RSS and the Great Betrayal of Adivasis
Savera
The government sponsored ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh’ (Tribal Pride Year) ends on November 15, 2025, which is the 150th Birth Anniversary of Birsa Munda, the great tribal leader who led an Adivasi revolt against the landlords and British at the end of the 19th century, and died in jail. The Sangh Parivar, and the BJP-led governments at the Centre and states, have been active in publicising Birsa Munda and other tribal leaders as part of their long-standing strategy of winning over the Adivasi communities of India. Right from after Independence, once the ban on RSS was removed, it has sent its pracharaks (whole time organisers) to tribal areas in both, the Central Indian belt as well as the North-East, to work among tribals, offering services like education, healthcare, etc., and introducing Hindu rituals and customs among them. They have set up a dense network of organisations to give effect to this strategy. Decades of this work has led to increased goodwill and support. But in recent years, even as these efforts received a boost with the Modi government coming to power at the Centre, the aggressive land grab facilitated by the government in order to allow big corporates to exploit mineral resources and set up industrial plants has seriously damaged this goodwill. In fact, the ‘sewa’ (service) of ‘vanvasi’ people – as the RSS refers to Adivasis – has turned out to be just preparing the ground for their assimilation into the mainstream so that their lands and forests can be taken over for corporate profits. It is an unscrupulous betrayal committed by the RSS and its affiliates.
How RSS Looks at Adivasis
MS Golwalkar the chief ideologue of RSS and its second sarsanghchalak (supremo) had long ago written and talked about the vanvasi people. It was he who insisted that the tribal people be referred to as ‘vanvasi’ (forest dwellers) rather than Adivasi which means ancient or original dwellers. The RSS could not accept that there were people who were living in India before the Aryans. Golwalkar emphatically argued that the ‘vanvasi’ were neglected by the rest of the society, deprived of education and prey to superstitions because knowledge of ‘dharma’ was not infused in them. So, he writes, the rest of Hindu society should go to them, educate them, raise their cultural and living condition, and thus show penitence towards the neglect. (Shri Guruji Samagra, Khand 11, p.347)
The superiority of attitude cannot be concealed behind all the lament about society’s neglect of the ‘vanvasis’. The Adivasis are backward, uneducated, mired in superstitious beliefs – it is the duty of non-Adivasi enlightened people to go and help them. This is the core essence that defines RSS approach to the 11 crore Adivasi people of India.
In order to teach ‘dharma’ to the backward Adivasis, it was Golwalkar who sent RSS pracharaks to Jashpur in present day Chhattisgarh, and Assam in the North-East. In 1952, the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA) was set up in Jashpur. The strategy in both regions was similar: win over the ‘vanvasi’ people by providing access to education, healthcare, skill development for better incomes, etc. In this, the RSS was following the playbook of Christian missionaries who had been active in both the regions for a much longer time. Golwalkar and others had repeatedly pointed out that the ‘vanvasi’ people were embracing Christianity due to missionary activities, and it needed to be stopped. In fact, this was one of the primary motivations for starting this work in the 1950’s. The targeted areas were also indicative of this preoccupation with countering Christianity. It must be noted that the RSS-inspired organisations never work in separate silos – there is considerable overlap and convergence. Thus Sewa Bharti, the front that carries out charitable and relief work; Vidya Bharti, which runs schools (including Ekal Vidyalayas and hostels in tribal areas); Sanskar Bharti which carries out religio-cultural activities; and others work along with VKA in tribal areas. Besides these, a major player from the RSS side is the Vivekananda Kendra (Kanyakumari) which was set up by RSS leader Eknath Ranade. The Kendra has been working in the North-East for decades, running schools and other outfits under different names.
Evolving Tactics
Today, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram is a sprawling organization covering most of the states and Union Territories which have Adivasi people living. It runs hostels, primary and middle schools, non-formal education centres (where cultural-religious teaching is done), medical centres, sports centres and ‘Shraddha Jagran’ centres (where again religious observances are inculcated). All these activities cover about 17,000 locations, according to the VKA website.
