Destabilising the Agency of Women in Hindutva Movement by Aparna Agarwal (SOAS University of London)
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SSAI Working Paper Series 2020 The Subaltern Acts: Destabilising the Agency of Women in Hindutva Movement By Aparna Agarwal (SOAS University of London) The Subaltern Acts: Destabilising the Agency of Women in Hindutva Movement The rise of right wing and extremist movements across the globe has led to several enquiries within academia, but a masculinist discourse regarding the same, constitutes bulk of the literature. The Hindutva movement in India is misogynistic and is often thought to be a masculinist/male venture, but counterintuitively, the movement involves the participation of many women. There is an attempt to gauge agencies of women in the movement by viewing them outside the binaries created by the dimorphous heteropatriarchal and colonial societal constructions, specifically the binary of agents versus victims. Shifting from an essentialist to deconstructive approach, the paper discusses the theoretical lapses in the imagination of agency in popular discourse. The latter approaches histories and women’s creation of new ontological categories for themselves. This gives important insight about women as political agents with their own distinct motivations and end goals. The paper realigns the current understanding of women in the political right by destabilising the concept of agency -- gauging their participation in Hindutva and locating their subjectivities within the larger socio-political context. Keywords: Post Colonialism, Feminism, Agency, Oppression, Hindutva, Narratives, Politics, Feminine 1. Agency and Methodology In the article, the category of ‘woman’ is comprised of CIS heterosexual females for the purpose of a contextual analysis, leaving out queer and trans politics completely that requires further independent research. In the light of feminist critic of Hindutva politics, there is significant discomfort in addressing the politics of right-wing women through the lens of agency, and a justification of the violence, Islamophobia and extremism propagated by the RSS or any of the affiliated organisations. For academic rigour and an unbiased analysis, personal political views are distanced as a conscious choice. Beginning with a discussion about pedagogy and ideology, the possible end goal for women is defining the Hindu Rashtra, but first, we turn to identifying the women involved. The gendered politics of women within the movement investigates the transgressions that follow, viewing women as distinct entities with different aspirations rather than simply being an extension of their male counterpart. A common tension that arises in academia when dealing with the possibility of agency of women in extremist organisations (Mehta 2016; Mahmood 2001) is a result of universalist liberal ideals that form the basis of the majority of feminist literature (Madhok 2013). The narrative of agency that is prevalent assumes autonomy and emancipation to be the goal and all actions leading towards the same as ‘resistance’. This is particularly Eurocentric in its way of furthering the politics of homogenisation. A third wave feminism is predominantly based on secular ideals which is not just exclusionary, but it also works on the assumption of free will, a result of Enlightenment politics. A renewed and more nuanced theorisation of agency, which is cognisant of social implications, social elasticity and openness is vital to gain a better 1 SSAI Working Paper Series 2020 The Subaltern Acts: Destabilising the Agency of Women in Hindutva Movement By Aparna Agarwal (SOAS University of London) understanding of women in such movements (Madhok 2013). Crenshaw’s analysis of intersectionality places a multi-axial perspective of oppression at the centre of gauging agency (Crenshaw 1989). I argue that the gaps that exist in theorising concepts such as agency and resistance, have essentially left no room for Hindutva women; their history of colonisation, patriarchal oppression and various caste and class factors, that result in complex identities. Any attempt to analyse them through only one facet of their historical, political, and social realities is a grave simplification. Therefore, my reference to ‘agency’ in the paper simply refers to a relative shift in positionality of women as claiming/reclaiming power from those normally placed above them in hierarchies which for this paper, refers to the relative superiority of Hindutva men to Hindutva women. This falls close to Bacchetta’s theoretical understanding of Hindutva women, wherein she proposes a reimagination of this discourse in which we seek to view the Hindutva woman in contrast to her male counterpart, instead of viewing her in opposition to feminists (Bacchetta 1993, p. 44). 