The Hitler Youth
In 1922, the organization of the National Socialists was formed with a special youth branch, the Hitlerjugend or Hitler Youth[134]. The Hitler Youth was designed to train and recruit young Germans for the Nazi regime. As the party’s influence grew, so did their outreach. Membership grew from 100,000 to more than 2 million by the end of 1933, an indication of just how effective their strategies of recruitment and indoctrination of children were.
Under Hitler, the Nazi party specifically focused on youth and on German families. The Nazis realized that to reach their goals, they had to infiltrate the family unit, whereas previously politics was kept out of the home.
In 1945, recognizing that they needed more soldiers at the warfront, the Nazi leadership began recruiting young boys and men from the Hitler Youth group. The indoctrination techniques paid off as the youngsters did not question orders and readily participated in paramilitary exercises.
RSS Youth Training
Just like the Nazis, the BJP-RSS regime is committed to indoctrinating children with supremacist ideology, believing in the importance of “catching them young.”
Vidya Bharati (short for Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan) is the educational wing of RSS[135]. It runs one of the largest private networks[136] of schools in India, operating over 12,000 schools with over 3.4 million students.
The curriculum of a Vidya Bharati school serves the socialization process and is an extension of the RSS strategy. Often branded as Saraswati Shishu Mandir or Saraswati Vidya Mandir after the Hindu Goddess of learning. The Hindutva agenda is promoted through the core curriculum of these schools.
RSS-affiliated Hindutva organizations also conduct events where disturbing hate-filled messages are instilled in the minds of young children. One such event was conducted on October 13th, 2021 by an RSS-related organization called the Durga Vahini (literally god Durga’s army). Hundreds of members as well as children as young as five years old gathered in Indri City for “Shastra Poojan” or “weapon worship.”[137] Children were exhorted to commit
targeted killings of the “enemy.”
In another incident of teaching hate, students at a school in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district re-enacted the demolition of the Babri Mosque. The students tore down a poster of Babri Mosque[138] amid chants of “Bolo Sri Ramachandra ki Jai” (“Say Victory to Lord Ram”).
This occurred during an enactment of a play on its annual day, in which they later erected a Ram Mandir (temple) in its place. The school is run by an RSS functionary. A union minister belonging to the ruling BJP government and a lieutenant governor were chief guests at the event.
There have also been reports of minor tribal girls trafficked by RSS-affiliated groups on the promise of education. The illiterate parents of the girls were made to sign affidavits written in English that stated that they were sending their daughters of their own will. The girls were taught Hindutva values[139] instead of being put into proper educational schools. In April 2017, the RSS organized several rallies in the state of West Bengal where young girls marched with sharp edged swords[140].
Muslim girls wearing hijab were prevented from entering educational institutions in the state of Karnataka. When they protested, arguing that the Indian Constitution granted them the right to practice their faith, the RSS-affiliated Hindu Jagarana Vedike mobilized Hindu students to stage a counter-protest by wearing saffron shawls and turbans to school. It must be noted that while many Muslim women consider Hijab obligatory, saffron shawls or turbans[141] are not an essential tenet of Hinduism and are not commonly present in Hindu households.
The CIA in 2018 deemed Bajrang Dal a militant religious organization.
Wall Street Journal reported that Bajrang Dal on Facebook sells handguns, rifles, shotguns and bullets to its members
Guns Offered for Sale in Facebook Groups Devoted to Religious Extremists in India: https://www.wsj.com/articles/guns-offered-for-sale-infacebook-groups-devotedto-religious-extremists-in-india-11675861299
Teaching Children to Hate
Textbooks are methodologically changed to depict Indian Muslims in a negative light. The new textbooks promote the BJP-RSS regime and ideology. They glorify ancient mythological and medieval Hindu rulers, demonize the historical Mughals, and glorify the BJP prime minister, Narendra Modi. Here is an excerpt from the grade 6 textbook about nonvegetarians[142], which is often used as a stand-in for Muslims: “They easily cheat, tell lies, they forget promises, they are dishonest and tell bad words, steal, fight and turn to violence and commit sex crime.”
