Are Adivasis Hindus?
India: Forthcoming Census and RSS
campaign
Ram Puniyani
Currently massive protests are
going on against NPR, NCR and CAA. At the same time we are going to begin the
process of decadal census in 2021. Already RSS is active in promoting NPR, NCR
and CAA. At the same time RSS wants that Adivasis should register themselves as
Hindus rather than ticking the column of ‘Others’. As per their spokesperson in
the 2011 census many Adivasis groups ticked that column because of which the
population of Hindus came down to by 0.7 percent point to come down to 79.8 %. This
has sent signals to this Hindu nationalist organization and is planning to
ensures that Adivasis tick the column of Hindus in this census.
As such RSS has a very clever
attitude in defining the term Hindu. The first formulation was by Savakakar who
said that all those who regard the land east of Indus as their Holy land and
Father land are Hindus. This left out Muslims and Christians, and brought all
others in the ambit of Hindu fold. From the decade of 1980s due to electoral
compulsions they have been trying to articulate that all those who are living
in India are Hindus. Murli Manohar Joshi stated that Muslims are Ahmadiya
Hindus and Christians are Christi Hindus. Recently there was a controversy when
they restated that Sikhs are not a separate religion but are a sect of Hinduism.
Many Sikh organizations stood up to say that Sikhism is a religion by itself
and recalled the book of Kahan Singh
Nabha, “Hum Hindu Nahin”
As far as Adivasis are concerned
in contrast to what is being planned by Hindu nationalist RSS, many Adivasis
groups have been meeting from last couple of years to demand just the contrary.
As per them there should be a column where they can tick their
identity of Adivasis. There are active
campaigns among Adivasis groups to uphold their Adivasi identity
in Census. As per them in the first census which was conducted in Independent
India, the column, Aborigines, was there, which was later removed forcing them
to club themselves with other religions.
After 1951 in addition to Hindu,
Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jain and Buddha, the column ‘others’ was also there
which was removed in 2011. Even during British period if you look at the censuses of the British era (from 1871 to 1931); there
was provision for tribes to choose Aborigine as an option. There are nearly
83 religious practices being followed by Adivasis. Few major of these are Sarna,
Gondi, Punem, Adi, and Koya. What they share in common is that they are
animists, worship nature and spirit of ancestors; do not have priestly class or
Holy Scriptures and Gods and Goddesses characteristic of the broad Hindu
pantheon.
RSS as per its political agenda
of Hindu Nation regards them as Vanvasi. They pontificate that they have been
part of Hindu society who were driven away to forests to escape the forcible
conversion being done by the Muslim invaders. This concoction is contrary to
the interpretations based on the studies from population genetics. The Hindu nationalist
argues that Aryans have been the original inhabitants of the country from where
they spread to other parts of the World. The book by Tony Joseph,
‘Early Indians’ tells us that away from the race theory, we are all mixed up.
The first inhabitants in our land were the ones who emigrated from South Asia
over Sixty thousand years ago.
The Indo-Aryans came here nearly three thousand
years ago and they pushed the aborigines to the forests and hills and that’s
what constitutes the Adivasi community of India.
Hindu Nationalists like all the
nationalists who construct their nationalism around their religion claim to be
the most original inhabitants of the land, and their interpretations of past
are molded according to that. RSS right from beginning has not been using the
word Adivasi, it calls them Vanvasi. As per its agenda it wants them to be part
of Hindu fold, despite Adivasis themselves saying that they are not Hindus,
they have beliefs and practices which are far away from Hinduism in whatever
form.
To enhance its political reach
from the decades of 1980s in particular its work in Adivasis areas has been
intensified. While ‘Vanvasis Kalyan Ashram’, part of RSS Combine which was
formed much earlier, it was in the decades of 1980s that their work was jacked
up by sending more Pracharaks in Adivasi areas. We see that in Gujarat, Dangs
and nearby area, Swami Aseemanand, in MP, centered around Jhabua-the followers
of Asaram Bapu and in Orissa Swami Laxmananad stationed them. They saw Christian
missionaries working in the field of education and health as an obstacle to
Hinduization of Adivasis. Their propaganda against Christian missionaries led
to the ghastly murder of Pastor Graham Stains. It was this propaganda which led
to anti Christian violence in various forms, the most horrific being the
Kandhamal violence of 2008.
In order to culturally co-opt
them into the fold of Hinduism they began series of religious congregations,
Kumbhs. Shabri Kumbh in Dangs and many other Adivasis predominant areas created
an atmosphere of fear, Adivasis were asked to be part of it, saffron flags were
distributed and they were made to put it in their houses. Two religious icons
were popularized in these areas, one was Shabri and other was Hanuman. To cap
it all, Ekal Vidyalayas, started spreading RSS’s interpretation of history in
these areas. The other angle of the whole thing is that Adivasis are living in
the areas rich in minerals, which the BJP supporter Corporate World wants to
take over.
World over aborigines have similar
pattern. They are animists and what they practice is a culture as such. Many
have converted to other religions out of their choice for sure, but finally in
these matters what is important is the self perception. Hemant Soren the Chief
Minister of Jharkhand pointed out that “Adivasis are not Hindus. ”Keeping that
in mind; the column of Aborigines needs to find its place in our census forms.
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