It is a strange fact that while the RSS and its leaders have never made any secret as to what their agenda is, there are many apologists – many of them quite sincere – who repeatedly state that ‘they are not really like that’, ‘Oh but they have changed’, ‘You don’t think they really believe that do you?’ etc.

One of the issues on which the RSS made its thoughts very clear was their rejection of the Constitution of India when it was passed in 1949 and their determination to replace it with the Manusmriti. This is also something that its apologists, both honest and dishonest, have attempted to cover up repeatedly. It is a fact, however, that at the time when the Constitution was passed not only did the RSS publicly burn effigies of Dr. Ambedkar and J. Nehru in the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi but Sankar Subbar Aiyer wrote in the Organiser in an article entitled ‘Manu rules Our Hearts’ and Savarkar saw Manusmriti ‘as the scripture that is most worshippable after the Vedas’ and is the ‘basis of the spiritual and divine march of the nation.’ Golwalkar glorified Manu as ‘the first, greatest and the wisest law lawgiver of mankind.’

It is very strange and particularly ominous for Kerala that Sashi Tharoor recently commented that the RSS had ‘moved on’ from its earlier commitment to the Manusmriti (maybe he is the one moving on).

It is important to remember, therefore, that on the 5th of August, 2019 at the time of the bhoomi pooja of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, not only were the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of UP present making a mockery of the secular nature of our Constitution but the RSS Sarsangchalak, Mohan Bhagwat, was also present. He made a short speech on the occasion, reciting only a single shloka from the Manusmriti in Sanskrit:

एतद् देशप्रसूतस्य सकाशादग्रजन्मनः ।
स्वं स्वं चरित्रं शिक्षेरन् पृथिव्यां सर्वमानवाः ॥ २० ॥

From a first-born (i.e, a Brahmana), born in that country
Let all men on earth learn their respective duties.

It is, therefore, clear that the RSS is pursuing its agenda of bringing the entire country within the confines of its Manuvadi Hindutva project which it hopes to bring to fruition in 2025, the centenary year of its foundation.

It was often thought that Kerala has a special ‘exceptionalism’ that makes it immune to penetration by the Hindutva forces. Unfortunately, this is an illusion. Kerala has a very special place in the RSS agenda and its earlier lack of success in the electoral arena made it design a series of methods in order to create what it calls the correct ‘Hindu atmosphere’ in Kerala. It has been relentless in its implementation of these methods in the State. Success in Kerala is of especial importance to the RSS which Golwalkar described as a fortress of all three internal enemies of Hindutva – Muslims, Christians and communists. He said ‘hostile elements within the country pose a far greater menace to national security than aggressors from outside.’ (A Bunch of Thoughts, 1966). His commitment to the capture of this fortress is evident from the fact that he visited Kerala every year until his death.

There should be no doubts about the fact that the Manuvadi Hindutva project aims to destroy everything that makes Kerala unique – its strong syncretic cultural and religious forms and observances that weld various communities together in a common Malayali identity, its vibrant culture of progressive, avant garde literature, cinema, dance forms and theatre, its strong social reform Renaissance movement that pushed back caste oppression, patriarchal dominance, feudal ways of thinking and brought about social transformation in the State, its promotion of rational and scientific thinking and its history of struggle and sacrifice against both colonial and class exploitation.

Manuvadi Hindutva promotes inequality in every sphere. It denies women all rights, it glorifies birth-based inequality and vocations, it justifies upper caste domination of society and religion, it extols economic exploitation and it discriminates against non-Hindus whom it seeks to deprive of their rights to equal citizenship.

It would seem that understanding the real objectives of the Manuvadi-Hindutva project would make it impossible to achieve. Truth, however, is more complicated. A large number of people do not believe the bitter truth about their co-religionists and caste brethren just as many are prepared to support their country, right or wrong. In addition, those in charge of successfully bringing this project to fruition employ guile, media management, use of money and power, lies and arousal of hatred against minorities, oppressed castes and women to successfully add dimensions to their project that are acceptable and even welcomed by large sections of people. The RSS has honed its skills with years of experience of making the victims of its project its supporters and implementers.

