rajju Bhayya (Prof. RajendraSingh) in the introductory meeting held at IlfordHindu Centre).

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123 Sangh Sandesh, May – June 2000, vol. XI, no. 3, p. 7; July – August 2000, vol. XI, no. 4, p. 4; November – December 2000, vol. XI, no. 6, p. 20; May – June 2001,vol. XII, no. 3, p. 5; September-October 2001, vol. XII, no. 5, p. 20.

124 http://www.sewainternational.com/intro.htm.125 London Borough of Brent Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education, Minutes of the meeting on Wednesday, 8th November 2000, Centre for Staff

Development, Brentfield Road, NW10 8HE.126 Hasan Suroor,‘UK Sangh Parivar swears by Godse’, The Hindu 16 August 2002.127 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Spearheading National Renaissance, Prakashan Vibhag, Bangalore, 1985.128 Sanghshakti Vijetreeyam, Antar Rashtriya Sahyog Pratishthan, Ahmedabad, 12 December 1995.129 Sanghshakti Vijetreeyam, Antar Rashtriya Sahyog Pratishthan, Ahmedabad, 12 December 1995, pp. 78-79.

� 24.4.95 – Code of Guidelines to Workers(Valedictory meeting at Stanmore, NorthLondon).

� 24.4.95 – A vibrant society is adequately cre-ative. Address to swayamsevaks at MadhavShakha, Edgware.

� 15.4.95 – Guidance to campers in the HinduSevika Samiti Shibir (Phasels Wood scout camp).

� 15.4.95 – Re-establishment of Hindu Glory.(Address of Respected Sarsanghchalak ofRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to the delegatessession of the UK branch of Vishwa HinduParishad, held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan,London).

� 24.5.95 – Guidance to Young Workers(Address in a meeting of young workers inKenton, London).

� 22.4.95 – Keshav Pratishthan (Address on theoccasion of inaugurating the central office ofHindu Swayamsevak Sangh at Leicester).

� 22.4.95 – Rays of light spreading from Bharat(Address at the function organized by HinduSwayamsevak Sangh UK at Leicester).

� 14.4.95 – Dr Ambedkar. (Address on the occa-sion of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s 104th birthanniversary celebration organized by the Friendsof India Society International, London).130

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130 S.Tattwawadi, Sarsanghchalak goes abroad: a collection of lectures delivered by Prof. Rajendra Singh on foreign land, Suruchi Prakashan, New Delhi, 1995.131 S.Tattwawadi, Sarsanghchalak goes abroad: a collection of lectures delivered by Prof. Rajendra Singh on foreign land, Suruchi Prakashan, New Delhi, 1995, p. 9.132 Sangh Sandesh, March – April 2000, vol. XI, no. 2, p. 2.

Figure 14: NHSF UK annual lecture by the then RSSsupreme leader Rajendra Singh, SOAS, 1995. The theme ofthe talk was ‘Hindutva – an alternative’.

The RSS leader addressed several eventsorganized by the HSS UK, VHP UK, the Sevikas,the National Hindu Students Forum and FISI. Healso provided guidelines for HSS work in the UK.He referred to the work that Sewa Internationalmust undertake in the UK while continuing todo work for Indian projects. He also said: theshakha system and the RSS tradition of dona-tions to its saffron flag (guru dakshina) could bemodified to suit the local situation; that sanghactivities were perpetual and could not bealtered, but some could ‘be varied to be in har-mony with the prevailing situation’; and thatelders and post-university HSS members coulddevote more time for sangh work after a surveyof UK work had determined requirements.131

The leader of the Indian RSS was thereforeproviding a code of guidance to a UK registeredcharity on its areas of priority. Further, the HSSUK acknowledges that it seeks guidance fromthe most senior layer possible of the Indian RSS.For example, after Rajendra Singh’s replacementas RSS leader by K.S. Sudarshan in 2000, the HSSUK stated:

It remains to be seen how the newSarsanghchalak [RSS supreme leader],Maneeya [venerable] Sudarshan ji, viewsSangh [RSS] work outside Bharat [India].What new direction is to be given to thekaryakartas [activists] who have workedrelentlessly to preserve Hindu unity inWestern countries?132

The HSS UK did not have to wait long. The cur-rent RSS supreme leader, K. S. Sudarshan, referredto as ‘our supreme leader’ by the HSS UK, visitedthe UK at the end of August 2000, a few monthsafter he became RSS head. During this visit headdressed various HSS UK activities:

Our Sarsanghchalak [our supremeleader], Mananaiya [venerable]Sudarshan ji, arrived in London on 26Aug. On 27th morning, 550 swayamse-vaks and sevikas from all over the UKmet him in West London. Later that daythe Karya Karni Mandal [HSS centralexecutive committee] also met himalong with karyakartas [activists] fromother Sangh related projects. Headdressed a public function held in his

honour at the famous SwaminarayanaMandir at Neasden, North London.133

In addition to Rajendra Singh, K.S. Sudarshan andRSS joint general secretary H.V. Seshadri, severalother prominent figures from the Indian RSShave been visitors to the UK HSS or intimatelyinvolved in UK HSS activities:

� Satyamitranand Giri (patron of the VHP UKand VHP International, and a key figure inboth VHP and RSS activities in India) and thehate-filled Ashok Singhal, working presidentof the VHP, attended the HSS UK’s annualtraining camp (Sangh Shiksha Varg) in 1995.

� Shankar Rao Tatwawadi, in charge of theRSS’s international section (Vishwa VibhagSamyojak) was very closely associated withthe HSS UK. He stayed with the HSS andattended numerous HSS UK events.

� The late Laxmanrao Bhide maintained closeties with, and was another important visitorand advisor to the HSS UK. Bhide was one ofthe first full-time workers of the Indian RSS(he became a worker during the Golwalkarperiod) and a key figure in expanding RSSinternational activities134. In India, he waspresident of the Deendayal ResearchInstitute, an RSS intellectual outfit.

� Shripati Shastri, all-India joint media andpublicity head (sahasampark pramukh) andsenior functionary of the RSS, visited the UKin the summer of 2000 where he attendedan HSS training camp (European SanghShiksha Varg) held in Leicester from 28 Julyto 6 August135, among other events. At apublic gathering in India in which RSS headK.S. Sudarshan and the VHP general secretaryAshok Singhal were present, Shastri declaredthat ‘no minority can be safe in any countryby constantly irritating the majority commu-nity.’ He also accused ‘foreign missionariesand their supporters of being part of a greatinternational conspiracy to defame Indianand Hindu society and brand them as intol-erant lot before the internationalcommunity’136.

� Ranga Hari, an RSS full-time worker since1951, all-India RSS head of ideological incul-cation and patron of the RSS educationaffiliate Vidya Bharati, visited the HSS UK in2001 and was a keynote speaker at the HSSannual training camp held in August of thatyear.

� Charanjeev Singh president of the RSS’sRashtriya Sikh Sangat met with various HSSUK activists in 1999.137

� Balaram Das Tandon, a full-time RSS workervisited a shakha in West Bromwich in1999.138

� Various junior and senior BJP politicians,including L.K. Advani and Narendra Modihave also visited sangh parivar organizationsin the UK.

Similarly, the HSS UK Hindu Marathon has beenattended by senior RSS worker and now RSSjoint secretary H.V. Seshadri (Bradford 1984), thelate Laxmanrao Bhide (Bradford 1984,Birmingham 1985), the now Indian RSS head K. S.Sudarshan (Milton Keynes 1989), the patron ofthe VHP International and a figure long involvedin Indian RSS activities, Satyamitranand Giri(Milton Keynes 1989), the BJP’s Murli ManoharJoshi (Birmingham 1991), and the RSS labouraffiliate head and RSS ideologue, DattopantThengadi (London 1992).

It is important to also consider the role offormer HSS UK full-time worker, Ram Vaidya. He isone of the two sons of M.G. (Baburao) Vaidya, asenior RSS figure and RSS media spokesperson.Ram Vaidya, himself a senior RSS propagator, wasseemingly sent in 1999 from the RSS in India tobecome a full-time worker for the HSS UK, toevaluate the operations and structure of the HSSUK, and to expand HSS work in Europe, includingcoordination of European annual training camps(Sangh Shiksha Vargs). After a year of full-timework, he presented his views to the HSS annualgeneral meeting held in Walsall in November2000.

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133 Sangh Sandesh, September – October 2000, vol. XI, no. 5, p 10. See also Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh Trustee Reports and Annual Accounts,Year ended 31March 2001, p. 3.

134 http://www.organiser.org/21jan2001/news2.htm.135 Sangh Sandesh, July – August 2000, vol. XI, no. 4, p. 10.136 ‘Foreign Missionaries, Quit India: RSS’, Organiser, 31 December 2000.137 Sangh Sandesh, September – October 1999, vol. X, no. 5, p. 12.138 Sangh Sandesh, July – August 1999, vol. X, no. 4, p. 24.

I have met a lots of youngsters. I find thatthey have ‘imagination’ but not much‘knowledge’. This is due to lack of read-ing. We need to introduce new booksand literature to the youngsters which isrelevant to them. I am pleased to seethat ‘Inspiration’ an English translation of‘Patheya’ [RSS founder Hedgewar’squotes] is due to be published in the UK.We need to remember that ours is acadre based organization. We need tocreate karyakartas [workers] throughShiksha vargs [camps], shakhas [cells]and utsavs [RSS festivals]. But here Inotice that except the Sangh ShikshaVarg [annual training camp] there is nointense training. We need to start‘Abhyaas Varg’ [ideological study groups]and we need to use bauddhic [ideologi-cal] material to explain the significanceof all our activities.139

The RSS strategy could not be more clearly put.Similarly, in a report to a HSS UK central execu-tive committee meeting held on 13 May 2001 inCoventry, he gave recommendations regardingHSS / Sewa International work in the aftermathof the Gujarat earthquake:

Following the unfortunate earthquake inGujarat, Sewa’s action was rapid andadmiring. But, now that the dust has set-tled, we should review our work and seehow we should go into action. During mytime in Britain, I have seen that all theBritish people are charitable. In the UK, Ihave seen that people donate to chari-ties on the street. In any charitable orsocial work, we must appreciate the dif-ference between those who provide the‘support’ and the cause which is ‘sup-ported’. Any social or a charity work is likea pyramid, the base (‘support’) should bebigger than the work being supported.We need to be aware that for stabilitythe base must be wider just like that of apyramid. Otherwise, in the long term, thewhole project will be overturned. Thebase must stay broad based. Our Sangh’smethod of work is quite straightforward.We have the Shakhas [cells] to createtrained, organized and disciplined

karyakartas [workers] to work in the soci-ety. Other organizations are created towork in the society but remember thatthe base [shakha] is the key. Thekaryakarta [worker] must perform thework with ‘detached involvement’ i.e.once the job is done he should go backto the Shakha [cell] work. I recommendthat the split should be 80 – 20. 80% ofthe work should be base building [creat-ing shakhas] and 20% should be forother organizations which are supportedby the shakhas. We need to pay attentionto the root not the leaves or the fruits.Our organizational management of theShakha [cell] work should be such thatmore emphasis is put on the ‘support’rather than the ‘supported’.140

Again, the RSS organization and consolidation(sangathan) strategy is clear and has priorityover any other activities. Charity work for Gujaratearthquake victims had the potential to desta-bilise the shakha regime of the HSS by leading toneglect of its shakha work. Instead, the over-whelming work of the HSS UK, eighty percent ofits labour, must be directed towards shakhabuilding, recruitment and sangathan, whereasonly twenty percent should be placed on otherwork. HSS members should undertake charitablework not out of an intrinsic, neutral commitmentto a charitable cause, but as ‘detached involve-ment’, a temporary phase in the primary work ofsangathan and shakha building.

ATTENDANCE AT MAJOR RSS / VHPEVENTS IN INDIAHSS UK, VHP UK and National Hindu StudentsForum activists have also attended various RSSand VHP meetings in India. Each RSS World Camp(Vishwa Sangh Shibir) held in India is attendedby a delegation of HSS UK activists. Reports onRSS decisions are also presented to HSS UKmeetings. Younger activists from the NationalHindu Students Forum have attended RSS train-ing camps in India. For example, an NHSF jointgeneral secretary and HSS activist attended athree week RSS training camp in Bangalore in2001141 and a former chairperson of the NHSFattended an RSS–VHP international camp inBaroda in December 1995, in addition to various

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139 Sangh Sandesh, November – December 2000, vol. XI, no. 6, p. 8.140 Sangh Sandesh, May – June 2001, vol. XII, no. 3, p. 20.141 Sangh Sandesh, July – August 2001, vol. XII, no. 4, p.22.

other activities abroad related to the sanghparivar142. Several HSS and VHP UK delegatesattended the RSS World Camp (Vishwa SanghShibir) held in Bombay from 26 December 2000to 2 January 2001. This included the head of theVHP Wembley branch143 and the ideologicalhead of the HSS UK and (until 2003) editor of itsnewsletter, who also led one of the sessions atthis camp144. The national chairperson of theVHP UK also attended the VHP InternationalCoordination meeting of the Indian VHP inAhmedabad from 23–24 December 2000, justprior to the RSS camp145. Various other visits toRSS and VHP events in India are regularly report-ed in HSS or VHP UK periodicals.

One such report mentions the visit of the charitycorrespondent of the VHP UK to RSS projectsand shakhas in Jammu and Kashmir

I met Shri Chaman Lal ji who looks afterall the sweyamsevaks [RSS members]from foreign countries. We discussed vari-ous issues. He was mainly concerned thatthe students and sweyamsevaks betweenthe ages of 18 to 25 do not come toshakha [RSS cells] because it is held everymorning and they are too busy in theirstudies and they cannot attend theshakha. I told him that they should have ashakha once or twice a week in theevening or at the weekend so that

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Figure 15: European HSS and VHP members attending theWorld RSS Camp, Bombay, December 2000, and dressed inRSS uniform. Sangh Sandesh, Nov-Dec 2000, vol. XI, no. 6,p. 24.

