Shifting goalposts: The numerous strands of the Sangh Parivar narrative

‘Joint-family and indissoluble marriage have been the premise of Hindu society. Legal guidelines that alter this foundation will in the end result in the disintegration of society. Jana Sangh will, subsequently, repeal the Hindu Marriage and Hindu Succession Acts.’

Thus spake the Jana Sangh manifesto of 1957. The BJP’s precursor accompanied this opposition to divorce and its championing of joint households by an assault on the rights of girls.

In his draft legislations within the early Fifties, Dr B.R. Ambedkar had proposed modest modifications to Hindu private legislation, particularly on the query of inheritance for ladies. He recognized the 2 dominant types of conventional inheritance legislation and modified one in all them to make inheritance fairer for ladies. In its 1951 manifesto, the Jana Sangh opposed this proposal within the Hindu Code Invoice, saying social reform mustn’t come from above however from society. In 1957, as quoted above, it mentioned such modifications weren’t acceptable until rooted in historical tradition. ‘Riotous individualism’ would ensue in consequence, it feared.

One a part of its opposition to divorce was the thought of everlasting marriage. Nonetheless, the fabric aspect was to not let divorced girls and widowed daughters-in-law inherit property. This place modified over time, however there isn’t a clarification as to why the occasion modified its place on its manifestos. As divorce turned much less uncommon in Indian society and as city, higher caste, middle-class households (the BJP’s core base) turned extra nuclear, the pledged loyalty to joint households eroded.

As we noticed in an earlier article which checked out the same abandoning of its socialist insurance policies on the financial system by the Jana Sangh/BJP, this isn’t essentially an issue. All events have the fitting to change and shift their stand, however when a place is laid out, any retreat from it, — and the taking on of a stand that was beforehand opposed — must also be laid out and defined. This, the RSS-linked political pressure has chosen to not do.