Mumbai바카라s 38-year-old Pallavi Palekar gave up her job after she heard a lecture on the importance of being with the child when they are young. 바카라The maids cannot give the child the culture that is special to every family,바카라 says Palekar. 바카라I had a good job, now I take tuition at home. I have also enrolled my six-year-old for Raviwar Shala and I can see a change in his behaviour. The naughtiness has reduced and he has started listening to what I say,바카라 she says.
Upper caste homemakers in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Thane are the new target group of Hindu preachers aligned to various groups under the ambit of their mother organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). While the upper caste men are joining the shakhas of the RSS, the women align themselves with the likes of a Malti Tai and Guru Ma, who preach Hindutva through the experiences of daily living. In the last seven sessions of the Right-aligned groups, gendered talk on the role of the homemaker, particularly Brahmin women, came up as a crucial point of focus. 바카라A woman who goes out to work neglects her home. Today, the Hindu traditions are dying because of such women who do not do pooja or fast on auspicious days,바카라 was the lesson at one of these sessions.
In her commanding voice, Malti Tai, an RSS pracharak (worker), warns: 바카라You have to watch your daughters, keep them under control. Girls are running away, drinking, smoking, and going out with boys. You never know what your daughters do outside the house. Be vigilant.바카라 According to her, the personal belongings of their daughters must be checked바카라even if they are grown up and working바카라and they should get back home at a regular time.
바카라Marry them off once they are 22. They will have children early and such children are intelligent. No Hindu must keep their daughters at home after they are 21,바카라 she says. Her solution to girls 바카라going wayward바카라 is through 바카라Garbh Sanskar바카라. 바카라The way you live has a direct impact on the foetus. Don바카라t eat onions and garlic during pregnancy. Otherwise, your child will be a tamsik (vengeful),바카라 she says eyeing the younger women. 바카라There is an auspicious time when a couple should start planning the woman바카라s pregnancy. When followed, the beej (sperm) will be good and the child is often a boy.바카라
In an apartment building in Thane, Anuja Sahasrabuddhe prepares for her 바카라class바카라 comprising 25 women, meeting every Thursday in different homes. 바카라We talk about the teachings of Sant Dynaneshwar and Sant Ramdas. We discuss the Ramayana and how to use it in our daily living,바카라 says Sahasrabuddhe. An older woman바카라their Guru Ma바카라 walks in and says: 바카라You should never enter the kitchen in the morning without a bath. Today, no woman follows this which creates bad energy in the house. When a woman바카라s energy is good, the energy of the house is good,바카라 says Guru Ma.
바카라Is this a new member? Why was I not told about this member?바카라 she queries pointing in the direction of this correspondent. 바카라I was told that you know her, Guru Ma,바카라 blabbers Sahasrabuddhe. 바카라Tell us your name and why are you here?바카라 ask the women. 바카라See, she is not wearing a bindi. She must be a spy of the Muslims. Call the security,바카라 shouts one woman. Getting out of the flat with the security guard of the building was a better option than being in a room full of screaming women.
In Politics, Emotions and Ethics in 바카라New India바카라, professor Ajay Gudavarthy highlights that the RSS, in a true age-old Brahaminical fashion, upholds itself above society바카라s collective gaze and suffers from a disdain of public ethics as against its structured morality, even as it instrumentally uses and routinely condemns it. This Chanakya Neeti is visibly clear as one attempts to trace RSS activists working under its different projects and activities. 바카라We have launched a nationwide signature campaign demanding a Hindu Rashtra, Uniform Civil Code, and population control bill,바카라 says Dharmendra Keserwa, a Kutumba Prabodhan worker in western Uttar Pradesh. Keserwa refers to Chaudhary Harpal Singh, Delhi Adhyaksh for RSS바카라 Kutumba Prabodhan for any further details of their work. Singh, however, refuses to share any input or quote on the same.
Kama Muta: The Science of Emotions
Emotions influence an individual바카라s decision-making capacity and process, irrespective of their rationality. Stimuli from the outside world hit our thalamus and go straight to the amygdala, an ancient emotion centre of the brain, and only then travel to our neocortex where all the rational thinking actually happens. The emotional centre (amygdala) processes information milliseconds earlier than the neocortex, which then leads to irrational acts.
Inspiration, encouragement, nostalgia, fear, hate, pride, and provocation are often exploited or built upon for a deeper connection and understanding of the human psychology of the targeted audience. Based on these psychological triggers in the longer run, the RSS-BJP parivar has successfully been exploiting the voters and influencing their voting patterns. This political advertisement in the vernacular can be referred to as the concept of 바카라Kama Muta바카라.
The cult-like following it has managed to forge would have not been possible merely through the politics of hate, but through the amalgamation of both positive and negative emotions; relying on the narratives of glorious history, strength, honour and purity. The RSS seeks to evoke Kama Muta바카라an emotion described as 바카라being moved바카라, 바카라heart-warming바카라, 바카라stirring바카라 or 바카라being emotionally touched바카라바카라to invoke the feeling of rapture associated with the fusion of a collective body.
바카라Shakha is our factory which builds characters,바카라 says a 70-year-old RSS worker, with pride shining through his old eyes, embodying how the present government has offered to rise above criticism and failures and stand together as a 바카라family바카라, even if they continue to neglect to include those left behind.
