The RSS: Icons of the Indian Right

by Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay

Meanwhile, Savarkar had an epiphany during his solitary confinement in Cellular Jail—something which had been churning in his mind since childhood, all through his rebellious youth, and finally as a young revolutionary nationalist, it began taking shape. It was in jail that Savarkar was convinced that the Hindus were being outnumbered by Muslims.19 He noticed how large number of untouchables were converting to Islam because Hindu prisoners were prone to ostracise their low caste brethren. Once when Savarkar had learnt that an untouchable boy was being converted, he decided to engage with him and earned the terrible epithet of ‘Savarkar Bhangi Babu’ (meaning, someone who took the low castes under his wing). This was obviously a slur, but Savarkar soldiered on and prevented the boy’s conversion. Emboldened by his first success, Savarkar began the process of ‘reverse conversion’ by performing the shuddhi ceremony on several others, and although this move was initially met with stiff resistance, he demonstrated that Hindus who had converted to either Islam or Christianity could be brought back into the Hindu fold. Soon it was time for census enumeration in the country, and Savarkar campaigned vigorously amongst Arya Samajis and Sikhs in jail to register their religion as ‘at least Hindu, with the words Arya and Sikh in the bracket.’20