Kanniyakumari and The Seven Sisters: RSS-BJP’s strategy for Tamil Nadu

At a high-level meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the Nilgiris in July 2023 a decision was taken to implement the ‘Seven Sisters Plan’ in Tamil Nadu. This is said to be an improvement over the Kanniyakumari model, which has worked for the party in the southern tip of the state but failed to capture the rest of the state.

Raghupathy, a military veteran settled in Kanniyakumari, is insecure about the ‘growing power of Christians and Muslims’ in the southernmost district of the country. “If this continues for another 10 to 15 years, Hindus will become a minority in Kanniyakumari,” claimed the former Air Force personnel who joined a Hindutva outfit called Kanniyakumari Hindu Senai (KHS), as soon as he retired and settled in his hometown. 

The KHS is the latest entrant in Kanniyakumari, a Sangh stronghold which has held out against the Dravidian tide since the time of independence. Raghupathy said that he joined the right-wing outfit mainly to protect Hinduism from Christian conversions and revealed, "In our organisation, there are more than 500 military veterans, especially from the Border Security Force (BSF)." 

Raghupathy's concerns align closely with a narrative that has dominated the socio-political discourse in Kanniyakumari for at least four decades. This narrative has, in turn, transformed the Kanniyakumari region into a notable success story for the Hindu Munnani, RSS and its affiliates. 

The unique social mosaic of Kanniyakumari, where Christians and Hindus are roughly equal in number, provided an ideal environment for Hindutva forces to create tropes about a so-called ‘demographic threat’ to the existence of Hindus. It’s precisely this success story that the RSS and other Hindutva groups have been eager to replicate in other parts of Tamil Nadu. But their ambitions have been realised, that too only in part, in pockets such as the Western region.

After the passing of Dravidian stalwarts M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu's political terrain has undergone significant transformation. With this shift, the RSS and its political arm, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saw an opportunity to expand their influence in a state that has traditionally eluded the saffron outfits.

Unlike in the past, the RSS, which had grown significantly under the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) regime, took more strident positions to challenge MK Stalin’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government. 

The Sangh's’ newfound intensity was most visible in September 2022, when the state government banned the RSS’ annual route march which was scheduled to pass through 51 locations across Tamil Nadu. The state government cited law and order concerns as the reason for the ban but their concern wasn't that thousands of rightwing volunteers would take over the streets. The government said it was worried about possible attacks on the rally by activists of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI).

The Hindutva organisations and its many affiliates acted swiftly to make the ban a rallying point. There were pitched confrontations between Sangh activists and the DMK workers in various parts of the state. While most of the Sangh’s attempts to hold public demonstrations were stymied by the government, Hindutva groups managed to demonstrate that they had significant online support in the state. Their ground strategy was to litigate. The RSS and its sympathisers filed 50 writ petitions in the Madras High Court (HC) challenging the government's ban on the route march. 

The Sangh managed to ultimately turn the tables on the DMK as the Madras HC and later the Supreme Court (SC), in April 2023, junked the state government’s ban. The SC not only ruled in favour of the RSS but also said that the country’s largest volunteer force was a victim and not a perpetrator of violence.

The SC verdict was seen as a huge victory for the RSS, and thousands of Swayamsevaks took to the streets on April 16, 2023, at 45 different locations across TN, to make a public statement. 

An RSS functionary based in Chennai explained to TNM, “What should we do if they [Dravidian parties] keep provoking us?” Reflecting the new aggressive strategy, the RSS leader cited a Tamil proverb and said, “Mullai Mullalthan eduka vendum (a thorn can only be removed with a thorn).” This transformation comes at a time when the RSS is gearing up to achieve its ‘Sangh Centenary Action Plan’. 

The RSS has turned TN into a preferred destination for its high-profile national meetings. The saffron outfit’s annual ‘Prant Pracharak Baithak’, featuring delegates from across the country, was held in the Nilgiris district in July 2023. The meeting attended by the top brass of RSS including Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale, resolved to intensify its groundwork in the state such as setting up more RSS shakhas, educational institutions and religious organisations in TN as part of the Sangh Centenary Action Plan. 

The ‘Seven Sisters Plan’ set in motion 

A leader who attended the Nilgiris meet said, “A plan was designed for Tamil Nadu much like the ‘Seven Sisters Plan’ which helped the Sangh grow in the North-Eastern states."  

