For one poor, lower-caste community in Jahangirpuri, ‘Hindutva cause’ represents a path to social mobility, including for the younger generation.

New Delhi: He had planned to catch up on homework, but it was much more important to attend the Hanuman rally, 15-year-old Sagar* says. “Shakha te bolechhe (Our RSS branch told us so),” he explains.

Around him, six to seven other children, some as young as 10, nod in agreement. Some of them participated in a Hanuman Jayanti rally that commenced from Block G of Delhi’s Jahangirpuri and culminated in communal clashes. In videos of this rally, the third of three that day, many young boys were seen brandishing hockey sticks, swords, and even guns. Block G is inhabited primarily by Bengali Hindus, most belonging to lower castes.

They weren’t just swept along in the moment, the children here say. Instead, they claim they were especially mobilised by the local Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakha, allegedly run by Suken Sarkar, who is among 25 people arrested so far in connection with the Jahangirpuri violence. His brother, Suresh Sarkar, who claims to be a Hindu Vahini and Bajrang Dal member, also convinced kids from the locality to join the rally.

Speaking to ThePrint, Suresh Sarkar, 43, makes it clear that for a community long oppressed by caste, this was a way to assert their credentials as part of a pan-Hindu identity against a common enemy: Muslims.

“It’s good that the clashes happened… otherwise, how would Hindus be awakened?” he asks in Bengali.

A food delivery agent who also collects and sells scrap, Suresh Sarkar was questioned by the Delhi Police but released later. Now, he says he is ready to carry on the good work — preparing the next generation to fight, and even kill if the need arises, in the name of their religion.

For Bengali community, Hanuman and Hindutva 101

For the Bengalis of Block G, Durga Puja has always been the big-ticket religious event. No one, in fact, celebrated Hanuman Jayanti until this year when for the first time the Sarkar brothers brought a Hanuman statue to the tiny neighbourhood temple and exhorted residents to join the rally.

They got an encouraging response from adults and kids, alike. Indeed, speaking to the residents, it seems evident that many in the marginalised communities here have derived a sense of agency and power by joining the forces of Hindutva.

Teenager Sagar, who was quoted earlier, is Suresh Sarkar’s elder son. A student of Class 10, he has Board exams this year but has not attended school since the clashes. It’s a small sacrifice for the “Hindutva cause”, he says.

He carried a sword in the rally, he says, because, “Muslims also carry swords and other weapons with them during Muharram… why shouldn’t we?”

When asked where he learned this, he says his uncle Suken Sarkar, who has been running the shakha for more than 10 years, had said so.

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There is shame in the eyes of Rohan*, a 13-year-old student of Class 8. He was part of the rally, but ran away when the violence broke out.

“Bangladeshi Muslims started snatching our swords and we ran from there. I feel bad that I ran. We were taught in the shakha to be brave and never be scared of Muslims, as we Hindus have to protect our country from them,” he says.

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