The belief in Kerala’s ‘exceptionalism’ which would make it immune to RSS machinations has also contributed to the rather complacent attitude displayed to many of its activities. The RSS itself has had no illusions about the difficulties it will face in what it calls the creation of a Hindu atmosphere in the State and has, therefore, adopted a multi-pronged approach to furthering its objectives in the State. Some elements of this have been utilized successfully in other parts of the country, some are unique to its tactics in Kerala. To successfully counter the RSS march forward, a deep study of its activities in the State is necessary. Along with this, mobilizing masses of people against its machinations is also essential.

As early as 1942, Golwalkar deputed 2 pracharaks, Thengadi and Oak, to set up shakhas in Malabar and Travancore. This was at a time when the young communist party was growing in popularity as it took up the issues of the exploited tenants, agricultural workers, and workers in the beedi, coir, cashew etc. industries. Casteist feudal elements were greatly opposed to both the Congress and Communist movements and the Raja of Nilambur and the Zamorin of Calicut helped establish the first shakhas in Kozhikode and Kannur districts. Dominant caste landlords – many of who belonged to the Congress – were also supportive. In 1943, the first training camp was organized in Kozhikode. Golwalkar attended this and was told by Thengadi that the communist movement was the biggest obstacle in the growth of the organization. He instructed Thengadi to do what was needed to break the movement. After the assassination of Gandhi, RSS camps were raided for weapons by Communists who also disrupted their activities. The RSS also used violence against its opponents. This was described by the poet, ONV Kurup who recalled being beaten up along with other progressive writers at Golwalkar’s instigation. Golwalkar justified the use of violence by using the analogy of the necessity to use the surgeon’s knife to save a life, in this case it was to save the Hindu society.

The role played by the RSS in the ‘Liberation Struggle’ against the first EMS Government is often forgotten. Not only did its cadres play an important role in organizing the struggle and ensuring the participation of a large number of caste Hindus, both men and women, and the ‘liberal’ Vajpayee addressed a large public meeting in Kottayam, exhorting his listeners to bring down the Government. When it was removed, the RSS celebrated with ‘Vijayaya divasams’ in many parts of the country.

Violent attacks by the RSS were also witnessed against the beedi workers who organized the Dinesh Beedi Co-operative when they were driven out of employment at Ganesh Beedi factories with the connivance of the RSS with the owner who was a staunch RSS supporter. Several Dinesh Beedi factories were bombed, killing and maiming many workers. Militant leaders of the beedi workers were also attacked and killed in well-planned attacks. The Communists also retaliated. While they lost more cadres they were also able to act in self-defence.

Since 1948, the RSS has used ‘temple movements’ aimed at uniting large masses of Hindus and targeting a minority group simultaneously. This is necessary in order to create a strong sense of ‘Hindu’ unity without erasing the inequalities of caste. While the placing of idols in the Babri mosque in Ayodhya in late 1948 was the beginning of its most significant mobilization that bore fruit five decades later, the earliest such movement in South India was launched to construct a Vivekananda Memorial at the southernmost tip of the country. It was met with opposition from the Christian fishing community in the area and this was utilized by the RSS and its various Parivar units including the BJP to garner support in the region. It was an RSS cadre from Kerala, PB Lakshmanan, who actually broke the cross that the fishermen had placed there. Most political parties and heads of governments contributed to the construction of the Memorial, a notable exception being Com. EMS Namboodripad who was Chief Minister of Kerala at the time. Even M. Karunanidhi contributed to the cause illustrating how difficult it is for even secular leaders to remain firm in their defence of their Constitutional responsibilities at a time when popular sentiment seems to be in favour of their doing the opposite. Of course, how much of this popular sentiment is genuine and how much the creation of media and vested interests is a moot question that needs serious study and attention.

