Between Her Legs: Hindutva and Dalit Women - Meena Kandasamy

anti-thesis of the Dalit women. Hindutva and Dalit women are
nothing but contradictory factions, diametrically opposed groups of
the maximum oppressor and the most oppressed. And between
these extremes there exists a series of elastic hierarchies and
segregated oppressions, each so specific and yet so inter-connected.
Before I begin to write of these anti-theses, before we attune our
understandings to explore this couple of extremes, we can take a
look into the reactionary family of the Sangh Parivar, in order to
understand how casteist and feudal arrogance occur and are always
coupled with male domination.
Welcome now, to the world of women who are stuck in the
patriarchy of the Parivar.
The Flimsy Parivar
The Sangh Parivar, as if to incorporate its dissent over birth control,
has expanded its family to such proportions that one might possibly
avert keeping count. A modest estimate would peg the number of
members to a dozen-and-a-half, but let us leave that to the analysts.
Because it would not be possible to reprint here the genealogy and
origin of how women came to be inducted (indirectly so, in the
beginning at least) into the Sangh, here is a concise version: Women
were denied membership in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS), the oldest and core organization of the seven-decade-old
Sangh Parivar. It was only in 1936, eleven years after the formation
of the RSS was the Rashtriyasevika Samiti born. Women from the
families of the RSS members were enrolled in this organization that
is modelled as a dharmapatni or wife to the male controlling body,
the RSS. The Rashtriyasevika Samiti since its days of inception has
been exclusivist and maintained a low profile. Like the RSS, its
membership comes from upper/middle-level oppressor castes with
middle-class income backgrounds.
Now, about its dogma of existence.
Matrishakti (mother power) is the vainglorious term ‘bestowed’
on the organization, highlighting that what matters is not
womanhood but motherhood: it is no celebration of femininity;
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