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NATION:
CONGRESS
Hindu
God Squad
The
Dharma Sansad defers Ayodhya. But the VHP's evangelism is on stream
By Ashok Malik in
Kumbhanagar
If
the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) ever went in for tele-evangelism, Acharya
Dharmendra would probably give Pat Robertson a run for his money. Dressed
in silk, waving his hair and blessed with a gift for sound bites, the
Jaipur-based preacher worked the crowd with a practiced ease at the Dharma
Sansad that took place in Kumbhanagar (Allahabad) between January 19 and
21.
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| VHP's
VATICAN: Senior dharmacharyas take centrestage at the sansad |
It was Dharmendra
who formally made the announcement that the Government had been given
time till Shivratri (March 12) 2002 to "remove all obstacles"
in the path of the construction of a grand temple at the spot where the
Babri Masjid structure stood till December 6, 1992. He did so with the
somewhat convoluted explanation that Hindus set their dates after a comprehensive
study of planets and stars. This was in contrast to Muslims-a community
he didn't quite name but did refer to earlier as "Mecca, Medina and
company"-who depend just on the "kata hua chand" (crescent-shaped
moon). As "clash of civilisation" theories go, it was more Dada
Kondke than Sam Huntington. The utter tastelessness of Dharmendra's insinuation
notwithstanding, it was cheered wildly by the 4,000-odd sadhus who cried
"Jai Shri Ram".
A listener
of Dharmendra called him the Hindu equivalent of a jehadi demagogue. He
was, of course, only one of many speakers: Vidyadeeshtirtha of Gulbarga
(who was visibly amused when a Kannada photographer told him he resembled
classical vocalist Malikarjun Mansur), Doon School-educated Avadeshananda
of the Juna Akhada, Varanasi, Rambhadracharya of Chitrakoot, Ramachandra
Paramhans of Ayodhya, Vidyanandagiriji of Rishikesh, the list could go
on.
Then they
were those whose very presence was eloquent. Once truculent but now diffident
Sadhvi Rithambara tried hiding from the cameras. If the highlight of day
one was the arrival of Jayendra Saraswati, shankaracharya of Kanchi, day
two saw Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, guru of the swish set, unobtrusively seat
himself in the stage's second row.
Despite
the occasional jehadi-type outburst, it was an altogether different analogy
that the Dharma Sansad seemed to imply. This was the VHP's attempt at
a collective Hindu papacy (see box). Just as Ayodhya was not the only
issue the Dharma Sansad expostulated on-cow slaughter, conversions, the
Tehri Dam "which will check the flow of Ma Ganga" were among
other concerns-there is more to the VHP than the Dharma Sansad.
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"By
2001 end we want to touch the hearts of 30 crore Hindus."
Praveen Togadia, Int'l Secretary General, VHP |
Simply put,
the VHP is the Hindu version of an evangelical movement. The Dharma Sansad
is its clergy; but the laity is no less important. Within the Sangh Parivar,
it says, it is the fastest-growing segment.
Praveen
Togadia's Sony laptop certainly believes so. One of the "1,000 files"
on the VHP international secretary general's Pentium III-powered machine
is the biannual report on the body's growth that was circulated at its
district heads' meeting on January 17. On January 1, 2000, the organisation
had an all-India membership of six lakh. "Now," claims Togadia,
"it is 18 lakh." A trebling in one year? The cancer surgeon
from Ahmedabad waves in the direction of his computer. The number's there
on the screen all right; go round the country and count the members if
you want.
The VHP
splits the country into 33 provinces and 770 districts. "We are better
organised than the government," Togadia says, "since there are
only 500-odd (569 actually) revenue districts." The thrust is on
sub-district penetration. The VHP has 7,400 prakhands (for 1 lakh population)
and if you include khands (every 10,000 people) and upkhands (every 2,000
people), it tots up 33,216 chapters. The Bajrang Dal, the VHP's youth
wing, adds another 11,226 units.
So what
does the vhp want to do with its numbers, with its avowed purpose for
2001 being a "Ram dhun programme aimed at 30 crore Hindus"?
It intends to become the largest political lobby in India. Should this
happen, the VHP is confident it will be able to armtwist the BJP into
doing its bidding. The younger child in the Parivar thinks it can be Big
Brother.
In a sense
this may already be happening with the Scheduled Tribe (ST) vote. In 1999,
the BJP won 21 of the 41 Lok Sabha seats reserved for STs. Some of the
states where the VHP's growth has been sharpest over the past year-Gujarat
("1.15 lakh members to 2.72 lakh") or Orissa-have substantial
tribal pockets. The inference is obvious.
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| TOGETHER
AT THE SANSAD: Ravi Shankar
|
To woo tribals
the VHP has duplicated the methods of the very Christian missionaries
it competes with. For one, it runs 6,241 Ekal Vidyalayas, schools catering
to, largely, ST constituencies. The Ekal scheme is now moving to the Nepal
border as well, presumably to match proliferating madarsas.
In Ayodhya
it conducts six-month courses for Ram katha (oration) and in Mathura for
Krishna katha. Today, 227 Ram kathakars and 174 Krishna kathakars sing
the glory of Vishnu's two best-known incarnations in "vanvasi"
areas. Each kathakar apparently covers 40 to 50 villages and is paid a
living wage by the VHP. To Tripura, where tribal violence is acquiring
Christian-Hindu overtones, the VHP and the Dharma Sansad have resolved
to send a "strong delegation" on March 8.
When it's
not playing saffron NGO, the VHP is extending a hand to overseas Hindus
in "some 100 countries", its sister bodies being as diverse
as the Vishwa Hindu Mahasangh in Nepal and the Hindu Council of Kenya.
Combined
with plans to make 2001 a memorable year "because it marks (VHP President)
Ashok Singhal's 75th birthday" and the Ram issue, what does all this
add up to? It means the VHP-the rare Sangh affiliate to effect a generational
shift in that decision-making has passed on to 40-somethings-is going
to require more pacifying on more issues more frequently. The Ramayan
has just begun.
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METRO TODAY
If
planned well, the quake could be the Keynesian opportunity for Yashwant
Sinha to trigger growth, 