142 Manjari Katju, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Indian Politics, Orient Longman, Hyderabad, 2003, pp. 154-155.143 Sangh Sandesh, January – February 2001, vol. XII, no. 1, p. 9.144 Sangh Sandesh, November – December 2000, vol. XI, no. 6, p. 4.145 VHP UK Manchester Branch, Newsletter, April 2001, p. 2.146 Sangh Sandesh, May – June 1999, vol. X, no. 3, pp. 4-5.147 Sangh Sandesh, September – October 1999, vol. X, no. 5, p. 9.148 http://www.vhp-uk.com/aboutus.php.

shakha is in touch with the students andthey can come when they are not study-ing in the evenings. He liked the idea.During my short stay in India I tried tohave meetings and exchange views withSangh Karyakartas [RSS workers].146

This also illustrates the overlapping associationsbetween the HSS UK and the VHP UK, andbetween these and the sangh parivar in India.Other reports describe supporters going fromthe UK to work with the Vanvasi KalyanAshram147 and younger members attending RSStraining camps in India.

THE VISHWA HINDU PARISHAD UKThe Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK (VHP UK) wasformed in 1971 and acquired charitable status in1972. Its charity registration number is 262684and its registered office is in Manchester. Itdescribes its aims as: advancement of HinduDharma (Religion); promoting education ofHindu Dharma; promoting studies of, andresearches in the field of Hindu religion, history,sociology, ethics, and to make known the resultsof such studies and research; relief of poverty,sickness, and distress; and promotion of harmo-nious inter-race and inter-communityrelations.148

The VHP UK has around 12 branches in theUK, including in London, Bolton, BradfordLeicester, Manchester, Birmingham,Northampton and Nottingham. The first VHPtemple was established in Bolton in the mid-1970s, followed by two other temples, includingthe VHP Ilford Hindu Centre in north-eastLondon. The VHP UK is involved in the InterfaithNetwork (UK), various Standing AdvisoryCouncils on Religious Education (SACREs), andvarious local Hindu Councils. It worked withISKCON (‘the Hare Krishnas’) around the cam-paign from the mid-1980s by ISKCON againstHertsmere Council, which had attempted to pre-vent public worship at Bhaktivedanta Manor. Ithas also been involved in several campaignsagainst what it believes to be insulting represen-tations of Hindu deities.

LINKS BETWEEN VHP UK & HSS UK

The VHP UK is strongly associated with the HSSUK and reports annually to the HSS UK generalmeeting. The trustees and office bearers of theVHP UK are associated with the HSS UK. Forexample, the permanent trustee of the VHP UK isalso the head (sanghchalak) of the HSS UK, andthe religious education spokesperson of the VHPUK is also the ideological head (bauddhik pra-mukh) of the HSS UK and former editor of theHSS’s newsletter, Sangh Sandesh. There is a num-ber of other such associations between the VHPUK and other UK sangh parivar organizations.Similarly, the editorial board for the VHP UKbook, Explaining Hindu Dharma: a guide for teach-ers (Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK, 1996), includedthe HSS UK leader (sanghchalak), the HSS UK ide-ological head, and an RSS full-time worker basedin the UK and working to expand RSS activitiesabroad. Several others involved in the produc-tion of this book are strongly associated withIndian VHP or Indian RSS activities.

The VHP UK has also received support fromgovernment bodies. The VHP UK has had someof its key figures recognised in ‘citizenshipawards’ and ‘man of the year’ awards by localcouncils. Similarly, the VHP(and the Overseas Friends ofthe BJP, Sewa Internationaland the National HinduStudents Forum) havereceived support frompoliticians such as LabourMP Barry Gardiner, formerlychairperson of the parlia-mentary Labour Friends ofIndia group. The director ofthe Labour Friends of Indiais also involved in the HSS’sSewa International and FISIactivities. He is the brotherof the Overseas Friends ofthe BJP (UK) general secre-tary and HSS UK officer whoorganized the visit ofGujarat Chief MinisterNarendra Modi to the UK in2003.

51


149 http://www.vhp-uk.com/activities.php, emphasis added.

Figure 16: BarryGardiner, Brent NorthLabour MP at VHPWembley event.Sangh Sandesh,November-December2001, vol. XII, no. 6,p. 24.

LINKS WITH VHP INDIA

The VHP UK explains that:

VHP is a worldwide body. There are fivemain aspects covered at internationallevel:

[1] Dharma Jagaran Sent Mandal – Abody of religious leaders constituted ofall schools of religion indigenous toBharat (India).

[2] Hindu Heritage Pratishthan (HHP).

[3] Sewa (Public Service), cultural andconstructive endeavours.

[4] Establishing and strengthening linkswith culturally similar/indigenousgroups, e.g. (i) Buddhist – World BuddhistCultural Foundation (WBCF). (ii) Pagans,Gypsies, people of Maya and Inca origin,etc. – Institute of Spiritual Culture (ISC).

[5] Organization of VHP national commit-tees and co-ordination with otherlike-minded organizations…

The ICC [International CoordinatingCommittee] in Bharat (India) coordinatesVHP activities in different countries. Atpresent the international work is dividedinto five zones around the world.Committees at national level work in har-mony with the VHP aspirations andaccording to the rules of the respectivecountries.149

In 1984, it was decided that the VHP centraloffice in Delhi would be the main body having‘jurisdiction over the entire organization of theworld’. The key decision was as follows:

The question of relationship of VHP inIndia (Bharat) vis-à-vis VHP units in for-eign countries was examined in March1984 by a sub-committee with Shri HansRaj Gupta as Chairman and it recom-mended that the VHP central office NewDelhi is the Head Office and its Board ofTrustees is the Supreme Body havingjurisdiction over the entire organizationof the world. Wherever there are VHPunits abroad, these should eitherbecome branches or affiliated to theCentral VHP, New Delhi. A fee ofAffiliation or an amount as central fundshould be decided in consultation with

the foreign units. This recommendationwas accepted by the Board of Trustees atits meeting held in March 1984.150

This means that the VHP in India has controlover the direction and policy of the VHP branch-es in all other countries. No VHP branch outsideIndia can claim it is unrelated to the VHP India.

Latterly, the VHP’s international activitieshave been organized through the VHP Overseas(VHPO), a body set up in November 2002 tomore firmly coordinate VHP activities outsideIndia through a governing council and acrossfive geograph-ical zones(America,Europe, Africa,Asia andPacific). TheVHPO’s chair-person is B.K.Modi, who isalso the work-ing president(external) ofthe VHP India.The VHP UK’smastheadreproduces theIndian VHP’sclaim to repre-sent ‘1 billionHindus’ – allthe Hindus inthe world. Itslogo and motto (dharmo rakshati rakshitah) isthe same as that of the Indian VHP.

Further, the patron of the VHP UK is SwamiSatyamitranand Giri. He has been involved in theIndian VHP since its formation in the mid-1960s.He has also been involved in supporting numer-ous Indian RSS activities. He is the head of theBharat Mata mandir in Hardwar, Uttar Pradeshstate. Satyamitranand was also stated to be theinspiration behind the VHP’s Virat HinduSammelan (great Hindu gathering) organized inMilton Keynes in 1989. Similarly, VHP UK repre-sentatives have been directly involved in RSSand other sangh parivar activities abroad. This

52


150 http://www.vhp.org/englishsite/a-origin_growth/evolution.htm.151 Sangh Sandesh, July – August 2001, vol. XII, no. 4, pp. 10-11.152 Sangh Sandesh, March – April 2001, vol. XII, no. 2, p. 12.153 Sangh Sandesh, September – October 2000, vol. XI, no. 5, pp. 9-10.154 Sangh Sandesh, November – December 1999, vol. X, no. 6, pp.11-12.155 Nagin Merai,‘VHP celebrates Shrimad Bhagwat Saptah’, Organiser, 21 November 1999.

Figure 17: VHP rifle training camp inPatan, northern Gujarat. Source:Dionne Bunsha, ‘At a Hindutva facto-ry: an account of a visit to a trainingcamp run by the Vishwa HinduParishad’, Frontline, vol. 20, issue 12,7–20 June 2003.

has included VHP UK activists attending IndianVHP and Indian RSS events and camps.

It has also included actively supporting thework of other sangh parivar organizations, suchas that of the Hindu Heritage Pratishthan(Foundation) which has taken to promotingHindutva among Roma and ‘pagan’ groups thatit claims are originally Hindu. For example, thenational organizing secretary and VHP UKtrustee attended, together with Ranga Hari (ide-ological director of the Indian RSS), a conferenceon ethnic religions in Lithuania in 2001.151 TheVHP UK led the coordination in the UK of theIndian VHP’s Vishwa Dharam Prasar Yatra (a glob-al ‘journey’ to promote Hindutva) in 2001,following a meeting held in Manchester inMarch 2001 between B. K. Modi of the IndianVHP and the VHP UK.152 Regular reports ofIndian VHP activities are also presented to VHPUK and HSS UK events.153

In December 1999, a meeting at the VHPIlford Hindu Centre was attended by a leadingmember of the Marg Darshak Mandal.154 Further,in October 1999, the VHP Newham branch held ameeting with a preacher, Sharadbhai Vyas. Thismeeting was also attended by the HSS UK leaderand the VHP UK general secretary. SharadbhaiVyas is described in the RSS newspaper,Organiser, thus:

Shri Sharadbhai Vyas is associated withthe VHP activities in India and has anashram in Dharampur, Gujarat, in thevicinity of the Dangs where Christianmissionaries are allegedly active in con-verting innocent tribal Hindus.155

In 1989, the VHP UK, together with HSS volun-teers, organized the Virat Hindu Sammelan(Great Hindu Assembly) in Milton Keynes. Whilethe Sammelan was formally organized by a sepa-rate committee (representing VHP UK and HSSUK individuals), VHP UK accounts show entriesfor the ‘Virat Hindu Sammelan’ over the relevantperiod. The Sammelan was attended by an esti-mated 55,000 Hindus. The event was solidlyRSS-based, and included the RSS saffron flag cer-emony and RSS songs. Key forums at this eventwere named after the Indian RSS founder,

Hedgewar, and second supreme leader,Golwalkar. A key reason for this event was toorganize UK support for the Indian VHP’s cam-paign to replace the sixteenth-century Babrimosque at Ayodhya with a Ram temple. SeveralVHP-supporting preachers from India leddemands for the building of a Ram temple atAyodhya.

Indeed, VHP UK accounts also show a smallfund of about £3,800 from 1993 to 2002 which isheaded ‘Ayodhya Temple Fund’. While the sum ofmoney is very small, it is difficult to know whatthis could mean except that the VHP UK was

53


Figure 18: VHP UK National Chairperson seated secondfrom left, next to Pravin Togadia, VHP India general secre-tary, at Indian VHP International Coordination meeting,Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 23-24 December 2000. Source: VHPNewsletter (Manchester Branch), April 2001, p. 2.

156 ‘Can’t Send It Officially: A first-hand encounter with the VHP’s international conduit’, Outlookindia.com, 22 March 1999,http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?sid=2&fodname=19990322&fname=affairs5.

157 http://www.vhp-uk.com/html/appeal.html.158 Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK, Press Release, 27 February 2002.159 http://www.vhp-uk.com/gujarat_riots.php.

teacher schools) for the purposes of ‘villagedefence’ in border areas (those adjacent toPakistan) and for ‘national defence’157. This is cer-tainly the reason given by the VHP India forestablishing such schools. Why would a UK chari-ty be asking for donations made payable to a‘Gujarat Earthquake Fund’ for the purposes ofnational or border defence and the building ofnew temple complexes?

The VHP UK claims to be ‘utterly opposed tointolerance based on race and religious belief, ofviolence and terrorist practices’. However, its sec-tarianism was clearly illustrated in its response tothe Gujarat carnage in 2002. Its press release of27 February 2002 claimed that the killing ofalmost 60 Hindus on the Sabarmati express out-side Godhra was ‘a pre-meditated massacre byfrenzied armed Muslim mob’158. It went on tostate that the attack on the train was ‘an unpro-voked, outrageous and pre-meditated massacreof Hindu Pilgrims… an unacceptable act of bar-barism by extreme elements of the Muslimcommunity who have been influenced byIslamic terrorist cells operating within India’. Thepress release also said the Babri mosque atAyodhya was ‘a symbol of tyranny and enslave-ment on the scale of Stalin’s atrocities andHitler’s genocide’ and went on to defend the ille-gal destruction of the mosque. However, the VHPUK’s response159 to the carnage that followedthe Godhra attack simply referred to this as ‘theGujarat riots’ in which ‘the reaction to the mur-der of Hindus was natural and spontaneous’ –the ‘spontaneous’ and ‘outraged’ reaction ofHindus to the train killings. It went on to claimthat it had made ‘extensive enquiries whichfound no evidence that any organization wasresponsible’ for the ‘riots’. In the VHP UK’s view,the killing of 58 Hindus was ‘an unacceptable actof barbarism’ but the killing of 2,000 Muslimswas a ‘spontaneous’ and ‘natural’ reaction. Thisstatement reproduces the Indian VHP responseto the 2002 events. It is an inhumane justifica-tion for the systematic pogroms and murdersunleashed in Gujarat by VHP, Bajrang Dal, BJPand RSS supporters against Indian citizens whowere Muslim. We are unaware of any currentlyregistered UK charity that has attempted to justi-fy violence and support pogroms.

raising funds in connection with the Ayodhyatemple campaign during a period when thebuilding of a Ram temple at the site of the BabriMasjid was illegal under Indian law. In an investi-gation by the Indian Outlook magazine, the VHPUK claimed that it has ‘not sent a penny’ for thetemple. It also stated that there were ‘politicalhassles’ and funds could not be sent officially,and said it would provide the reporter (who wasposing as a donor) with details of VHP affiliatesin India that could receive funds. It also statedthat funds in Rupees could be sent directly tothe Ayodhya Trust in India.156

The VHP UK website, under ‘GujaratEarthquake Fund’ activities describes the raisingof funds for ekal vidyalayas (VHP / RSS one-

The disbursement of funds by SIUK to organiza-tions abroad is not listed clearly in annualreports or in annual accounts of the HSS UK.Because of the controversy surrounding theseorganizations and for reasons of transparency,the HSS UK, the VHP UK and the Kalyan AshramTrust UK, all of which are registered charities,should make publicly available the exact dis-bursement of funds to Indian organizations.SIUK’s website does provide information on indi-vidual donations and updates on the variousprojects it has funded, but this is not an annualsummary of funds disbursed. Similarly the HSSUK newsletter Sangh Sandesh gives informationin its ‘Charity News’ section on SIUK’s work, butthis newsletter is intended for HSS UK membersand not for the general public.