It is the RSS바카라 Seva branch, Parivar Prabodhan, Panna Pracharak and the ABVP that have contributed to the ground support of PM Modi. The ideology behind this neeti of the RSS is: 바카라Everyone cannot come to the shakha, so we go to them.바카라 From finding jobs, brides, grooms and to helping senior citizens cope with loneliness, RSS바카라 Panna Pracharaks take responsibility of a certain number of households as listed within the pages of the voter바카라s list. Pune-based Bhaisaheb Patwardhan says, 바카라My children live abroad and visit once in three years. My wife and I were very lonely. One day, the chairman of our society brought a person to my house. Since then, he has been keeping in touch with the households in this building.바카라
바카라Money is not an issue, but loneliness is. Our children are never there when we need them, he is the son of everyone in this building,바카라 says Shraddha Tai, Bhaisaheb바카라s wife. When 32-year-old Vasanti was unable to find a groom, the family sought a paan pracharaks바카라s help who had connected with the residents during the Covid-19 lockdown. 바카라My daughter is a manglik and was not finding a groom. When he heard about it, he offered help.바카라
With events in households, localities, temples and even schools, RSS affiliates tend to encourage families to eat together, increase communication and build strong Sanatan ethics and values. 바카라We have prepared a nine-pointer for families to follow. This includes praying to god, reciting a mantra, or chanting Hanuman Chalisa before eating. Hold at least a 10 minutes discussion on the subject of our traditions, great men (mahapurush) and ancestors. We call this grih sabha, so that the elders also talk to their children and understand them,바카라 a Kutumba Pbodhan member explains.
A Prabodhan worker says that the true ways of a Sanatan family are reflected in the presence of a tulsi plant, a dhwaja (flag), mandir (temple), dhoop-agarbatti (incense sticks), and how they celebrate birthdays. 바카라Irrespective of the events, functions, and programmes, we have just one focus just as Arjun바카라s,바카라 the prabodhan member says, that is to 바카라perpetuate the emotion of deshbhakti (nationalism) and to bring nation first in everyone바카라s hearts바카라.
While the upper caste and upper-class Hindus carry the work for the RSS in posh areas and localities, boys from lower and middle-income groups of impressionable ages are recruited as the younger foot soldiers of this Hindu organisation.
Crises of Emotions
Addressing a gathering of over 50 people inside a school campus in New Delhi after hoisting a Bhagwa flag on Guru Purnima, a disgruntled RSS worker says, 바카라Our national flag was to be saffron, but the so-called secularists inserted two other colours. It is the saffron flag which is our Guru dhwaj.바카라
Display boards in the classroom showcase 바카라Bharat ke veer balak바카라 with pictures of Hindu mythology characters, Shivaji and Haqeeqat Rai. The board glorifies Chittorgarh Johar (mass self-immolation). On the opposite wall are pictures of Rani Laxmi Bai, Bhagat Singh, Tagore, Vajpayee, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel and Chandra Shekhar Azad. 바카라To develop a national education machinery that would build a youth brimming with Hindu allegiance and nationalism...바카라 reads the beginning of a third board in a room titled humara lakshya (Our agenda).
Claiming that it has no other means of generating funds, the RSS raises funds through Guru Dakshina. The exercise begins with Guru Purnima and continues for over a month. It reignites the guru-shishya paddhati (ritual), a Hindu tradition in ancient India. There was no better location to host the programme and generate Guru Dakshina, than in an educational institution run by the RSS itself.
Among the two primary issues discussed in the school campus included raising money for the Hindu nation and the 바카라Muslim threat바카라. 바카라Millions of money are injected into our country for the spread of Islam. There is only one Hindu nation and we would succumb to the Islamic conspiracy if we don바카라t buck up now,바카라 the RSS leaders warn.
Very few children, women and youth can be seen at these events organised and attended by the upper-middle-class urban population who are senior Supreme Court advocates, retired government officers, and businessmen. Ironically, it is the constant criticism of nuclear families and Western culture, which lay grounds for the Sangh바카라s activity of Kutumba/Parivar Prabodhan. 바카라Every time society is going through a crisis, Sangh steps in to intervene. It was in 2007 that a top RSS leader felt that our society바카라s family structure was breaking up due to a communication gap and Westernisation. That바카라s why he proposed the idea of Kutumba Prabodhan,바카라 says a Prabodhan worker.
But the Sangh바카라s teachings are at odds with the culture and practices of other communities and regions. Take Jharkhand바카라s Rajni Murmu, who says that beef was always part of their food culture until one day her grandfather announced it won바카라t be cooked anymore. 바카라RSS workers would visit our village in Deoghar, Madhupur, and say that cows should be revered and not consumed,바카라 says Murmu. 바카라Vermilion was never a requisite for married Adivasi women. In fact, those applying vermilion were thought to be influenced by outside modern culture. But now Adivasi women mimic Savarna Hindu women,바카라 Murmu observes. A former professor, Murmu, says that interference from the upper caste Pracharaks (Dikus), who were always richer, made them better than the Adivasis. This psychology helped them to Hinduise Adivasi men and women. 바카라Live-in, love marriages and divorces were normal in Adivasi culture. Women were free to stay out of their homes late night and enjoyed autonomy. The RSS ideology mocked our traditions and triggered our inferiority complexes. Pre-existing gender inequalities deepened in our own society as arranged marriages, higher control on women바카라s bodies and adapting upper caste traditions have now become a norm.바카라
Haima Deshpande & Swati Shikha
(This appeared in the print as 'House Calls')
