With Banjaras’ religious identity in flux, Sangh Parivar sees an opening

As urban Banjaras start to conflate their customs with Hinduism, while rural Banjaras follow their own tribal rituals, RSS-linked outfits are capitalising on the confusion to draw the community into their fold

Mahendra Singh, a scruffy-looking middle-aged blacksmith, lives in a small hut erected under a tin-shed in Delhi’s Naraina locality, in an area where about 25 to 30 people from the Banjara community live. Outside his home stands a small marble temple with pictures of Baba Ramdev, a saint worshipped by several tribal communities in Rajasthan and Gujarat, along with images of Kali and Durga. 

His iron tools and some pottery lie on a wooden bed outside his hut. Mr. Singh acknowledges that he was a nomad, but distanced himself from the Banjaras, insisting that he was now a Lohar, a caste traditionally known for working with iron. “Christian missionaries came to me and asked me to convert some time ago. I rejected them,” said Mr. Singh. He has an Aadhaar card, but does not have any document identifying him as part of a backward community, that would entitle him to government benefits. 

Academics who have been studying the Banjara community and its anthropology say that, in the last few decades, there has been a significant rift between urban Banjaras and those in rural areas, with the former conflating their religious customs with those of Hinduism and the latter maintaining that their customs had nothing to do with Hinduism. 

Amid this religious identity flux in the community, incidents like the “attempted conversion” of Mr. Singh have the Dharam Jagran Manch (DJM) concerned. The outfit, linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is running country-wide campaigns, events, and workshops to ensure that Banjaras “remain in the Hindu fold”. 

In tandem, the Union government too has launched a campaign to celebrate the 284th jayanti (birth anniversary) of Sant Sevalal Maharaj, another saint revered by the Banjara community.  

“They tried doing this with Buddha as well, portraying him as an avatar of Hindu gods, and they are doing the same here,” said Karnataka-based professor N. Shantha Naik, a member of the Banjara community who has extensively researched and written about their culture and history. 

In January this year, the DJM had organised a six-day-long Banjara Kumbh in Godri village of Maharashtra, where all visiting Banjaras were asked to mark their religion as ‘Hindu’ in census forms, and resolutions were adopted to install temples of Balaji, Jagdamba and Krishna in Banjara settlements, where morning and evening aartis (worship rituals) should be held.