Summary figures from HSS UK accounts forthe years 1995–2002 are given below. TheGujarat earthquake funds were the largestamount that HSS UK / SIUK has ever raised. A rea-sonable estimate of the assets of HSS UK wouldbe around £1.5 million. With the exception ofGujarat earthquake funds from 2001, the bulk offunds raised are from donations, seemingly indi-vidual donations raised by HSS branches

(shakhas). However, accounts for years ending 31March 2000 and 2001 show that donations from‘sangh activity’ – which presumably refers to theRSS tradition of annually donating money ‘to’ theRSS saffron flag – were around £21,500 in eachof these two years. Accounts for year end 31March 2002 show £500,000 earmarked for newpremises in London. Total donations for the yearend 31 March 2002 shows £97,504 of unrestrict-ed funds, and £811,608 of restricted funds forSewa International (presumably mostly Gujaratearthquake related) and £15,574 unrestrictedand £162,395 restricted funds for SewaEducation Aid. This might suggest that about£100,000 was raised by SIUK in that financial yearfor purposes other than the Gujarat earthquakeand Sewa Education Aid.

Public sector grants to the HSS UK are mod-est, amounting to about £20,000 a year after1999 (but reaching around £40,000 in previousyears.) The HSS UK (including SIUK and theHindu Marathon) have previously received publicsector grant aid or funds from the London bor-oughs of Brent and Newham, the city councils ofBradford, Coventry and Leeds, as well as supportfrom Nottingham and Derby councils.

54


APPENDIX 1: THE FINANCES OF HSS UK AND SEWAINTERNATIONAL

TOTALINCOME (£)

YEAR END31 MARCH

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

172,149

189,519

310,151

308,537

508,253

748,355

2,175,971

1,267,570

TOTAL ASSETSLESS CURRENTLIABILITIES (£)

666,384

706,459

776,301

874,512

1,022,254

1,355,793

1,382,140

1,639,558

SEWA INTERNA-TIONAL TOTAL

FUNDS (£)

130,609 (c)

226,869

1,955,623outgoing

909,112

SEWAEDUCATION AIDTOTAL FUNDS (£)

85,426

78,509outgoing

177,969

OF WHICH: a) VOLUNTARYINCOME / DONATIONS; b)

GRANTS RECEIVED

a) 88,952b) 33,391a) 110,494b) 46,645a) 219,954b) 38,609a) 196,173b) 47,333a) 381,526b) 22,638a) 647,205b) 20,466a) 2,067,016b) 18,943

Donations: 1,189,068Sundry grants: 20,424

HINDU SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH UK SUMMARY OF FUNDS 1995–2002 TABLE 4

Notes: a) – is sum of donations and covenants; b) – is sum listed under ‘grants received’, which would be grants from public sector or other bodies; c) a‘Norway – India’ fund collection of £130,609. A different earthquake fund collection of £368,651 is shown in 1994. Figures for 1999 are based on2000 accounts. Sources: Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh Annual Report of Trustees and Accounts for the years 1995 – 2002, excluding accounts forfinancial year 1999.

NOTE ON VHP UK FINANCES

In the years 2002 and 2001 VHP UK assets werelisted as £1,113,761 and £1,046,963 respectively,of which almost £900,000 were capital andreserves under unrestricted funds. Incomethrough donations was £44,223 in 2002 and£74,705 for 2001, excluding donations for itsbuilding fund. For the year 2002, the accountsshowed restricted funds for a building of£168,937. The VHP UK has previously receivedpublic sector funds from the London boroughsof Croydon, Newham and Waltham Forest. VHPbranches in Newham, Bolton, Bury, Manchester,Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside,Trafford and Wigan were also listed as beneficiar-ies of funds from the Awards for All schemelinked to the National Lottery.

55


APPENDIX 2: SEWA INTERNATIONAL UK ONE YEARPROGRESS REPORT (GUJARAT EARTHQUAKE)

56


VILLAGEACTIVITY

1 Mithapasvaria2 Devgadh3 Mayapur4 Jivapar5 Hamiramora6 Jakhotra7 Chapredi

1 Vallabhpur2 Vachharajpur3 Visnagar

15321181

20823

267295

14057

204

NUMBEROF HOUSES

283.10361.45237.50372.1036.60

628.45504.00

210.45100.62330.23

VALUE RUPEESLAKHS

(i.e. 100,000)

603,000770,000505,000790,00078,000

1,340,000107,200

448,000215,000702,600

VALUE US$

15316277

1732374

155

18

EXCAVATION

1008848

108182241

-

11011553

155203374

-

12014363

170233378

-

80583977151928

-

67533361126-

-

3132166146-

-

SEWA INTERNATIONAL UK’S REPORT ON PROGRESS IN VILLAGE RECONSTRUCTIONONE YEAR AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE (TEN VILLAGES) TABLE 5

Source: Sewa International, Gujarat Earthquake – 26 January 2001 Anniversary Issue. One Year After, undated.

WORKSTARTED

SURVEYING AND PLOTTING BEING DONESITEINAUGUR-ATED

WORK IS NOT STARTED

GRAM MANDIR(VILLAGE HALL)

PANCHAYAT GHAR(COMMUNITY CENTRE) HEALTH CENTRE SCHOOLDISTRICT

MithapasvariaDevgadhMayapurJivaparHamiramoraJakhotraChaprediVisnagarVachharajpurVallabhpur

CompletedSlab Level

Plinth Complete-

Plinth LevelSlab Level

At Lintel LevelSlab LevelSlab Level

Plinth CompletePlinth LevelSlab Level

Lintel CompletePlinth Complete

-Slab Level

Excavation In Progress

------

SEWA INTERNATIONAL UK’S REPORT ON THE INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITIES INVILLAGE RECONSTRUCTION ONE YEAR LATER (TEN VILLAGES) TABLE 6


DISTRICT

PROGRESS

BanaskanthaSurendranagarJamnagarRajkotKutchPatan

TOTAL

NO. OFSCHOOLS

49

144

218

60

Workstarted

49

134

218

59

Excavation

-21-22

7

Plinthlevel

223154

17

Lintellevel

12111-

6

Slablevel

-382

111

25

Completed

1---21

4

VALUERUPEES(LAKHS)

57.6082.60

118.6080.40

248.5069.80

657.50

VALUEUS$

122,575166,196226,150171,085514,285148,770

1,349,060

EXPECTEDTO BE COM-

PLETED

15 Nov15 Nov15 Nov15 Nov15 Nov15 Nov

15 Nov

SEWA INTERNATIONAL UK’S REPORT ON SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRESS ONE YEARAFTER THE GUJARAT EARTHQUAKE TABLE 7


PROGRESS OF HOUSES

RCC footing

Plinth le

vel

Sill leve

l

Lintel le

vel

Slab leve

l

Slab casting

APPENDIX 3: NON-EARTHQUAKE RELATEDORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTED BY HSS UK MARCH1999-JUNE 2002

57


YEAR

19991999

199919991999

19991999

1999

1999

19991999

2000

2000

2000

20002000

2000

2000

2000

20002000

AMOUNT DONATED

(£) WHERE MEN-

TIONED

500

501

2,051

53,000raised

401

58,000

Target ofRupees

7,500,000

Over200,000200,000

ISSUE OF SANGH

SANDESH

Mar–AprilMay–June

May–JuneMay–JuneMay–June

May–JuneJuly–Aug

July–Aug

July–Aug

Sept–OctNov–Dec

Jan–Feb

Jan–Feb

Jan–Feb

Jan–Feb

Jan–Feb Mar–April

Mar–April

Mar–April

Mar–AprilMar–April

NOTES

2 shakhas raise funds for KATJoint SIUK / Friends of IndiaSociety International (FISI)appeal States SSK get funds from SIUK

Amounts not stated

Joint SIUK / Friends of IndiaSociety International appeal

45 one-teacher schools2,780 children assisted

States £100,000 raised whichwill be channelled through RSSvolunteers in India. Mentions 70Saraswati Shishu Mandirs (RSSschools) to be built. UBSS isRSS affiliate.Joint SIUK / Friends of IndiaSociety International (FISI)appeal. Funds donated by FISI.Sanskar Bharati is RSS affiliate

Report on various Sewa BharatiprojectsReport

UBSS is the RSS organizationworking in OrissaRSS affiliate, said to be spon-sored by SIUKRSS affiliate sponsored by SIUKand working among peoplewith leprosy

RSS affiliate

PROJECT DESCRIPTION OR BENEFICIARY

Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram / Kalyan Ashram TrustIndia Relief FundAkhil Bharatiya Poorva Sainik Seva Parishad(ABPSSP)Sanjeevni Sharda Kendra (Jammu & Kashmir)Kosovo Refugee AppealMentions previous donations to: Cancer Research,Northwick Park Hospital Children Fund, Scotlandand Wales floods, Gulf War Fund, MaharashtraEarthquake, Gujarat Cyclone and Ethiopia RefugeeCrisis. States that in 1999 it is supporting Leprosy &Physical Deformity Hospital Project and The Schoolfor Spastic, Mentally Retarded and DisabledChildren (India), Cancer Research campaign, BabyLifeline, Sport Aiding Medical Research for KidsNorthwick Park HospitalKargil Martyrs Families Appeal

Sandfield Primary School donates £210 to KalyanAshram TrustSewa Education Aid

Turkish Embassy Earthquake FundOrissa Cyclone AppealUtkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti (UBSS)

Kargil Martyrs Families AppealAkhil Bharatiya Poorva Sainik Seva Parishad(ABPSSP)Sanskar Bharati

Sewa Bharati Madhya Pradesh and one-teacherschools Vanvasi OlympicsOrissa Cyclone Appeal

Orissa Cyclone AppealUtkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti (UBSS)Ahalyabai Holkar Mahila Sahayata Samiti

Bharatiya Kushta Niwarak Sangh

Bone Marrow donor appealDr K. B. Hedgewar Janma Shatabdi Sewa Samiti

ORGANIZATIONS AND PROJECTS MENTIONED UNDER CHARITY ACTIVITIES AND THEWORK OF SEWA INTERNATIONAL UK TABLE 8

continued overleaf

58


YEAR

2000

2000

2000

2000

20002000

2000200020002000200020002000200020002000

2001

2001

2001200120012002

AMOUNT DONATED

(£) WHERE MEN-

TIONED

260,000

Target of£10,000

Raised157,000

800

677

501501501501

250

250

100250

455,177Rupees

ISSUE OF SANGH

SANDESH

Mar–April

May–June

May–June

May–June

July–AugJuly–Aug

July–AugJuly–AugSept–OctSept–OctSept–OctNov–DecNov–DecNov–DecNov–DecNov–Dec

May–June

May–June

May–JuneJuly–AugNov–Dec

May–June

NOTES

Appeal closed having raised£260,000Mayor’s Appeal

‘Two organisations throughwhich swayamsevaks are serv-ing areas’49 one-teacher schools spon-sored in Rajasthan

Blood / bone marrow donationappeal

Saraswati Shishu mandir (RSSschool) built from SIUK dona-tions and inaugurated by RSSleader K. S. SudarshanRSS / VKA affiliate workingamong adivasi girlsBharatiya Nivarak SanghAshram is the RSS organizationworking among people withleprosy in Madhya Pradesh

Diwali gifts to hospital patientsBharatiya Shiksha Samiti isRSS affiliate. Funds for RSSschool.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION OR BENEFICIARY

Orissa Cyclone Appeal

Mobile dispensary for Gujarat

Rajasthan Drought AppealSemajan Kalyan Samiti Vipanna Sahayata Evam PunarvasSewa Education Aid

Akhil Bharatiya Poorva Sainik Seva ParishadAnthony Nolan Trust

Gujarat & Rajasthan Drought AppealSt Lukes Hospice, KentonAkhil Bharatiya Poorva Sainik Seva Parishad Gujarat & Rajasthan Drought AppealHealth Promotion and Awareness CampaignBrent Mayor’s Charity FundBritish Heart FoundationMetropolitan Police Widows and Orphans FundNorthwick Park HospitalOrissa CycloneVidya BharatiShiksha Vikas Samiti

Ahalyabai Girls Hostel

Madhya Pradesh Leprosy Colony

Northwick Park HospitalNorthwick Park HospitalNorthwick Park HospitalBharatiya Shiksha Samiti School, Kashmir (2001)

ORGANIZATIONS AND PROJECTS MENTIONED UNDER CHARITY ACTIVITIES AND THEWORK OF SEWA INTERNATIONAL UK…CONTD TABLE 8

Source: Sangh Sandesh March-April 1999 – May-June 2002, excluding March-April 2002 issue and excluding Gujarat earthquake related donations.