To make a dent in Kerala, the RSS decided fairly early that it should not concentrate on fighting elections and trying to steadily augment electoral gains. It realized that the composition of the Kerala polity with large numbers of people belonging to the minority communities, large sections of the majority community opposed to its politics because of its involvement in class struggles and social movements and a strong, vibrant Communist movement would not allow it to make electoral gains that would propel it to power. It therefore developed and honed its strategy of infiltrating different sections of Kerala society by various means until a situation was created that it could use for achieving impressive electoral success. It therefore concentrated its efforts on taking over temples and using them as a base for various activities that would create the Hindu atmosphere it had been feeling the lack of since its inception, it would create new and utilize traditional observances that would not only strengthen a sense of Hindu identity and but would also erode strongly held syncretic beliefs between members of different religious communities. In addition, it would also use methods like social service in the fields of health, education and ‘feeding’ to gain the support of the poorer and socially oppressed sections. Women of all classes and castes who are generally extremely religious-minded were specially targeted with programmes of religious instructions, bhajan singing, temple visits and regular performance of old and new rituals while patriarchal norms and ideals of pativrata were regularly inculcated and strengthened among them.

The 2023 publication, ‘Elections Can Wait: The Politics of constructing a ‘Hindu atmosphere’ in Kerala, South India’ by Dayal Paleri and R.Santosh (IIT Chennai) is a detailed analysis of the way in which organisations affiliated to the RSS have worked at various levels in Kodangallur in Thrissur district. Its work started here in 1966 with the establishment of a single shakha and since then it has worked tirelessly ‘in the world of the everyday and the ordinary, from the workplaces, schools and communities, where the realities of Hindu nationalism are created and maintained.’

After its entry into the area, the RSS established branches of 3 organisations – Desiya Seva Bharathi (for social welfare activities), Kerala Kshetra Samarakshana Samiti (for Temple ‘protection’) and Vivekananda Vedic Vision Kendra. ‘The attempt to create a ‘Hindu atmosphere’ by these organisations ultimately aims at building a hegemonic and exclusivist Hindutva sociality, public sphere and subjectivities devoid of the impurities of other religions and irreligiosities of the secular ethos of Kerala society. The Hindutva organisations assume that their paramount mission is to bring about a foundational cultural transformation of society centred on a ‘Hindu atmosphere’ which they believe will naturally lead to the political and electoral preferences of people becoming solely confined to Hindutva politics’.

The Sree Kurumba Bhagavathy temple situated in the heart of Kodangallur dominates the area. It was closed to the ‘lower caste people’ until the strong social reform movements led by the SNDP and other organisations of oppressed social groups. The area also saw intense peasant mobilisations against rural distress and exploitation that led to the growing influence of the Communist movement. This influence has remained strong until very recently. As a result, not only the temple but its surroundings became open, public spaces and the 3 days temple festival not only attracted large numbers of Muslims but many of them were actively involved in its organization.

The 70s and 80s saw movements for land acquisition by the landless led by the Communists and much conflict with the landlords. The RSS actively supported the landlords and were responsible for several violent attacks on Communist leaders and cadres. The RSS started recruiting rich businessmen belonging to the lower castes and this drew members of these communities into its base. Since the 80s, when most of the struggles for occupation of land had been successfully concluded and many of the previously landless became landed and new business groups were emerging due to migrations to the Gulf (and of course much of the credit for these social processes goes to the Communists), the RSS benefited from the support of sections of these newly affluent groups and was able to shift from violent class attacks on the struggling poor and their leaders to social welfare activities. It has been noted that while these did gain some sympathy for the RSS workers the welfare activities of the State, specially under the LDF, are extremely effective as are its focus on public health and education. I should add here that I live in a BJP-ruled State and visit another MP, very often. While government education and health services are abysmal I have not seen any kind of welfare activities being carried out by RSS cadres. It seems that they carry these out in some places in Kerala only to compete with the Left-ruled Govt.

It was the focus on activities around the temple that have, however, paid the greatest dividends to the RSS in Kodangallur. Today there is a wall built around the temple to protect it from the polluting presence of Christians and Muslims, the participation of these communities in the Temple festivals and gatherings is now minimal and RSS supporters and members now oversee not only the temple management but the organization of events in and around the temple and the use of its spaces for conducting ceremonies and rituals for Hindu men, women and children creating the ‘Hindu atmosphere’ that is their objective. Today, the BJP is the single largest party in the Kodangallur municipality.

