Karnataka, Tripura, Assam : ‘The Hindurashtra menace’ spreading like wildfire ! – Part 1
To turn minorities, including Christians, Muslims and the Dalits into fourth-class citizens, who should be oppressed, and turn them into refugees in their own country; to treat women according to Manu smriti, just as creatures created only to please men, and to treat as slaves of the Brahminical patriarchy; to project the democratic demands and needs of the working people, including farmers, workers and small traders as anti-nationals and to project the welfare of corporate capitalists like Ambani and Adani as national interests; to annihilate the revolutionary progressive democratic forces that voice for the interests of the working people; This is the ‘Hindurashtra’ that the RSS, the brahminical fascist organisation, tries to establish. This is what we call as Saffron – Corporate fascism!
In establishing such tyrannical hindurashtra, the RSS has been marching gradually and continuously. This is the threat that our country is facing today. We used to say that Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat are the laboratories of Hindurashtra and models of fascist tyranny. But it had become old news. Today, the Sangh parivar band has also turned Karnataka, Tripura and Assam into its new laboratories.
Recently passed anti-conversion bill in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, places of Christian worship being regularly attacked by saffron thugs in the state; in Assam, the Himanta Biswa Sarma government demolished the settlements of poor Muslims in September in the name of clearing illegal occupation, rendering 800 families homeless and shot two people; in Tripura, the murderous attacks on Marxist party offices and cadres that were followed by attacks on Islamic places of worship and shops during a Vishwa Hindu Parishad rally and arson incidents can’t just be viewed as usual activities of the RSS or atrocities of the BJP. These are all obvious manifestations of saffron terrorism that has taken root in these states!
Like Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tripura and Assam are also turning into laboratories of Hindurashtra.The meaning of this statement is that the majority of people in these states are coming under the influence of Brahminical-Hindutva ideology.
How could the BJP win in a single election in Tripura, which has been CPM’s fortress for 25 years from 1993? The BJP, which did not even win a single seat in the 2013 assembly elections, won 43 seats in 2018 and assumed power. Their vote share increased from 1.5 percent in 2013 to 42.4 percent in 2018. Recently, in Tripura, the BJP won 217 seats out of 222 seats in the local body elections.
In Assam, in 2016, the BJP won the Assembly elections for the first time with a vote share of 29.5 percent, ending 15 years of Congress rule. In the 2016 Assam Assembly elections, the BJP formed alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bodoland People’s Front and won 86 of the 123 seats. The BJP alone won 60 seats. The BJP was expected to lose in the 2021 assembly elections due to anti-CAA protests in Assam. But the BJP alliance won 75 seats and regained power. The BJP alone got 33.2 percent of the votes. When compared to 2016 elections, it may seem that the BJP alliance had lost 11 seats. But the increase in BJP’s vote share asserts the surge in BJP’s popularity among the people.
The only BJP ruled state in South India is Karnataka. Here, in the 2008 assembly elections, the BJP won 110 seats with 33.6 percent vote share and took power. In the 2018 assembly elections, the BJP’s tally had reduced to 104 seats, but its vote share increased to 36.2 percent.
The increase in vote share for the BJP in Karnataka, Assam and Tripura shows that the RSS-BJP’s foundation among people is widening in those states. This foundation was not created by winning elections. On the contrary, the election victory was the result of hindutva influence created by the Sangh Parivar by working for years among the people, according to the unique conditions of the political environment, history and culture of the people in each state. Opportunistic alliances, intimidation of other parties’ members, horse trading of MLAs, and populistic campaigns had only been secondary.
For example, even though the BJP allied with the subservient AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and reaped their votes, the BJP was able to win only in the constituencies, including Nagercoil, Coimbatore (South), Modakurichi and Tirunelveli, where it had already worked and gained influence. Otherwise the BJP will not be able to do so.
Therefore, the notions like “The BJP would not have won even a single seat without ADMK; In other states too, the BJP has only been able to do so through opportunist alliances, false promises and horse trading and it didn’t have any popular influence” are just refusing to look into the reality. And is also a very rude understanding of fascists.
All those who want to understand the Hindurashtra menace in Karnataka, Tripura and Assam, and free India from saffron-corporate fascism should change their innocent understanding that “the BJP is coming to power only through fraudulent means”. They should stop by saying, “by supporting viable alternatives in Legislative Assembly – Parliamentary elections, the RSS-BJP can be defeated”. Instead, they should open their eyes and look into the changes happening on the ground among the people.
