Author: Chris Tomlinson
Publication: The Associated Press
Date: February 2, 2001
Bhuj, India (AP) - Saffron scarves
flung around their necks and pickaxes and shovels slung over their shoulders,
the Hindu nationalist volunteers walk the streets of Bhuj, collecting the
dead.
They belong to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh, or Association of National Volunteers, known for its discipline
and efficiency -- and for denouncing Western influence in India, as well
as allegedly fanning anti- Christian and anti-Muslim violence.
The group has emerged as one of
the leaders of the relief effort in this devastated corner of western India,
where more than 10,500 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds of
thousands have been left homeless. Officials had earlier said the death
toll was around 14,000.
Within hours of the Jan. 26 quake,
the group -- known as RSS -- mobilized its followers, loading trucks with
food and relief supplies and dispatching them to Gujarat state, where the
epicenter was located. Men rode in with the trucks to offer their help,
while women stayed home and prepared food for the survivors, said Chetan
Sompura, an RSS member in charge of aid distribution.
The effort has burnished the image
of the RSS, the ideological forefather of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's
right-wing Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party. The party
has distanced itself from some of the more extreme positions of the RSS,
founded in 1925 to promote Hindu nationalism.
Sompura emphasized the RSS has distributed
its aid efforts equally among Hindus, Muslims and Christians, adding that
"all of this comes from volunteers and RSS members. We've had no help from
the government."
But one function it considers its
sacred duty is collecting the Hindu dead and carrying the bodies to crematoriums.
"We make sure that everyone gets
a proper funeral," said Sompura, who normally works as a civil engineer.
The grim task is becoming more important
seven days after the quake, with heavy equipment uncovering hundreds of
badly decomposed bodies.
The RSS has delivered 141 truckloads
of supplies to the Bhuj area, including spices, candles, clothing and blankets,
Sompura said. He said about 500 RSS members are working in Bhuj, where
their local headquarters is among the few buildings still standing.
Volunteers fan out daily to assess
what help is needed, then return to RSS headquarters, where volunteers
assemble packages filled with flour, tea, beans and homemade snacks to
distribute to the homeless.
The volunteers begin and end the
day amid the rubble with twice-daily prayers, said in unison, followed
by shouted slogans and hand-across-the-chest salutes.
Carrying bamboo staves and dressed
in white shirts, khaki shorts and black caps to pledge allegiance to "Mother
India," RSS members look like paramilitary troops.
Despite the controversy surrounding
the group, the aid is appreciated. More than 45,000 food packages had been
distributed by Wednesday night to 25,400 families in 28 neighborhoods,
Sompura said, reading the figures from a ledger. Similar operations are
underway in 78 villages, he added.
"Everyone here is a volunteer and
we do not receive any pay," Sompura said. "We take India as our mother,
not just a nation, and this is our duty."
