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'''Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh''' is a [[Hindu nationalist]] organization in [[India]]. It was founded in 1925 by K.B. Hedgewar. The organization is accused of having [[fascist]] tendencies.<ref name="FES">Curran, Jean A. Jr. ''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3023941 The RSS: Militant Hinduism]'' ''Far Eastern Survey'', Vol. 19, No. 10. (May 17, 1950), pp. 93-98.</ref>
{{Short description|Hindu nationalist organisation in India}}
{{Pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                = Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
| logo                =
| logo_caption        = [[Bhagwa Dhwaj]] or saffron flag, an official symbol of RSS
| image              =
| caption            = Path Sanchalan (marching) in [[Bhopal]]
| abbreviation        = '''RSS'''
| formation          = {{start date and age|1925|09|27|p=y|df=yes}}
| type                = [[Right-wing politics|Right-wing]]<ref name="JohnsonGarnett2017">{{citation|last1=Johnson|first1=Matthew|last2=Garnett|first2=Mark|author-link2=Mark Garnett|last3=Walker|first3=David M|title=Conservatism and Ideology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lRE4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT77|access-date=25 March 2021|url-access=limited|year=2017|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-1-317-52899-9|page=77|quote=A couple of years later, India was ruled by the Janata coalition, which consisted also of Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the then-political arm of the extreme right-wing Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS – National Volunteers Organisation).}}</ref><br /> [[Volunteer]]{{sfn|Andersen|Damle|1987|p=111}}<br />[[Paramilitary]]<ref name="Curran1950"/><ref name="Bhatt2013"/><ref name="McLeod2002"/><ref name="Horowitz"/><ref name="Margolis2000"/>
| status              = Active
| purpose            = [[Hindu nationalism]] and [[Hindutva]]<ref name="Embree2005">{{cite book |first1=Ainslie T. |last1=Embree | author-link = Ainslie Embree |chapter=Who speaks for India? The Role of Civil Society |editor1=Rafiq Dossani |editor2=Henry S. Rowen |title=Prospects for Peace in South Asia |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|year=2005 |isbn=0804750858 |pages=141–184}}</ref><ref name="Jaffrelot 2010"/>
| headquarters        = Dr. Hedgewar Bhawan, Sangh Building Road, [[Nagpur]], [[Maharashtra]] - 440032
| language            = ''None''
| leader_title        = [[List of Sarsanghchalaks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh|Sarsanghchalak]] (Chief)
| leader_name        = [[Mohan Bhagwat]]
| leader_title2      = Sarkaryawah (General Secretary)
| leader_name2        = [[Dattatreya Hosabale]]
| key_people          =
| main_organ          =
| affiliations        = [[Sangh Parivar]]
| volunteers          =
| bodystyle          = MNRR
| slogan              =
| founder            = [[K. B. Hedgewar]]
| coordinates        = {{coord|21.146|N|79.111|E|display=inline,title}}
| origins            =
| area_served        = India
| method              =
| membership          = {{plainlist|
*5–6&nbsp;million<ref name="largest">{{cite news |author=Priti Gandhi |title=Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh: How the world's largest NGO has changed the face of Indian democracy |newspaper=[[DNA India]] |date=15 May 2014 |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/standpoint-rashtriya-swayamsewak-sangh-how-the-world-s-largest-ngo-has-changed-the-face-of-indian-democracy-1988636 |access-date=1 December 2014}}</ref><ref name=economist>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21651334-religious-pluralism-looking-less-secure-hindus-fore|title=Hindus to the fore|access-date=10 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907213258/https://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21651334-religious-pluralism-looking-less-secure-hindus-fore|archive-date=7 September 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=glorious>{{cite web |title=Glorious 87: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh turns 87 on today on Vijayadashami |publisher=Samvada |date=24 October 2012 |url=http://samvada.org/2012/news/glorious-87-rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh-rss-turns-87-on-today-on-vijayadashami/ |access-date=1 December 2014}}</ref>
*56,859 branches/shakhas (2016)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/rss-uniform-over-5000-new-shakhas-claims-rss/ |title=Highest growth ever: RSS adds 5,000 new shakhas in last 12 months |newspaper=The Indian Express |date=16 March 2016 |access-date=30 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160824201255/http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/rss-uniform-over-5000-new-shakhas-claims-rss/ |archive-date=24 August 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
| website            = {{URL|https://www.rss.org}}
}}
The '''Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh''' ({{small|[[Abbreviation|abbr.]]}} {{Abbr|'''RSS'''|Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangathan}}; {{IAST|Rāṣṭrīya Svayaṃsevak Saṅgh}}, {{IPA-hi|raːʂˈʈriːj(ə) swəjəmˈseːʋək səŋɡʱ|hindi}}, {{Literal translation|National Volunteer Organisation}})<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/919613/Rashtriya-Swayamsevak-Sangh|title=Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)|quote=(Hindi: "National Volunteer Organisation") also called Rashtriya Seva Sangh|access-date=10 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026173245/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/919613/Rashtriya-Swayamsevak-Sangh|archive-date=26 October 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> is an Indian [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]],<ref name="JohnsonGarnett2017"/> [[Hindu nationalist]],<ref name="Horowitz">{{cite book|last1=Horowitz|first1=Donald L.|title=The Deadly Ethnic Riot|year=2001|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|isbn=978-0520224476|page=[https://archive.org/details/deadlyethnicriot00horo/page/244 244]|url=https://archive.org/details/deadlyethnicriot00horo/page/244}}</ref><ref name="Haynes2003">{{cite book|author=Jeff Haynes|title=Democracy and Political Change in the Third World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YdWAAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA168|date=2 September 2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-54184-3|pages=168–|access-date=25 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170423174835/https://books.google.com/books?id=YdWAAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA168|archive-date=23 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> paramilitary<ref name="McLeod2002">{{cite book|last1=McLeod|first1=John|title=The history of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DAwmUphO6eAC&pg=PA209|access-date=11 June 2010|year=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31459-9|pages=209–|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424015646/https://books.google.com/books?id=DAwmUphO6eAC&pg=PA209|archive-date=24 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> volunteer{{sfn|Andersen|Damle|1987|p=111}} organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the [[Sangh Parivar]] ([[Hindi]] for "Sangh family"), which have presence in all facets of the Indian society. RSS was founded on 27 September 1925. {{As of|2014}}, it has a membership of 5–6{{nbsp}}million.{{sfn|Chitkara, National Upsurge|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/?id=ifuxzl9NM5sC&pg=PA362&lpg=PA362 362]}}<ref name="largest"/>


== References ==
The initial impetus was to provide character training through Hindu discipline and to unite the Hindu community to form a [[Hindu Rashtra]] (Hindu nation).{{sfn|Andersen|Damle|1987|p=2}}<ref name="Atkins2004">{{cite book|last1=Atkins|first1=Stephen E.|title=Encyclopedia of modern worldwide extremists and extremist groups|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo0000atki|url-access=registration|access-date=26 May 2010|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-32485-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo0000atki/page/264 264]–265}}</ref> The organisation promotes the ideals of upholding [[Indian culture]] and the values of a civil society and spreads the ideology of [[Hindutva]], to "strengthen" the [[Hinduism in India|Hindu community]].<ref name="Dina Nath Mishra">{{cite book|last=Dina Nath Mishra|title=RSS: Myth and Reality|year=1980|publisher=Vikas Publishing House|isbn=978-0706910209|page=24}}</ref><ref name="Jaffrelot 2010">{{cite book|last1=Jaffrelot|first1=Christophe|title=Religion, Caste, and Politics in India|date=2010|publisher=Primus Books|isbn=9789380607047|page=46|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XAO3i_gS61wC&pg=PA46|language=en}}</ref> It drew initial inspiration from European right-wing groups during [[World War II]], such as the [[Italian Fascist Party]].<ref name="Atkins2004" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Casolari|first=Marzia|date=2000|title=Hindutva's Foreign Tie-Up in the 1930s: Archival Evidence|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=35|issue=4|pages=218–228|jstor=4408848|issn=0012-9976}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=McDonald|first=Ian|date=1 December 1999|title='Physiological Patriots'?: The Politics of Physical Culture and Hindu Nationalism in India|journal=International Review for the Sociology of Sport|language=en|publisher=Sage Journals|volume=34|issue=4|pages=343–358|doi=10.1177/101269099034004003|s2cid=144111156|issn=1012-6902}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Natrajan|first=Balmurli|date=2009|title=Searching for a Progressive Hindu/ism: Battling Mussolini's Hindus, Hindutva, and Hubris|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/595824/summary|journal=Tikkun|language=en|publisher=Duke University Press|volume=24|issue=5|pages=58–61|doi=10.1215/08879982-2009-5024|s2cid=171206784|issn=2164-0041}}</ref> Gradually, RSS grew into a prominent Hindu nationalist umbrella organisation, spawning several affiliated organisations that established numerous schools, charities, and clubs to spread its ideological beliefs.<ref name="Atkins2004"/>
 
