STRIVING FOR A GLOBAL HINDU PRESENCE

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.