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New Delhi: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), for most of us, has been synonymous with the Ramjanmabhoomi movement since the 1980s. It was the VHP which led this movement from the front and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it alone changed the politics and public discourse of India and established ‘Hindutva’ at the core of Indian public life. You can love or hate it, but you can’t ignore it.
There is an irony here too. As a vocal Hindu organization with a one-point agenda of building a Ram temple in Ayodhya, the VHP is known for most of its sympathizers as well as its detractors.
The fact is that the work, scope and scope of the VHP goes far beyond the issue of Ram Mandir. The clichéd use of social engineering in Indian politics and society began in the 1980s and increased in the 1990s when the BJP began to infiltrate the marginalized castes. For many though, the Ram Mandir movement was the pioneering effort in creating this social engineering.
The fact is that the establishment of VHP in the presence of 40 prominent personalities of the society at Sandipani Ashram in Mumbai on the occasion of Janmashtami in 1964 was a big step in the direction of social engineering. The VHP was founded in the 1950s after the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh realized that caste discrimination was a big mistake of the Hindu society and was being exploited for conversion.
The Niyogi Samiti report in 1956, which detailed the conversions in Madhya Pradesh by Christian missionaries, proved to be an important trigger point. The second trigger point was that the Indian diaspora came in contact with the RSS and sought its help to maintain their links with their cultural roots.
Inspired by these two factors, the second sarsanghchalak of the RSS, MS Golwalkar, better known as ‘Guruji’, chose a low-profile but senior RSS. preacherDadasaheb Apte, to set up an organization that can address these two issues.
Apte started traveling across the country and came in contact with many people abroad. He wrote hundreds of letters and met almost every prominent Hindu religious leader, intellectual and other prominent figures from different walks of social life.
Swami Chinmayanand was instrumental in taking this idea forward and provided constant support to Apte. For almost eight years, the groundwork continued and finally, on the holy day of Janmashtami in 1964, this organization was founded by the name of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Aims to condemn caste based discrimination in Hindu society
One of the major objectives of the founding of the VHP was to ensure that all prominent Hindu religious leaders came together on one platform and unanimously condemned caste-based discrimination in Hindu society. This was not an easy task as many religious sects had completely opposite views.
However, Apte was supported by Guruji, who himself was initiated into ‘Guruji’.sannyasIn the Ramakrishna Mission in the 1930s. Guruji was well associated with all the major Hindu sages and was considered a spiritually advanced leader. His association and respect, as well as the support of Swami Chinmayananda, one of the leading lights of Hindu society at the time, helped Apte smooth the rough edges and bring everyone on one platform.
Thus, the establishment of the VHP was another major step taken by the RSS, which removed the blemishes that kept Hindu society divided. The first major step, which went unnoticed, was the establishment of the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in the 1950s. This organization was established to work in tribal areas to bring them into the mainstream so that conversion could be stopped.
Since its inception, the VHP has worked mostly with a focus on this objective and over the next few decades it achieved a lot until it joined the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in 1983-84 and with it all Identified from.
The first objective was achieved by the VHP within two years of its inception. In 1966, it successfully organized the first World Hindu Conference on the occasion of Kumbh in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. On this holy occasion, delegates from all over the world came and participated in the conference. The attendees included all prominent Hindu religious leaders and they unanimously declared that caste-based discrimination is not supported by any sect or belief or sacred text.
This was followed by a massive expansion of the VHP across the country, and by the early 1970s, it had established its branches in most countries with an Indian diaspora and began to attract huge crowds for its programs.
During the 1960s and 1970s as well as the 1980s, the VHP organized ‘Hindu conferences’ in every district of the country and, therefore, left its mark in every nook and corner of the country. From Jammu and Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat, it not only established its organizational units at the state and district level, but also continued to spread the message against caste-based discrimination. Simultaneously, it also started a movement which encouraged all those who wanted to return to the fold of ‘Hindu’. Religion‘. It also prompted Hindu religious leaders to support the move.
In addition, the VHP also established a ‘Service Wing’, which runs hundreds of schools, libraries, health centres, vocational training centers and single teacher schools in remote areas of the country with no educational facilities. Such single teacher schools are known as ‘.single school‘. The VHP also has a women’s wing that takes up social issues and empowers women and girls by training them in self-defense.
In fact, since the mid-1980s, while the VHP seemed very busy with the Ramjanmabhoomi movement, the truth is that its leaders and activists worked hard together to reach out to new areas and domains and establish a greater social Was doing. welfare or service projects. However, this was being done quietly, and with the media glare largely focused on the Ram Mandir movement, the media and many others missed the point that the VHP was not just about building a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Is. Apart from this, there is much more.
The author is director of research at the RSS-affiliated think-tank Vichar Exchange Kendra. He has written two books on RSS. views expressed are personal
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