‘This is a Sangh village’: Inside Kerala’s new Hindutva strongholds

“This family adheres to Hindu traditions and beliefs.” 

The notice pasted outside Sreekala’s house in Keraladithyapuram, on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram, is hard to miss. Fixed just below the nameplate carrying the names of Sreekala and her husband Satheesh, a retired Air Force officer, the board is one of the many visible assertions of Hindu identity that have begun appearing in everyday spaces across parts of Kerala.

In fact a few kilometres away, at Keraladithyapuram Junction, that assertion takes on a more explicitly political form. When TNM visited the area in late April, a large red banner stretched across the road, carrying the image of 17th-century Maratha ruler Shivaji and the words “sangha gramam,” literally meaning “Sangh village.” 

Residents say the banner has remained there for several months, and it sticks out, especially in Kerala’s landscape, for two reasons.

The first is Shivaji himself. The Maratha ruler has little historical connection to Kerala, but his image has increasingly appeared in Sangh-linked festivals, rallies, and processions in the state in recent years, alongside saffron flags, Hanuman imagery, and other symbols associated with Hindutva mobilisation in north and western India.

The second is the open declaration of the locality as a “Sangh village.” It is notable that the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates have had a strong organisational presence in Kerala for decades, but much of this work has taken place through everyday community spaces rather than direct electoral politics. The RSS has built grassroots networks ranging from shakhas that conduct regular ideological training sessions to cultural organisations and trade unions, community welfare initiatives, and involvement in temple committees and festival organising.

Despite this groundwork, however, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has historically struggled to translate the Sangh’s organisational strength into major electoral success at the Assembly level in Kerala. But the Sangh’s influence has often grown in ways that electoral numbers alone do not capture. In several pockets of the state, particularly at the local body level, these networks have helped the BJP establish strongholds and build sustained neighbourhood-level influence.

What is changing now is the visibility of that influence. In many such areas, a presence that was often channelled through cultural, religious, and community networks is increasingly being claimed more openly, including through banners and signboards, politically charged cultural events, and neighbourhoods identifying themselves as “Sangh villages.”

Though villages in Kannur (like Pareekadavu and Diamond Mukku) have been called Sangh villages, TNM visited several such new pockets in Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad districts. Here, Sangh-linked organisations have become deeply and visibly embedded in local communities. While supporters describe this as cultural revival and community work, these networks are vehicles for the Sangh’s ideological expansion.

The banner at Keraladithyapuram Junction was put up by people associated with the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the trade union affiliated with the BJP.  “It is an area where there are RSS shakhas and active workers. People from all political parties live here, but among the younger generation, more volunteers and workers are emerging now,” said Deepuraj, BJP ward councillor of Powdikonam. “This is also a region with one of the highest numbers of shakhas.”

‘We thought our dharma needed protection’

Ushering us inside her house, Sreekala pointed back to 2018, when she said her family’s views on religion and identity began to change. “Hindus are being attacked and tortured like never before. It was during the 2018 Sabarimala issue that we decided to put up this signboard,” she said. “Christians have stickers saying ‘Yesu bhavanam’ and ‘Jesus is the saviour of this home’. Then why can’t we have something similar?”

Sreekala added that “during the Sabarimala issue,” her family would stay up watching television till midnight. “We were all in tears. My mother, who was a Congress worker, cried her heart out.”

The protests had erupted after the Supreme Court allowed women of menstruating age to enter the Sabarimala temple, triggering massive demonstrations across Kerala and becoming a major mobilisation point for the Sangh Parivar in the state.

Satheesh made it a point to state that the couple did not always think this way. “We were secular earlier. We never believed in ideas like ‘love jihad’ or in religious hostility,” he said. “But when we felt Hindus were being targeted because of their secular outlook, we thought our dharma also needed protection.”

The couple also repeatedly insisted that they have “very close Muslim and Christian” friends. “We eat whatever they bring home. But when we offer them prasadam (offerings) from the temple, they won’t accept it.”

At one point, Satheesh remarked that “Muslims are good people when they are in the minority,” before making unverified claims about Muslim population growth in northern Kerala. “We are Nairs. Being a Nair means no jobs, no privilege. That is why our children had to migrate,” Sreekala added.

Caste networks, temples, and local control

This feeling of being a “community under threat” is a recurring theme in conversations with several residents who support the idea of sangha gramams. But residents and local representatives who have watched these neighbourhoods change over the years say these anxieties are also closely tied to caste networks that have historically shaped many of these areas.