6th Grade Book Teaching Hate Toward Muslims
“They easily cheat, tell lies, they forget promises, they are dishonest and tell bad words, steal, fight and turn to violence and commit sex crimes.”
An excerpt from a grade 6 textbook from India about non-vegetarians, which is often used as a stand-in for Muslims
These examples are from public schools. In the RSS private schools, they are fed a stronger diet of Hindutva. Young children are not only picking up ignorance, prejudice, and hatred from textbooks, and RSS schools, but are being recruited and trained to become militia members.
Indian media reports that just one BJP-RSS related Hindu monk, Yati Narsinghanand, operates at least 50 paramilitary training camps for his “Dharma Sena” which translates as Hindu religious army. Some camps are open and have been visited by the media, but other camps, according to his followers, are secret so that police cannot access them. These camps are headquartered at a temple at Dasna in the Ghaziabad district of the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the head priest is Narsinghanand[143] himself.
The Times of India, after visiting four of these “Hindu Religious Army” training camps, reported that children as young as 8 years old are being trained in firearms. One of the camp leaders claimed that they have trained 15,000 children in a period of two years[144].
12th Grade Book Praising Hitler’s Treament of Jew
“Hitler made a strong German organization with the help of [the] Nazi party and attained great honour for this. By favouring German civilians and by opposing Jews and by his new economic policies, he made Germany a prosperous country.”
India’s Dangerous New Curriculum; https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/12/06/indias-dangerous-new-curriculum (accessed 2022-02-27)
Schools Across India Propagate Hitler’s “achievements”
“In 2004, when now-Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, school textbooks published by the Gujarat State Board portrayed Hitler as a hero, and glorified fascism. The tenth-grade social studies textbook had chapters entitled “Hitler, the Supremo,” and “Internal Achievements of Nazism.” The section on the “Ideology of Nazism” reads: “Hitler lent dignity and prestige to the German government. He adopted the policy of opposition towards the Jewish people and advocated the supremacy of the German race.”
Hitler’s Hindus, Daily Haaretz, Israel, Dec 14, 2017: Short URL: t.ly/U8B6
[134] Indoctrinating Youth, Holocaust Encyclopedia; https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/indoctrinating-youth (accessed 2021-10-21)
[135] Religious Political parties and their Welfare Work: Relations between the RSS, the BJP and The vidya Bharati schools in India; http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/1570/1/Nair_PoliticalParties.pdf (accessed 2021-12-06)
[136] Home Page | Vidya Bharti Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Sansthan; https://vidyabharti.net/ (accessed 2021-12-06)
[137] https://twitter.com/alishan_jafri/status/1448196259819360256?s=12 (accessed 2021-10-21)
[138] Students at RSS-run school re-enact Babri demolition, trustee says there’s nothing wrong; https://theprint.in/india/students-atrss-run-school-re-enact-babri-demolition-trustee-says-theres-nothing-wrong/336100/ (accessed 2021-10-21)
[139] RSS ‘Trafficked’ 31 Assamese Girls to Instill ‘Hindutva’: Report; https://www.thequint.com/amp/story/news/india/rss-trafficked-31-assamese-girls-to-instil-hindutva-report (accessed 2021-10-21)
[140] Panel unhappy as children carry arms during RSS rally; https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/panel-unhappy-as-childrencarry-arms-during-rss-rally/article17894759.ece (accessed 2021-10-21)
[141] How Hindutva Group Mobilised the Saffron-Clad Students at Udupi College; https://www.thequint.com/news/india/how-the-hindutva-group-mobilised-the-saffron-clad-students-at-udupi-college (accessed 2022-03-19)
[142] The Class 6 Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) textbook titled “New Healthway: Health, Hygiene, Physiology, Safety, Sex Education, Games and Exercises”. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/non-vegetarians-lie-cheat-commit-sex-crimes-school-textbook-504736
[143] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/50646587.cms (accessed 2021-10-19)
[144] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/50646587.cms (accessed 2021-10-19)