WHAT IS HINDUTVA?

Hindutva is an ideology mainly invented byVinayak Damodar Savarkar and written about inan English pamphlet published in 1923, Hindutva– who is a Hindu? Savarkar was involved in theterrorist wing of the anti-colonial movement andwas imprisoned by the British. After 1937,Savarkar became president of an organizationcalled the Hindu Mahasabha (Great HinduAssembly). He was a serious political opponentof Mohandas K. Gandhi.

There were six attempts on Gandhi’s life byHindu nationalists. Gandhi’s murderer, NathuramGodse, was Savarkar’s ‘lieutenant’, and close asso-ciate. He was a full-time worker (pracharak) forthe RSS, and a prominent member of Savarkar’sHindu Mahasabha. Savarkar stood trial forGandhi’s murder but was acquitted. However, acommission in 1964 headed by Justice Kapurwas presented new evidence of Savarkar’sinvolvement in the conspiracy to murder Gandhi.Nathuram Godse’s brother, Gopal Godse, alsostated in an interview that Nathuram wasinvolved in the RSS and only claimed not to beto protect RSS leaders following Gandhi’s mur-der.160 The current BJP-led government insistedin 2003 that a portrait of Savarkar be placed inthe Central Assembly Hall of the IndianParliament (Lok Sabha), opposite that of Gandhi.

Savarkar’s Hindutva is based on the politicalview that India must be an exclusively Hindunation-state (Hindurashtra) in which all citizensmust demonstrate obedience and allegiance toHindutva. Hindutva, for him, was an identitybased on ‘race’ and ‘blood’ (which he called ‘themost important ingredient’ of Hindutva), a san-skrit-based, upper-caste idea of culture, and asacred territory. A Hindu, according to him, wassomeone who shared the blood of ‘Vedic-Aryan’ancestors, embraced only ‘sanskritik’ culture andwho viewed India as their fatherland and holy-land. Savarkar was influenced by Nazi Germanyand Fascist Italy and made many statements intheir support. He compared Muslims in India toJews in Germany, supported Hitler’s military inva-sion and occupation of Czechoslovakia andother sovereign states, and attacked Nehru for

criticising Nazism and Fascism. Even as late as1961, he said that India would be better off witha dictator like Hitler instead of being ademocracy.

WHAT IS THE RSS?The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, NationalVolunteers’ Corps) was formed in the period1925-1926 by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar inNagpur, Maharashtra state, north-west India. Itsformation was influenced by the ideas ofHindutva created by Savarkar. It is an exclusivelymale organization devoted to the political ideol-ogy of Hindutva and represents an Indianversion of fascism. Hedgewar formed the RSS asan organization of young boys and men that wasbased on military drills, physical exercise,weapons training, propagation of the ideology ofHindutva and anti-minority hatred. Hedgewar,together with another key founder of the RSS,Balkrishna Shivram Moonje, was also influencedby Fascism and Nazism. In 1934, Hedgewarpresided over a meeting in Nagpur aimed atpropagating Mussolini’s fascist thought in India.Moonje not only met Mussolini but was a strongadmirer of Nazism and Fascism. He is todaycalled Dharamveer – hero in the religious strug-gle – by the RSS. He said that India not onlyneeded a dictator like Hitler but that a scheme tobring such a dictator had to be urgently carriedout.

The RSS’s second leader, Madhav SadashivGolwalkar, supported Nazi Germany and FascistItaly. In his key book We, or our nationhooddefined, published in 1939, he openly supportedthe anti-semitic policies of Nazi Germanytowards German-Jews, openly supported Hitler’sviolent invasion of other sovereign territories,lauded Fascist Italy and said these were modelswhich India could learn and profit by. In thisbook , which the RSS re-published after the endof the Second World War (after the horrors of theHolocaust were fully known), and which the RSSin the 1950s called an ‘unassailable doctrine ofnationhood’, Golwalkar stated that in India,minorities deserved no rights whatsoever, noteven any citizen’s rights. Minorities were to eithergive up their beliefs or live at ‘the sweet will of

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160 A. Rajagopal,‘He did not leave the RSS’, Frontline, 28 January 1994.

APPENDIX 4: HINDUTVA AND THE RSS

the majority’. In 2002, the RSS stated that thesafety of Muslims in India lies in ‘the goodwill ofthe majority’.

The RSS is not a democratic organization butbased on the idea of one ‘Supreme Leader’(sarsanghchalak), obedience to the one SupremeLeader (ek chalak anuvartitva) and of theSupreme Leader as ‘the principle one who is tobe venerated’ (parampoojaniya). RSS membersare called ‘swayamsevaks’ – volunteers workingin the service of the Hindu Nation. The IndianRSS claims not to keep membership records butit has an estimated 2.5–4 million members and40,000 regular cells (shakhas). It claims not tokeep any bank accounts and it does not have topay income tax161. It is notified under Indian lawas an organization of a political nature and socannot legally receive foreign funds.

The RSS’s primary goal is to completely hier-archically organize and strengthen Hindus andcreate an entirely new society based on its ideol-ogy of militarism, masculinity and hatred ofothers. The RSS believes only it is the genuinesociety, and the whole of India must be recreatedin its image as a powerful and exclusiveHindurashtra. The RSS is organized through cells(shakhas) in which members undertake physicalexercise and military drill, ideological discussionsand a range of rituals, of which the most impor-tant are devotion to its saffron flag and its firsttwo Supreme Leaders, Hedgewar and Golwalkar.Shakhas, whether held in India or the UK willinclude devotion to the RSS’s saffron flag, pic-tures of Hedgewar and Golwalkar and the RSS’sHindu nationalist hymns and songs. Shakhas areorganized by age groups, from very young chil-dren to youths, adults, and the elderly. Theshakha is the core recruitment strategy of theRSS (and the HSS) and is based on catching chil-dren at a very young age to inculcate them inRSS ideology, bring them closer to the RSS andits organizations and eventually lead them tomore activist and senior positions. In the UK,however, shakhas may be presented to parents,teachers and others as simply educational activi-ties for young children, including classes onHinduism and Gujarati language.

UNDERSTANDING HOW THE RSSWORKS

The Indian RSS

� is an extremely tightly structured and secretiveorganization with a very strong hierarchy,rigid rules for its members and officers, itsown decision making bodies and structures,its own festivals, hymns, songs, rituals, uni-form and daily shakhas (cells or branches).

� is both an independent entity and works inand through a very wide range of political,religious, women’s, cultural, welfare, educa-tional, students, labour, tribal, peasants, youthand other organizations using differentnational, regional and local names and work-ing across a range of fields in Indian civil andpolitical society. These national and localorganizations are ‘like-minded’ and share theRSS’s ideology. The RSS presence is notimmediately visible in its front organizations,but all of them are started, coordinated orrun by RSS full-time propagators or volun-teers, usually on loan from the RSS for suchwork.

� is the base or foundational organization forthe whole sangh parivar. The key to under-standing the activities of sangh parivarorganizations, whether in India or elsewhere, isthe RSS, its aims and goals, and its ideology.

� has always had the overriding aim to totallyorganize, order and strengthen ‘Hindu socie-ty’ in order to turn India into a Hindunation-state. The various RSS statementsabout pseudo-secularism, minority appease-ment, ‘Hindu rights’ are secondary to this oneprincipal aim to create a ‘Hindu nation’.

� works strategically, patiently, on a long-termbasis and at a very deep, personal, individualand familial level in the sectors of civil societythat it has identified as important

� uses methods for organizing,‘strengthening’and consolidating Hindus called sangathan.This is also central to how RSS organizationsoutside India carry out their work. The aim ofsangathan is to bring other Hindus closer tothe RSS and recruit them.

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161 The Foreign Exchange of Hate: IDRF and the American funding of Hindutva, Sabrang Communications / South Asia Citizens Web, November 2002, p. 4.

� uses a very carefully created language thatsubstitutes its narrow ideology for Hinduism,Indian nationalism, patriotism, social service,welfare, charity and religion. This includes thedeception that the RSS is a cultural and not apolitical organization.

THE SANGH PARIVARThe RSS has created a range of affiliated organi-zations in India called the ‘sangh parivar’ or theRSS ‘family’. The most important of these organi-zations are:

� Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP – World HinduCouncil), formed in 1964 by RSS activists andMadhav Golwalkar (the second RSS supremeleader). The VHP has grown tremendously sincethe 1980s and has both a national (Indian) andan international structure (Vishwa HinduParishad International / VHP Overseas). It also hasa youth wing, the extremely violent Bajrang Dal,a women’s wing (the Durga Vahini), associatedorganizations such as the Hindu Jagran Manch(Forum for Hindu Awakening), and a variety ofother service, religious and social sections. TheRSS Supreme Leader is also a member of theVHP’s ‘Council of the Learned’ and executivebody. The VHP has been at the absolute forefrontof mass violent Hindutva movements, such asthe ‘Ramjanmabhoomi’ movement to destroy thesixteenth-century Babri mosque at Ayodhya andbuild a Ram temple in its place, the campaign for‘the liberation of Krishnajanmasthan’ at Mathurain which the VHP wishes to destroy mosquesnear a Krishna temple, the Kashi Vishwanathcampaign, Varanasi, in which the VHP wantsmosque buildings near a Shiva shrine to beremoved, the Saraswati Bhojshala campaign,Dhar, in which the VHP wants shrines andmosques used for a joint Hindu-Muslim traditionof worship at a Saraswati shrine to be destroyed.Of the Gujarat carnage, the VHP said that it wasan experiment that had to be repeated acrossIndia. The VHP and its associated organizationthe Hindu Jagran Manch, and the extremely vio-lent VHP youth wing, the Bajrang Dal took thelead in the systematic attack on Christian com-munities in Gujarat from 1997, which reached apeak of brutality in 1998–1999.

� Bajrang Dal (Hanuman’s Army) is theextremely violent and fanatical youth wing ofthe VHP. The Bajrang Dal works through terrorand intimidation of minorities and secular oppo-nents. It has been consistently involved and

implicated in acts of violence, terror and murder,including many of the killings during the Gujaratviolence in 2002. The Bajrang Dal are the shock-troops of Hindutva.

� The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Hindunationalist political party which currently headsa coalition government in India as part of theNational Democratic Alliance. The BJP shortlyafter coming to power detonated nucleardevices in the Pokharan desert close to thePakistani border, resulting in a similar responsefrom Pakistan. The BJP is committed to the ideol-ogy of Hindutva, cultural nationalism (sanskritikrashtriyavad) and Integral Humanism (an ideolo-gy of Hindutva developed by an RSS full-timeorganizer called Deendayal Upadhyaya in themid-1960s). Its slogan is ‘One Nation, One People,One Culture’ in which all citizens must considerthe Hindu nation as sacred. The BJP presents a‘moderate’ face in the figure of Atal BehariVajpayee, the current prime minister of India anda long-term member of the RSS, as well as a mili-tant one in the figure of L.K. Advani, deputyprime minister of India and also a long-term RSSmember. The RSS decided that only its trainedpropagators (pracharaks) should be senior offi-cers in BJP controlled states and in the BJP seniorparty hierarchy.

� Rashtra Sevika Samiti, a women’s organiza-tion created in 1936 as the first RSS affiliate. It iscommitted to the same Hindutva ideology as theRSS, and strongly opposes feminism and secularwomen’s emancipation projects. It adopts thepatriarchal RSS ideology of matruvatparadareshu, which essentially means thatwomen have two roles only, mother or wife. TheHindutva women’s movement has also been vio-lent, and encouraged violence against minoritycommunities, especially through the hate-filledactivities of Sadhvi Rithambara (VHP) and UmaBharati (BJP, VHP). The Sevikas also have theirown cell (shakha) structure, organizational hier-archy, songs, festivals and uniforms, parallelingthose of the RSS.

