After the RSS set foot in Karnataka, the historical friendship was split into two folds in the name of religion. RSS's plan to portray Muslims as strangers gradually succeeded.
Karnataka, Tripura, Assam : ‘The Hindurashtra menace’ spreading like wildfire ! – Part 2
Part – 1
Brahminising folk deities
The RSS adopted the strategy of brahminising folk deities to bring non-Brahmins into the ‘Hindu’ fold. In Tamil Nadu, the RSS converted the village guardian deity Muniyappan into Muneeswaran; Mariamman, the goddess of rain, into a form of goddess Shakti; Kurinji thinai (hill area) god Murugan into Shanmukha and brahminised them. Likewise, it brahminised Karnataka’s folk deities.
In Karnataka, the history of the folk deities is narrated as oral stories during the annual festival. During this festival, chickens and animals were usually sacrificed. Women sing about the history of the folk deities not only during the festival, but also while working in the fields.
In the 1920s, due to changes in Karnataka’s feudal structure and the migration of large number of people to cities in search of work and the Land Reform Laws of 1974, large farms gradually disappeared and more small landowners emerged. Because of their poor economic conditions, after the 1970s, agriculture deteriorated and the folk deity worship also gradually began to decline. The Brahmin coterie made use of this period.
The places where deity worship (Daiva Aradhanay) took place were later termed as shelters of gods (Daiva Sana) and temples were built. And the Brahmins became priests of these temples. The Karnataka folk deity Bhootnaath Shiva was converted into an incarnation of Vishnu. The worship which took place annually was changed into worship on a daily basis. The sacrifice of animals and birds in the temple was prohibited.
In Tamil Nadu, Nandan, who was a Dalit, tried to worship Lord Shiva. He was set ablaze by the Chidambaram Dikshitar Brahmin bloc and was turned into “Nandanar”. Similarly, a tribal named Koraga Thaniya, who was murdered by the Brahmins for entering the temple, was worshipped by the tribes. Today, the RSS brahminised him into Koragajja, an incarnation of Lord Shiva.
The brahmin coterie also did not spare Babbarya, the deity of the Mogaveera fishermen. The fishermen used to worship Babbarya before entering into the sea. Babbarya was converted into a reincarnation of Babbruvahana, the son of Pandava Prince Arjuna and was brahminised. The RSS did this by cooking up a story with a good screenplay that Babbarya was born to Arjuna and Queen Pramila of Kerala.
Even though the folk deities are brahminized, they are not treated according to the vedic or brahminical rituals like the Brahmin gods. Instead they are treated with untouchability.
Fascist soldiers in the name of Vigilante ‘Cow Protection’ Groups
In 1952, immediately after the formation of Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the RSS picked up gauraksha (cow protection) as one of its primary action points. In 1952, in Udupi, a national call was given to observe October 26 as Anti-Cow Slaughter Day. A National Cow Weekly was organised by the RSS in the months of October and November. During a press conference, Sangh parivar organisations like Durga Vahini, Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad called for the formation of a ‘cow protection force’ in every village. At the same time, vigilante cow protection groups were formed in Dakshina Kannada (South Karnataka).
Anti-Muslim campaign was systematically propagated in the name of ‘cow protection’. “Since the Vedic period, one man has killed another; but never a cow. We can kill anyone; even our brother. But we should never kill a cow”. This is being preached as an anti-Muslim propaganda.
After this, mob attacks on Muslims began as planned by the RSS, similar to what’s happening in UP. In 2005, two Muslims, Hajjaba and Hassanabba were accused of smuggling cows and were publicly brutalised and murdered in Udupi district. But Udupi saw its first political mobilisation for gaurakshaks in 1952 itself.
In every meeting of the RSS, vicious campaigns were launched against Muslims, calling them ‘foreigners’, ‘consumers of beef which Indians are not used to’. Even before the establishment of the RSS, there have been anti-Muslim campaigns in Karnataka. In 1933, the Hindu Mahasabha organised its first mass meeting and the chief guest was RG Bhide. He expressed that “Muslims are anti-nationals; supporting the Khilafat movement is an anti-national activity” and a case had been registered against him for his hate speech. After the formation of the RSS, he became the chief editor of Kesari. The depiction of muslims as anti-nationals, which started in 1933, continues till date.
Ganesh Chaturthi and riot yatras
After brahminising the folk deities and nationalising the brahminical culture of Ganesh Chaturthi, the RSS created influence among the non-brahmins. Tilak took up Ganesha worship to hinduize ‘Hindus’ in Maharashtra. Golwalkar instigated the RSS cadres to take up Ganesha worship in Karnataka and thereby paving way to hold riot processions.