The RSS was banned once during [[British Raj|British rule]],<ref name="Atkins2004"/> and then thrice by the post-independence Indian government, first in 1948 when [[Nathuram Godse]],<ref>Krant M. L. Verma ''Swadhinta Sangram Ke Krantikari Sahitya Ka Itihas'' (Part-3) p.{{nbsp}}766</ref> an erstwhile member of RSS,<ref name=":2">—{{cite book|last1=Karawan|first1=Ibrahim A.|last2=McCormack|first2=Wayne|last3=Reynolds|first3=Stephen E.|title=Values and Violence: Intangible Aspects of Terrorism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ol-63orWw68C&pg=PA87|year=2008|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-4020-8660-1|page=87}}<br />—{{cite news|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/nathuram-godse-never-left-rss-says-his-family/articleshow/54159375.cms|title=Nathuram Godse never left RSS, says his family|first1=Vasudha|last1=Venugopal|date=8 September 2016|newspaper=The Economic Times}}</ref> assassinated [[Mahatma Gandhi]];<ref name="Atkins2004"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/2004/08/18/stories/2004081805151100.htm |title=RSS releases 'proof' of its innocence |date=18 August 2004 |access-date=26 January 2011 |location=Chennai, India |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523043649/http://www.hindu.com/2004/08/18/stories/2004081805151100.htm |archive-date=23 May 2010 |newspaper=[[The Hindu]] |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="IAR">
{{cite book |author= Gerald James Larson |title= India's Agony Over Religion |publisher= [[State University of New York Press]] |year= 1995 |page= 132 |isbn= 0-7914-2412-X}}</ref> then during [[The Emergency (India)|The Emergency]] (1975–1977); and for a third time after the [[demolition of Babri Masjid]] in 1992.
 
==Founding==
RSS was founded in 1925 by [[K. B. Hedgewar|Keshav Baliram Hedgewar]], a doctor in the city of [[Nagpur]], British India.<ref name="Curran1950">{{cite journal |first1=Jean A. |last1=Curran |jstor=3023941 |title=The RSS: Militant Hinduism |journal=Far Eastern Survey |volume=19 |pages=93–98 |number=10 |date= 17 May 1950 |doi=10.2307/3023941}}</ref>
 
Hedgewar was a political protege of [[B. S. Moonje]], a [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak|Tilakite]] [[Indian National Congress|Congressman]], [[Hindu Mahasabha]] politician and social activist from Nagpur.  Moonje had sent Hedgewar to Calcutta to pursue his medical studies and to learn combat techniques from the secret revolutionary societies of the Bengalis.  Hedgewar became a member of the [[Anushilan Samiti]], an anti-British revolutionary group, getting into its inner circle. The secretive methods of these societies were eventually used by him in organising the RSS.{{sfn|Goodrick-Clarke|1998|p=59}}{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|pp=33–39}}{{sfn|Kelkar|2011|pp=2–3}}
 
After returning to Nagpur, Hedgewar organised anti-British activities through the ''Kranti Dal'' (Party of Revolution) and participated in independence activist [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak|Tilak]]'s Home Rule campaign in 1918.  According to the official RSS history,{{sfn|Bhishikar|1979}} he came to realise that revolutionary activities alone were not enough to overthrow the British. After reading [[V. D. Savarkar]]'s ''[[Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?|Hindutva]]'', published in Nagpur in 1923, and meeting Savarkar in the [[Ratnagiri]] prison in 1925, Hedgewar was extremely influenced by him, and he founded the RSS with the objective of strengthening Hindu society.{{sfn|Goodrick-Clarke|1998|p=59}}{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|pp=33–39}}{{sfn|Kelkar|2011|pp=2–3}}{{sfn|Kelkar|1950|p=138}}
 
Hedgewar believed that a handful of British were able to rule over the vast country of India because Hindus were disunited, lacked valour ({{transl|hi|pararkram}}) and lacked a civic character.  He recruited energetic Hindu youth with revolutionary fervour, gave them a uniform of a black forage cap, khaki shirt (later white shirt) and khaki shorts—emulating the uniform of the [[Indian Imperial Police]]—and taught them paramilitary techniques with {{transl|hi|lathi}} (bamboo staff), sword, javelin, and dagger. Hindu ceremonies and rituals played a large role in the organisation, not so much for religious observance, but to provide awareness of India's glorious past and to bind the members in a religious communion. Hedgewar also held weekly sessions of what he called {{transl|hi|baudhik}} (ideological education), consisting of simple questions to the novices concerning the Hindu nation and its history and heroes, especially warrior king [[Shivaji]]. The saffron flag of Shivaji, the [[Bhagwa Dhwaj]], was used as the emblem for the new organisation. Its public tasks involved protecting Hindu pilgrims at festivals and confronting Muslim resistance against Hindu processions near mosques.{{sfn|Goodrick-Clarke|1998|p=59}}{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|pp=33–39}}{{sfn|Kelkar|2011|pp=2–3}}
 
Two years into the life of the organisation, in 1927, Hedgewar organised an "Officers' Training Camp" with the objective of forming a corps of key workers, whom he called {{transl|hi|pracharaks}} (full-time functionaries or "propagators"). He asked the volunteers to first become "[[sadhu|sadhus" (ascetics)]], renouncing professional and family lives and dedicating their lives to the cause of the RSS.  Hedgewar is believed to have embraced the doctrine of renunciation after it had been reinterpreted by nationalists such as [[Aurobindo]]. The tradition of renunciation gave the RSS the character of a 'Hindu sect'.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|pp=40–41}} Developing a network of {{transl|hi|shakhas}} (branches) was the main preoccupation for Hedgewar throughout his career as the RSS chief.  The first {{transl|hi|pracharaks}} were responsible for establishing as many {{transl|hi|shakhas}} as possible, first in Nagpur, then across Maharashtra, and eventually in the rest of India. [[Prabhakar Balwant Dani|P. B. Dani]] was sent to establish a {{transl|hi|shakha}} at the [[Benaras Hindu University]]; other universities were similarly targeted to recruit new followers among the student population.  Three {{transl|hi|pracharaks}} went to Punjab: Appaji Joshi to [[Sialkot]], Moreshwar Munje to the [[DAV College]] in [[Rawalpindi]] and Raja Bhau Paturkar to the [[DAV College]] in [[Lahore]].  In 1940, Madhavrao Muley was appointed as the {{transl|hi|prant pracharak}} (regional head) for Punjab in Lahore.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|pp=65–67}}
 
== Motivations ==
{{Hinduism}}
Scholars differ on Hedgewar's motivations for forming the RSS, especially because he never involved the RSS in fighting the British rule. French political scientist [[Christophe Jaffrelot]] says that the RSS was intended to propagate the ideology of [[Hindutva]] and to provide "new physical strength" to the majority community.<ref name="Jaffrelot 2010"/>{{sfn|Chitkara, National Upsurge|2004|p=249}}
 