1.1 The Hindutva Women The Hindutva movement in India is centred around claiming a superior ethno-national status of the Hindus in the country, with the end goal of forming a Hindu Rashtra. The Hindu Rashtra can be understood as the return of India to ‘its original glory’ and inhabited solely by Hindus. This politics has materialised in violent ways by repeated pogroms and targeted attacks against the Muslim population of the country. The rhetoric of the Hindu nation is heavily gendered and undoubtedly misogynistic in its outlook (Anand 2007). The masculine and violent means of political engagement form the most visible part of the movement, yet there is a presence of a different kind of politics which involves grass root level engagement (Menon 2010). The women involved in this movement through various organisations like the Rashtra Sevika Samiti, Mahila Morcha, Durga Vahini, Mahila Aghadi form the category of Hindutva women that I refer to in this paper. An over emphasis on the militant and highly dramatised politics of women in the right wing such as Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Rithambara is the direct result of narratives that the men have pushed to the forefront. Focusing on women as either mothers or as celibate women is a binary created by the men in the movement that fails to address the complex sexualities and identities that form the reality of the women involved. Women play a particular role in ensuring the continuity of the movement through their own unique politics which for the most part remains invisible. Drawing attention to the everyday nationalism of women and analysing the novel pedagogical means they adopt, the constant engagement leading to a feeling of sisterhood and fraternity, a formal organisation is essential to understanding their unique agency (Mehta 2016). Sex segregation, which is practiced in all Hindu nationalist organisations, in fact works to bring women out into the public sphere without inhibitions from their families (Ibid). By focusing on these everyday activities and small but significant deviations from the male narrative, academics have attempted to locate the agencies of these women (Bacchetta 1993, 2004; Bacchetta & Power 2002; Menon 2010; Sen 2012; Mehta 2016). 2 SSAI Working Paper Series 2020 The Subaltern Acts: Destabilising the Agency of Women in Hindutva Movement By Aparna Agarwal (SOAS University of London) The right wing has succeeded in establishing a meta narrative of the ideal Hindu state, yet has incorporated women from across the caste and class spectrum. Sehgal (2007) argues that the creation of a Muslim other as the common enemy that is a threat to the feminine Hindu has resulted in a siege mentality amongst women. But I argue that although, this is problematic, this must be understood as the result of years of conditioning and a capitalisation of women’s ‘sexual vulnerabilities.’ Additionally, critiquing the ‘hyper sexual Muslim man’ has also created room for women to address larger issues of sexual violence, subjugation and oppression at the hands of even the Hindu male, even though, this remains in the peripheries of their arguments (Menon 2010; Bacchetta & Power 2004). Bacchetta has done extensive research on women in the Samiti and proposed a nuanced understanding of the everyday politics of these women (Bacchetta 1993, 2004; Bacchetta & Power 2002). Along with this, Sen (2012) focuses on the women in the Mahila Aghadi in Maharashtra who have found hyper masculinity to address the everyday oppression they face. Additionally, she argues that the involvement of women has allowed them to reclaim their status as political agents through religio-historical means. Tanika Sarkar’s (1993, 2001) analysis of women’s role in the history of Hindutva movement, stands in direct contrast to the idea of womanhood advocated by the senior Samiti members today. This not only goes to show the space that women have created for themselves in the masculine politics of Hindutva over time, but they have also used the means of religious appropriation to further their own goals. Mahmood (2001, 2005) suggests in her analyses of women’s role in Islamic movements, the need for addressing the possibility of women using the means of political co-opting to arrive at their personal agendas. A close look at the philosophical basis of these organisations shows an ideological gap in the men and women, which circles back to Mahmood’s argument. An important source used in the text is Sumitra Mahajan’s speech (2019) at an event of the Rashtra Sevika Samiti, where she describes in great detail the meaning of womanhood and the history of the Samiti, along with what the Samiti expects from women. Sumitra Mahajan is an important political figure for the BJP and an active Samiti member, which is why her verbal testimony of the political roles carved out for women becomes important in locating the agency of Hindutva women. The essay contributes to the existing literature by understanding oppression through a historical sense wherein the subjects are placed in their social context. The binary of consent and coercion, like the discourse of sati in colonial India or agents versus victims, bound versus free, are examples of essentialising women into categories (Spivak 1994). I propose queering (to signify the need to move away from heteropatriarchal binaries) these boundaries through a decolonised lens to produce more nuanced views of women to understand their subjectivities as political agents.