How Will The RSS Align Its Philosophy Of Cultural Homogeneity With Adivasi Identities?

Gorakh Shinde, in his pink school shirt, sat under a tree on the premises of the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA) in Kanadi-Chikhali. In Class V, he had just returned to his ashram hostel to play for a short while. His Zilla Parishad school is located right next door. Shinde, a Bhil Adivasi from Piprani village in Shahada taluka of Maharashtra’s Nandurbar district, mentioned how he was introduced to the VKA at Kanadi-Chikhali.

“My parents are daily-wage labourers. We are five siblings. In 2023, I was studying in another school near our home along with my elder brother, but then we dropped out due to poverty. Later, when my father heard about the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram here at Kanadi, I was brought here,” he said.

His eyes were empty and distant and his patched uniform suggested financial struggles at home. He was eight when he entered the VKA. Now he is ten. Like him, around 29 other tribal children live in the VKA, attending nearby public schools. The VKA serves as a hostel for them, providing food and shelter free of cost, but with a strict schedule and discipline—the organisation’s pan-India signature.

History of the VKA and Religious Conflicts

Founded in 1952 at Jashpur in Madhya Pradesh by senior RSS activist Balasaheb Deshpande, the VKA has grown over 74 years into a nationwide network working among tribal communities. It cuts across students, professionals and retired persons involved in the VKA’s projects in education, health, agriculture, sports and shraddha jagaran (religious awakening). In Maharashtra, the Ashram began its work in 1979. It now runs 18 hostels for tribal students, three schools, three balwadis (kindergartens), 113 agricultural development centres, five dispensaries, 54 religious awakening centres and over 800 other projects. Through full-time volunteers, it claims to manage more than 500 social initiatives. Of the 5,600 tribal villages and hamlets in Maharashtra, the Ashram works in about 2,000. 

Although the VKA works in the domain of Adivasi welfare, its history is marked by conflict and communal tension across decades.

In 1998, the Ashram’s ideological and organisational fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), sent hardline worker Swami Aseemanand to the Dang region in nearby Gujarat, specifically to counter the influence of Christian missionaries in the area. Sadhvi Pragya too frequently visited Dang. Both were, later, incidentally accused in separate bomb blast cases, before being acquitted.

Aseemanand built the Shabari Ashram to draw tribals familiar with the tale of Shabari, a mythical Adivasi ascetic, offering berries to Lord Ram. In 2006, he helped organise the Shabari Kumbh for RSS gharwapsi (reconversion) campaigns, according to journalist Leena Raghunath.

In the 19th century, Christian missionaries worked among Adivasis in the Dang region of Gujarat, bordering Maharashtra, providing education and healthcare. Some schools and hospitals remain today. Many, including in Navapur in the Nandurbar-Dhule belt, converted. Tribals said Christianity offered de-addiction support and freedom from caste discrimination in Hindu society.

Lajras, 45, a Christian Adivasi from a hamlet near Navalur, says: “My grandfather converted. That brought progress to our family. At a time when there were no educational facilities here, he could study up to Class III. My father too studied till matriculation. Earlier, our ancestors faced extreme caste discrimination. Even if my grandfather walked 20 kilometres to the taluka town, no one would give him water, treating him as untouchable.” 

Lajras thinks embracing Christianity offered him dignity.  

“We were never Hindus in the first place; Hindu identity is being imposed on us. If they now talk of bringing us back to Hinduism, isn’t that also conversion? Why have Hindu groups only now ‘discovered’ compassion for Adivasis? What stopped them before?” he asks.

Inception of VKA in Nandurbar

Nandurbar-based activist and writer Dinanath Manohar said that while he was a part of the leftist labour movement fighting to restore Adivasi lands seized by Gujar Patils, his late brother Janardan Keshav Manohar, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) worker, helped set up the VKA in Mungbari-Dhanaje village. He said, “On the one hand, their lands were stolen; on the other, a VKA was being built for them. It was blatant hypocrisy.”