Till the 1960s, there was no Ganesha worship in Karnataka. It was only in the 1960s that Ganesh Chaturthi became popular among the people of Karnataka. Before this, there were Ganesha idols only in two places: one at the Kasturba Medical College established by Dr. Tonse Madhava Anantha Pai and other at the RSS’s Head Office Shanthi Nikethan. In the beginning, only Gaud Saraswat Brahmins worshipped Lord Ganesha. Other ‘Hindu’ Shudras did not participate in this. But the RSS attracted people from all walks of life in Karnataka to the Ganesh Chaturthi festival on the 25th anniversary of the festival.
‘Ram Janmabhoomi’ which stirred up religious fanaticism in Karnataka
After the Ganesh Chaturthi, it is the Ram Janmabhoomi movement that assisted the RSS in creation of a vast popular base. It is no exaggeration to say that Advani’s Rath Yatra, started in 1990, and the Ram Janmabhoomi movement had made Lord Rama the hero of ‘Hindu India’. Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Mukti Yagna Samiti was formed in Karnataka to establish roots to the Ram Janmabhoomi among the people. Through this organization, the RSS actively worked among the people in full swing until the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992.
As happened across India, the RSS launched the ‘Kar Seva’ movement in Karnataka also. It asked the people to donate brick for the construction of a temple for Lord Rama at the Babri Masjid site. The brick was received only after performing the pujas in front of each house. This process of conducting pujas and receiving brick was a psychological measure to win over the people to the hindutva ideology.
The Ramayana and Mahabharata were broadcasted on television at the same time when the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was started. Through this, Lord Rama was introduced as a divine incarnation and a Hindu hero to people who did not even know who Rama was. The RSS was only confined to Mangaluru, located along the south coast of Karnataka. After the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, it started spreading in Bengaluru as well.
The poisonous campaign of ‘Love Jihad’
Another poisonous campaign called ‘Love Jihad’, was launched by the RSS to create anti-Muslim sentiment among the Hindus. It was only from 2005 that the term love jihad was widely introduced in Karnataka. In each meeting, the sanghis went berserk by preaching that the Muslim men were attracting hindu girl (through love jihad) and proselytizing.
BJP’s election victory in the 2008 Assembly elections added fuel to the fire. ‘Love jihad’ became a sensational issue in Karnataka. Between 2009 and 2012, the saffron thugs tore off the clothes of women in pubs in the name of ‘love jihad’. In 2009, a Habeas Corpus petition was filed in the Karnataka High Court, after a Hindu girl married a Muslim youth. The peak of the atrocity was that CB-CID inquiry was conducted for this ‘love jihad’ issue.
In 1998, there was a riot in Surathkal because a Muslim youth fell in love with a Hindu girl. Similarly, a Hindu girl named Anita married a Muslim youth. And the couple were killed in a car accident orchestrated by Mohan of the Sangh parivar gang.
Until the RSS set foot in Karnataka, Muslims and people of other religions had a cordial relationship. Karnataka has a delicious history of celebrating the friendship between the butchering Kadhar and the fishing Mogaveera community as a love story. After the RSS set foot in Karnataka, the historical friendship was split into two folds in the name of religion. RSS’s plan to portray Muslims as strangers gradually succeeded.
The Surathkal riots in 1968 was the first Hindu-Muslim riot in Karnataka after the 1947 ‘Regime change’ (i.e., – socalled Independence). It was followed by riots among fishermen at Mangaluru fishing port. Anti-Muslim mentality and the entry of Gaud Saraswat Brahmins into fishing was the basis of the riots. Six Muslims and two Hindus were killed. The oppressed Mogaveera people acted as stooges of the Brahmins in this riot.
After the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, riots became a fashion in Karnataka. The 2006 anti-Muslim riots and the 2008 anti-Christian riots were planned and executed by the RSS thugs. Each and every communal riot in Karnataka shows us that the fascists have succeeded in saffronising the people of Karnataka. Thus, Karnataka has become the first breeding ground for ‘Hindurashtra’ in South India.
In 1952, immediately after the formation of Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the RSS picked up gauraksha (cow protection) as one of its primary action points. In 1952, in Udupi, a national call was given to observe October 26 as Anti-Cow Slaughter Day. A National Cow Weekly was organised by the RSS in the months of October and November. During a press conference, Sangh parivar organisations like Durga Vahini, Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad called for the formation of a ‘cow protection force’ in every village. At the same time, vigilante cow protection groups were formed in Dakshina Kannada (South Karnataka).
After the Ganesh Chaturthi, it is the Ram Janmabhoomi movement that assisted the RSS in creation of a vast popular base. It is no exaggeration to say that Advani’s Rath Yatra, started in 1990, and the Ram Janmabhoomi movement had made Lord Rama the hero of ‘Hindu India’. Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Mukti Yagna Samiti was formed in Karnataka to establish roots to the Ram Janmabhoomi among the people. Through this organization, the RSS actively worked among the people in full swing until the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992.