The ‘Seven Sisters Plan’ was specifically designed by the RSS and the BJP to gain a foothold in the Christian-dominated North-Eastern region. Several reports point out that the recent saffron surge in the northeast was a result of a slow buildup over the years in various forms and also by appropriating the local icons and tribal deities, reinventing culture and traditions. It also involved the establishment of Ekal Vidyalayas and the introduction of vedic Hindu narratives to appropriate local deities in the vast hill and forest ranges.

Sustained campaigns were undertaken to link Hindu mythology with the North-Eastern region, shaping historical narratives. Re-telling history through RSS shakhas, ashrams, spiritual classes, schools, and social activities has given desired results for the Sangh. Thousands of children from the seven states were also put in Sangh-run residential schools in its peninsular strongholds such as coastal Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra. The Vivekanand Kendras located in various parts of the north-east region played a crucial role in the entire process. 

Growth thanks to AIADMK and beyond

The RSS and the BJP’s growth in Tamil Nadu have been uneven due to various factors ranging from the impact of the Dravidian movement, language and the ‘outsider’ tag which the BJP has not been able to shake off. 

According to scholar Arun Kumar, Hindutva forces were able to gain ground only in areas where the Dravidian movement was not so powerful. For example, in Kanniyakumari and western regions like Coimbatore, it was the Congress ideology that was strong. “The decline of Congress in these areas paved the way for Hindutva ideology,” he said. 

A month after the demise of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in December 2016, the RSS decided to take out a route march in Chennai following a gap of 16 years. The previous attempt by the RSS in 2014 to conduct a route march in the heart of Chennai city was thwarted by the Chennai police despite court permission. A police officer told TNM that they had clear instructions to prevent the route march. But two years later, the opposite happened, the RSS was allowed to conduct a route march in Chennai by the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam. Under the post Jayalalithaa AIADMK regime, the RSS and other Hindutva groups were breathing easy in Tamil Nadu. 

The RSS has also been successful in increasing its daily shakhas in Tamil Nadu. For decades the number of daily shakhas held by RSS across Tamil Nadu hovered around 1,000. The numbers shot up drastically in the past few years and according to RSS spokesperson B Narasimhan, as of today, the RSS holds nearly 2,500 daily shakhas across the state.

In 2017, for the first time in the history of RSS, the saffron outfit’s Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), annual meeting was held in Coimbatore. This is the highest decision-making body of the RSS, where their work for the past year is reviewed and a new action plan is formulated for the upcoming year. Since then, RSS has been holding major events in Tamil Nadu, with senior functionaries of the RSS making visits often.

The RSS also held a close-door interaction with the media editors in August 2022. Dattatreya Hosabale, the organisation’s second-in-command, held ‘off-record’ conversations with several editors and was candid in disclosing their intentions. “Our aim is to win the hearts and minds of the people of Tamil Nadu,” he told journalists. 

The leadership tussle after the demise of Jayalalithaa and the electoral alliance with the AIADMK has also given the BJP much-needed visibility at the grassroots level. A senior Congress leader told TNM that after 2014 the BJP has put an effort to erect flag posts in rural areas like the rest of the political parties. “Earlier a car with a BJP flag was a rare sight in Tamil Nadu, now we see more cars with BJP flags on the roads,” he pointed out.

The BJP has also been reaching out to specific marginalised communities with sizeable numbers and low political influence such as the fishermen community. Kosumani, State secretary of the fishermen wing of the O Panneerselvam faction, said while the BJP has been strongly working in Kanniyakumari, it isn’t active in places like Chennai. “Earlier, they never bothered about the fishing community and their vote bank. The fishermen community has voted for AIADMK and DMK, but the BJP is making all efforts to reach out to us. The Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala has visited eight districts in Tamil Nadu to directly meet the fishermen,” he added.

Exploiting volatile relationships 

While the Sangh seems to be working like never before in the bellwether southern state, the story of Hindutva mobilisation in Tamil Nadu goes back to the British era. 

It was way back in 1939 that Dadarao Paramath, a full-time RSS pracharak, was sent to establish an RSS shakha in the state. The first shakha was formed in Chennai and later it expanded to cities such as Salem, Coimbatore, Madurai, and Trichy.