Between early 1950’s and late 1980’s VKA and other organisations continued a slow and steady trudge through the central Indian belt stretching from Gujarat and Southern Rajasthan, through Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, to Odisha and south Bengal where about two-thirds of India’s Adivasi people reside. The ‘sewa’ work went on, as did the ‘cultural awakening’ activities. But progress was not remarkable. In the North-East too a similar situation prevailed, with RSS pracharaks coming from other states and then leaving in two or three years. In the 1980’s, the rise of the Ram Janmbhoomi movement, and the setting up of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) gave rise to a new more aggressive brand of Hindutva, which coincided with the ongoing anti-immigration movement in Assam. This led to rapid growth in both the regions for similar as well as separate reasons. The political milieu of eroding Congress base due to economic discontent contributed to this, as did the rising identity-based movements.
In the North-East, the RSS and its fronts expanded their strategy to include fostering identity-based activities of various ethnic or ethno-religious groups, which involved glorifying heroes from these communities, developing mythologies of links with ancient traditions and tales like Mahabharat, introducing Sanatan rituals and gods/goddesses, and taking up identity based demands. Thus, the RSS worked among the Donyi-Polo in Arunachal Pradesh; the Seng Khasi movement in Meghalaya; the Zeliangrong Nagas who did not adopt Christianity and whose icon Rani Gaidinliu (1915-1993) has been popularised by the RSS; the Dimasa Kacharis of Dima Hasao district in Assam; etc. In Assam, the BJP government has sanctioned renovation of naamghars, which are prayer halls for followers of Srimanta Sankardev, a neo-Vaishnavite saint of 15-16th century, and announced beautification of his birthplace. The RSS and BJP have been supporting demands of various tribes in the North-East, including the Bodos and Koch-Rajbongshis in Assam, Tripura tribals, and others, often going to the extent of aligning with outfits with separatist links, just to build up support.
Besides this, RSS and its affiliates, especially VKA, VHP and Vivekananda Kendra, have aggressively propagated Hindutva through religious events, rituals, processions, and creating myths of long standing cultural links with Sanatan Dharma (like claiming that Krishna’s wife Rukmini was a princess from Arunachal Pradesh). This has been used to counter Christian influence and also to create hostility towards Muslim immigrants, while allowing accommodation of Hindu immigrants. Thus, the anti-immigrant sentiment that boiled up in the late 1970’s during the Assam Movement has been mostly turned into anti-Muslim immigrant feelings, among not just Ahoms and Bengali Hindus but also among various Adivasi groups. The 2012 massacre of Bengali immigrants by Bodos had the full backing of Hindu fanatic forces.
In the central Indian Adivasi belt, a similar strategy of supporting identity-based movements and events has been adopted, within the larger framework of Hinduisation of Adivasi communities. Along with this, VKA has supported demands like implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) or Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) even though BJP governments have been very tardy, and even indifferent, towards implementing these key laws for the benefit of Adivasis. The anti-Christian propaganda of yore (remember the 1997-99 riots in Dangs, Gujarat, the 1999 murder of Graham Staines and his two sons in Keonjhar, Odisha and the 2004 Kandhamal, Odisha, attacks on Christians) has been a mainstay, but of late, anti-Muslim immigrant rhetoric has become the main propaganda instrument, especially in eastern states like Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
The RSS/BJP also continues with its tactic of supporting various demands for identity-based recognition, like supporting Kurmis in Jangalmahal region of W.Bengal in their agitation for ST status, or the Cooch Behar movement for inclusion of their language in Eighth Schedule and even Union Territory status. The most recent and brazen instance of this was the promise by BJP to give ST status to six tribes in Assam (Tai Ahom, Moran, Matak, Chutias, Koch Rajbonshis and Tea Tribes) which led to members of these communities to support BJP in the state elections. Yet, till date nothing much has been done to fulfil the promise, leading to deep discontent.