What was achieved in Kodangallur has been sought to be replicated across the State through various Temple activities and pilgrimages. It is the Sabarimala temple and the pilgrimage in which tens of thousands participate that has been the focus of the Sangh Parivar and its supporters over several decades since 1950 when the original temple caught fire.

The Sabarimala temple had been a religious site visited by members of all communities in earlier years. A Muslim friend of the deity Ayappa, Varava, has his own place in the various beliefs and rituals associated with the place. In fact, he even has his own place within the temple. A church, at a short distance from the temple, is visited by the pilgrims at the end of the pilgrimage. Many changes have, however, occurred. While Varava still occupies a place in the temple there are attempts being made to convert him into a Hindu and there is now almost no participation in the pilgrimage by non-Hindus.

The Supreme Court judgment in 2018 stated that women of all ages were free to visit the temple and that any ban on their entry was a form of untouchability that was anti-Constitutional. While the LDF government in power announced that it would implement the judgment, other parties acted in chameleon-like ways. To begin with, RSS and BJP leaders welcomed the judgment as did leaders of the Congress including Sashi Tharoor. Within days, however, the RSS and BJP smelt an opportunity to make a great leap forward in recalcitrant Kerala and soon came out strongly against the SC judgment. The then President of the State BJP, Sreedharan Pillai said at a meeting, ‘Sabarimala is a puzzle…But we have to put forward an agenda, and others are gradually falling for it. It is a golden chance.’ The Sangh Parivar wanted to start an Ayodhya-like agitation over the issue and Yogi Aditynath opined ‘there were many attempts to insult believers at both holy places and asked them to start an Ayodhya type agitation at Kerala’s hill temple to keep their faith.’

Sreedharan Pillai’s statement that ‘others are gradually falling for it’ proved to be only too correct. Not only did the Congress leadership, including Sashi Tharoor who had a change of heart on arrival in Kerala from Delhi, joined protests against the SC judgment vociferously. Leaders of the Muslim and Christian community joined them enthusiastically.

The political motives behind the movement were revealed by Amit Shah who said in Kannur that ‘The BJP will take over the protest of the Ayyappa devotees. We will not mind throwing out the government if the Kerala govt. tries to steamroll the traditions of the Sabarimala temple.’ Extraordinary that the Home Minister of the Govt. of India threatened to remove a State Govt. for abiding by the decision of the Supreme Court! Sreedharan Pillai went even further and said ‘The protest is not against the issue of entry of women into the temple but against the communist government in the state. Communists are trying to destroy the temple; our protest is against the communists.’

It must be said that the Communists, the left, the progressive forces and those on the side of social justice fought back with all their might. A massive Women’s Wall was organized from one end of the State to the other with nearly 5 million women participants. The Kerala Renaissance and its lessons were recalled again and again. The Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, said repeatedly that the Constitution was above all rituals and traditions and that the SC verdict would be upheld by his Government. For this he had to face not only opposition from many quarters but also casteist abuse.

The Sabarimala conflict revealed the harsh patriarchy that still dominated much of Kerala society. Caste divisions were also uncovered. Large numbers of upper caste women who never participated in movements and agitations took to the streets for a cause that ultimately weakened their own status and rights.

The movement was and should be a great learning experience for the people of Kerala. It brought into focus the forces arrayed on both sides of a battle for minds and hearts that will have very far reaching consequences. It has brought into focus the challenge that the unfinished Renaissance of Kerala faces. It has brought into focus the desperation of the vested interests that are determined to win back all that they have lost in battle after battle led by the Left, by the exploited and the socially oppressed. It is significant that Sabarimala did not become an Ayodhya because of the ‘exceptionalism’ of Kerala. At the same time, the strong mobilization that the reactionary forces could inspire, far beyond the strength of just the Sangh Parivar and its supporters, also needs to be understood.

The resistance demonstrated against this mobilization needs to be strengthened. This is certainly the responsibility of the Left forces but it is a responsibility that must be shared by all those who are determined to combat the Manuvadi Hindutva that threatens to destroy Kerala.

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