'Bunch of Thoughts': Construction of the Hindu Male Self and Others in the works of Golwalkar

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS, is the largest voluntary organization of Hindu men in India. Created in 1925, it is currently estimated to have more than six million members spread among 40,000-50,000 Shakhas (branches) and more than a 100 affiliated bodies (Gandhi 2014), and has become one of the principle forces of right wing nationalist Hindu religion centred politics in India in present times. With its parental control over the daily workings of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is currently running the government, the influence of their ideology is deeply embedded in Indian politics. This Paper looks at the writings of Madhavrao Sadashivrao Golwalkar, the second Sarsanghchalak (Chief) of this organization. With almost three decades of being Sarsanghchalak (1940-1973), it was under his leadership that RSS built up its organizational framework. Golwalkar’s vision has become the vision of the RSS; and hence, his work has become an important source of social influence in contemporary Indian society – of course in matters communal and political, but also gender and sexualisation. Through a feminist analysis of his work using standpoint theory and Pierre Borudieu’s idea of ‘symbolic struggle’ (1989), this paper will look at the construction of the ‘Hindu male self’ and the ‘other’ as a vision of the future Indian society in Golwalker’s works, specially his most popular book, 'Bunch of Thoughts', and how that construction as found resonance in the contemporary Indian society. References: Gandhi, P. 2014. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh: How the world’s largest NGO has changed the face of Indian democracy. DNA, 15 May. http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/standpoint-rashtriya-swayamsewak-sangh-how-the-world-s-largest-ngo-has-changed-the-face-of-indian-democracy-1988636 Samvada. October 24, 2012. Glorious 87: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) turns 87 on today on Vijayadashami. http://samvada.org/2012/news/glorious-87-rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh-rss-turns-87-on-today-on-vijayadashami/ (last accessed on 22 October 2016)