“Typically, in areas identified as ‘Sangh villages’, a majority of the families are related to each other. They usually belong to a particular community or caste and are clustered around a temple. There are others living there too, but this dominant group tends to have a strong hold and close ties with the RSS,” said Arun Vattavila, ward councillor from Chengamangalam and a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)].

According to Arun, many people who move into these localities may not necessarily identify with the Sangh’s politics, but gradually become part of neighbourhood structures where the organisation already has a strong presence.

“Many of those who move into these areas are working people looking to settle down. They often don’t question the Sangh’s influence in the neighbourhood, as their priority is simply to live there,” he said, adding that this has gradually fostered sharper divisions along caste and religious lines.

“When you visit these places, you often hear phrases like ‘your people’ and ‘our people’. At first, I thought it referred to political affiliations, but later I realised it was based on caste,” he alleged.

Prabha, another resident from Keraladithyapuram, also said that the growing consolidation of caste networks has aided the Sangh Parivar’s influence in these regions.

“It is one ‘upper’-caste community here that projected itself as a victimised group and enabled the spread of the Sangh Parivar, which presented itself as the saviour of the Hindu community. They have hijacked all our temple festivals. Earlier, there was harmony, but now we see only saffron flags and banners,” she said.

Several residents TNM spoke to pointed specifically to the changing nature of some temple festivals and cultural programmes. They say the concern is not at all about religious celebrations themselves, but about Sangh-linked groups introducing more explicit political symbols, slogans, and organisational presence into these spaces.

Most of these Sangh-dominated pockets are located in wards within the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation where the BJP has repeatedly performed strongly in local body elections over the last decade. In the 2025 local body elections, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) wrested control of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation from the Left Democratic Front (LDF), ending more than four decades of Left rule. For Sangh workers, victories such as these are evidence that years of neighbourhood-level organising are beginning to yield political results.

Many who support these groups also see their presence as a source of safety and discipline. “A few months ago, many school students used to hang out near the kaavu (sacred grove temple). One day, some BMS workers chased them away and beat them with steel rods. After that, none of them came back,” said another resident, Radha. A few others TNM spoke to confirmed the incident, although the police seemed unaware.

Radha, notably, described the incident approvingly. “So now we feel the neighbourhood is secure. Even if our children return late from college, these people keep an eye on who they are talking to and spending time with.”

Subin S, a BJP worker involved in putting up banners in Keraladithyapuram, rejected suggestions that these localities function through intimidation or surveillance. “We put up those boards only during temple festivals. There is no larger meaning to it. No vigilantism happens here,” he said.

But others, including supporters, had differing opinions. Madhu, another BMS worker, said the boards are meant to display the Sangh’s strength in the locality. “Almost everyone here is a Sangh sympathiser, so why can’t we call it a Sangh village?” he asked. “It is also an ideal village, and we make sure nothing bad happens here.”

Madhu pointed out that Powdikonam, once considered a CPI(M) stronghold, has repeatedly elected BJP representatives in recent years.

Residents say organisations like BMS have become deeply embedded in everyday life in these neighbourhoods. “Earlier, both CITU and BMS were active here. But now, in most BJP-dominated pockets, it is only BMS,” said Anoop Kumar, a resident of Powdikonam.

“They are not just involved in loading and unloading work. They act like vigilante groups here,” he added. “They keep track of who enters these areas and what is happening around them. They are active in temple festivals and community events too.”

‘If CPI(M) can have party villages...’

Radha also compared such neighbourhood control to Kerala’s other politically dominant localities. “If CPI(M) can have party villages in Kannur, why can’t we have it here?” she asked.

The comparison with CPI(M)’s “party villages” is something that came up repeatedly in conversations with Sangh workers. Kerala is no stranger to politically dominant localities, especially in parts of Kannur where the CPI(M)’s organisational control has historically extended beyond elections and into everyday social life.

But running parallel to these Left strongholds in Kannur are several pockets where the Sangh too has built similar neighbourhood-level influence over the years. Local political observers point to areas such as Pareekadavu near Dharmadom, Diamond Mukku in Kathiroor, Thokkilangadi near Koothuparambu, and Thiruvangad in Thalassery as examples of localities with a strong Sangh presence.

These pockets are not uniform. Some have developed around temples and historically dominant caste neighbourhoods, while others include coastal communities where the Sangh has expanded its presence. But political observers say caste and community networks have played a significant role in shaping several such localities, particularly in areas with a strong concentration of Nair families.

In Thiruvananthapuram, Sangh workers we spoke to argued that their neighbourhood networks follow a similar model as CPI(M) villages in Kannur. Ajayan, an RSS worker from Vattiyoorkkavu, said this kind of expansion happens by building influence in local community spaces.