=== Tilakite ideology ===
After Tilak's demise in 1920, like other followers of Tilak in Nagpur, Hedgewar was opposed to some of the programmes adopted by Gandhi. Gandhi's stance on the Indian Muslim [[Khilafat Movement|Khilafat issue]] was a cause for concern to Hedgewar, and so was the fact that the 'cow protection' was not on the [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] agenda. This led Hedgewar, along with other Tilakities, to part ways with Gandhi. In 1921, Hedgewar delivered a series of lectures in Maharashtra with slogans such as "Freedom within a year" and "boycott". He deliberately broke the law, for which he was imprisoned for a year. After being released in 1922, Hedgewar was distressed at the lack of organisation among the Congress volunteers for the independence struggle. Without proper mobilisation and organisation, he felt that the patriotic youth of India could never get independence for the country. Subsequently, he felt the need to create an independent organisation that was based on the country's traditions and history.{{sfn|Andersen, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh: Early Concerns|1972}}
 
=== Hindu-Muslim relations ===
The decade of 1920s witnessed a significant deterioration in the relations between Hindus and Muslims.  The Muslim masses were mobilised by the [[Khilafat movement]], demanding the reinstatement of the Caliphate in Turkey, and [[Gandhi]] made an alliance with it for conducting his own [[Non-co-operation movement]]. Gandhi aimed to create [[Hindu–Muslim unity]] in forming the alliance. However, the alliance saw a "common enemy", not a "common enmity".<ref>{{harvp|Stern, Democracy and Dictatorship in South Asia|2001|p=27}}. Quote: '... mobilizaiton{{Verify quote|type=spelling|text=Is the original really spelled "aiton" instead of "ation"?|date=May 2022}} of Indian Muslims in the name of Islam and in defense of the Ottoman ''khalifa'' was inherently "communal", no less than the Islamic movements of opposition to British imperialism which preceded it.... All defined a Hindu no less than a British "other".'</ref> When Gandhi called off the Non-co-operation movement due to outbreaks of violence, Muslims disagreed with his strategy. Once the movements failed, the mobilised Muslims turned their anger towards Hindus.<ref>{{harvp|Stern, Democracy and Dictatorship in South Asia|2001}}; {{harvp|Misra, Identity and Religion: Foundations of Anti-Islamism in India|2004}}</ref> The first major incident of religious violence was reportedly the [[Moplah rebellion]] in August 1921, it was widely narrated that the rebellion ended in large-scale violence against Hindu in [[Malabar region|Malabar]].  A cycle of inter-communal violence throughout India followed for several years.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|pp=19–20}} In 1923, there were riots in Nagpur, called "Muslim riots" by Hedgewar, where Hindus were felt to be "totally disorganized and panicky." These incidents made a major impression on Hedgewar and convinced him of the need to organise the Hindu society.{{sfn|Kelkar|1950|p=138}}{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=34}}
 
After acquiring about 100 ''swayamsevaks'' (volunteers) to the RSS in 1927, Hedgewar took the issue to the Muslim domain. He led the Hindu religious procession for [[Ganesha]], beating the drums in defiance of the usual practice not to pass in front of a mosque with music.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=40}} On the day of [[Lakshmi Puja]] on 4 September, Muslims are said to have retaliated.  When the Hindu procession reached a mosque in the Mahal area of Nagpur, Muslims blocked it. Later in the afternoon, they attacked the Hindu residences in the Mahal area. It is said that the RSS cadres were prepared for the attack and beat the Muslim rioters back. [[1927 Nagpur riots|Riots]] continued for 3 days and the army had to be called in to quell the violence. RSS organised the Hindu resistance and protected the Hindu households while the Muslim households had to leave Nagpur ''en masse'' for safety.{{sfn|Chitkara, National Upsurge|2004|p=250}}{{sfn|Basu & Sarkar, Khaki Shorts and Saffron Flags|1993|pp=19–20}}{{sfn|Kelkar|1950|p=138}}{{sfn|Frykenberg|1996|p=241}} Tapan Basu et al. note the accounts of "Muslim aggressiveness" and the "Hindu self-defence" in the RSS descriptions of the incident. The above incident vastly enhanced the prestige of the RSS and enabled its subsequent expansion.{{sfn|Basu & Sarkar, Khaki Shorts and Saffron Flags|1993|pp=19–20}}
 
=== Stigmatisation and emulation ===
Christophe Jaffrelot points out the theme of "stigmatisation and emulation" in the ideology of the RSS along with other Hindu nationalist movements such as the [[Arya Samaj]] and the Hindu Mahasabha.  Muslims, Christians and the British were thought of as "foreign bodies" implanted in the Hindu nation, who were able to exploit the disunity and absence of valour among the Hindus in order to subdue them. The solution lay in emulating the characteristics of these "Threatening Others" that were perceived to give them strength, such as paramilitary organisation, emphasis on unity and nationalism. The Hindu nationalists combined these emulatory aspects with a selective borrowing of traditions from the Hindu past to achieve a synthesis that was uniquely Indian and Hindu.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|loc=Chapter 1}}
 
=== Hindu Mahasabha influence ===
The [[Hindu Mahasabha]], which was initially a special interest group within the [[Indian National Congress]] and later an independent party, was an important influence on the RSS, even though it is rarely acknowledged.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} In 1923, prominent Hindu leaders like [[Madan Mohan Malaviya]] met together on this platform and voiced their concerns on the 'division in the Hindu community'. In his presidential speech to Mahasabha, Malaviya stated: "Friendship could exist between equals. If the Hindus made themselves strong and the rowdy section among the Mahomedans were convinced they could not safely rob and dishonour Hindus, unity would be established on a stable basis." He wanted the activists 'to educate all boys and girls, establish ''akharas'' (gymnasiums), establish a volunteer corps to persuade people to comply with decisions of the Hindu Mahasabha, to accept untouchables as Hindus and grant them the right to use wells, enter temples, get an education.' Later, Hindu Mahasabha leader [[V. D. Savarkar]]'s 'Hindutva' ideology also had a profound impact on Hedgewar's thinking about the 'Hindu nation'.{{sfn|Andersen, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh: Early Concerns|1972}}
 
The initial meeting for the formation of the Sangh on the [[Vijaya Dashami]] day of 1925 was held between Hedgewar and four Hindu Mahasabha leaders: [[B. S. Moonje]], [[Ganesh Savarkar]], [[L. V. Paranjpe]] and B. B. Tholkar. RSS took part as a volunteer force in organising the Hindu Mahasabha annual meeting in Akola in 1931.  Moonje remained a patron of the RSS throughout his life.  Both he and Ganesh Savarkar worked to spread the RSS ''shakhas'' in Maharashtra, Panjab, Delhi, and the princely states by initiating contacts with local leaders.  Savarkar merged his own youth organisation ''Tarun Hindu Sabha'' with the RSS and helped its expansion. V. D. Savarkar, after his release in 1937, joined them in spreading the RSS and giving speeches in its support.  Officials in the Home Department called the RSS the "volunteer organisation of the Hindu Mahasabha."{{sfn|Bapu|2013|pp=97–100}}{{sfn|Goyal|1979|pp=59–76}}
 
==History==
 
===Indian Independence Movement===
After the formation of the RSS, which portrays itself as a social movement, Hedgewar kept the organisation from having any direct affiliation with the political organisations then fighting British rule.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/655722.stm|title=RSS aims for a Hindu nation|date=10 March 2003|work=BBC News|access-date=26 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124011631/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/655722.stm|archive-date=24 November 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> RSS rejected Gandhi's willingness to co-operate with the Muslims.{{sfn|Nussbaum, The Clash Within|2008|p=156}}{{sfn|Bhatt, Hindu Nationalism|2001|p=115}}
 
