Remaking India

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi urges global capital to come and “Make in India,” his party and its affiliates have been hard at work remaking India. Both by stealth and brazenly, the foundation stones for the ultimate aim of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the larger Sangh Parivar to create a Hindu rashtra are being put in place by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. It is also now clear, irrespective of the BJP’s statements to the contrary, that the RSS remains at the heart of the attempts to remake Indian society. How else can one explain the way senior ministers of government literally bowed before the RSS as they presented their report cards during the three-day meeting the RSS convened in New Delhi last month?

The all-male upper-caste RSS uses the levers of access, influence and, yes, control over the government to further its agenda of pushing India towards becoming a Hindu rashtra. The RSS has always focused on moulding beliefs and social relations; hence its interest in institutions of education and culture, and on changing even basic aspects of daily life—like food consumption patterns.