Among the urban poor, two strands of Hindutva mobilisation are emerging | The Indian Express

Among the urban poor, two strands of Hindutva mobilisation are emerging | The Indian Express

Written by Badri Narayan |Updated: October 17, 2019 9:47:08 am

The writer is professor, Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad

Among the urban poor, two strands of Hindutva mobilisation are emerging

The RSS and its various affiliates enter slums through running schools, organising medical camps, etc. RSS shakhas are also expanding their footprint among the urban poor by giving them a “Hindu” identity.

Slums have emerged as sites for the practice of Hindutva politics. We are habituated to viewing this section of people as subjects who desire and demand houses, jobs, ration cards, medical treatment, etc. (Archive)

B R Ambedkar often expressed how the Indian village was the setting for the discrimination of Dalits, and that they should migrate to cities. Dalits do suffer from the myriad oppressions heaped on them by dominant castes and along with other marginal sections of society, have migrated to cities, towns and kasbahs and settled mostly in slums. They constitute about 17 per cent of the country’s urban-dwelling population. In Uttar Pradesh, slum dwellers constitute about 14 per cent of the urban population, according to the 2011 census. Most of them are poor and from marginalised sections.