Other major organizations affiliated to theRSS include:

� Sewa Bharati – the RSS service affiliateformed in 1989

� Sewa International – the internationalfundraising wing for RSS service projects

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� Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA) –the RSS affiliate working among adivasi (‘tribal’)populations

� Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya ShikshaSansthan – the RSS educational affiliate formedin 1976

� Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) –the RSS student affiliate formed in 1948 to com-bat left-wing influences among students andacademics in the university and college sector

� Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh – the RSS labouraffiliate formed in 1955 to defeat ‘communistinfluences’ in industry

� Bharatiya Kisan Sabha – the RSS farmersaffiliate formed in 1979

� Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal – the RSS teach-ers / education affiliate formed in 1969

� Deendayal Research Institute (DRI) – an out-fit formed in 1991 and promoting the RSSintellectual agenda, and the ideology of the JanSangh / RSS worker, Deendayal Upadhyaya

� Bharat Vikas Parishad – an RSS affiliateformed in 1963 and working in a variety ofhealth areas and among poor communities

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THE RSS AND WOMEN

While the RSS has always remained a maleorganization, the first ever affiliate of the RSS wasthe Rashtra Sevika Samiti, a women’s organiza-tion modelled on the RSS shakha structure andhierarchy. Its ideology, and that of the RSS, isbased on a deeply patriarchal and conservativeview of the role of Hindu women. This is the ideaof matruvat paradareshu – all women, exceptone’s wife, are to be treated as one’s mother.Women are present only as wife or mother. TheSamiti’s daily shakha prayer also states the fourstages of the life of a woman as ‘daughter, sister,wife and mother’. It is also the home where awoman’s character is to be moulded. Home iswhere the woman becomes happy, not in herown happiness, which the Samiti considers ‘self-ish’, but by getting ‘trained to seek happiness inthe happiness of others.’ The Samiti’s ideas focusheavily on the need for Hindu women to makepersonal sacrifices and tend to the needs of oth-ers in the home. The reason for the formation ofthe Rashtra Sevika Samiti is described by it in thefollowing way:

Due to western impact women werestruggling for equal rights and economicfreedom. This was leading to individualprogress only, inviting self-centredness.There was every risk of women beingnon-committed to love, sacrifice, serviceand other inborn qualities glorifyingHindu women…Many women wereattracted to the new easy going andshowy way of western life. Forgettingtheir own self, they were fascinated bythe idea of equal rights and economicfreedom. This unnatural change in theattitude of women might have led to dis-integration of family, the primary andmost important unit for imparting goodSanskaras [Hindutva ideas].162

This is a stark dismissal of equal rights and eco-nomic independence for women as an unnaturaland ‘western’ idea. The RSS (and the sangh pari-var more generally) has been strongly opposedto women’s emancipation movements and femi-nism, instead wanting to promote different ideasof Hindu womanhood. Some of these ideas,

because they use Hindu goddesses such asDurga who are traditionally seen as symbolisingstrength and power, have been taken by a fewpeople to mean that the RSS or BJP is supportiveof women’s liberation. Similarly, the promotion ofa small number of particularly hate-drivenHindutva politicians, such as Uma Bharati, SadhviRithambara and Sushma Swaraj, has been seenas strengthening women’s roles. This is seriouslymisleading. The sangh parivar uses various god-desses as role models for women: the obedient,subservient and endlessly sacrificing Sita; thepowerful, and yet motherly and always sacrific-ing Bharatmata, and the idea of Durga asinstilling religious duty rather than any kind ofindependence for women. As in Nazi and Fascistideas, the overriding idea for the RSS is that awoman’s duty is to her immediate family, thefamily of the RSS and the greater family – that ofthe Hindu nation.

The sangh parivar makes a strong distinctionbetween Hindu women, who are to be glorifiedas mothers, wives and sisters, and Muslimwomen, who are seen as adding to an unwantedand ‘polluting’ minority population. A key part ofHindutva ideology is that Muslim women’sallegedly high fertility and Muslim men’s alleged-ly high potency will result in Hindus becoming aminority in their own ‘holyland and fatherland’ –hence a very dangerous Hindutva obsessionwith minority fertility and reproduction. The sys-tematic use of mass rape, sexual torture andmutilation by Hindutva mobs against Muslimwomen and young girls during the Gujarat car-nage in 2002, a key characteristic of the violence,illustrates the brutal way these ideas weredeployed. Similarly, violence against Christianshas included the raping and abuse of Christianwomen.

This distinction between Hindu women andothers can mean that a militant Hindutva wom-anhood is also encouraged through bringingHindu women into activism. However, there areimportant limits to this in the RSS and VHP’spatriarchal ideology: Hindu women are allowedto become militant if their targets are non-Hindumen, but rarely do Hindutva women activistsopenly criticise Hindu men. Hindutva ideologyclaims that in ancient, ‘Aryan-Vedic’ India women

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162 http://www.hindubooks.org/rssw/ch2.htm

APPENDIX 5: WOMEN, DALITS, ADIVASIS THE THE RSS

were somehow equal to men and deeply hon-oured. Similarly, a few historical or mythologicalHindu women personalities are idealised.Hindutva ideologues then claim that the currentdowngraded status and degradation of womenonly occurred after the medieval period anddirectly as a result of the so-called ‘Muslim inva-sion of India’. In this way, an unreal idealisation ofHindu male perfection towards women isclaimed, while every injustice towards women inIndia, from female infanticide, seclusion, sub-caste discrimination, violence and women’s lowlystatus, can be blamed on Muslims. This absolvesHindu men of any responsibility whatsoever forthe continuing injustices faced by women andgirls.

DALITS, ADIVASIS AND THE RSSDuring the 1920s, the rise of dalit movementswas seen as a major threat by upper-castegroups, and the RSS was explicitly created tooppose non-brahmin movements that weredemanding equality and social justice. Any kindof independent movement or force is seen with-in Hindutva as a threat to the integrity, order and‘harmony’ of the ‘Hindu nation’ (though it isHindutva movements themselves that have cre-ated so much violent conflict and severedisorder in India in recent decades, despite theirclaims about social harmony.) A second factorwas the very strongly held view among Hindunationalists that Hindus were ‘a dying race’because of the supposed increase of theChristian population during the colonial period.Therefore dalits and adivasis, who constitute asignificantly large Indian population, had to bebrought under ‘Hinduism’ in order to increase‘Hindu’ numbers and oppose any Christian andIslamic influences among them. The Hindutvabelief is that dalits and adivasis belong by rightto ‘Hinduism’, are degenerate and errant wander-ers from an original ‘Aryan-Hindu’ civilisation, andhave to be ‘brought back’ into and under thecaste system. Hindutva groups do not like thetraditional term ‘adivasi’, which means the origi-nal inhabitants of India prior to the arrival of‘Aryans-Hindus’, but instead ‘vanavasi’, meaningthe ‘forest dwellers’.

Dalit and adivasi groups have a very widevariety of indigenous religious beliefs, practices,traditions and world views. These are not part ofcaste Hinduism and dalit and adivasi deities can-

not be seen simply as Hindu gods and goddess-es (nor as an ‘animism’ that is essentially ‘Hindu’.)The attempt to merge dalits and adivasis intocaste Hinduism was also strongly opposed byupper caste groups and by the Hindu religioushierarchy. This is because in caste Hinduism, dal-its and adivasis, who are not born as Hindus, areconsidered ‘impure’ and ‘polluting’. However,because of their large population, dalits and adi-vasis were useful for the Hindutva project. Theycould be converted to ‘Hinduism’, ‘integrated’ intothe caste system, and prevented from followingother religions and worldviews, such asChristianity, Islam or traditional dalit or adivasibeliefs.

This is how the RSS describes its work amongdalits:

The neglected brethren of our societyhave been made the special targets forproselytization by the Christians andMuslims and for inciting caste wars by allthe three anti-Hindu elements – theMuslim, Christian and the Communists…Our dharmacharyas [priests] had beenrefusing to take the Hindus converted toIslam and Christianity back to the Hindufold… But now under the leadership ofthe [VHP, they] are making suitableamends. They have declared that ourDharma [religion] does sanction such ataking back and are even taking a promi-nent role in many such reconversionceremonies. They have thus given birthto the new Smriti – Na Hinduh patitobhavet – No Hindu is fallen for ever.163

So much for the RSS view of dalits as ‘fallen’.Similarly, for adivasis:

[In the colonial period the] Vanavasiregions were sealed off as ‘ProtectedAreas’ to all except the Christian mission-aries to carry on their nefarious designsof conversion and subversion of theircultural and national loyalties.164

Sewa Bharati Madhya Pradesh highlighted in2000 the strategic importance of converting adi-vasis to Hindutva:

This adventure of Sewa Bharati for tribalgirls’ hostel and their education will pave

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163 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Spearheading National Renaissance, Prakashan Vibhag, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bangalore, 1985, pp. 46-47.164 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Spearheading National Renaissance, Prakashan Vibhag, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bangalore, 1985, p.48.

way for increasing ladies educationamongst tribals and further spreadamongst ladies in general. This is the firstadventure of Sewa Bharati ensuring far-reaching impact during the years tocome. I hope you will kindly agree that,even one girl taken over today by us andbrought up in environment prevailing inour institutions will not only bring her-self above, but also surcharge theatmosphere in her tribe besides her ownfamily. It may appear unbelievable, but itis even numerically true that one singlesuch girl, will grow in to 500 or moresuch males and/or females, having theprecious ancient culture of this divineland i.e. BHARAT, endeared at theirhearts. Moral values such as characterhonesty, sacrifice, nationalism will in thisprocess, be imbibed in each every oneamongst such 500 to make them realasset of this great country.165

‘Conversion’ of adivasis and dalits to Hinduismused to be done through a ceremony calledshuddhi – tellingly, purification. Today, the VHPand other groups also use ceremonies called par-avartan and ghar vapasi. These mean‘reclamation’ into Hinduism,‘homecoming’ and‘turning back’ from being led astray in whichthose converted are told to reject ‘wrong beliefs’,‘come back into the Hindu fold’, and the ‘Hindunation’. There is a caste and ‘race’ superiority here.Hindutva groups have never told brahmins thatthey must reject their beliefs and adopt the reli-gions of dalits or adivasis.

The work of Sewa Bharati, the Vanvasi KalyanAshram, Vidya Bharati, Ekal Vidyalaya, SamajikSamarastha Manch and numerous other RSSprojects among dalit, adivasi and other poorgroups is related to this one key aim – to convertthese groups to the Hindutva world view, toinculcate them in Hindutva ideology, to ‘inte-grate’ them into a caste-based and hierarchicalorder, and to prevent them from aligning withother religions, regional movements or move-ments for social justice and caste emancipation.

Central to this process is to emphasise partic-ular Hindu gods who are not traditional to orworshipped by most adivasi groups, to integrateparticular mythological figures into upper-casteHindu world-views (such as Shabrimata, a poorwoman with whom Ram shared food in someversions of the Rama mythology), and emphasisepowerful fighting deities (such as Hanuman, whois made to represent the strength and courageof forest dwelling groups). The RSS’s Seva Disha1997 report lists 2062 ‘general service’ units, but5317 units working among adivasis, 3603 work-ing in rural areas, and 3782 working in slums,indicating the priority placed on adivasi, dalitand rural work.166 These are not projects aimedat creating tolerant values of Indian citizenshipbut are a rejection of the latter in favour ofmoulding volunteers for the Hindu nation. Theresult of these concerted efforts by Sewa Bharati,Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, the VHP, the Bajrang Daland various other organizations has been thatsections of both rural adivasi groups and urbandalit groups have been involved in someHindutva atrocities against Christian and Muslimcommunities, whereas previously no such con-flicts of this nature existed.

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165 Vishnu Kumar,‘Sewa Bharati Madhya Pradesh’, 25 July 2000, http://www.hvk.org/articles/0700/68.html.166 K. Suryanarayana Rao (All-India RSS Service Head), Seva Disha – Building an Integrated and Self-Reliant Society, Chennai, 1997,

http://www.hssworld.org/seva/sevadisha.

Since 1989, the RSS founder K.B. Hedgewar’sbirth centenary, the RSS has massively expandedits service and education networks across India.Over the same period, parallel organizationshave been started abroad that have a key aim ofraising funds for RSS and VHP projects in India –especially for Sewa Bharati, the Vanvasi KalyanAshram, Vidya Bharati and the one-teacherschools (ekal vidyalayas). Two important interna-tional projects are: the US-based IndiaDevelopment and Relief Fund (IDRF), which hasbeen extensively researched by groups in theUS167; and Sewa International UK.

Indian RSS service organizations include:

� Sewa Bharati (a key RSS service network inIndia, of which Gram Bharati is an importantrural section)

� Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (RSS affiliate workingamong ‘tribal’ groups)

� Bharat Vikas Parishad (RSS affiliate workingin cultural, health, slum, dalit and ‘tribal’areas)

� Vanabandhu Parishad (RSS ‘friends of tribals’society)

� Utkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti (a local RSSaffiliate working in Orissa)

� National Medicos Organization (RSS medical/ doctors affiliate)

� Samajik Samarashta Manch (Forum for SocialIntegration)

� Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (RSS developmentorganization)

Also of importance are the service and educationnetworks of the VHP, including the one-teacherschools (ekal vidyalayas) and the Bharat KalyanPratishthan, a trust created by the VHP in orderfor the VHP to be able to receive funds fromabroad (since the VHP itself cannot legallyreceive foreign funds under Indian law).

The key reasons for the RSS establishing arange of affiliates working in diverse fields ofsocial life are provided by its ideology:

Right from its inception the Sangh hasclearly marked out as its goal the mould-ing of the whole of society, and notmerely any one part of it, into an organ-ized entity.168

A people who had been sunk into grossselfishness, mutual jealousy andinternecine dissensions had to be liftedout of that morass and made intenselyconscious of their obligations towardsthe nation. Further, centuries of foreignrule had bred abject mental slavery… Inshort the battle for national reconstruc-tion had to be pursued on many morefronts until our nation became invincibleand glorious in all its aspects. It is to thissupreme task that the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh has decided toaddress itself. The ever-expandingdimensions in various fields of nationallife have been directed to exactly thispurpose…The ‘power’ of the Sangh…isno other than the band of disciplinedand dedicated Swayamsevaks fired withthe vision of true and total national ren-aissance and equipped with virtuesnecessary to translate that vision intoactuality in every single field of nationallife.169

The ideological purpose behind these organiza-tions is made clear in the RSS’s own servicedepartment report of 1997, Seva Disha:

… A senior, experienced pracharak [full-time propagator] was spared in the year1989 to organize and co-ordinate sevawork through the RSS shakhas and aSeva Vibhag [service department] wasestablished as a part of R.S.S. work.‘Oneupa-shakha [RSS cell], at least one sevakarya [service unit]’ is the proposal of theRSS. A regular short course on seva isnow included in the annual training

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167 The Foreign Exchange of Hate: IDRF and the American funding of Hindutva, Sabrang Communications / South Asia Citizens Web, November 2002.168 M. S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts,Vikrama Prakashan, Bangalore, 1966, p.341.169 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Spearheading National Renaissance, Prakashan Vibhag, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bangalore, 1985, p.44.

