Sangh Parivar

The Sangh Parivar ( _hi. संघ परिवार, translation: Family of Associations) refers to the family of organisations built around the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The Sangh Parivar represents the Indian nationalist movementSaha 2004:274] . It includes the Bharatiya Janata Party and several dozen smaller organisations, whose members' expressed political opinions range from the extreme right to the relatively moderate. [Thakurta & Raghuraman, 2004:91]

The Sangh Parivar tends to promote "Hindutva"; economically, it advocates the Swadeshi ("self-reliance") philosophy, though this has also been a source of major disputes between various factions of the Sangh Parivar. [ [http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19981215/34950194.html Toe swadeshi line or lose support, RSS warns BJP] Indian Express - December 15, 1998] [Jaffrelot 2007:343–344]

Religious impact

The Sangh Parivar has spread Hindu nationalism through local "Bhagat schools", in which children are provided a Sangh-sanctioned education. In many villages across India, "dharma raksha samitis" (Religion protection committees) promote religious discourse and form an arena for bhajan performance. The Sangh sponsors calendars of Hindu deities and provides instruction on sanctioned methods of conducting Ganesh Chaturthi and Navaratri. [Cadena, Starn 284] This phenomenon has been documented in Tamil Nadu, where high caste workers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Munnani teach Tamil dalits (untouchables) devotional hymns and persuaded many dalits to begin celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi, a festival not widely marked in Tamil Nadu. [Fuller 284]

The Sangh has also promoted changes in caste identity as its promotion of the God Krishna in Uttar Pradesh led to the lower caste Ahirs joining the Yadav caste, though the Yadav's en masse do not support Hindutva. This phenomenon is described by Poornima Mankekar and Christopher Fuller as an "incorporation of Hindu nationalist themes in the local Yadav narratives". [Fuller 276]

Reception

The Sangh Parivar has been described with monikers spanning the spectrum from "patriotic Hindus" [ [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/761560.cms VHP mail: BJP is like 'secular' Cong] Times of India - July 1, 2004] to "Hindu nationalist" to "Hindu chauvinist". [Breckenridge, Pollock, Bhabha, Chakravarty 2002:56]

There has been considerable debate whether the RSS and Sangh Parivar could be considered fascist. While its constituent organisations present themselves as embedded in the traditional ethos of Hinduism, they have also been characterised as the representatives of authoritarian, xenophobic and majoritarian religious nationalism in India.Bhatt 2001:4]

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which represents the Sangh Parivar in national politics, has formed several governments in India, most recently being in power from 1998 to 2004 under prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Opponents of the BJP maintain that the party's moderate face merely serves to cover the Sangh Parivar's "hidden agenda" of undiluted "Hindutva", detectable by the BJP's efforts to change the content of history textbooks and syllabi as well as other aspects of the education system.Thakurta & Raghuraman, 2004:64]

Members

The Sangh Parivar includes the following organisations (1998 membership figures in brackets):
*Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), "Indian People's Party" (17m)Jelen 2002:253]
*Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), "National Volunteer Association" (2.5m)
*Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, "Indian Farmers' Association" (8m)
*Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, "Indian Labour Association" (4.5m)
*Adivasi Kalyan Kendra (2.3m)
*Fishermen's Co-op Societies (2.2m)
*Vivekananda Medical Mission (1.7m)
*Adhyapak Parishad (1.8m)
*Vivekananda Kendra (1.8m)
*Bharatiya Vikas Parishad (1.8m)
*Deen Dayal Shodh Sansthan (1.7m)
*Rashtriya Sevika Samiti, "National Volunteer Association for Women" (1.8m)
*Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, "All India Students' Forum" (1.8m)
*Janata Yuva Morcha (1.8m)
*Shikha Bharati (2.1m)
*Vishwa Hindu Parishad, "World Hindu Council" (2.8m)
*Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, "Hindu Volunteer Association – overseas wing"
*Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, "Nativist Awakening Front"
*Saraswati Shishu Mandir, "Nursery"
*Vidya Bharati, "Educational Institutes"
*Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram, "Organisation for the improvement of tribals"
*Bajrang Dal, "Army of Hanuman"
*Vijnana Bharati, "Indian Science Movement"
*Samkalp,
*Sanskar Bharati, "Organisation of artists"
*Sahkar Bharati, "Organisation of co-operatives"
*Adhivakta Parishad, "Lawyers' association"
*Vit Salahkar Parishad, "Financial consultants' association"
*Seva Bharati, "Organisation for service of the needy", founded in 1984. [ [http://www.sevabharathi.org/ Sevabharathi.Org ] ]
*Bharatiya Vichara Kendra

Footnotes

References

*cite book |last=Anderson |first=Walter K. |coauthors=Damle, Sridhar D. |title=The Brotherhood in Saffron |year=1987 |publisher=Vistaar Publishers |location=Delhi, India
*cite book
author= Carol A. Breckenridge, Sheldon Pollock, Homi K. Bhabha, Dipesh Chakrabarty
title= Cosmopolitanism
publisher= Duke University Press
location= Durham, NC
year= 2002
isbn=0822328992
*cite book |last=Bhatt |first=Chetan |authorlink= |title=Hindu Nationalism |year=2001 |publisher=Berg Publishers |location=Oxford, UK / New York, NY |id=ISBN 1859733484
*cite book |last=de la Cadena |first=Marisol|coauthors=Orin Starn |title=Indigenous Experience Today |year=2007 |publisher=Berg Publishers |location=Oxford, UK |id=ISBN 9781845205188
*cite book |last=Elst |first=Koenraad |authorlink=Koenraad Elst |title=Decolonizing the Hindu Mind |year=2001 |publisher=Rupa |location=New Delhi, India |id=ISBN 81-291-0746-5
*cite book |last=Fuller |first=Christopher |title=The Camphor Flame |year=2004 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |id=ISBN 9780691120485
*cite book |last=Jaffrelot |first=Christophe |authorlink= |title=Hindu Nationalism |year=2007 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location= Princeton, NJ / Woodstock, UK |id=ISBN 0691130981
*cite book |last=Jelen |first=Ted Gerard |authorlink= |title=Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective: The One, The Few, and The Many |year=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |id=ISBN 052165971X
*cite book |last=Mishra |first=Pankaj |authorlink=Pankaj Mishra |title=Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond |year=2006 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York City |id=ISBN 9780374173210
*cite book |last=Saha |first=Santosh |authorlink= |title=Religious Fundamentalism in the Contemporary World: Critical Social and Political Issues |year=2004 |publisher=Lexington Press |location=Lexington, MA |id=ISBN 9780739107607
*cite book |last=Thakurta |first=Paranjoy Guha |coauthors=Shankar Raghuraman |title=A Time of Coalitions: Divided We Stand |year=2004 |publisher=SAGE |location=New Delhi, India/Thousand Oaks, CA/London, UK |id=ISBN 0761932372

External links

* [http://www.rss.org RSS.org]
* [http://www.vhp.org VHP.org]
* [http://www.sanghparivar.org SanghParivar.org] – Unofficial website of Sangh Parivar