In accordance with Hedgewar's tradition of keeping the RSS away from the Indian Independence movement, any political activity that could be construed as being anti-British was carefully avoided. According to the RSS biographer C.{{nbsp}}P. Bhishikar, Hedgewar talked only about Hindu organisations and avoided any direct comment on the Government.{{sfn|Shamsul Islam, Religious Dimensions|2006|p=188}} The "Independence Day" announced by the Indian National Congress for 26 January 1930 was celebrated by the RSS that year but was subsequently avoided. The [[Swaraj flag|Tricolor]] of the Indian national movement was shunned.{{sfn|Chitkara, National Upsurge|2004|pp=251–254}}{{sfn|Tapan Basu, Khaki Shorts|1993|p=21}}<ref name="Hadiz2006">{{cite book|author=Vedi R. Hadiz|title=Empire and Neoliberalism in Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dd99AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA252|date=27 September 2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-16727-2|pages=252–|access-date=13 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118113508/https://books.google.com/books?id=dd99AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA252|archive-date=18 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Puniyani, Religion, Power and Violence|2005|p=141}}
Hedgewar personally participated in the [[Salt Satyagraha|'Satyagraha']] launched by Gandhi in April 1930, but he did not get the RSS involved in the movement. He sent information everywhere that the RSS would not participate in the Satyagraha. However, those wishing to participate individually were not prohibited.{{sfn|Puniyani, Religion, Power and Violence|2005|p=129}}{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=74}} In 1934 Congress passed a resolution prohibiting its members from joining RSS, Hindu Mahasabha, or the Muslim League.{{sfn|Chitkara, National Upsurge|2004|pp=251–254}}
 
M. S. Golwalkar, who became the leader of the RSS in 1940, continued and further strengthened the isolation from the independence movement. In his view, the RSS had pledged to achieve freedom through "defending religion and culture", not by fighting the British.<ref name="Golwalkar1974">{{cite book|author=M. S. Golwalkar|title=Shri Guruji Samgra Darshan, Volume 4|date=1974|publisher=Bharatiya Vichar Sadhana}}</ref>{{sfn|Shamsul Islam, Religious Dimensions|2006|p=191}}{{sfn|Puniyani, Religion, Power and Violence|2005|p=135}} Golwalkar lamented the anti-British nationalism, calling it a "reactionary view" that, he claimed, had disastrous effects upon the entire course of the freedom struggle.{{sfn|Tapan Basu, Khaki Shorts|1993|p=29}}<ref name="Ludden1996">{{cite book|author=David Ludden|title=Contesting the Nation: Religion, Community, and the Politics of Democracy in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jEUdPqYQjhoC&pg=PA274|date=1 April 1996|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=0-8122-1585-0|pages=274–|access-date=13 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118125602/https://books.google.com/books?id=jEUdPqYQjhoC&pg=PA274|archive-date=18 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> It is believed that Golwalkar did not want to give the British an excuse to ban the RSS. He complied with all the strictures imposed by the Government during the Second World War, even announcing the termination of the RSS military department.{{sfn|Andersen|Damle|1987}}{{sfn|Noorani, RSS and the BJP|2000|p=46}} The British Government believed that the RSS was not supporting any civil disobedience against them, and their other political activities could thus be overlooked. The British Home Department took note of the fact that the speakers at the RSS meetings urged the members to keep aloof from the anti-British movements of the [[Indian National Congress]], which was duly followed.{{sfn|Bipan Chandra, Communalism|2008|p=140}}The Home Department did not see the RSS as a problem for law and order in British India.{{sfn|Andersen|Damle|1987}}{{sfn|Noorani, RSS and the BJP|2000|p=46}}The Bombay government appreciated the RSS by noting that the Sangh had scrupulously kept itself within the law and refrained from taking part in the disturbances ([[Quit India Movement]]) that broke out in August 1942.<ref name="Bandyopadhya?a2004">{{cite book|author=Sekhara Bandyopadhya?a|title=From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0oVra0ulQ3QC&pg=PA422|date=1 January 2004|publisher=Orient Blackswan|isbn=978-81-250-2596-2|pages=422–|access-date=13 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103033815/https://books.google.com/books?id=0oVra0ulQ3QC&pg=PA422|archive-date=3 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Bipan Chandra, Communalism|2008|p=141}}{{sfn|Noorani, RSS and the BJP|2000|p=60}} It also reported that the RSS had not, in any way, infringed upon government orders and had always shown a willingness to comply with the law. The Bombay Government report further noted that in December 1940, orders had been issued to the provincial RSS leaders to desist from any activities that the British Government considered objectionable, and the RSS, in turn, had assured the British authorities that "it had no intentions of offending against the orders of the Government".<ref name="Sarkar2005">{{cite book|author=Sumit Sarkar|title=Beyond Nationalist Frames: Relocating Postmodernism, Hindutva, History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aqXqI-LRz0YC&pg=PA258|year=2005|publisher=Permanent Black|isbn=978-81-7824-086-2|pages=258–|access-date=25 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312120146/https://books.google.com/books?id=aqXqI-LRz0YC&pg=PA258|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Gupta1997">{{cite book |author=Partha Sarathi Gupta|date=1997 |title=Towards Freedom 1943–44, Part III |location=New Delhi |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=3058–9 |isbn=978-0195638684}}</ref>
 
Golwalkar later openly admitted the fact that the RSS did not participate in the Quit India Movement. He agreed that such a stance led to a perception of the RSS as an inactive organisation, whose statements had no substance in reality.<ref name="Golwalkar1974"/>{{sfn|Shamsul Islam, Religious Dimensions|2006|p=187}}
 
The RSS neither supported nor joined in the [[Royal Indian Navy mutiny]] against the British in 1945.{{sfn|Bhatt, Hindu Nationalism|2001|p=115}}
 
===Attitude towards Jews===
Before World War II, the RSS leaders admired [[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Benito Mussolini]].<ref name="Atkins2004"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/hindu-nationalists-historical-links-nazism-fascism-214222|title=Hindu Nationalist's Historical Links to Nazism and Fascism|work=International Business Times|access-date=17 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518222130/http://www.ibtimes.com/hindu-nationalists-historical-links-nazism-fascism-214222|archive-date=18 May 2016|url-status=live|date=6 March 2012}}</ref> Golwalkar allegedly took inspiration from Adolf Hitler's ideology of racial purity.<ref>Gregory, Derek; Pred, Allan Richard (2007). ''Violent geographies: fear, terror, and political violence''. CRC Press. pp.{{nbsp}}158–159. {{ISBN|9780415951470}}. Retrieved 14 June 2010.</ref> However, the RSS's stance changed during the war; the organization firmly supported the British war effort against Hitler and the [[Axis Powers]].<ref name="Bandyopadhya?a2004"/>
 
This prewar sympathy did not imply any antipathy towards Jews. The RSS leaders were supportive of the formation of Jewish State of Israel.<ref>{{cite report|last1=Quraiza|first1=Jai Banu|title=Hindu Pro-Zionism and Philo-Semitism|url=http://www.nhsf.org.uk/images/stories/HinduDharma/Interfaith/hinduzion.pdf|date=January 2004|page=84|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060423090103/http://www.nhsf.org.uk/images/stories/HinduDharma/Interfaith/hinduzion.pdf|archive-date=23 April 2006|access-date=11 April 2014}}</ref> Golwalkar admired the Jews for maintaining their "religion, culture and language".<ref>{{cite book|title=Golwalkar's We or our nationhood defined: a critique |page=30 |publisher=Pharos Media & Pub. |year=2006 |author=Shamsul Islam}}</ref>
 