“There was a time when all Hindu festivals were taken over by the CPI(M), turning them into so-called secular practices. But now, we can proudly say that in many temples across the state, we make sure the festivals remain ours and belong to Hindus,” he said.

According to him, this grassroots presence is key to the BJP’s future in Kerala. “This is how political movements grow. CPI(M) grew in the same way. They first established dominance in local pockets and gradually expanded their influence. We too are building our strength in small pockets, and one day the BJP will rule Kerala,” he added.

This also mirrors the RSS's broader organisational strategy in Kerala. Earlier this year, RSS leaders announced plans to establish shakhas in every village in Kerala by October 2026 as part of the organisation's centenary-year expansion drive. The RSS currently claims to operate around 7,000 shakhas in the state and has also announced a major organisational restructuring aimed at strengthening its grassroots presence.

Researchers studying Hindutva’s growth in Kerala have also pointed to this emphasis on building influence through cultural and social spaces before electoral gains.

In a 2025 paper, Devanandan Krishna, researcher at the University of Oslo, argues that Hindutva’s expansion relies primarily on “active civil society interventions and religio-cultural entrenchment,” before electoral politics.

The study notes that Sangh Parivar-affiliated organisations exert influence in public life through temple spaces, festivals, and mass rituals, including through organisations such as the Kerala Kshetra Samrakshana Samiti (KKSS). It also notes that community activities, welfare work, temple management, religious education, and attempts to shape everyday religious practices have been central to this strategy.

‘An ideal village’

For many Sangh workers, however, the idea of a sangha gramam is more than about political control, and a lot about building what they describe as an organised and self-reliant community. According to a worker in Palakkad district, this is about taking the lead in local matters and community activities.

“We may not always explicitly write sangha gramam, but anyone seeing the boards we put up will understand that the Sangh has strength there,” said Vinod, an RSS member from Mandhathkavu in Mundur.

The locality is known for the annual Mundur Kummatti festival, where more than 24 desams (regions) participate in processions linked to the Mundur Sree Palakkeezh Bhagavathi Temple. “We put up festival boards that contain Sangh elements. People also wear dress codes aligned with the organisation,” he said. “So far, no one has objected to it.”

Mandhathkavu has around 280 houses, and according to Vinod, most families have RSS connections. “In that village, for almost all matters, people from the RSS take the lead. For example, if there is a death, drinking water crisis or a temple-related event, we are the ones who stand in the front and take responsibility,” he said. “Because of this, the people there have developed a sense of trust toward us.”

Residents also described RSS-linked welfare activities as deeply tied to everyday life in such areas, often through organisations such as Seva Bharati. “We help with palliative care, weddings and local community events,” Vinod added.

At the same time, he insisted that there are no rigid rules governing everyday life in these areas. “In Communist party villages, the party’s word becomes the rule. We don’t have anything like that here. We haven’t created any special rules or systems for people in the village to abide by,” he said. “We stand with people regardless of politics. We don’t even call it a ‘Sangh village’.”

Yet Mundur, a CPI(M)-ruled panchayat, has seen BJP steadily gain electoral ground over the last decade. Palakkad district, in fact, has many such Sangh pockets, Vinod added.

Another prominent sangha gramam in Palakkad is SRK Nagar near Ottapalam, along the banks of the Bharathapuzha river. The locality is home to more than 400 families, most of whom belong to the Mooppar community, categorised as Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the state. The primary occupation of residents here is temple-related sculptural work, particularly granite stone carving.

“Everyone here is a supporter of the RSS and regularly comes to shakhas,” said Manu VP, a resident and RSS member from SRK Nagar. “It is said our ancestors were the ones who first brought the Sangh to this area.”

Even though the area is considered a ‘sangha gramam’, boards explicitly calling it so are uncommon. However, many roads and streets in the locality notably carry names like Shivaji Nagar, Shivaji Road, and Shivaji Line. During festivals such as Chinakkathoor Pooram, arches welcoming visitors to “Sangha Gramam” are erected.

According to Manu, the largest Pooram committee associated with Sangh members during the festival comes from SRK Nagar. “But here, these activities cannot always be seen purely as Sangh work,” Manu said. “Most people here are relatives or close friends.”

Even among those who embrace the label, there is no single definition of what constitutes a sangha gramam. What is clear, however, is that a phrase once used largely within Sangh circles is now finding its way into public view, going beyond roadsides and festival entrances into neighbourhood signboards across parts of Kerala.

This report was republished from The News Minute as part of The News Minute-Newslaundry alliance. Read about our partnership here and become a subscriber here.