The influence of the Dravidian movement did not allow the RSS to grow rapidly like it did in neighbouring Karnataka and it was limited to an ideology of upper-class Brahmins. In RSS’s own words written by KK Swamy, the cold response was because of the strong influence of the Dravidian movement, rationalist ideals among lay people, and the Aryan-Dravidian debate. “Conducting a shakha in Tamil Nadu was like swimming against the tide,” he said. 

Similarly, in Kanniyakumari in 1946, the RSS held its first public event at Velli Sandhai, but it had few takers and the organisation was unable to grow beyond the upper-caste Nair and Namboothiri communities. 

It was in 1956, that the reorganisation of Indian states brought an unexpected stroke of luck for the RSS. Kanniyakumari, previously part of the Travancore princely state, was merged with Tamil Nadu. The Christians were influential in the region and were part of the fishing community. The Hindus belonged to the Nadar caste, which has made a remarkable transformation from a severely oppressed community whose women weren't allowed to cover their breasts until the early 1900s, to a prosperous social group with enormous political clout. The Nadars are now classified as a Backward Class (BC) in Tamil Nadu and appear to be increasingly aligned with Hindutva politics in the southern cape. 

Political Science scholar G Arun Kumar, in his research paper on ‘Politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Tamil Nadu’ (1980–2014) observes that unlike north India, Tamil Nadu was a different terrain for Hindutva forces. To begin with, Tamil Nadu was never under a Muslim ruler so it was not easy for the Sangh to create an anti-Muslim narrative. “Tamil Nadu was against Hindi and cow protection. Above all, the state did not witness the post-partition riots. Thus, the factors that led to the success of the Sangh in other parts of India proved useless in Tamil Nadu. 

This forced the Sangh to look for alternative ways. The already volatile relationship between Christians and Hindus in Kanniyakumari, opened a window of opportunity for the RSS. The assertion of the Christian community made it easier for the Sangh to mobilise the Hindus. The RSS also decided to change its strategy by appropriating the legacy of Swami Vivekananda as a unifying symbol for the Hindu community. 

Pralay Kanungo, a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Professor and Chairperson for the Centre for Political Studies, wrote in Frontline in 2013, that it was MS Golwalkar, who conceived the idea of an organisation for Vivekananda. “The organisation dedicated to Vivekananda, which would not be controlled by the RSS and yet would maintain a close fraternal and ideological relationship, supplementing the RSS mission. Without raising suspicion or stoking hostility, the organisation would expand Hindu ecumenism by bringing all sects of Hindus to a common platform and simultaneously disseminate a soft and less strident Hindutva. This was the Vivekananda Kendra,” observed Kanungo.

Read the first story in the series: The non-Brahmins of Hindutva in Tamil Nadu

The plan to construct a memorial for Vivekananda further widened the divide between Christians and Hindus in Kanniyakumari. Justice P Venugopal, who probed the firing incidents and clashes between Christians and Hindus in Mandaikadu in March 1982, said in his findings that the fight in the name of religion did not erupt all of a sudden. 

“It started in the year 1963, when a memorial was planned to be erected for Swami Vivekananda in the rock embedded in the sea near Kanniyakumari, and the Christians made a claim that it was St Xavier’s rock. When the Hindus succeeded in erecting a rock memorial for Swami Vivekananda, it left a trace of bitterness. The Christians were unable to reconcile themselves with Kanniyakumari becoming the seat and centre of Hindu tradition and culture,” read the inquiry report.

The then RSS Sarsanchalak MS Golwalkar deputed RSS leader Eknath Ranade to be the secretary of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial Committee in 1962 and tasked him with the responsibility of raising the memorial. The initial attempts by Eknath Ranade to secure permission from the then Chief Minister of Madras State failed.

The book titled ‘Kendra Unfolds’ consisting of over 242 selected letters published by Vivekananda Kendra, Kanniyakumari gives a glimpse into the efforts and tactics adopted by Eknath Ranade to pursue RSS’s dream to build the memorial. In one of the letters written on September 30, 1963, Eknath Ranade records the refusal of approval from the State Government of Madras led by K Kamaraj and expresses hope to secure permission after Bhaktavatsalam, the Minister for Hindu Religious Endowments and Charitable Trusts in Kamaraj’s cabinet taking over as Chief Minister. 