===Partition===
The [[Partition of India]] affected millions of [[Sikh]]s, [[Hindu]]s, and [[Muslim]]s attempting to escape the violence and carnage that followed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat3.htm |title=India |publisher=Users.erols.com |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506031637/http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat3.htm |archive-date=6 May 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> During the partition, the RSS helped the Hindu refugees fleeing West Punjab; its activists also played an active role in the communal violence during Hindu-Muslim riots in North India, though this was officially not sanctioned by the leadership. To the RSS activists, the partition was a result of mistaken soft-line towards the Muslims, which only confirmed the natural moral weaknesses and corruptibility of the politicians. The RSS blamed Gandhi, Nehru and Patel for their 'naivety which resulted in the partition', and held them responsible for the mass killings and displacement of the millions of people.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=reiwAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA64|title=Transforming India|last1=Bose|first1=Sumantra|date=16 September 2013|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674728196|pages=64–|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAqn3OIGE54C&pg=PA95|title=The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India|last1=Hansen|first1=Thomas Blom|date=23 March 1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=1400823056|pages=95–|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xz_WCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA183|title=Party Politics in India|last1=Weiner|first1=Myron|date=8 December 2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9781400878413|pages=183–|language=en}}</ref>
 
===First ban===
The first ban on the RSS was imposed in [[Punjab Province (British India)]] on 24 January 1947 by [[Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana]], the premier of the ruling [[Unionist Party (Punjab)|Unionist Party]], a party that represented the interests of the landed gentry and landlords of Punjab, which included Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs. Along with the RSS, the [[Muslim National Guard]] was also banned.<ref name="Hiro2015">{{cite book|author=Dilip Hiro|title=The Longest August: The Unflinching Rivalry Between India and Pakistan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PpPCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88|date=24 February 2015|publisher=Nation Books|isbn=978-1-56858-503-1|pages=88–|access-date=13 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118050337/https://books.google.com/books?id=PpPCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88|archive-date=18 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Talbot2013">{{cite book|author=Ian Talbot|title=Khizr Tiwana, the Punjab Unionist Party and the Partition of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtJcAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA155|date=16 December 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-79029-4|pages=155–|access-date=13 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170114084518/https://books.google.com/books?id=KtJcAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA155|archive-date=14 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The ban was lifted on 28 January 1947.<ref name="Hiro2015"/>
 
===Opposition to the National Flag of India===
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh initially did not recognise the Tricolor as the National [[Flag of India]]. The RSS-inspired publication, the ''Organiser'',<ref>{{cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/double-standards-rss-chiefs-used-to-relish-chicken-mutton-dishes/articleshow/48166147.cms|title=Double Standards? RSS chiefs used to relish chicken, mutton dishes|newspaper=The Economic Times|date=22 July 2015|last1=Kumar|first1=Krishna}}</ref> demanded, in an editorial titled "National Flag", that the [[Bhagwa Dhwaj|''Bhagwa Dhwaj'' (Saffron Flag)]] be adopted as the National Flag of India.{{sfn|Shamsul Islam, Religious Dimensions|2006|p=56}} After the Tricolor was adopted as the National Flag by the [[Constituent Assembly of India]] on 22 July 1947, the ''Organiser'' viciously attacked the Tricolor and the Constituent Assembly's decision. In an article titled "Mystery behind the ''Bhagwa Dhwaj''", the ''Organiser'' stated {{Quote|The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolor but it [will] never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.|{{sfn|Shamsul Islam, Religious Dimensions|2006|p=57}}<ref>{{cite book|title=RSS Primer: Based on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Documents|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gx5R9D_JpQEC&pg=PA9|year=2010|publisher=Pharos Media & Publishing|isbn=978-81-7221-039-7|pages=9–|access-date=13 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170114075115/https://books.google.com/books?id=Gx5R9D_JpQEC&pg=PA9|archive-date=14 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>|source=}} In an essay titled "Drifting and Drafting" published in ''[[Bunch of Thoughts]]'', Golwalkar lamented the choice of the Tricolor as the National Flag, and compared it to an intellectual vacuum/void. In his words, {{Quote|Our leaders have set up a new flag for the country. Why did they do so? It just is a case of drifting and imitating ... Ours is an ancient and great nation with a glorious past. Then, had we no flag of our own? Had we no national emblem at all these thousands of years? Undoubtedly we had. Then why this utter void, this utter vacuum in our minds.|{{sfn|Golwalkar; Bunch of Thoughts|1966|pp=237–238}}<ref name="auto">{{cite book|title=RSS Primer: Based on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Documents|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gx5R9D_JpQEC&pg=PA10|year=2010|publisher=Pharos Media & Publishing|isbn=978-81-7221-039-7|pages=10–}}</ref>{{sfn|Shamsul Islam, Religious Dimensions|2006|p=186}}{{sfn|Puniyani, Religion, Power and Violence|2005|p=142}}}} The RSS hoisted the National Flag of India at its Nagpur headquarters only twice, on 14 August 1947 and on 26 January 1950, but stopped doing so after that.<ref name="TricolorRSS2002">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Tri-colour hoisted at RSS center after 52 yrs |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Tri-colour-hoisted-at-RSS-HQ-after-52-yrs/articleshow/1561733136.cms |newspaper=The Times of India |location=Nagpur |date=26 January 2002 |access-date=26 January 2002 }}</ref> This issue has always been a source of controversy. In 2001 three activists of ''Rashtrapremi Yuwa Dal{{snd}}'' president Baba Mendhe, and members Ramesh Kalambe and Dilip Chattani, along with others{{snd}}allegedly entered the RSS headquarters in Reshimbagh, Nagpur, on 26 January, the [[Republic Day (India)|Republic Day]] of India, and forcibly hoisted the national flag there amid patriotic slogans. They contended that the RSS had never before or after independence, ever hoisted the tri-colour in their premises. Offences were registered by the Bombay Police against the trio, who were then jailed. They were discharged by the court of Justice R. R. Lohia after eleven years in 2013.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Activists, who forcibly hoisted flag at RSS premises, freed |url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/activists-who-forcibly-hoisted-flag-at-rss-premises-freed-113081400451_1.html |newspaper=Business Standard |location=Nagpur |date=14 August 2013 |access-date=14 August 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nagpurtoday.in/trio-who-forcibly-hoisted-tri-colour-at-rss-premise-set-free-by-court/08141440|title=Trio, who forcibly hoisted tri-colour at RSS premises, set free by court|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=14 August 2013|newspaper=Nagpur Today|access-date=14 August 2013|location=Nagpur}}{{dead link  |date=May 2018}}</ref> The arrests and the flag-hoisting issue stoked a controversy, which was raised in the Parliament as well. Hoisting of flag was very restrictive till the formation of the [[Flag code of India]] (2002).<ref>{{cite web|title=rediff.com Special: Naveen Jindal battles for his right to fly the Tricolour|url=https://www.rediff.com/news/2001/jun/13spec.htm|work=Rediff.com|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Hoisting tricolour a fundamental right: SC|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Hoisting-tricolour-a-fundamental-right-SC/articleshow/442578.cms|website=The Times of India|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Mohan Bhagwat defies restraint, hoists flag in Kerala school: Why RSS did not fly Tricolour for 52 years – Firstpost|url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/mohan-bhagwat-defies-restraint-hoists-flag-in-kerala-school-why-rss-did-not-fly-tricolour-for-52-years-2633006.html|website=firstpost.com|date=15 August 2017|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> Subsequently, in 2002 the National Flag was raised in the RSS headquarters on the occasion of Republic Day for the first time in 52 years.<ref name=TricolorRSS2002/>
 