The Betrayal
Sections among journalists and academics have tended to be impressed by the organisational spread of RSS affiliates working among Adivasi communities. They point to the success of BJP in winning most of the ST reserved seats in both Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, or the fact that BJP has formed alliances in all North-Eastern states to become partners in governments. However, this is a limited view, often ignoring larger realities. In Jharkhand and W.Bengal, the BJP had initially done well but in the last round of state elections its hold on the ST seats appeared to be slipping away, despite the high voltage campaign centres on anti-immigrant rhetoric. In Chhattisgarh, MP, Gujarat and Rajasthan, Adivasi communities voted in no different way than the others – largely supporting the BJP. It was a choice borne out of political realities in the states. There is no evidence to show that Adivasis prefer the BJP more than non-Adivasis. This is not to argue that BJP support among Adivasis is finished or on the wane but only to provide a context. As far as the North=Eastern states are concerned, there is a long established trend that regional parties veer to supporting the party that is in power at the Centre, mainly because the ruling elites in these states want to continue getting the funds from Centre. With low revenues, insignificant industrialisation and largely agrarian economies in difficult terrain, and plagued by extremist threats, dependence on Central largesse has become essential. Hence the regional parties are now in alliance with BJP. This does not mean that all the people of the states are now BJP or RSS supporters.
Corporate Land Grab
Having said that, it is important to note that the BJP has in fact utilised the goodwill and support created by the work of various RSS outfits to push through its economic agenda in the tribal areas for seizure of precious resources – land and minerals alike. As noted in Peoples Democracy earlier, the BJP state government of Assam tried to hand over 6,000 acres of land in Karbi Anglong to Ambanis for a power plant, 1,134 acres of land in the Kokrajhar district to the Adani Group for another power plant, and 667 acres to a cement company in Dima Hasao district. The first two are in limbo because of stiff resistance from local Adivasi communities while the third is under challenge in the Gauhati High Court. The Himanta Biswa Sarma led BJP state government is carrying out a brutal eviction drive across Assam under the pretext of ousting encroachers who are also alleged to be “illegal immigrants”. The acquisition of tribal and other lands has created deep anger among communities. Meanwhile the Sarma government has signed an MOU with Tata Group for setting up renewable energy projects for which 20,000 acres of land is to be made available.
According to Land Conflicts Watch, an advocacy group that maintains a database of all land related conflicts in the country, Assam has 124 conflicts affecting about 1.89 lakh people. Land conflicts recorded in other North-Eastern states are: Arunachal Pradesh (17 conflicts; 13.3 lakh people affected); Manipur (24 conflicts; 24.2 thousand people affected); Meghalaya (30 conflicts; 1.28 lakh people affected); Mizoram (4 conflicts; 12.2 thousand people affected); Nagaland (18 conflicts; 36.4 thousand people affected); Sikkim (4 conflicts; 4.7 thousand people affected); Tripura (18 conflicts; 93.5 thousand people affected).
Similarly, a series of projects have been taken up in the central Indian belt, mainly in forested areas where Adivasi communities reside. These projects have swallowed up Adivasi lands and handed them over to various big corporate houses including Adani, Vedanta, etc. Land Conflict Watch has recorded the following ongoing conflicts in some of the states with big Adivasi population: Chhattisgarh (42 conflicts; 1.15 lakh people affected); Gujarat (116 conflicts; 3.48 lakh people); Jharkhand (19 conflicts; 2.1 lakh people); MP (43 conflicts; 4.17 lakh people); Odisha (58 conflicts; 3.68 lakh people).
Dream Turns Sour
Along with Adivasi land grab, BJP governments have failed the Adivasis in many ways. These include non-implementation of the FRA and PESA which would have given them more control over their lands. Similarly, tardy implementation of Prevention of Atrocities (POA) Act and Protection of Civil Rights Act (PCRA) have led to impunity among sections who inflict atrocities on Adivasis and discriminate against them or humiliate them. Jobs reservation in government service for Adivasis is also almost never fully filled and the BJP governments do not appear to be concerned about this continued violation of a Constitutional requirement. Allocation of funds for Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) is deficient, and it is mostly spent on general schemes not targeted for Adivasi communities. In the last five years, out of total allocation of Rs 5.57 lakh crore for TSP, only Rs 1.89 lakh crore (or one third of the total) was channelised into targeted schemes, according to an analysis.
All this constitutes a betrayal of promises made by the BJP and the Sangh Parivar to Adivasi communities across the country. This is causing churning in the minds of Adivasis, especially the young, educated generation that was hoping for a better life of dignity with secure jobs and better standard of living. The dream of coopting the Adivasis as foot soldiers under the saffron banner is cracking.