Since its inception in Nandurbar and elsewhere, the VKA has relied on ‘donations’ and seva (service). Jhunjar Pawra, superintendent at the Mungbari Ashram, shares: “Earlier, we used to receive state government aid through the Social Welfare Department. But for the last five years, we haven’t. RSS workers and donors support us.”

Ishwar Raut, superintendent of VKA Kanadi-Chikhali Ashram, said the hostel runs entirely on donations of grains and goods from wealthy businessmen. VKA’s dam-building work in Nashik receives CSR funding from companies like Mahindra & Mahindra. Sandeep Devre, a Dhule-based education activist, noted: “That is their entitlement, yet VKA doesn’t work with a rights-based approach.” Maharashtra has 20 such hostels; one in Akkalkuwa taluka of Nandurbar is currently closed, reportedly due to land disputes.

Hinduisation of tribals

The children at both VKAs in Nandurbar study at nearby public schools and live in the ashram under strict RSS-style discipline. They wake at 5 am for morning rituals, exercises and surya namaskar, followed by prayers, Saraswati vandana (evocation) and shramdan (voluntary service). After an hour for study, reading, bathing and breakfast, they go to school. Evenings include a half-hour rest and a 6–7 pm RSS shakha with exercises, play, devotional and patriotic songs and stories of revolutionary heroes.

“Sometimes, external RSS or VHP workers conduct the shakha. It is important for children to maintain discipline,” says Jhunjar Pawra. 

After the shakha, children perform aarti before returning to their studies. They study and complete tasks from 7 to 9 pm, have dinner around 9.30 pm and sleep by 10 pm.  

Raksha Bandhan, Independence Day and other Hindu festivals are celebrated in VKAs, while tribal festivals such as Dev Diwali or Navai (harvest festival) are not, according to Vaharu Sonavane, of an Adivasi Ekta Parishad activist.

The Kalyan Ashram in Kanadi-Chikhli has a temple of Lord Shiva on its campus. Children chant the aarti “Om Jai Jagdish Hare” in Hindi, a language unfamiliar to some of them. Some children are more enthusiastic in their recitation than the others.

An Indian gooseberry (amla) tree stands with a photo of Goddess Lakshmi beneath it, decorated with flowers and incense in the courtyard. “Lakshmi resides in the amla tree, so we worship her here,” a relative of the ashram head explained.

Jhunjar Pawra showed us books—not a part of the state syllabus—like the Ramayan for fifth graders, the Mahabharat for sixth, saint stories for seventh and Krantigatha for eighth standard students. They featured leaders and revolutionaries like Savitribai Phule, Rani of Jhansi, and Savarkar. Stories of Nehru and Gandhi were ‘out of syllabus’.

Expansion of VKA

The VKA operates through regional divisions: Devgiri Prant, Konkan Prant and Paschim Prant, each covering several districts. In Maharashtra, Devgiri Prant includes Sambhaji Nagar, Beed, Latur, Dharashiv, Nanded, Hingoli, Nandurbar, Dhule and Jalgaon. In Nashik, the Ashram built nine cement bunds (check dams) to address water scarcity. In Surgana taluka’s Guhi area, it started a girls’ hostel. Across twenty states from Punjab to Kerala, the Ashram provides hostels, healthcare, women’s economic programmes, sports festivals, land rights support, forest conservation and market access for tribal forest produce, supporting livelihoods of tribal communities. 

Jal Jungle Jameen in RSS style

VKA’s Devgiri region president, Chaitram Pawar, says: “In this region, we focus on five Js—Jal (water), Jungle (forests), Jameen (land), Janavar (livestock) and Jan (people). We conserve village forests and livestock so that people can become economically self-reliant. None of this is possible without the participation of the community.” 

Pawar was awarded the Padma Shri in 2025. He collaborates with tribal youth like Umesh Deshmukh to create livelihoods from forest produce through self-help groups and Farmer Producer Organisations. Umesh, 23, told us that with VKA’s support, he mobilised village youth to clean the reservoir and raise awareness about common resources.