===Opposition to the Constitution of India===
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh initially did not recognise the [[Constitution of India]], strongly criticising it because the Indian Constitution made no mention of "Manu's laws"{{snd}}from the ancient Hindu text ''[[Manusmriti]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Empire and Neoliberalism in Asia|publisher=Routledge|page=252|first1=Vedi|last1=Hadiz}}</ref> When the Constituent Assembly finalised the constitution, the RSS mouthpiece, the ''[[Organiser (newspaper)|Organiser]]'', complained in an editorial dated 30 November 1949:{{Quote|But in our constitution, there is no mention of that unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat... To this day his laws as enunciated in the ''Manusmriti'' excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing"<ref name="Hadiz2006"/>}} On 6 February 1950 the ''Organizer'' carried another article, titled "Manu Rules our Hearts", written by a retired High Court Judge named Sankar Subba Aiyar, that reaffirmed their support for the ''Manusmriti'' as the final lawgiving authority for Hindus, rather than the Constitution of India. It stated:{{Quote|Even though Dr. Ambedkar is reported to have recently stated in [[Bombay]] that the days of Manu have ended it is nevertheless a fact that the daily lives of Hindus are even at present-day affected by the principles and injunctions contained in the ''Manusmrithi'' and other ''[[Smriti]]s''. Even an unorthodox Hindu feels himself bound at least in some matters by the rules contained in the ''Smrithis'' and he feels powerless to give up altogether his adherence to them.<ref>{{cite book|title=Undoing India the RSS Way|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tQ5pO46SPk0C&pg=PA81|year=2002|publisher=Media House|isbn=978-81-7495-142-7|pages=81–}}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}} The RSS' opposition to, and vitriolic attacks against, the Constitution of India continued post-independence. In 1966 Golwalkar, in his book titled ''[[Bunch of Thoughts]]'' asserted:{{Quote|Our Constitution too is just a cumbersome and heterogeneous piecing together of various articles from various Constitutions of Western countries. It has absolutely nothing, which can be called our own. Is there a single word of reference in its guiding principles as to what our national mission is and what our keynote in life is? No!<ref name="Hadiz2006"/><ref name="auto"/>}}
 
===Second ban and acquittal===
In January 1948, [[Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated]] by a member of the RSS, [[Nathuram Godse]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Jha|first=Dhirendra K.|date=1 January 2020|title=Historical records expose the lie that Nathuram Godse left the RSS|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/reportage/historical-record-expose-lie-godse-left-rss|website=The Caravan|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> Following the assassination, many prominent leaders of the RSS were arrested, and the RSS as an organisation was banned on 4 February 1948. During the court proceedings in relation to the assassination Godse began claiming that he had left the organisation in 1946.<ref name="IAR"/> A Commission of Inquiry into Conspiracy to the murder of Gandhi was set, and its report was published by India's Ministry of Home Affairs in the year 1970. Accordingly, the [[Kapur Commission|Justice Kapur Commission]]<ref name="kapoor">{{cite book|title=Report of Commission of Inquiry into Conspiracy to murder Mahatma Gandhi, By India (Republic). Commission of Inquiry into Conspiracy to murder Mahatma Gandhi|author=Jeevan Lal Kapur|publisher=Ministry of Home affairs|year=1970}}</ref> noted that the "RSS as such were not responsible for the murder of Mahatma Gandhi, meaning thereby that one could not name the organisation as such as being responsible for that most diabolical crime, the murder of the apostle of peace. It has not been proved that they (the accused) were members of the RSS."<ref name=kapoor/>{{rp|165}} However, the then Indian Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Sardar [[Vallabhbhai Patel]] had remarked that the "RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhi's death".{{sfn|Patel, Prasad and Rajaji: Myth of the Indian Right|2015|pp=82}}
 
RSS leaders were acquitted of the conspiracy charge by the [[Supreme Court of India]]. Following his release in August 1948, Golwalkar wrote to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to lift the ban on RSS. After Nehru replied that the matter was the responsibility of the Home Minister, Golwalkar consulted Vallabhai Patel regarding the same. Patel then demanded an absolute pre-condition that the RSS adopt a formal written constitution<ref name="PLJ100">{{cite book |last1=Panicker |first1=P L John |title=Gandhian approach to communalism in contemporary India |page=100 |url=https://sg.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/7178/9/09_chapter%202.pdf#page=79 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921171335/https://sg.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/7178/9/09_chapter%202.pdf#page=79 |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 September 2020 |access-date=6 November 2019 }}</ref> and make it public, where Patel expected RSS to pledge its loyalty to the [[Constitution of India]], accept the Tricolor as the [[National Flag]] of India, define the power of the head of the organisation, make the organisation democratic by holding internal elections, authorisation of their parents before enrolling the pre-adolescents into the movement, and to renounce violence and secrecy.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|pp=88, 89}}{{sfn|Graham; Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics|2007|p=14}}<ref name="Noorani2000">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6PnBFW7cdtsC&pg=PT42|title=The RSS and the BJP: A Division of Labour|author=Abdul Gafoor Abdul Majeed Noorani|publisher=LeftWord Books|year=2000|isbn=978-81-87496-13-7}}</ref>{{rp|42–}} Golwalkar launched a huge agitation against this demand during which he was imprisoned again. Later, a constitution was drafted for RSS, which, however, initially did not meet any of Patel's demands. After a failed attempt to agitate again, eventually the RSS's constitution was amended according to Patel's wishes with the exception of the procedure for selecting the head of the organisation and the enrolment of pre-adolescents. However, the organisation's internal democracy which was written into its constitution, remained a 'dead letter'.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=89}}
 
On 11 July 1949 the Government of India lifted the ban on the RSS by issuing a communique stating that the decision to lift the ban on the RSS had been taken in view of the RSS leader Golwalkar's undertaking to make the group's loyalty towards the Constitution of India and acceptance and respect towards the National Flag of India more explicit in the Constitution of the RSS, which was to be worked out in a democratic manner.<ref name="Curran1950"/><ref name="Noorani2000" />
 
===Decolonisation of Dadra, Nagar Haveli, and Goa===
 
After India had achieved independence, the RSS was one of the socio-political organisations that supported and participated in movements to decolonise [[Dadra and Nagar Haveli]], which at that time was ruled by Portugal. In early 1954 volunteers Raja Wakankar and Nana Kajrekar of the RSS visited the area round about Dadra, Nagar Haveli, and Daman several times to study the topography and get acquainted with locals who wanted the area to change from being a [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese colony]] to being an [[States and Territories of India|Indian union territory]]. In April 1954 the RSS formed a coalition with the National Movement Liberation Organisation (NMLO) and the Azad Gomantak Dal (AGD) for the annexation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli into the Republic of India.<ref name="PurushottamShripad">Purushottam Shripad Lele, Dadra and Nagar Haveli: past and present, published by Usha P. Lele, 1987</ref> On the night of 21 July, United Front of Goans, a group working independently of the coalition, captured the Portuguese police station at Dadra and declared Dadra independent. Subsequently, on 28 July, volunteer teams from the RSS and AGD captured the territories of Naroli and Phiparia and ultimately the capital of [[Silvassa]]. The Portuguese forces that had escaped and moved towards Nagar Haveli, were assaulted at Khandvel and forced to retreat until they surrendered to the Indian border police at Udava on 11 August 1954. A native administration was set up with Appasaheb Karmalkar of the NMLO as the Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli on 11 August 1954.<ref name="PurushottamShripad" />
 
The capture of Dadra and Nagar Haveli gave a boost to the movement against Portuguese colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="PurushottamShripad"/> In 1955 RSS leaders demanded the end of Portuguese rule in Goa and its integration into India. When Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru refused to provide an armed intervention, RSS leader Jagannath Rao Joshi led the Satyagraha agitation straight into Goa. He was imprisoned with his followers by the Portuguese police. The nonviolent protests continued but met with repression. On 15 August 1955, the Portuguese police opened fire on the ''satyagrahis'', killing thirty or so civilians.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=130}}
 
Goa was later [[Annexation of Goa|annexed into the Indian union]] in 1961 through an army operation, codenamed '[[Operation Vijay (1961)|Operation Vijay]]', that was carried out by the Nehru government.<ref name="Kulkarni2017">{{cite book|author=Suchitra Kulkarni|title=RSS-BJP Symbiosis On the Cusp of Culture and Politics: On the Cusp of Culture and Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I4zFDQAAQBAJ&pg=PP72|date=1 January 2017|publisher=Prabhat Prakashan|isbn=978-93-5186-788-3|pages=72–}}</ref>
 
