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JHABUA, INDIA, January 18, 2002: In what was clearly a rare spectacle in a tribal-dominated district, nearly 200,000 adivasis, hands lifted in air, intoned an oath on Thursday to save the honor of the Hindu religion and, if necessary, fight for its cause with at an impressive “Hindu Sangam” organized by the RSS under the aegis of its frontal organization, Sewa Bharati. The resolution passed, in the presence of RSS sarsangachalak (president) K S Sudarshan, also made it amply clear that anyone trying to induce a Hindu to change his faith by dangling the carrot of economic betterment, or threats, was “criminal” under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act 1960 which the district administration was expected to implement in letter and spirit. The superbly organized public rally belied all expectations of the district administration which had not been expecting a crowd of more than 60,000. And if the Sangh’s opponents were hoping to take it to task for spreading the communal virus, they had to be disappointed. For even the speeches were markedly temperate, with even the fiery Sadhvi Rithambara confining her discourse to the need of reigniting Hindu pride to counter the threat of war with Pakistan. Looking at the faces in the crowd it was obvious that the RSS attempt to awaken their dormant religious sentiments had paid off, and spectacularly well. Since the meeting had been conceived with the specific objective of restoring adivasi faith in simple, honest, muscular Hindutva, the good Lord Hanuman being its most potent symbol, most speakers confined their speeches to the evil of conversion, and the innate openness and all-embracing aspect of Hinduism. Sudarshan said the massive turnout was the fruit of three-years’ labor during which 342 single-teacher schools had been set up by the Sewa Bharati. Quite apart from organizing Ganesh “visarjan” festival at 22 places, 3,500 RSS volunteers worked round-the-clock in the 2,455 villages of Jhabua. Worshipful icons of Lord Hanuman were installed in 300,000 homes, and a locket with a picture of the Hanuman given to 2.8 million tribals. Sudarshan said everybody was free to practice his religion, be they Christian or Muslim, but trouble arose when some people said their god was superior to others, and that worshipping him/her alone would lead to eternal bliss.

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