“As Shri Bhaktavatsalam himself is recently elected to head the Madras Government which is reviewing the Vivekananda Rock Memorial issue, it is hoped that the Committee will get the green signal soon after October 2 when he is scheduled to assume his new office of Chief Ministership. Shri Bhaktavatsalam as we all know, personally, has been sympathetic to our cause. The day of his ascending to the headship of the State, therefore, is significant for us. Every unit of the Committee had a reason to rejoice on that day and send congratulatory telegrams on behalf of the ‘Vivekananda Rock Memorial Committee’ to Shri M Bhaktavatsalam, Fort St George, Madras-9,” wrote Ranade.

Ranade launched a national campaign and galvanised support from across the country by getting the signatures of 323 Members of Parliament (MPs) cutting across party lines. The lone member who refused to sign the petition was Kerala Chief Minister and communist icon EMS Namboodripad. A massive donation campaign was launched across the country and donations as simple as one rupee, three rupees and five rupees were collected from people. It also received contributions from all state governments except Kerala. Pralay Kanungo writes “In every sense, the construction of the memorial became a national exercise under the guidance of the RSS.” 

Eight years after the idea of building a memorial to Swami Vivekananda on the rock of Kanniyakumari first germinated, the Vivekananda Rock Memorial was inaugurated on September 2, 1970. The former President of India, VV Giri, performed the inaugural ceremony, while the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi, presided over the function.

Subsequently, the year 1980 marked another turning point in the history of Kanniyakumari, as two events that took place in Tamil Nadu propelled the RSS and Hindutva forces. The first was the Meenakshipuram mass conversion in 1981, where hundreds of Dalit families embraced Islam due to caste discrimination. The incident garnered national attention and laid the groundwork for the emergence of the Hindu Munnani, the Tamil face of the RSS, positioning itself as the champion of Hindus. The Hindu Munnani was active in organising the ‘Hindu Awakening Conference’ and ‘Hindu Otrumai Maanadu’ (solidarity conferences) across Tamil Nadu.

The second was the 1982 Mandaikadu riots, where communal clashes erupted between the Hindu Nadars and the Christian fisherman. These clashes deepened the already existing religious divide and presented the RSS and other right-wing organisations with an opportunity to consolidate their presence in Kanniyakumari. Justice Venugopal, who probed the riots terms this Mandaikadu conflict in his commission report, as a “socio-political supremacy between the two communities, the Hindus and Christians.” 

Against this backdrop, religion emerged as a central theme in Kanniyakumari’s political landscape, providing a solid foundation for the Hindutva movement in the region. It was further advanced by organisations like Sri Vivekananda Ashram in Vellimalai with its outreach programs. 

The Justice Venugopal led Inquiry Commission's recommendations included legislation banning mass conversions and regulating the creation of new places of worship. Advising the government to curb the RSS’s activities, the Commission said that Hinduism was a vibrant religion with such a vast population and did not need to be insecure and had ‘no need of a saviour like RSS’. “The RSS concept of renaissance and resurgence of Hinduism will take the country backwards towards the cow dung age. The RSS ideology is foreign to our great Dravidian culture and tradition and it cannot take root in this soil if people’s attention is focussed and public opinion educated on the harmful ideologies and philosophies of the RSS,” the Commission concluded. 

The Justice Venugopal Commission of Inquiry had clearly warned the state government and recommended prohibiting drills, exercises, and parades conducted by the RSS. These are exactly the mustering tools that turned Kanniyakumari into a successful model for the Sangh Parivar in Tamil Nadu. 

Taking over temple administration 

The influence of RSS and Hindutva groups in temple committees has played a major role in their expansion activities in Kanniyakumari. A temple worker in Kanniyakumari told TNM that the devotees will not know about the day-to-day administration of the temple affairs but in many places, the RSS members are part of the committees. “The RSS has taken over temple committees. They conduct shakhas and collect money for their organisation and other events on the temple premises, but for an average person, it is made to look like a general event without political colour. If any temple workers oppose their activities which are against the stated norms, these people apply pressure on the staff members. They will be transferred and no other person will dare to oppose them,”  he said.

Murugesan said in most of the temples in Kanniyakumari that are administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department (HR&CE) and temples that are managed by trusts, the Hindutva groups have a larger say in setting the agenda. In 2021, after the DMK government assumed office, a complaint was handed over to HR&CE Minister PK Sekar Babu by the Kanniyakumari Temple Workers Union alleging interference of people belonging to right-wing organisations in managing the affairs of the temple along with the HR&CE Department officials. 