===War-time activities===
During the [[Sino-Indian War|Chinese war of 1962]], the RSS provided active help to the civil administration. Prime Minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] was impressed with the help extended and allowed the RSS to field a contingent of 100 swayamsevaks in the 1963 [[Republic Day Parade]].<ref>{{cite news |date=3 October 2014|title=The RSS Help During Indo China War|url=https://www.indiatimes.com/lifestyle/self/the-rss-help-during-indo-china-war-277811.html|newspaper=India Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Shekhar|first= Shashi|date=11 June 2018|title=Lessons to learn from Pranab's visit to the RSS event|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/lessons-to-learn-from-pranab-s-visit-to-the-rss-event-opinion/story-zoQl8tB4Upo9mlHifq4kJO.html|newspaper=Hindustan Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author= Tapan Basu, Pradip Datta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CimVTTVHtwQC&q=1963+Republic+day+parade+RSS&pg=PA51|title=Khaki Shorts and Saffron Flags: A Critique of the Hindu Right|publisher=Orient Blackswan|year= 1993|isbn=9788174369338|location=51|pages=422}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author= M. G. Chitkara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ifuxzl9NM5sC&q=1963+Republic+day+parade+RSS&pg=PA275|title=Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh: National Upsurge|publisher=APH Publishing|year= 2004|isbn=9788174369338|location=275|pages=422}}</ref>
 
At the time of the 1965 war with Pakistan, Prime Minister [[Lal Bahadur Shastri]] invited the RSS Sarsanghchalak [[M. S. Golwalkar|Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar]] to an All-Party-Meet. RSS was asked to relieve the [[Delhi Police]] of their routine duties so they could focus on strategic tasks for the war effort.<ref>{{cite news |date=7 June 2018|title=When Lal Bahadur Shastri invited RSS' Shri Guru Ji to all-party meet during 1965 Indo-Pak war|url=https://www.timesnownews.com/mirror-now/in-focus/article/lal-bahadur-shastri-rss-shri-guru-ji-all-party-meet-1965-indo-pak-war/236863|newspaper=Times Mirror Now News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Gandhi|first= Priti|date=15 May 2014|title=Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh: How the world's largest NGO has changed the face of Indian democracy|url=https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/standpoint-rashtriya-swayamsewak-sangh-how-the-world-s-largest-ngo-has-changed-the-face-of-indian-democracy-1988636|newspaper=DNA India}}</ref>
 
After the declaration of [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971|1971 Bangladesh War of Independence]] by [[Indira Gandhi]], RSS provided support to the government, by offering its services to maintain law and order in Delhi and its volunteers were the first to donate blood.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=243}}<ref>{{cite news|last=Inc|first=Vas|date=5 December 2018|title=HDFC Bank to hold 'Blood Donation Drive' on Dec 7|url=https://www.thehillstimes.in/business-2/hdfc-bank-to-hold-blood-donation-drive-on-dec-7/|newspaper=The Hill Times|access-date=16 June 2020|archive-date=16 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616025319/https://www.thehillstimes.in/business-2/hdfc-bank-to-hold-blood-donation-drive-on-dec-7/|url-status=dead}}</ref> RSS Swayamsewaks also helped the [[Indian Army]] troops to dig trenches, and after the war helped to repatriate the Bangladeshi refugees back to their newly formed country of Bangladesh.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lt. Gen J.F.R. Jacob|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=99BbBAAAQBAJ&q=An+Odyssey+in+War+and+Peace+RSS&pg=PT65|title=An Odyssey in War and Peace|publisher=Roli Books Private Limited|year= 2012|isbn=9788174369338|pages=189}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Bhattacharyya|first= Abhijit|date=20 May 2011|title=More Than a Soldier's Confession|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/more-than-a-soldier-s-confession/cid/397823|newspaper=Telegraph India}}</ref>
 
===Movement against the Emergency===
In 1975 the Indira Gandhi government proclaimed [[The Emergency (India)|emergency rule in India]], thereby suspending [[fundamental rights (India)|fundamental rights]] and curtailing the [[freedom of the press]].<ref name=emma>Emma Tarlo, ''Unsettling Memories: Narratives of India's "emergency"'', Published by Orient Blackswan, 2003, {{ISBN|81-7824-066-1}}, {{ISBN|978-81-7824-066-4}}</ref> This action was taken after the Supreme Court of India cancelled her election to the Indian Parliament on charges of [[malpractice]]s in the election.<ref name=emma/> Democratic institutions were suspended and prominent opposition leaders, including Gandhian [[Jayaprakash Narayan]], were arrested whilst thousands of people were detained without any charges taken up against them.{{sfn|Nussbaum, The Clash Within|2008}} RSS, which was seen as being close to opposition leaders, and with its large organisational base was seen to have the capability of organising protests against the government, was also banned.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalism Reader|2007|p=297}}
 
Deoras, the then chief of RSS, wrote letters to Indira Gandhi, promising her to extend the organisation's co-operation in return for the lifting of the ban, asserting that RSS had no connection with the [[Bihar Movement|movement in Bihar]] and [[Navnirman Andolan|that in Gujarat]]. He tried to persuade Vinoba Bhave to mediate between the RSS and the government and also sought the offices of [[Sanjay Gandhi]], Indira Gandhi's son.{{sfn|Tapan Basu, Khaki Shorts|1993|pp=51–54}}{{sfn|Noorani, RSS and the BJP|2000|p=31}} Later, when there was no response, volunteers of the RSS formed underground movements against the Emergency.<ref name=":0" /> Literature that was censored in the media was clandestinely published and distributed on a large scale, and funds were collected for the movement. Networks were established between leaders of different political parties in the jail and outside for the co-ordination of the movement.<ref>Post Independence India, Encyclopedia of Political Parties, 2002, published by Anmol Publications PVT. LTD, {{ISBN|81-7488-865-9}}, {{ISBN|978-81-7488-865-5}}</ref> RSS claimed that the movement was "dominated by tens of thousands of RSS cadres, though more and more young recruits are coming". Talking about its objectives, RSS said, "its platform at the moment has only one plank: to bring democracy back to India".<ref>page 238, Encyclopedia of Political parties, Volumes 33–50 https://books.google.com/books?id=QCh_yd357iIC&pg=PA238</ref> The Emergency was lifted in 1977, and as a consequence the ban on the RSS was also lifted.
 
The Emergency is said to have legitimised the role of RSS in Indian politics, which had not been possible ever since the stain the organisation had acquired following the Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in 1948, thereby 'sowing the seeds' for the Hindutva politics of the following decade.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YwvaaHI8sjEC&pg=PA110|title=The Politics of Personal Law in South Asia: Identity, Nationalism and the Uniform Civil Code|last1=Ghosh|first1=Partha S.|date=23 May 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136705113|pages=110–112|language=en}}</ref>
 
===Reception===
India's first prime minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] had been vigilant towards RSS since he had taken charge. When Golwalkar wrote to Nehru asking for the lifting of the ban on RSS after Gandhi's assassination, Nehru replied that the government had proof that RSS activities were 'anti-national' by virtue of being 'communalist'. In his letter to the heads of provincial governments in December 1947, Nehru wrote that "we have a great deal of evidence to show that RSS is an organisation which is in the nature of a private army and which is definitely proceeding on the strictest Nazi lines, even following the techniques of the organisation".{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|pp=87, 88}}
 