Karnataka: South Indian gateway to saffron terrorism!
In Karnataka, the RSS-saffron mob has unleashed the worst ever terror attacks on minorities. The Christians are being targeted in the name of ‘fraudulently converting Hindus’; while the Muslims are being targeted in the name of ‘love jihad’ (accusing Muslim men of converting Hindu girl by marriage) by the Sangh Parivar organisations such as Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sena.
On November 30, a Christian prayer meeting in Belur town of Karnataka’s Hassan district was disrupted and the people were threatened and evicted. At Srinivasapura in Kolar district, the saffron thugs entered the Church and set Bible on fire. On 25th of last December, Christmas celebrations in a Christian school was stopped. In every church, Christians are even afraid to hold a meeting of worship. If complaint is lodged, the police openly act as the RSS’s subordinate force, saying, ‘don’t conduct prayer meetings; we can’t offer security’.
According to a fact finding team’s report, Karnataka ranks third among the most vulnerable states, for attacks on Christians in India. As of September this year, 66 of the 305 religious attacks on Christians across the country took place in Uttar Pradesh, 47 in Chhattisgarh and 32 in Karnataka.
The Muslims are also terrified. The Muslims are being attacked by the saffron thugs just because they reveal their religious identity. In Bagalkote district, two Muslim students, who went to a private tuition class, were assaulted for wearing skull caps by a gang of 15 saffron thugs. Muslim shops are also being vandalised.
Like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, BJP’s Basavaraj Bommai Government in Karnataka had also enacted the Anti-Conversion Law in the last winter session of the Assembly. All of this shows that Karnataka is becoming another Uttar Pradesh.
The Karnataka Brahmin coterie : The breeding ground of the RSS
In Karnataka, the poisonous seed called RSS has grown and is now spreading its branches under different names including Durga Vahini, Bajrang Dal, Sri Ram Sena, Gau rakshaks (cow vigilantes), BJP. The fertile foundation for the growth of RSS were the Brahmins from coastal area of Mangaluru of South Karnataka.
The Chitpavan Brahmins were the foundation for the emergence of the RSS in Maharashtra. Likewise, in Karnataka it is the Konkani speaking Gaud Saraswat Brahmins, Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins, Tulu speaking Shivalli Brahmins and Kannada speaking Havyaka Brahmins. Since they were concerned in brahminical domination and the prosperous vedic period, they naturally mingled with the currents of the RSS and its Hindurashtra plan. They were also the founders of Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj and Akhil Bharat Hindu Maha Sabha in Karnataka, which were formed before the formation of the RSS.
The Brahmo Samaj was formed against Christian missionaries proselytizing in the name of English education. Conversion is not entirely true. Even the brahmins had converted to Christianity. The truth is that in the 1860s, English Christian missionaries provided English education to the Dalits and Billavas. Thus, the Dalits served on par with the Brahmins in the English East India Company. The Brahmo Samaj was formed in Karnataka as a result of Brahmin supremacy against the Dalits. And it campaigned that “Hindus should not send their children to Christian missionaries”.
In 1935, after the formation of the RSS, Karnataka Brahmins became RSS cadres. In Karnataka, the first shakha was established in a small town in Belagavi district; and then in Mangaluru. Canara school established with the financial assistance of Saraswat Brahmins acted as the RSS’s office. This school provided English education along with Vedic culture.
Started in 1970, the RSS’s educational institution “Vidya Bharati” has now grown into a very big institution with 2,000 schools and 30 lakh students. Besides the starting of shakhas and the establishment of the Jana Sangh in 1951, the RSS remained only as an organisation of Brahmins and had no influence over the masses.
The RSS needed a hero called Rama and villain named Muslim to amass and mobilise non-brahmins beyond caste as ‘Hindus’. For this purpose, the RSS adopted various methods and organizational forms.
The increase in vote share for the BJP in Karnataka, Assam and Tripura shows that the RSS-BJP’s foundation among people is widening in those states. This foundation was not created by winning elections. On the contrary, the election victory was the result of hindutva influence created by the Sangh Parivar by working for years among the people, according to the unique conditions of the political environment, history and culture of the people in each state. Opportunistic alliances, intimidation of other parties’ members, horse trading of MLAs, and populistic campaigns had only been secondary.