APPENDIX 6: RSS SERVICE AND EDUCATION NETWORKS

camps of Sangh so as to expose thetrainees to various dimensions of sevakarya [service work]. Pracharaks [propa-gators] and other workers are appointedat all the Kshetra (regional) levels, prantlevels, vibhag levels, and at almost all dis-trict levels to look after the conduct anddevelopment of seva karya [service activ-ities] in their respective jurisdictions. Onthe eve of the birth centenary of lateParam Poojaneeya Dr. Hedgewar in theyear 1989, late Poojaneeya BalasahebDeoras, the then Sarasanghachalak[supreme leader] of the RSS, declaredthat the RSS would start 5,000 sevakaryas in the country as a tribute to itsfounder. However, on account of thewide-spread network of RSS branches(SHAKHAS) all over the country the SevaVibhag could surpass this number withinjust three years of its announcement…Yet another development is the estab-lishment of an international organizationtitled SEWA INTERNATIONAL which nowhas branches in many countries. SewaInternational will look after the interestsof seva related issues not only in therespective countries where they havechapters but also take up GLOBAL levelcare of sewa work carried out under theSangh ideology.170

The all-India head of the RSS service wingexplained how the nature of service work isdirectly linked to the aim to build a Hindu nation(Hindurashtra). He said deprived groups neededto be awakened and welded together to formthe backbone of a nascent Hindu nation.171 Theservice work of RSS fronts is also directly linkedto the need to expand RSS cells (shakhas), recruitvolunteers and activists for the RSS, and promotea militant Hindutva.172

When the [Sewa Bharati] coaching centrewas started in Meerut, there were manyhurdles. Many tried to have it closed. Butthe karyakartas [workers] persisted withdetermination… Many students attend-ing the coaching centre at Harinagarparticipate in the Sangh Shiksha Varg[RSS annual training camp] training

every year… After return, they startedSangh Shakhas [RSS cells] in their Bastis[slums]. These Shakhas have an averageattendance of 30–35. During the last fouryears, 20 students have received initialSangh Training; 8 have completed SanghShiksha Varg [RSS annual training camp]and have now taken responsibility forShakha work in their areas.173

Even medical help is associated with recruitmentfor the RSS:

In Gujarat, Sewa activities in fact beganwith a mobile dispensary, which pavedthe way for other lines of service… As aresult, during the last couple of years,many local youths have expressed desireto participate in Sewakarya [RSS serviceactivity]. Through the initiative of suchyouths, Samskar Kendras have alreadybeen established in eighteen villages.Likewise, a mobile dispensary started in a‘chawl’ in front of Ashok Mills on NaroraRoad in Karnawati (Ahmedabad) pavedthe way for Bal Samskar Kendra [youngchildren’s inculcation centre] and even aSangh Shakha [RSS physical and ideolog-ical training cell].174

UNDERSTANDING RSS SERVICENETWORKSRSS service networks in India are complex, butthe following points are important for under-standing them:

� The RSS is both a tightly controlled and hier-archical organization and claims not to keepbank accounts nor does it pay income tax. Atthe same time, it works in and through a verywide range of front organizations. In impor-tant ways, especially in recent years, the localRSS itself exists as these front organizations.

� All RSS national service organizations, includ-ing the RSS’s health, education and medicalaffiliates, are committed to Hindutva ideolo-gy and are members of the sangh parivar.

� Funding locally or from abroad goes to front

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170 K. Suryanarayana Rao (All-India RSS Service Head), Seva Disha – Building an Integrated and Self-Reliant Society, Chennai, 1997,http://www.hssworld.org/seva/sevadisha.

171 K. Suryanarayan Rao,‘Concept of service – sewa and worship’, Sanghshaktih Vijetreeyam, Antar Rashtriya Sahyog Pratishthan, 21 December 1995, p.30.172 http://www.sewainternational.org/social.html.173 http://www.sewainternational.org/economic.html.174 http://www.sewainternational.org/economic.html.

organizations created by the RSS and whichare members of its sangh parivar. The RSScannot directly receive funds from abroadwithout contravening the law (since it is noti-fied as an organization of a political natureunder the Foreign Contributions(Regulations) Act 1976 and later additions).However, many of its front organizations canreceive foreign funds.

� RSS service and education networks cover arange of activities and groups, but the mainfocus is adivasi (‘tribal’) and dalit groups, chil-dren from these groups, and educationalactivities among these groups. Key areas ofactivity include border territories, areas (suchas north-east India) that have a history ofindependent, autonomous, regional or seces-sionist movements, and areas that havesignificant Christian communities, Christian-run schools or Christian missionary influence.

� Even where RSS service organizations areseemingly undertaking humanitarian reliefoperations, such as during the Gujarat earth-quake of 2001 or the Orissa cyclone of 1999,one consistent outcome is the creation ofRSS schools and RSS cells (shakhas) amongadivasi, dalit or poor populations.

� RSS fronts exist under an extremely widevariety of local names that often have inde-pendent corporate existence. They canco-exist with and work jointly on projectsundertaken by the VHP, the Hindu JagranManch, the Bajrang Dal, the local BJP andvarious other outfits.

� Locally, the activities of RSS service organiza-tions overlap with each other. All major RSSaffiliates undertake work among ‘tribal’groups, often in the same regions and dis-tricts. Similarly, one affiliate may organizeevents and activities which are participatedin and attended by members and supportersof the other affiliates. For example, RSS one-teacher schools in ‘tribal’ areas (ekalvidyalayas) can be organized under theumbrella of the VHP, Sewa Bharati, VidyaBharati, the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram or all ofthese organizations.

� The VHP also runs a service network that isfocused on similar kinds of activities as theRSS service network, including an obsessionwith adivasi groups. One way of conceptual-ising the VHP and RSS nexus among adivasigroups is that the VHP is often focused onconversion activities among adults, and theRSS often focused on ideological inculcationand training of children. The RSS is explicitthat its service activities have the aim of‘catching them young’.175

� The RSS service department (sewa vibhag)considers all the various projects of SewaBharati, Vidya Bharati, Rashtra Sevika Samiti,the VHP, the VHP’s Mahila Mandal, theVanvasi Kalyan Ashram, the Bharat VikasParishad, the Akhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh andthe one-teacher schools as part of its singlevision and activities.176

� The clearest expressions of the interrelationof the activities of all the affiliates and theirrelation to the RSS’s aims are in: the annualreport by the all-Indian national general sec-retary of the RSS to the highest decisionmaking corporate body of the RSS, its CentralAssembly (Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha);reports to the RSS’s three-monthly CentralExecutive Committee (Kendriya KaryakariMandal); official publications of the RSS pro-duced by its publisher, Suruchi Prakashan(Delhi); and speeches and statements of theSupreme Leader of the RSS and other senioroffice holders.

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175 http://www.hssworld.org/seva/sevadisha/sevadisha1/samajik_samskara.html.176 http://www.hssworld.org/seva/sevadisha/sevadisha1/sevitas.html.

RSS EDUCATION NETWORKS

The RSS massively expanded its sectarian educa-tional and schools network across India fromabout the mid-1990s. Vidya Bharati AkhilBharatiya Shiksha Sansthan, usually known asVidya Bharati, was founded in 1977 and is themain, but not only, RSS educational network. Itruns an estimated 14,000–19,000 RSS schools.The cluster of RSS educational activities includethe one-teacher schools (ekal vidyalayas) run bythe VHP, Vidya Bharati, Sewa Bharati and theVanvasi Kalyan Ashram. There is also a nation-wide network of RSS pre-primary, primary andsecondary schools, as well as college level, tech-nical education and Hindutva teachers’ bodies.Each of these organizations is linked to RSSstrategic aims. RSS schools are typically called:

� Saraswati Vidya Mandirs (RSS schools, whichcan also include residential schools)

� Saraswati Shishu Mandirs (RSS primaryschools)

� Shishu vatikas (pre-primary indoctrination)

� Sanskar kendras (ideological indoctrinationcentres and activities, often one-teacherschools operating in rural, ‘tribal’ or slumareas)

� Ekal vidyalayas (one-teacher schools) orekalavyas

� Vivekananda Kendras / Vidyalayas

RSS schools go under a host of other localnames, such as Bharatiya Vidya Niketan, GyanVidyalaya, Saraswati Bal Vidyalaya and SewaDham Vidya Mandirs. There is a range of RSSgurukulas run by the Karnataka-based HinduSeva Pratishthan and the Jana Seva VidyaKendra, and funded by bodies such as theVikasan Foundation and the (US-based)Maharashtra Foundation. Of considerable signifi-cance in very recent years has been theimportance attached by the RSS to the non-for-mal one-teacher schools (ekal vidyalayas) in‘tribal’ and border areas.

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V. D. SAVARKAR, FOUNDER OFHINDUTVA IDEOLOGY

If they grow stronger they can play the part ofSudeten Germans alright. But if we Hindus in Indiagrow stronger in time these Muslim friends of theleague type will have to play the part of German-Jews instead. We Hindus have taught the Shakasand the Huns already to play that part pretty well.So it is no use bandying words till the test comes.The taste of the pudding is in its eating.

V. D. Savarkar, Hindu Rashtra Darshan, G. Khare,Bombay, 1949, page 65

Hitler knows better than Pandit Nehru does whatsuits Germany best. The very fact that Germany orItaly has so wonderfully recovered and grown aspowerful as never before at the touch of the Nazi orFascist magical wand is enough to prove that thosepolitical ‘isms’ were the most congenial tonics theirhealth demanded… Pandit Nehru went out of hisway when he took sides in the name of all Indiansagainst Germany and Italy. Pandit Nehru mightclaim to express the Congress section in India at themost. But it should be made clear to the German,Italian or Japanese public that crores of HinduSangathanists in India who neither Pandit Nehrunor Congress represents cherish no ill-will towardsGermany or Italy or Japan or any other country inthe world simply because they had chosen a formof Government or constitutional policy which theythought suited best and contributed most to theirnational solidarity and strength.

‘Speech on India’s Foreign Policy’, Poona, 3.11.1938 inV. D. Savarkar, Veer Savarkar’s Whirlwind Propaganda,

A. S. Bhide, Bombay, 1941, pages 51–52.

Germany was perfectly justified in uniting theAustrian and Sudeten Germans under the GermanFlag… The fact is that when Germany was weak,they [the British] partitioned [her] piecemeal. Nowthat Germany is strong, why should she not striketo unite all Germans and consolidate them into apan-German State and realise the political dreamwhich generations of German people cherished.

‘Speech on India’s Foreign Policy’, Poona, 3.11.1938 inV. D. Savarkar, Veer Savarkar’s Whirlwind Propaganda,

A. S. Bhide, Bombay, 1941, page 53.

In 1939, Savarkar’s Hindu Mahasabha celebratedGermany’s ‘solemn revival of Aryan culture, theglorification of the Swastika, her patronage ofVedic learning, and the ardent championship ofthe tradition of Indo-Germanic civilisation’. (M.Casolari, ‘Hindutva’s foreign tie-up in the 1930s:archival evidence’, Economic & Political Weekly,22 January 2000, page 224).

The Nazi newspaper Volkischer Beobachterreported on Savarkar’s speeches in exchange forthe promotion of Germany’s anti-semitic policiesin India. (C. Jaffrelot, The Hindu NationalistMovement in Indian Politics, Hurst, London, 1996,pages 51–52).

This resulted in Savarkar receiving a copy ofMein Kampf from Germany. (M. Casolari,‘Hindutva’s foreign tie-up in the 1930s: archivalevidence’, Economic & Political Weekly, 22 January2000, page 224).

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APPENDIX 7: HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS WITH NAZIAND FASCIST IDEOLOGIES

B. S. MOONJE, K. B. HEDGEWAR,RSS FOUNDERS

British reports had highlighted that from 1927, B.S. Moonje, an RSS co-founder was inspired tomodel the RSS on Fascist and Nazi movements.(M. Casolari, ‘Hindutva’s foreign tie-up in the1930s: archival evidence’, Economic & PoliticalWeekly, 22 January 2000).

In 1931, Moonje visited Fascist Italy and met withMussolini, by whom he was extremelyimpressed. Of the Fascist Balilla movement,which organized military training and fascistindoctrination of young boys, Moonje said: TheBalilla institutions and the conception of the wholeorganization have appealed to me the most… Thewhole organization is conceived by Mussolini forthe military regeneration of Italy, Italians, bynature, appear ease-loving and non-martial, likethe Indians generally. They have cultivated, likeIndians, the work of peace and neglected the culti-vation of the art of war. Mussolini saw the essentialweakness of his country and conceived the idea ofthe Balilla organization… India and particularlyHindu India need some such institution for the mili-tary regeneration of the Hindus… Our institution,the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of Nagpurunder Dr Hedgewar is of this kind, though quiteindependently conceived. I shall spend the rest ofmy life developing and extending this institution ofDr Hedgewar all throughout Maharashtra andother provinces. (Moonje quoted in M. Casolari,‘Hindutva’s foreign tie-up in the 1930s: archivalevidence’, Economic & Political Weekly, 22 January2000, page 220).

The Italy visit inspired Moonje to promote theseideas among Hindus in Maharashtra and beginthe organization of Hindu youth movementsbased on this fascist model. This included a con-ference on Fascism and Mussolini’s politicalthought in 1934, presided by RSS founder K. B.Hedgewar and at which Moonje spoke. (M.Casolari, ‘Hindutva’s foreign tie-up in the 1930s:archival evidence’, Economic & Political Weekly,22 January 2000.)

