by
PANKAJ SHARMA
Right
wing Sangh Parivar affiliates have worked overtime in last six months
to give a final shape to the launch of a worldwide drive to
strengthen themselves with a new vigor among the Hindus in different
countries. Year 2015 has been earmarked to achieve this goal with a
special focus on the geographies where Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh
sponsored outfits currently have thin presence.
The
data analysis done by RSS indicates that around 14 crore Hindus are
living outside India. As we all know, only three countries in the
world have a majority of its population as Hindus--India, Nepal and
Mauritius. By total numbers, India has most Hindus, but by
percentage, Nepal has the largest majority of Hindu population.
Hinduism
has more than one billion adherents worldwide that is 15 percent of
world population. RSS believes that the conflicts between
Christianity that has 31.5 percent share and Islam that has 23
percent share of world population will become the reason for third
world war and 'it is the primary duty of Sangh Parivar to ensure
that Hindus remain at a safe distance in any such situation'.
Countries
with sizable Hindu population include Nepal
(2.35 crore), Bangladesh (1.86 crore), Pakistan (70 lac), Indonesia
(47 lac), Sri Lanka (30 lac), Malaysia (17 lac), United States (13
lac), South Africa (9.5 lac), Myanmar (9 lac), United Kingdom (8.5
lac) and Mauritius (6.5 lac). Sangh Parivar naturally have a primary
focus on these countries for quite some time. Next on its list have
been the countries like Fiji (3 lac), Trinidad & Tobego (2.5 lac)
and Suriname (1.3 lac) with whom India shares a different sentimental
cord. Sangh Parivar has an elaborate plans for Canada (5 lac) and
Australia (3 lac) and a separate plan for Bhutan which has around 2
lac Hindu population as per RSS estimate.
Now,
South American countries like Guyana with around 2.5 lac Hindu
population, East African countries like Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda
with Hindu population between 2.5 and 3.75 lac each and countries
like Bahrain, Qatar Yemen, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arab in Middle East
which have minimum 50 thousand to maximum 3 lac Hindu population each
are also underlined in the action plan prepared by Sangh Parivar. As
per RSS estimates, Philippines has a Hindu population of 20 lac and
it entitles the South East Asian country on a priority list in Sangh
register. With 3 lac Hindu population Sri Lanka also finds an
important place in Sangh Parivar road map. Zimbabwe in Southern
Africa with 1.25 Hindu population is also a going to be a preferred
destination for RSS pracharaks now and Singapore with 2.5 lac Hindus
is also a place of attraction for Sangh Parivar.
Don't
think that only Netherland's one and a half lac, Italy's more than
one lac, Germany's around one lac, Russia's 60 thousand. Reunion's 55
thousand, Vietnam's 50 thousand, New Zealand's 40 thousand,
Mozambique's 30 thousand, Switzerland's 30 thousand, Norway's 25
thousand, Cuba's 23 thousand, Zambia's 20 thousand, Sweden's 15
thousand, Iran's 13 thousand, Ghana's 12 thousand, Ireland's 11
thousand and Belgium's 10 thousand Hindus need Sangh Parivar's
'parental guidance', RSS internal architects have even identified
countries like Antigua and Dominica in Caribbean, Croatia in Balkans,
Latvia in Eastern Europe and Luxembourg in Western Europe which might
need 'proper direction in times to come and it does not matter if
they have a Hindu population of only few hundred at the moment'.
Sangh
Parivar has a strong presence in Unites States for at least two
decades and its affiliates like Ekal
Vidyalaya Foundation-USA, Sewa International-USA, Vishwa
Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA) and Hindu Swayamsevak
Sangh (HSS) extend financial support to Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh, Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bharatiya
Janata Party. Till May 2014, a total of 140 HSS shakhas were set up
in the United States and these are listed on the HSS website. Five
Sangh-affiliated charitable groups allocated a huge fund of more than
$55 million (around rupees 340 crore) to their program services in
last few years. Most of these funds were sent to Sangh Parivar
organisations in India.
Certain
reports about the activities of Hindu groups in USA suggest that they
have very successfully inserted themselves into curricular,
administrative and financing arenas in academic and educational
institutions, specifically in the disciplines of history, religious
studies, Indology and other fields. Sangh affiliated Hindu Students
Council (HSC) has a presence in minimum 78 US and Canadian university
and college campuses, including those of Duke University, Emory
University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, McGill University, New York University, University of
Wisconsin at Madison, Stanford University, Syracuse University,
University of California at Berkeley, Irvine, and San Diego,
University of Ottawa, and University of Texas at Austin and Houston.
The
map of Sangh Parivar's projects in USA include the establishment of a
religious college, the Hindu University of America, a religious
studies conference, World Association for Vedic Studies and funding
institutions, such as the Infinity Foundation and the Vivek
Welfare and Educational Foundation. The Infinity Foundation has been
very actively doing its work in last 15 years and has given millions
of dollars to researchers, academic associations and academic
departments around the world, including the Association for Asian
Studies, California Institute of Integral Studies, the Center for the
Study of Developing Societies, Columbia University, Harvard
University, Melbourne University, National Institute of Advanced
Studies, Rutgers University, the University of Hawaii and the
University of Texas at Austin. Sangh Parivar's 'internal assessments'
show a very higher degree of satisfaction over the fact that in last
two decades, Sangh-affiliated organizations have emerged as leaders
in Indo-American communities. RSS feels that 'a time has come when
the same model is implemented in all the countries where Hindu
population has a role to play'.
It
is not difficult to sense the real design behind the enthusiasm of
Sangh Parivar in reinventing its international dream in a changed
political situation. RSS has assigned itself with the responsibility
of becoming an umbrella to Hindus of the world and does not want them
to walk in eternal sunshine. But, then whose fault it is if alternate
ideologies could not pursue their road maps in best of their times?
If even now alternate think tanks can strategise something better and
solid than making empty sounds, Hindu minds all over the world could
be fed with better ideological nutrition. But it requires commitment
and commitment is an act, not a word.
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