TNM accessed a copy of the complaint that was lodged after the DMK came to power in Tamil Nadu. The Temple Workers Union lists out issues faced by them in Kanniyakumari and one significant issue raised by the union is the interference of RSS in the day-to-day affairs of the temples. The complaint stated, “In most of the temples, young minds are being brainwashed in the name of ‘Yoga practice’ and ‘Spiritual Classes’. RSS shakhas are being conducted to create divisions among society.” The petition also adds that right-wing groups have formed devotee groups in the name of various deities with the suffixes, ‘Seva Sangam’, ‘Bhakta Sangam’ and ‘Kala Mandram’ to interfere in the activities of the temple management. 

The role of Seva Bharati 

Seva Bharati, the social service arm of RSS, has been instrumental in the Sangam’s mass outreach programs. The five dimension service themed as ‘Pancha Kaarya’ has helped the RSS to reach out to rural villages with their Village Development Program which primarily focuses on education, health care, self-reliance, social welfare, disaster relief and rehabilitation.  

Seva Bharati runs free after-school study centres six days a week in rural and urban slum pockets. A Seva Bharati volunteer told TNM that one thing they are particular about is having a teacher from the local area to establish connections with the people. During weekends the study classes are converted into moral classes for two hours where important aspects of culture and traditional values are taught to the children. 

One of the important works of Seva Bharati has been to mobilise women by organising mass ’Thiruvilaku Pooja’ in areas where they operate. On average the pujas are conducted in more than 100 places periodically. This is apart from the mobilisation that is being carried out by other right-wing affiliated organisations including Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Hindu Munnani and others. 

According to the financial reports published by Seva Bharati Tamil Nadu on its website, the organisation's income in the form of donations has grown from Rs 73.95 lakh in 2012-2013 to Rs 2.41 crore in 2020-2021. Similarly, the expenditure of Seva Bharati from 2013-2014 towards education and medical services has gone up from Rs 25,000 to more than Rs 30 lakh in 2020. Seva Bharati has also scaled up its operations in providing health services, social welfare expenses and holding skill development expenses. The social service arm of RSS has spent Rs 1.75 crore between 2019-2021 in carrying out COVID-19 relief activities across the state.  

A former RSS fulltimer, who did not want to be named, told TNM, “Earlier, many organisations affiliated with the RSS were not present in Tamil Nadu like cooperative society, teachers unions etc. Now we are everywhere and the best part is one cannot quantify the amount of our work we do on the ground,” said the former RSS functionary. 

The Kanniyakumari model of Hindutva mobilisation is being pushed in various forms across the state. Apart from Hindu Munnani, organisations like the VHP, Bajrang Dal, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (working among tribal communities), Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal (for teachers), Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad (for advocates), Swadeshi Jagran Manch (economic wing), Seema Jagran Manch (works in coastal areas) have been directed to intensify their groundwork in Tamil Nadu.

Spiritual teachings 

In the 1980s, Hindu Dharma Vidhya Peetam primarily focused on conducting spiritual classes across Kanniyakumari. Over a period of time, this initiative has become the backbone of village-level outreach programs aimed at mobilising and creating awareness of Hinduism. The ‘Samaya Vagupu’ or spiritual training has five levels starting from the elementary level to the final level which is known as ‘Vidya Jothis’. The candidates who score top marks are conferred with ‘Vidya Jothi’ degrees and a select few become qualified to conduct Samaya Vagupu.

Raghupathy, the treasurer of Kanniyakumari Hindu Senai said that Samaya Vagupu is held in village temples every Sunday. “Samaya Vagupu teachers are trained at Hindu Dharma Vidya Peetam and they go to villages to take spiritual classes If there are no teachers in the village. They visit the villages every week and in 4-5 weeks they will finish the syllabus and give the books. Then the students will have to appear for exams,” he said. 

Ragupathy claims that this year at least 15,000 students appeared for the Samaya Vagupu examination in Kanniyakumari and thousands turned up for the graduation day event on September 10, 2023.

The graduation ceremonies of the Hindu Dharma Vidya Peetam Samaya Vagupu conference have seen high-profile guests like Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan , Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan participate and hand over ‘Vidya Jothi’ certificates to the toppers. 