… unless we have our own swaraj with a Hindu asa dictator like Shivaji of old or Mussolini or Hitler ofpresent day Italy and Germany… But this does notmean that we have to sit with folded hands untilsome such dictator arises in India. We should for-mulate a scientific scheme and carry onpropaganda for it.

Moonje quoted in M. Casolari, ‘Hindutva’s foreign tie-up in the 1930s: archival evidence’, Economic & Political

Weekly, 22 January 2000, page 221.

M. S. GOLWALKAR, RSS SECONDSUPREME LEADER

It is superfluous to emphasise the importance ofRacial Unity in the Nation state. A Race is a heredi-tary Society having common customs, commonlanguage, common memories of glory and disaster;in short it is a population with a common originunder one culture. Such a race is by far the mostimportant ingredient of a Nation… We will notseek to prove this axiomatic truth, that the Race isthe body of the Nation, and that with its fall, theNation ceases to exist.

Madhav Golwalkar, second RSS supreme leader, in We,or our nationhood defined, Bharat Publications,

Nagpur, [1939] 1944, page 21.

… in Hindusthan exists and must needs exist theancient Hindu nation and nought else but theHindu Nation. All those not belonging to thenational i.e. Hindu Race, Religion, Culture andLanguage, naturally fall out of the pale of real‘National’ life…All others posing to be patriots andwilfully indulging in a course of action detrimentalto the Hindu Nation are traitors and enemies to theNational Cause… all those who fall outside thefive-fold limits of that idea can have no place in thenational life, unless they abandon their differences,and completely merge themselves in the NationalRace. So long, however, as they maintain theirracial, religious and cultural differences, they can-not but be only foreigners, who may either befriendly or inimical to the Nation.


Nagpur, [1939] 1944, pages 45–6.

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For Golwalkar, no minority was deserving of any‘right what-so-ever’ or ‘any obligations from theNational race’. Minorities could: live only as out-siders, bound by all the codes and conventions ofthe Nation, at the sufferance of the Nation anddeserving of no special protection, far less any privi-lege or rights. There are only two courses open tothe foreign elements, either to merge themselves inthe national race and adopt its culture, or to live atthe sweet will of the national race. That is the onlylogical and correct solution. That alone keeps thenational life healthy and undisturbed. That alonekeeps the Nation safe from the danger of a cancerdeveloping into its body politic of the creation of astate within a state. From this standpoint, sanc-tioned [by] the experiences of shrewd old nations,the non-Hindu peoples of Hindusthan must eitheradopt the Hindu culture and language, must learnto respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion,must entertain no ideas but those of the glorifica-tion of the Hindu race and culture i.e. they must notonly give up their attitude of intolerance andungratefulness towards this land and its age-longtraditions but must also cultivate a positive atti-tude of love and devotion instead – in a word theymust cease to be foreigners, or may stay in thecountry wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation,claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far lessany preferential treatment – not even citizen’srights. We are an old nation; and let us deal as oldnations ought to and do deal with the foreign raceswho have chosen to live in our country.


Nagpur, [1939] 1944, pages 48–9.

German race pride has now become the topic ofthe day. To keep up the purity of the Race and itsculture, Germany shocked the world by her purgingthe country of the semitic Races – the Jews. Racepride at its highest has been manifested here.Germany has shown how well nigh impossible it isfor Races and cultures, having differences going tothe root, to be assimilated into one united whole, agood lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and prof-it by.


Nagpur, [1939] 1944, page 37.

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Pseudo-secular(ism) – Hindutva organizationsclaim that the protection of minorities, includingrecognition of cultural distinctiveness or repre-sentation, affirmative action and related policiesin a democratic society is illegitimate. This is alsoconsidered to be a ‘pseudo-secular’ effort bynon-Hindutva parties to win ‘vote banks’ fromminorities. However, Hindutva itself is not aboutcreating a more genuine or expansive democrat-ic secularism – its overriding aim is to create aHindu nation-state. In Hindutva ideology, simplythe presence of minority groups in a democracyis seen as a grievous insult to the ‘Hindu nation’.

Hindutva guarantees ‘genuine secularism’ or pos-itive secularism – the falsehood here is basedon two claims: first, that Hinduism has alwaysbeen tolerant, liberal and accommodating ofother (Hindu) sects and traditions within it; andsecond, that Hindutva guarantees secularism.Neither claim is empirically or historically valid.

Integrate into the national mainstream – makegroups, especially dalits and adivasis into sup-porters of Hindutva and the Hindu nation.‘Mainstream’ is the RSS word for a vision of Hindusociety organized by it.

Social harmony (samajik samarashta) or socialintegration – make dalits and adivasis give uptheir independent movements for emancipationand their autonomous aspirations.‘Social harmo-ny’ or ‘integration’ is about evading embeddedcaste barriers, accepting the legitimacy of thebrahminical caste order and reducing dalitoppression to a question of personal under-standing and contact. The RSS frequently calls forthe banning of the word ‘untouchability’, but ithas never called for the banning of the caste(varna) system. The overriding aim is to ‘purify’dalits, integrate them into caste Hinduism andmake them adopt the Hindutva world-view.

Social integration, not social conflict – the RSSviews any independent movements for socialjustice as threats to its vision of an organic Hindunation.‘Social integration’ is an attempt to sub-vert or displace dalit and other movements forsocial justice.

Social upliftment – into a hierarchical casteorder

Anti-social or anti-national forces or ideas –autonomous movements for social justice, inde-pendent identities, regionalist, secessionist orautonomous movements, Islam, Christianity, sec-ularism, Hindus who oppose Hindutva

Inculcate patriotism or nationalism –allegianceto Hindu nationhood not to the secular, liberaland democratic ideas of nationalism that grewfrom the Indian independence movement, or inpost-Independence India. When Hindutvagroups speak of ‘patriotism’ or ‘nationalism’, theydo not mean loyalty to the democratic, federal,secular union of India, but to the ‘Hindu nation’and to Akhand Bharat (‘Undivided India’). The‘Hindu nation’ of the RSS includes not just theborders of India but Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal,Tibet, Sri Lanka, all of Myanmar, much ofAfghanistan, and chunks of other south-eastAsian countries.

Culture, cultural values – this is not ‘Indian cul-ture’, but represents the Hindutva idea of‘sanskriti’, brahminical, upper-caste, northernIndian religions as modified by the RSS

All round development – physical, mental andspiritual training of individuals into the RSSvision of Hindutva

Inculcation of time honoured values and tradi-tions, the values of Bharatiya Sanskriti, Dharmaand patriotism – education into Hindutva

Imparting the correct sanskars, moral develop-ment – ideological inculcation of Hindutva

Moulding personalities – turning individualsinto RSS volunteers (swayamsevaks) working inthe service of the Hindu nation

Character building – a key RSS phrase, relatedto physical and ideological discipline inculcatedin RSS shakhas

The noble task of nation-building – creatingthe Hindu nation

Noble causes – those related to the aims ofHindu sangathan

Selfless service – the idea of the ideal RSS mem-ber who is prepared to forego other personal

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APPENDIX 8: RSS LANGUAGES OF DECEPTION

desires in favour of service for the key purpose ofsangathan and Hindu nation

Like-minded organizations, people or thinking –a euphemism for RSS affiliates, organizations orindividuals supporting RSS ideology

The RSS and its supporters also use a set of slo-gans to make the RSS and its activities appear tobe harmless and committed to humanity. These

include:‘Service to humanity is service to God’(Narseva is Narayanseva); ‘Let us ennoble theworld’ (krinvantu vishwaryam – ‘let us Aryanizethe world’); ‘seva, sanskar, suraksha’ – service, ide-ology and self-reliance are key slogans of a widerange of Hindutva groups, from the RSS to theBajrang Dal and the BJP; ‘A vision in action’; ‘Thewhole world is one family’; ‘Truth is one, sagescall it by many names’; ‘We achieve by our ownefforts’; ‘Let all mankind be happy…’

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APPENDIX 9: GLOSSARY

Adivasi

Adivasi (‘tribal’) secessionist or autonomousmovements

Akhand Bharat

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)Aryan, Aryanism

Ayodhya

Babri mosque (masjid)

Bajrang Dal (BD, Hanuman’s Army)

Bajrangbali

BastiBauddhikBauddhik pramukhBhagwa Dhwaj

Bharat

Bharat Kalyan Pratishthan (BKP)

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, ‘Indian PeoplesParty’)

Bharatiya Mazdoor SanghBharatmata

Literally ‘first dwellers’. Refers to the ‘aborigine’ or ‘tribal’ popula-tions that comprise 8-10 percent of India’s population. Adivasis areoften referred to by Hindutva supporters as people who have ‘fall-en’ from Hinduism and must be converted to the Hindutvaworld-view. The RSS rejects the term ‘adivasi’ since it implies that‘tribal’ people inhabited India before ‘Hindu-Aryans’.In several Indian states and regions, including Nagaland, Tripura,Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Assam, Darjeeling and Jharkhand,some adivasi groups are demanding either secession from orgreater autonomy within the Indian union.‘Undivided India’, meaning both pre-partition India and a much larg-er RSS idea of ‘Hindu territory’ covering India, Pakistan,Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, much of Afghanistan, Kashmir,all of Burma, and large parts of other south-east Asian countries.RSS student affiliate.Aryanism is central to Hindutva ideology, but it does not necessarilyhave the same connotations as the term ‘Aryan’ does in the west.The main Hindutva belief is that India was the original homeland ofthe Aryans, that Aryans bestowed civilization on the world, thatAryans had migrated from India and colonized the world, that Hindureligion is Aryan, the pre-Vedic Harappan civilization was Aryan,and that ancient Aryan-Vedic civilization was perfect and ideal.Town in Uttar Pradesh state and focus of intensive Hindutva activi-ties. In 1992 the medieval Babri mosque in the town was destroyedby Hindutva groups and the VHP is currently working to build a Ramtemple in its place.Sixteenth century mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh state.Hindutva groups claim it was built over a temple that was the birth-place of the mythic God Ram. Destroyed by Hindutva mobs in 1992.Extremely violent youth wing of the VHP, involved in considerableanti-Muslim and anti-Christian violence in India.The Marathi version of the monkey god Hanuman, representingboth fighting strength and subsidiary ‘tribal’ groups. Hanuman hasbeen promoted among adivasi groups as a deity, clearly indicatingthe Hindutva desire to portray adivasis as children of a lesser god.Urban tenement or slum, usually comprised of makeshift shelters.RSS ideological education.RSS / HSS head of ideological education.The RSS saffron flag of the ‘Hindu nation, seen as the RSS’s only‘guru’ or ‘true preceptor’. RSS devotion and ritual donation ofmoney is to its flag.‘India’, but in its use by Hindutva groups, refers to an entirelyHinduized and sacred conception of the territory of India.Front set up by the VHP in India to enable it to receive funds fromabroad.Hindu nationalist political party formed by RSS workers, led by RSSmembers and currently heading the coalition that forms the Indiangovernment. Its key ideologies are Hindutva cultural nationalismand ‘integral humanism’, another Hindutva ideology developed byan important RSS worker in the 1960s. The BJP slogan is ‘Onenation, one people, one culture’. BJP controlled states, such asGujarat, have seen considerable Hindutva violence and massiveexpansion of RSS / VHP fronts. The Gujarat BJP and the Gujaratchief minister Narendra Modi have been seriously implicated in theHindutva carnage against Muslims in 2002.RSS workers affiliate.Deity that is now made to represent the RSS’s view of the ‘holymotherland’. While Bharatmata has been an important Hindu god-dess, there has been no major devotional tradition (sampraday) thatis based on her exclusive worship. The RSS and VHP have used herto represent the ‘Hindu nation’ because there is not a single deity in

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BhujCommunal, communalism

CroreDalit

Dargah

Dharma SansadEkal Vidyalaya

FCRA

FISI

GanveshGhar vapasi

Godhra

Golwalkar, Madhav Sadashiv

Guru dakshina

Gurukula

Harijan

Hedgewar, Keshav Baliram

Hindu (Half-) MarathonHindu dharma

Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM, ‘Forum for HinduAwakening’)

