{"id":2661,"date":"2014-12-04T11:04:04","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T11:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/?p=2661"},"modified":"2023-09-08T09:12:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T09:12:37","slug":"holier-than-cow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/holier-than-cow\/","title":{"rendered":"Holier Than Cow"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last fortnight saw two debuts: One, the nation for the first time thronged the streets on the issue of gender. Two, RSS Supremo Mohan Bhagwat\u2019s moment of epiphany was well timed, like never before, for the nation to reflect upon his misogyny and sexism. Bhagwat, within a span of three days, came up with two significant statements: a rapist prefers \u2018Indian\u2019 women over \u2018Bharatiya\u2019 women and a woman must satisfy her husband for food, shelter and protection. The Rashtra Sevika Samiti, the RSS\u2019s women wing, with 55,000 shakhas all over the country, not just ascribe to the above tenets but also holds camps and indoctrinates thousands of girls-toddlers, adolescents and old- to propagate the idea of a \u2018culturally sanitised\u2019 Hindu\u00a0<\/i>rashtra and the patriarchal roles it offers women to conform.<\/div>\n
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The rubber slippers were neatly lined outside the assembly hall. Thirty eight pairs, I counted. The multi-coloured chalks decorated the blackboard, next to the shut door, that announced, \u201812th December, Swadeshi Diwas, Akhil Bhartiya Pracharika Abhyas Varg, Sambhajinagar.\u2019 This, one of the many, three day training camp for the Pracharikas of the Rashtra Sevika Samiti commenced just a day before Gujarat went to polls. A sudden cacophony of hurried footsteps broke the silence, that was powerfully guarded by the hillocks of Jatwada village twenty five km from Aurangabad district for Arya Chanakya Vidyadham, the venue for the this training camp.<\/p>\n
Three black dots appeared in the corridor where I was waiting. They were three women.. Sunita, the first dot was the organiser of the camp in her early forties, ran to the hall to instruct the pracharikas to maintain silence. Shanthakaka, the Pramukh Sanchalika of the Samiti, and Sharad Renu, the Bauddhik pramukh tried to match the fast steps of Suresh \u2018Bhaiyyaji\u2019 Joshi, the general secretary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Bhaiyyaji was here to train the pracharikas over the next three days. Shanthakaka\u2019s authority reflected in her salt and pepper hair and double chin, Sharda\u2019s stoic face changed with a flush of reverence and submission. Bhaiyyaji entered the hall, grabbed the microphone and said, \u201c\u00a0Gaiy jab ghas khaati hai to apne bacche ke liye baandh kar nahin laati magar ek mahila kuch bhi khaati hai to apne parivar ke liye baandh kar lati hai<\/em>.\u00a0Is antar ko pehchaano. Yahi ek mahila ki shakti hai<\/em>\u00a0( A cow does not pack grass after she finishes grazing but a woman packs some part of it for her family to bring it back home. Identify this difference. This is the strength of a woman.)\u201d While motherhood is taught as the absolute objective for a woman , it is this subordination of Shanthakaka and her battalion of Samiti whole timers to be indoctrinated by a man with alacrity, is what establishes the existence of the Rashtra Sevika Samiti, India\u2019s largest right wing women\u2019s organisation.<\/p>\n
Even though the RSS was founded in 1925, when women were already active in all shades of anticolonial movements-nonviolent as well as revo\u00adlutionary extremism-it did not even develop a women’s front for the next eleven years. Lakshmibai Kelkar, known as \u2018mausiji\u2019, the mother of a Maharashtrian RSS veteran, had approached Dr. Keshav Bali\u00adram Hegdewar, the founder and leader of the RSS, many times in the early thirties for the admission of women, but he was not responsive. At last in 1936, he agreed to her proposal and advised her to set up a separate women’s wing. The Samiti was formed with intention to create awareness among women about their cultural and social responsibilities. Replicating the RSS schedule, the women are trained in the Hindutva idealogy and paramilitary through shakhas, vargs, yoga and discussions.<\/p>\n
\u201cMausiji lived next to my mausi\u2019s house, where I grew up, in Nagpur. Mausiji was touring the region with her son to spread the network of Samiti Shakhas. Her idea of worshipping Devi Ashtabhuja drew me to the Samiti. Devi Ashtabhuja is a symbol of realisation of Hindu women\u2019s image. That of a woman\u2019s chastity, purity, boldness and sacrifice. Above all, a woman has the divine power of womanhood who can nurture a character based society, \u201dsays 83 year old Pramila Medhe fondly known as Pramila Tai. She is the oldest member of the Samiti and has served with all the four Pramukh Sanchalikas and has been a Samiti Pracharika (whole-timer) for the last sixty years. Epitomising the tenets laid down for a samiti pracharika, Pramila Tai is a celibate like the\u00a0pracharaks<\/i>\u00a0of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.<\/p>\n