Over the years, the Hindu Dharma Vidya Peetam has designed its initiatives in such a way that it caters to different categories including children and women. Samaya Vagupu has since been expanded from Kanniyakumari to districts like Chennai, Coimbatore and Erode. Besides the Samaya Vagupu, the Thiruvilaku Pooja (Deepa pooja) is conducted every month, Mangala Prarthanai is carried out on auspicious occasions while the Atma Shanti Prarthanai or offering prayers for bereaved families is also carried out. 

Apart from Kanniyakumari, the Hindu Dharma Vidya Peetam has actively focussed on carrying out their Hindu outreach programs in Chennai for the past 15 years. 

Creating a Hindu narrative 

The first electoral breakthrough for Hindutva outfits was in 1984 Assembly elections when V Balachandran, belonging to the Nadar caste contested as an independent candidate backed by Hindu Munnani and won from the Padmanabhapuram constituency. The creation of a Hindu vote bank in Padmanabhapuram further solidified and in 1996, the BJP’s C Velayudham, became its first MLA in the state, despite a DMK-Tamil Maanila Congress wave that swept the state. 

 Just months before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP under the leadership of Pon Radhakrishnan launched a highly polarising agitation called ‘July Porattam’ or July agitation seeking scholarships for poor Hindu students. A massive campaign was undertaken at the village level by organising meetings and putting up posters across Kanniyakumari. Some of the slogans were ‘Mary and Fathima get scholarship, while Mari is denied because he is a Hindu’. Pon Radhakrishnan went on to win the seat.

Polarisation is still high on the agenda and the Sangh has now started assimilating more locally powerful Hindus towards Hindutva.  

15 days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi installed the Sengol in the new Parliament building in the presence of Adheenams from Tamil Nadu, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had their task cut out. A closed door meeting was organised ‘Thuraviyar Sangamam’ (confluence of seers and saints) by Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Aravazhi Kattum Aandror Peravai (Margadarshak Mandal) — a forum for spiritual leaders in Trichy on June 14, 2023. 

Speaking at the event, VHP All India Joint Secretary G Sthanumalayan disclosed the reason for holding a consultation immediately after the ‘Sengol’ ceremony. 

“In Tamil Nadu there are anti-national, anti-Hindu and anti-Modi activities underway. We all know that because of the support of minorities this government came to power. Hence, this government is only doing 75% of the work for minorities and hasn’t bothered about us. The Sengol is standing upright and for it to remain that way permanently, what should be our contribution? All the swami’s gathered here should think about it. If we decide, we can create 1000 influencers in each area. We will be in touch with you. We have people who will work behind the scenes in RSS. We will engage them. We will not be seen, otherwise they will say it was all organised by the VHP. Tamil Nadu is a spiritual land, wherever we go they say there are so many temples and properties. To safeguard all this I request all spiritual leaders to use their power for the society.” 

The VHP has formed a committee to coordinate activities involving seers, aadheenams and spiritual institutions. 

Sthanumalayan also introduced the seers to Kathir Vel, the union government appointed Assistant Solicitor General at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High court. He advised them to approach the hotshot lawyer for any legal help. He also urged the seers and aadheenams to react to issues related to Hindu faith. “Saints should raise their voice when there is a problem for Hindu society,” he said.

Other than core organisations like the VHP, many other groups are working behind the scenes to achieve the goals of the RSS in Tamil Nadu. One such think-tank is the Initiative for Moral and Cultural Training Foundation (IMCT) started in 2013 to train young students, teachers and educational institutions to impart, implant and ingrain cultural and moral values. The foundation is headed by former Chief Election Commissioner of India N Gopalaswami and RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy. IMCT holds training programmes for school teachers.

Another organisation is Infinity Foundation India (IFI), a public charitable and educational trust floated in 2016 by Rajiv Malhotra. The primary objective of IFI is to craft an ‘Indian civilisational grand narrative’ by engaging with media, researchers and those in public policy. IFI has been holding Swadeshi Indology Conferences across the country in an attempt to counter what they claim is a well-orchestrated, systematic attack on Hinduism.

Notably in December 2017, IFI conducted its third edition of the Swadeshi Indology conference at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) under the theme ‘Tamil Nadu - The Land of Dharma’. 

The concept note of the conference claimed that for the past five decades ‘the Dravidian racial narrative' has dominated the socio-political thinking in Tamil Nadu and it has created deep fault lines which have had a disastrous effect on the cultural, social and spiritual lives of Tamil people’ and the conference aims to regenerate a narrative for Tamil people and culture.