Hindu nation

the vast Hindu tradition that represents the RSS vision ofHindurashtra.Town in Kutch district, Gujarat state.In India, ‘communal’ and ‘communalism’ refer to ideology and prac-tices of discrimination, hatred and violence against another groupbased on factors that include religion, caste, language, ethnicbackground or region.Ten million.Literally ‘downtrodden’. Those outside the Hindu caste system andreferred to as ‘untouchables’ in the pre-Independence period.Subject to systematic institutional discrimination, hatred, prejudiceand violence.A shrine or centre of pilgrimage and devotion in Muslim, most oftensufi-influenced, traditions. A grave of a Muslim preacher consid-ered locally to have been a saint.VHP religious ‘council of the learned’.Important ‘one-teacher schools’ – RSS / VHP schools typically runin remote tribal and border areas or urban slums. Aimed at propa-gating RSS ideology among the next generation of disadvantagedchildren and recruiting them to RSS causes. Usually run by VidyaBharati, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Sewa Bharati and Vanvasi KalyanAshram.Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 1976. Primarily designed toprevent external financial resources from going to Indian politicalparties or affecting the Indian political and democratic process.Organizations notified to be of a political nature are also prohibitedfrom receiving funds from outside India.Friends of Indian Society International, a UK and US based affiliateof the HSS.Uniform, RSS / HSS uniform worn at shakhas and other events.Hindutva ‘homecoming’ ceremony – converting adivasis, dalits,Muslims and Christians to the Hindutva world view.A town in Gujarat. In February 2002, a train carrying supporters ofthe Ram temple campaign who were returning from Ayodhya wasattacked just outside the town reportedly by a large Muslim mob,and almost 60 Hindus were killed. This became the trigger for theHindutva pogrom in Gujarat state against Muslim communities.The second RSS ‘Supreme Leader’ after Hedgewar’s death. Verystrong supporter of Nazi and Fascist ideas. His writings on theHindu nation in the 1930s forbid any citizens rights for minoritiesand celebrated Nazi Germany’s policies. The most important RSSpersonality after Hedgewar, and deeply revered in the RSS and itsshakhas. Golwalkar’s birth centenary in 2006 will be the focus forconsiderable sangh parivar activity in India and abroad.A ritual of annual donation of money to the RSS / HSS saffron flag –the main way of collecting funds from members.Traditionally, an institution of religious discipleship in which an initi-ate lives with and follows the teachings of a guru. Sometimes alsomeans school. Used by RSS education affiliates to name some of itsschools.A term used by Gandhi, meaning ‘children of Vishnu (Hari)’, to referto dalits.One of the main founders of the RSS and its first ‘Supreme Leader’.He is deeply revered in the RSS and its shakhas. Together with B. S.Moonje, promoted Mussolini’s political thought in India.An annual run organized by the HSS.Usually means Hindu religion or religious duty, but turned by RSS /VHP ideologues to mean the natural law and natural order whosekey purpose is to uphold and strengthen the Hindu nation.Violent VHP / RSS affiliate that works to convert Christians and adi-vasi populations to the Hindutva world-view. In Gujarat, it worksclosely with the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and the Bajrang Dal.The RSS family view is that India must become an exclusive ‘Hindunation’ that would replace the current democratic, secular, federalrepublic. ‘Hindu nation’ is based on a two tier idea of citizenship –legitimate citizenship that Hindus possess by virtue of their religion,and a secondary or curtailed citizenship for minorities who followwhat the RSS and VHP consider to be foreign, alien, invader reli-

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Hindu Sahitya KendraHindu Sevika Samiti

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK (HSS UK)

Hindurashtra

Hindutva

India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF)Jankalyan Samiti (People’s Welfare Society)

Kalyan AshramKalyan Ashram Trust (KAT)

KaryakartaKaryakarta VargKaryalayaKaryawahaKendriya Karyakari MandalKeshav Pratishthan

KutchLakhLok Kalyan Samiti (People’s Welfare Society)MananiyaMarg Darshak MandalMLAMoonje, Balkrishna Shivram

National Council for Education, Research andTraining (NCERT)

National Hindu Students Forum (NHSF)

National Human Rights Commission

National Medicos OrganizationOne-teacher schoolsOrganiserOverseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP)

Parampoojaniya (P.P.)

Paravartan

Parivar

Patidar

Pir

Prachar

gions, such as Christianity and Islam.HSS Hindutva literature dissemination centre and bookshop.The HSS UK’s women’s affiliate. Organizes about 30 weeklywomen’s shakhas attended by around 500 women and girls.Dedicated to Hindutva ideology and aims.The RSS branch in the UK having strong and extensive links toIndian RSS. Organizes around 70 weekly physical and ideologicaltraining cells (shakhas) in UK and propagates RSS ideology amongUK Hindus. Has about 1,500 regular attendees. At the core of the UKHindutva organizations.An exclusive Hindu nation-state, the primary goal of followers ofHindutva ideology.Extremist ideology of Hindu supremacy and exclusive Hindu nation-hood. Created by V. D. Savarkar in the 1920s. Key idea is that Hindusare those who share the blood of ‘Vedic-Aryans’, who adhere toupper-caste culture (sanskriti), and who consider India as theirfatherland or holyland. India belongs only to Hindus. Minorities donot belong to India, since ‘their fatherland and holyland’ is else-where. Hindutva is the key political ideology of the RSS and itsfamily of organizations.US-based fundraising wing for RSS projects in India.An RSS service affiliate working in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Orissaand various other states.See Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram.UK charity, part of the sangh parivar, that aims to raise funds forRSS ‘tribal’ projects in India.RSS / HSS worker or activist.RSS / HSS workers camp.RSS / HSS office.Secretary.RSS / HSS central executive committee.Keshav Institute, the headquarters of the HSS UK in Leicester,named after Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, the RSS founder.District of Gujarat state in western India.One hundred thousand.An RSS service affiliate.Venerable or honourable.VHP religious advisory council.Member of the Legislative Assembly, an elected state politician.An early RSS founder, active promoter of militarism and Nazi /Fascist ideas in India, and revered by the RSS today as‘dharamveer’ – hero in the religious struggle.Statutory body of the Indian central government that issues text-books for the central government-controlled school system. Stategovernments have their own state CERTs for their state school sys-tems.UK student body set up by the HSS UK and modelled on the IndianRSS student affiliate. Promotes a range of RSS and VHP projectsamong UK students. Part of the HSS family. Shares HSS UKaddress.Statutorily and legally empowered agency that monitors and aimsto safeguard human rights in India.RSS health and medical affiliate.See ekal vidyalaya.The Indian RSS’s main English language weekly paper.UK and US based sangh parivar organization that lobbies for andpromotes BJP activities, policies and politicians abroad.The principle one to be venerated, applied to the RSS supremeleader.Hindutva ‘turning back’ or ‘reclamation’ ceremony to convert adiva-sis, dalits, Muslims and Christians to the Hindutva world-view.‘Family’, but in the Hindutva context refers to the RSS family ofallied organizations.‘Landholder’, a sub-caste group from Gujarat, of which Patels are amajor section.A Muslim preacher or religious leader in the sufi-influenced or mys-tical traditions.Propagation of RSS ideology.

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PracharakPrant sanghchalakPrarthana

Pratinidhi Sabha

PratishthanRashtra Sevika Samiti

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,National Volunteers Corps)

RugnalaySaffron flagSampark pramukhSaffronization

Sangathan

SanghSangh darshanSangh parivar

Sangh SandeshSangh Shiksha Varg

SanghchalakSankhyaSanskar Kendra, bal sanskar kendraSanskriti, sanskruti

Saraswati Shishu Mandir / Saraswati VidyaMandir

Sarsanghchalak SevikasSewa

Sewa Bharati (SB)

Sewa Education Aid

Sewa International India

Sewa International UK (SIUK)

Full-time RSS worker or propagator.RSS regional head.Prayers. The RSS has its own hymns, prayers, festivals and rituals,the meanings of which have hardly any relation to traditional Hindudevotion. The same RSS prayers, hymns and festivals are followedexactly, whether in India or abroad.Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha is the annual central generalassembly meeting of the Indian RSS. Akhil UK Pratinidhi Sabha isthe HSS UK annual general meeting.Institute or foundation.The RSS women’s affiliate, formed in 1936. Organized like the RSS,runs women’s shakhas and has a nation-wide structure. Follows apatriarchal ideology strongly opposed to feminism and genuinewomen’s equality and emancipation. Dedicated to Hindutva.A paramilitary, cultish organization formed in 1925-1926. Inspired byFascist and Nazi ideas and modelled on Italian Fascist youth militia.Organized undemocratically, an all-male organization based on theidea of obedience to the Supreme Leader and of the SupremeLeader as the principle one to be venerated. Core ideology isHindutva. Dedicated to turning India into an exclusive Hindu nation.Involved and implicated in serious anti-minority violence andhatred. Currently has several million members in India. Branchesoutside India usually called ‘Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh’.Health project or ‘hospital’.See Bhagwa Dhwaj.RSS head of contacts, networking, publicity and the media.Takeover or domination by Hindutva organizations of previouslynon-Hindutva institutions or fields.A key RSS method that means to organize, consolidate, disciplineand strengthen all Hindus under its ideology.‘Society’. The RSS; also used to refer to the RSS family.RSS ideology.A large family of organizations run and organized by, and annuallyreporting to the RSS. The RSS makes a strong distinction betweenits family and organizations outside it, including other Hindu organi-zations. The most accurate translation would be ‘the close family ofRSS allied organizations working under RSS ideology in order tofurther RSS aims’.HSS UK newsletter available to HSS UK members.Annual HSS 8-10 day intensive physical and ideological trainingcamp for its educational propagators.HSS head (president).Count, numbers attending an RSS / HSS shakha.RSS young children’s inculcation centres.The RSS / VHP view of Hindu culture, based on upper-caste, hierar-chical, brahminic and Hindutva ideas. Linked inextricably to‘sanskritik rashtriyavad’, an extreme cultural nationalism.Usual name for RSS schools promoting RSS ideology amongschoolchildren and mostly run by Vidya Bharati, the RSS educationaffiliate.The Supreme Leader of the RSS in India and abroad.Members of RSS / HSS women’s affiliate.‘Sewa’ is a term that can mean giving help or assistance uncondi-tionally to others who need it. It also has religious connotations –in helping others, one increases the likelihood of one’s own ‘salva-tion’. The RSS use of the term means undertaking service for thepurpose of Hindutva consolidation and organization, typicallyextending the RSS’s reach and influence and recruiting for the RSS.The RSS service affiliate. Works in conjunction with various RSSand VHP outfits to provide service activities and recruit for the RSS,especially among dalit and ‘tribal’ groups. Dedicated to the idea of‘Hindu nation’.Sewa International UK project raising funds for RSS education affil-iates in India.The RSS international fundraising wing, raises funds for and pro-motes RSS service projects among Indians outside India.The RSS fundraising wing in the UK. Primarily raises funds for RSSservice and education projects in India.

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SewakaryaShakha

Shibir, shivirShiksharthis, shikshaksShishu vatikasShivaji

Singh, Rajendra (the late)SSVESudarshan, K. S.Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM)

SwayamsevakTaluka

Tribal

Upadhyaya, Deendayal (the late)

Utkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti (UBSS),UtsavVanvasi

Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA, ‘Tribal welfarecentre’)

VargVedic

VibhagVidya Bharati (VB, Akhil Bharatiya VidyaBharati Sansthan)

Vigyan BharatiVijaya Dashmi

Vishwa Dharam Prasar Yatra

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, World HinduCouncil)

RSS service activity.A central RSS method of organization. It means RSS cell or branchthat meets daily (in India) or weekly (elsewhere). In a shakha, uni-formed RSS members undergo both physical training ranging(ranging from military drills and weapons training to playing games)and ideological training. RSS prayers to itself, its first two supremeleaders and to the Hindu nation are undertaken.Training camp.RSS / HSS ‘teachers’ or ideological propagators.RSS pre-primary education projects, usually run by Vidya Bharati.Seventeenth century general who founded the Mahratta kingdom /confederacy. A key symbolic figure for Hindutva organizations whoclaim that the Mahratta confederacy was a proto-Hindu nationbased on war against Mughal (Muslim) domination. However, thedetailed history of Shivaji and the Mahratta kingdom presents littlesupport for this view, not least because Shivaji’s major generalsincluded Muslims, his release from capture was aided by Muslims,a key military adversary of his was the Hindu general of the Mughalemperor’s army, the Mahratta confederacy fought Rajput (Hindu)armies, and Shivaji built mosques and churches in his kingdom toensure religious toleration.Former Indian RSS ‘supreme leader’.See Sangh Shiksha Varg.Current Indian RSS ‘supreme leader’.RSS Hindu nationalist development affiliate that stresses economicnationalism and self-reliance according to Hindutva precepts.Appropriates the term ‘swadeshi’ which was used in the secularIndian freedom movement to refer to the policy of boycotting Britishgoods.RSS volunteer / HSS member.An administrative unit of rural districts in a state. Comprises a groupof villages and normally has its headquarters in a town.An inaccurate shorthand term that refers to the adivasi populationsin India, those officially recognised under the designation ‘sched-uled tribes’.An RSS full-time worker and one of the founders of the Hindunationalist Jan Sangh political party in the 1950s, the precursor tothe current BJP.Major RSS affiliate in Orissa state.Festival. The RSS celebrates six distinctive festivals annually.The Hindutva term for adivasi, or the ‘first dwellers’ of India, the‘tribal’ groups. The Hindutva term means ‘forest dwellers’ ratherthan original people, since Hindutva groups believe ‘Aryan Hindus’were the original inhabitants of India. Violent RSS affiliate working to convert adivasi (‘tribal’) groups tothe Hindutva world view and recruit them to the RSS. Involved inserious anti-Christian and anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat, includingduring the 2002 carnage.Camp.Related to, or claiming to derive authority from one of the fourVedas, texts considered sacred in many caste Hindu traditions. Theperiod during which the Vedas were composed.Department, section or zone.RSS educational affiliate, runs a large network of RSS schools andeducational projects in India. Dedicated to inculcating RSS ideologyamong schoolchildren.RSS affiliate that describes itself as a ‘science council’.Seen as an auspicious day in several Hindu religious traditions, anda focus for festivals.VHP organized global journey to promote Hindutva and VHP cam-paigns.Organization formed by the RSS in 1964 to ‘unite Hindus’ and to actas a ‘church’ of Hinduism. At the forefront of anti-minority violenceand hatred in India. Launched various campaigns against Muslimmonuments (including the ‘Ramjanmabhoomi’ movement to destroythe Babri mosque at Ayodhya), and against Christian minorities.Makes the claim that it represents all the Hindus in the world.

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UK branch of the Indian VHP, also closely associated with HSS UK.Works to promote VHP aims and goals in the UK. Closely linked tothe Indian VHP’s international section.World RSS Camp.RSS / HSS expansion and development workers, usually thoseworking full-time to expand the RSS / HSS network in a new area.Statutory agencies having constitutional status that oversee thewelfare activities of Muslim communities, including maintainingmosques, graveyards and other religious sites.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK (VHPUK)

Vishwa Sangh ShibirVistarak

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