Umesh said he attended village meetings with Chaitram Pawar and Sangh workers, where they discussed collective actions for development. They set up a forest produce centre and a WhatsApp group to coordinate and receive guidance on marketing through the Shabri Tribal Development Corporation. He recalled: “Until 2017, I knew nothing about RSS or VKA. A Dharma Jagran conference gave me a sense of pride in my religion.”

After that conference, a senior Sangh activist, Sharad Dive, undertook a pravas (outreach) in Umesh’s village.  

‘Pravas’ is an outreach tour where Sangh workers visit villages, meet youth and panchayat members, discuss development and aspirations, and stay with local families to engage potential RSS recruits.

This was true for Umesh Deshmukh too. After attending RSS camps, he began mobilising youth in his village, was soon given taluka-level leadership and grew committed to the work. Offering leadership to tribals is a strategy of the RSS and VKA, but tribal leaders have little agency. Even children’s daily routines, including prayers, songs and cultural events, are set by provincial heads and the Sangh leadership, with ashram heads responsible only for implementing the programme. When asked about World Tribal Day, superintendent Ishwar Raut said: “No,” showing a circular explaining why it should not be celebrated. Programmes like Shraddha Jagran and the Tribal Protection Forum aim to keep tribals from converting and emphasise their identity as vanvasi (forest dwellers).

VKA & VHP and other allies refer to tribals either as Vanvasis or Janjatis (tribes). Chaitram Pawar says: “Indian Constitution uses the term ‘Janjati,’ not ‘Adivasi.’ But we are more interested in addressing the issues than debating terminology.”

Networking and Alliances

The VKA does not operate alone; its tribal heads are linked to other Sangh-affiliated organisations. Chaitram Pawar, head of the Devgiri region, works in Baripada and nearby Dhule villages and is well connected with the Nandurbar Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), run by Hedgewar Seva Samiti. Every activity at the KVK, from research to community radio, follows the Samiti’s guidelines.

Link Between People And the Governance

VKA volunteers help deliver government schemes to tribals. In the tribal belt, the Ashram frames its work around village development and conservation of water, forests, and land. This approach has expanded its reach, though many tribal people in Dhule and Nandurbar said its influence remains very local.

Social worker Yogini Khanolkar, who has worked with tribals in Nandurbar for many years, says their idea of development is very different. “They do not hold the government accountable for public issues, nor do they grow mass movements. They inculcate Sangh’s approach involving people’s initiatives for development, sidelining the government’s accountability. This depoliticises people, while they polarise them on religion,” she alleges.

De-listing of tribals

We conducted extensive interviews to understand VKA’s work and influence. Sanjay Dabhade, a member of the state committee of the Adivasi Adhikar Manch, highlighted the VKA’s ‘de-listing’ approach.

Since 2016, in tribal-majority states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, Dabhade said the Sangh-affiliated VKA has sought to de-list tribals who converted from Hinduism. This would remove their official tribal status and reservations, he claimed. Many gatherings were held specifically towards this end and the effort even gained traction, though it drew little response in Maharashtra.

“This de-listing effort is completely unconstitutional and unjust toward tribals. The VKA or even the RSS, uses strategies like village development, education and healthcare to gain people’s trust, but their true aim is the Brahminisation of tribals—erasing their original cultural roots. This is why World Tribal Day, celebrated on August 9, was not observed this year,” Dabhade claims.

Vahuru Sonawane echoed Dabhade’s claim, adding that through nationwide organisations like the Adivasi Ekta Parishad, tribals are becoming aware of their non-Hindu cultural identity and resisting the VKA’s attempts to divide and homogenise them.

Priyanka Tupe is Assistant Editor, Outlook. She is based in Mumbai.

This story appeared as 'One Hundred Years Of...Prachar' in the print edition of Outlook magazine’s October 21 issue titled Who is an Indian?, which offers a bird's-eye view of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), testimonies of exclusion and inclusion, organisational complexities, and regional challenges faced by the organisation.