The IFI invited scholars to examine topics like spiritual streams in Tamil Nadu, examining Dravidian movement and evidence, Dravidian-Islam axis, Dravidian-Chrisitian axis, Aryan invasion theory, modern ‘Hinduphobia’ and Dravidian Movement, caste, untouchability and Hinduism. 

Right-wing scholars and speakers presented their research papers on the Tamil spiritual stream, Dravidian ideology, Aryan invasion theory, and so-called Hinduphobia in Tamil Nadu. Some of the speakers at the conference spoke about how the ‘Hinduness of classical Sangam literature’ was suppressed and several papers were presented on ‘decolonising Tamil minds’. 

Earlier, there were attempts by the former editor of RSS magazine Panchjanya and BJP leader Tarun Vijay to take up the cause of popularising Thiruvalluvar in north India. However, it was only after the IFI conference that the RSS and BJP started aggressively weaving a narrative around Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar. In 2021, the BJP official handle tweeted a picture of Thiruvalluvar in a saffron robe triggering a massive controversy and till today all right-wing organisations including RSS, VHP, and Hindu Munnani use the picture of saffron-clad Thiruvalluvar’s portrait and pictures in their events.  

Most Sangh Parivar organisations now observe the birth and death anniversaries of Tamil icons including freedom fighters who took on the British armies like Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone, Dheeran Chinnamalai, Ondiveeran, Kuyili (army commander of Queen Velu Nachiyar) Velu Nachiyar, Marudhu brothers and Puli Thevar. All these icons have been identified with a caste in Tamil Nadu and in the recent past, the RSS and its affiliates including the BJP are making a concerted effort to be seen honouring them. 

Deiveega Tamil Sangam

During the AIADMK regime in July 2020, a massive controversy broke out after a rationalist YouTube channel called Karuppar Kootam, mocked ‘Kanda Sashti Kavasam’, a devotional song on Lord Muruga. Right-wing groups demanded action against the anchor Surendra Natrajan and he was booked under the Goondas Act. 

The RSS and its affiliates saw this as a significant opportunity to make inroads into the state. An ex-RSS functionary explained the idea behind RSS and BJP’s unwillingness to let go of the issue. He said, “The primary reason is Lord Muruga is a Tamil god and the RSS thought it was the right time to pick up the issue to shed its ‘outsider’ identity.”

When the then Tamil Nadu BJP president L Murugan defied government orders and embarked on the Vel Yatra to visit the main holy sites dedicated to Lord Murugan, the party managed to grab headlines across TN. The RSS quietly launched an organisation called ‘Deiveega Tamil Sangam’ and carried out a door-to-door campaign to reach out to Hindus to create awareness of its new identity. 

While the entire focus was on L Murugan and his Vel Yatra, the Deiveega Tamil Sangam distributed lakhs of notices asking people to realise the threat the Hindu religion faces due to religious conversions and love jihad. What was unusual in the notice was the thrust on learning and protecting the Tamil language. 

For long, the BJP and RSS have ignored the Tamil identity and undermined the impact of the anti-Hindi agitation spearheaded by the Dravidian parties. “There was a limitation because of the upper caste support base and Sanskrit names had prevented the natural growth of these organisations. In this condition, they decided to establish an organisation with a Tamil identity in 1980-1981 called the Hindu Munnani. After the formation of Hindu Munnani, the Sangh Parivar have politicised local issues starting from Meenakshipuram conversion to Kanniyakumari Mandaikadu communal riots,” Arun Kumar said. Now Deiveega Tamil Sangam is yet another renewed attempt to reach out to the people of Tamil Nadu. 

The outlaws in BJP

While on the one hand, the BJP claims that it is attracting youngsters, on the other hand, the party has landed in many controversies by inducting notorious elements. The trend of inducting former gangsters into the BJP began during former state BJP president and Union minister L Murugan’s tenure and it continues even after Annamalai took over as chief. Till now at least 60 men with serious criminal cases, who have been categorised as A, B and C category rowdies by the police, have been inducted. Their crimes have ranged from murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and threatening.

When asked, a BJP leader on condition of anonymity, explained to TNM the need for inducting such elements into a political party system. He said that the hope is that these rowdies will help the party win seats in rural and urban local bodies. “This has been the formula of leaders from the DMK and AIADMK in the past to win seats at the local level. We are just entering this game,” he added. 

