RSS is Becoming More Inclusive of OBCs, Dalits: Walter K Andersen

"Caste is a problem for RSS and BJP, which is why they do everything so that I forget my caste, you forget your caste."

In conversation with The Quint's Sanjay Pugalia, American academic Walter K Andersen states that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) feels that caste is a "bane of our existence."

A professor of South Asia Studies at John Hopkins University and an author, Walter K Andersen recently launched his new book ‘RSS: A Veiw to the Inside’. In this interview, Andersen talks about caste realities in India and why political parties are stuck in a vicious circle, which shows no signs of abating.

Andersen asserts that ‘saffronisation’ has nothing to do with caste, saying that the RSS only wants unity, because unity is their reason for being.

Let’s face it, caste and caste hierarchy stand in the way of unity. Look at this thing about affirmative action, you now have the Marathas talking, here in this area you have the Jats, and if anything, these programs strengthen caste identity.

Walter K Andersen

Andersen has based his insight on a conversation with a member of the Swayamsevak Sangh. Defending the BJP’s perceived upper-caste bias, he says that most parties in India, including the Communists, tend to be dominated by upper-castes. However, the BJP, he says, has been bringing in more members of the depressed classes.

On being asked if making a Dalit the President of India was merely about optics or whether it was genuinely done to empower Dalits, Andersen says:

Maybe an element of that. Obviously, as a political party you make decisions that appeal, and one of the obvious appeals is to have the person like a President who comes from a certain background. And this reflects an issue, because the larger RSS view of things is to get rid of these identity issues, so we all be more or less alike. But that’s playing to caste issues as well.

Watch the full interview here.