Mission Bengal: A Saffron Experiment by Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Author:Snigdhendu Bhattacharya [Bhattacharya, Snigdhendu]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Politics, Bengal, India, Hindu
ISBN: 9789353579500
Google: K6H3DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Harpercollins
Published: 2020-09-29T18:30:00+00:00

Vishwa Hindu Parishad

The VHP, the Sangh Parivar organization with the largest mass base after the BJP, played one of the most important roles in using Hindutva as a political tool against the Mamata Banerjee government. Spearheaded by Sachindranath Singha, the eastern India organizing secretary (later all-India assistant secretary) – the undisputed ‘boss’ of the VHP in Bengal – the organization built up public contacts through social and religious work, helping orchestrate a surge in Hindu nationalist sentiments.

The VHP pushed for an expansion of its activities in West Bengal in 2011–2012. Praveen Togadia and Ashok Singhal came to Nabadwip in April 2013 for the Vijay Mahamantra Jap Shibir. Togadia paid a visit the next month again, attending an event at Taldi in the Sunderbans area on 26 May. He shared the dais with the RSS’s south Bengal sanghachalak Atul Kumar Biswas and the VHP’s Sachindranath Singha. Togadia lambasted the Mamata Banerjee government for the riots in the Tangra and Kultali areas in the same district. However, in January 2015, after Togadia’s presence in Birbhum coincided with the VHP’s ghar-wapsi programme to ‘reconvert’ tribal Christians to Hinduism in another part of the same district, the Mamata Banerjee government banned Togadia’s entry to the state altogether, and issued a circular in April to this effect.

It did not have much of an impact on the VHP’s expansion plan, though. From holding religious events and protests against atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh and West Bengal, to organizing picnics, quiz competitions on Indian history, debates on contemporary issues, music and conch-shell-blowing contests for women, kabaddi tournaments for boys and girls, and health camps – VHP and its affiliated organizations multiplied their public contacts in the state within a very short period of time.

The VHP functions through a range of organizations attached to its wings: seva (social service), dharma prachar (religious campaign), samajik samarasata (social harmony) and dharmacharya sampark (contact with religious gurus) wings. The samajik samarasta wing worked towards reducing caste conflict. Caste unity is essential to Hindu unity, the Sangh Parivar believed. The seva wing’s activities are categorized under the sectors of education, healthcare, child welfare, orphanages, women’s empowerment, rural livelihood, socio-cultural activity and disaster relief. Its social work is mainly run through trusts. In March 2015, the VHP Bengal unit claimed to be running 160 seva works across Bengal. Of them, 121 were permanent seva projects in the field of educational, health and self-reliance.

The dharmacharya sampark wing maintained contact with the priests of various temples and spiritual gurus. The heads of several ashrams of the Bharat Sevashram Sangh (BSS) and its chain of Hindu Milan Mandirs worked in close collaboration with the VHP. One of them was Kolkata-based Swami Gurupadananda, who headed the countrywide chain of Hindu Milan Mandirs. BSS founder Swami Pranavananda’s photograph and quotations can be seen at many events of the VHP and its affiliated-organizations. In Hooghly district, the VHP’s Hooghly-Chinsurah ‘prakhand’¹⁸had teachers of the Pranab Kanya Sangha, which has been running a primary school in Chinsurah town for years, closely

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