Take the example of Nerkundram Surya, classified as an ‘A+’ category history-sheeter by the Chennai Police, and has more than 50 criminal cases, including murder, extortion, attempt to murder, kidnapping etc. He was inducted into the BJP in 2020 during L Murugan’s tenure as state BJP president and given a district-level posting. Surya’s wife, Vijaylakshmi, contested the urban local body elections as an independent candidate and was elected as vice president in Nedungundram panchayat. On August 2, 2023, two of Surya’s accomplices Vinoth (a) Chota Vinodh and Ramesh, were gunned down by the police in an encounter on the outskirts of Chennai. 

The latest entrant in Tamil Nadu BJP is Padappai Guna, categorised as an ‘A+’ history-sheeter by the Tamil Nadu police with eight murders, eleven attempts to murder and 29 kidnapping cases against him. Guna has been appointed the OBC Morcha chief for Kancheepuram district.

 Similarly, the BJP has appointed Sagayam, a ‘C’ category history-sheeter according to police, from Kanniyakumari for a state-level post as the secretary of BJP’s fishermen wing. Sagayam, who was earlier with AIADMK and AMMK has murder, intimidation, and rioting cases pending against him. Sagayam's induction into the BJP received much publicity even as thousands of youngsters from the Christian community joined the BJP. According to former Kanniyakumari CPI(M) MP AV Bellarmin, the BJP has roped in a person like this to set up its base in the coastal villages in Kanniyakumari. “When Annamalai visited Kanniyakumari as part of ‘Kumari Sangamam’, he spent a considerable amount of time talking about issues related to the fishermen community. It was Sagayam who brought close to 2,000 people for the event.”   

Half-hearted attempts on ground

The Dravidian parties and others, ideologically opposed to the Sangh, often don’t do enough to counter their polarising narratives. The inability of the Sangh to capitalise on this vacuum is largely because of the uncoordinated and lopsided implementation of the Hindutva project at the grassroots level. 

For example, the BJP has complained for years about Dravidian parties suppressing details on the Union government’s contribution. This is one of the reasons why the BJP decided to popularise Union government schemes as part of their outreach program. In 2019, Murugan launched an exclusive portal, www.tnbjp.in and started a committee to help candidates avail bank loans under Union government schemes.

However, there is no clarity as to how many applications were received and processed. But it helped the BJP in collecting data on bank loan aspirants and reaching out to entrepreneurs and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector in urban and rural Tamil Nadu. The website, meanwhile, has vanished.

The year 2025 marks a significant milestone for two ideological formations in Indian history as both complete 100 years: RSS, the ideological fountainhead of Hindu nationalism, and the Self-Respect Movement, spearheaded by Dravidian icon Periyar, which forms the basis for the Dravidian ideology. 

Hussain, one of the organisers of the event commemorating the 200th anniversary of Thol Seelai Porattam (struggle to cover breast) in Kanniyakumari that was held in March, told TNM that the first opposition to the event came from the Nadar community whose ancestors were the victims of the casteist practice. The event saw Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan sharing the dais in Kanniyakumari. “The Congress and DMK party workers did not do enough to create awareness about the issue and reach out to the people,” Hussain said. 

“The major political parties in Kanniyakumari are DMK and Congress, but ideologically, they are unable to counter the RSS. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) and Communist Party of India (CPI) are on the ground opposing the Hindutva forces, but their capabilities are limited,” he noted. 

Professor Arunan, who heads the Tamil Makkal Otrumai Medai, a collective of secular parties and organisations, has a different take. He said the RSS and BJP have been trying to expand the ‘Kanniyakumari Model’ for a long time. “It is parties like the DMK, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Communists who have become a hurdle for Hindutva forces. There is an organised attack against us. With the help of money and media, the right-wing has been successful in creating a narrative, but it hasn't gained traction among the people of Tamil Nadu.” 

Arunan said instead of falling into the trap of Hindutva forces, a counter-campaign should be launched to expose the hypocrisy of right-wing organisations. “Other political parties and organisations should concentrate on philanthropic activities and at the same time, create awareness among the masses about the activities of the Sangh Parivar and its affiliates.” 

Read the first story in the series: The non-Brahmins of Hindutva in Tamil Nadu