Sardar [[Vallabhbhai Patel|Vallabhai Patel]], the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India, said in early January 1948 that the RSS activists were "patriots who love their country". He asked the Congressmen to 'win over' the RSS by love, instead of trying to 'crush' them. He also appealed to the RSS to join the Congress instead of opposing it. Jaffrelot says that this attitude of Patel can be partly explained by the assistance the RSS gave the Indian administration in maintaining public order in September 1947, and that his expression of 'qualified sympathy' towards RSS reflected the long-standing inclination of several Hindu traditionalists in Congress. However, after Gandhi's assassination on 30 January 1948, Patel began to view that the activities of RSS were a danger to public security.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|pp=86-}}{{sfn|Graham; Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics|2007|p=12}} In his reply letter to Golwalkar on 11 September 1948 regarding the lifting of ban on RSS, Patel stated that though RSS did service to the Hindu society by helping and protecting the Hindus when in need during partition violence, they also began attacking Muslims with revenge and went against "innocent men, women and children". He said that the speeches of RSS were "full of communal poison", and as a result of that 'poison', he remarked, India had to lose Gandhi, noting that the RSS men had celebrated Gandhi's death. Patel was also apprehensive of the secrecy in the working manner of RSS, and complained that all of its provincial heads were Maratha Brahmins. He criticised the RSS for having its own army inside India, which he said, cannot be permitted as "it was a potential danger to the State". He also remarked: "The members of RSS claimed to be the defenders of Hinduism. But they must understand that Hinduism would not be saved by rowdyism."{{sfn|Patel, Prasad and Rajaji: Myth of the Indian Right|2015|pp=82}}
 
==Structure==
{{Main|List of Sarsanghchalaks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh|List of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh members|Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha|l1 = List of RSS Sarsanghchalaks|l2 = List of RSS members}}
RSS does not have any formal membership. According to the official website, men and boys can become members by joining the nearest ''shakha'', which is the basic unit.
Although the RSS claims not to keep membership records, it is estimated to have had 2.5 to 6.0{{nbsp}}million members in 2001.{{sfn|Bhatt, Hindu Nationalism|2001|p=113}}
 
===Leadership and member positions===
There are the following terms to describe RSS leaders and members:
* [[Sarsanghchalak]]: The Sarsanghchalak is the head of the RSS organisation; the position is decided through nomination by the predecessor.
* Sarkaryawah: equivalent to general secretary, executive head.<ref name="rss faq">{{Cite web | url=http://rss.org//Encyc/2017/6/3/basic-faq-on-rss-eng.html |title = Basic FAQ on RSS}}</ref> Elected by the elected members of the [[Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha]].<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh|url=http://archive.org/details/the-constitution-of-rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh|title=The Constitution Of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh|via=archive.org}}</ref> [[Dattatreya Hosabale]] is the current Sarkaryawah.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Paranjape|first=Makarand R.|date=21 March 2021|title=Progressive and pan-Indian — Dattatreya Hosabale is new face of RSS|url=https://theprint.in/opinion/progressive-and-pan-indian-dattatreya-hosabale-is-new-face-of-rss/625577/|access-date=22 March 2021|work=ThePrint|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Suresh Joshi (RSS)|Suresh Joshi]] preceded him; he had held the post for 12 years.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ramachandran|first=Smriti Kak|date=16 February 2021|title=RSS may decide on new general secretary in March meet|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rss-may-decide-on-new-general-secretary-in-march-meet-101613497745657.html|access-date=14 March 2021|work=Hindustan Times|language=en}}</ref>
* Sah-Sarkayavah: Joint general secretary, of which there are four.<ref name="rss faq"/><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/manmohan-vaidya-mukunda-cr-appointed-new-rss-sah-sarkaryavahs/story-iBYOmfhIM774htMx6N0zLN.html |title = Manmohan Vaidya, Mukunda CR appointed new RSS Sah Sarkaryavahs|date = 11 March 2018}}</ref> Notable Sah Sarkarayvahs include [[Dattatreya Hosabale]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://rss.org//Encyc/2018/3/12/new-team-of-sangh-2018.html|title=Dr. Manmohan Vaidya and Shri. Mukund are new Sah-Sarkaryavah|website=rss.org|access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="rss.org">{{Cite web|title=Hindu rashtra stands for the way of life in India: Manmohan Vaidya|url=http://rss.org//Encyc/2016/10/8/Hindu-rashtra-way-of-life-Manmohan-Vaidya.html|website=rss.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=RSS' work is expanding consistently across the nation – Dr. Manmohan Vaidya|url=http://rss.org/Encyc/2019/10/16/karyakari-mandal-baithak-inaugural-press-brief.html|website=rss.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Sarsanghchalak Ji Interacted with foreign media|url=http://rss.org/Encyc/2019/9/24/Sarsanghchalak-Ji-Interacted-with-foreign-media.html|website=rss.org}}</ref>
* Vicharak: A number of RSS leaders serve as Vicharak or ideologues for the organisation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/mohan-bhagwat-rss-ideology-lecture-series-congress-rahul-gandhi-5359320/|title=Understand the RSS|date=17 September 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/lqQhcXQ5MKFtDPpRtNAnmO/Decoding-RSS-ideologue-MS-Golwalkars-nationalism.html|title=Decoding RSS ideologue M.S. Golwalkar's nationalism|first1=Manu S.|last1=Pillai|date=14 July 2017|website=livemint.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thewire.in/politics/rss-ideologue-govindacharya-we-will-rewrite-the-constitution-to-reflect-bharatiyata|title=RSS Ideologue Govindacharya: 'We Will Rewrite the Constitution to Reflect Bharatiyata'|website=The Wire}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2018/11/24/the-person-who-is-doing-most-to-undermine-the-reserve-bank-of-india|title=The person who is doing most to undermine the Reserve Bank of India|date=24 November 2018|newspaper=The Economist}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=ABPS passes resolution on Family System|url=http://rss.org/Encyc/2019/3/9/ABPS-passes-resolution-on-Family-System.html|website=rss.org}}</ref><ref name="rss.org"/>
* Pracharak: Active, full-time missionary who spreads RSS doctrine.<ref name="rss faq"/> The system of pracharak or RSS missionaries has been called the life blood of the organisation. A number of these men devote themselves to lifetime of celibacy, poverty, and service to the organisation. The pracharaks were instrumental in spreading the organisation from its roots in Nagpur to the rest of the country.<ref name="Berntsen1988">{{cite book|author=Maxine Berntsen|title=The Experience of Hinduism: Essays on Religion in Maharashtra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7PDr-QF4YmYC&pg=PA190|date=1 January 1988|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-88706-662-7|pages=195–196}}</ref> There are about 2500 pracharaks in RSS.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20141208-rss-sangh-nda-bjp-l-k-advani-narendra-modi-cover-story-806098-2014-11-27 |title = The low-profile RSS apparatchik is the new face of power in the NDA}}</ref>
* Karyakarta: Active functionary. To become a karyakarta, swayamsevak members undergo four levels of ideological and physical training in Sangh Shiksha Varg camps. 95% of karyakartas are known as ''grahastha karyakartas'', or householders, supporting the organisation part-time; while 5% are pracharaks, who support the organisation full-time.<ref name="ET karya"/>
* Mukhya-Shikshak: The Head-teacher and chief of a Shakha<ref name="rss faq"/>
* Karyawah: The Executive head of a Shakha<ref name="rss faq"/>
* Gatanayak: Group leader<ref name="rss faq"/>
* Swayamsevak (स्वयंसेवक): [[Volunteering|volunteer]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://spokensanskrit.org/index.php?tran_input=svayamsevaka&direct=se&script=hk&link=yes&mode=3 |title = Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit}}</ref> ''Svayam''<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://spokensanskrit.org/index.php?tran_input=svayam&direct=se&script=hk&link=yes&mode=3 |title = Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit}}</ref> can mean "one's self" or "voluntary," and ''sevaka''<ref>[http://spokensanskrit.org/index.php?tran_input=sevaka&direct=se&script=hk&link=yes&mode=3 Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit]. S''evaka'' can be explained as "attendant", "worshiper", "follower" or "servant".</ref> [[Atal Bihari Vajpayee]] described himself as Swayamsevak.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/former-prime-minister-atal-bihari-vajpayee-passes-away-at-93/article24704802.ece?homepage=true |title = Atal Bihari Vajpayee, BJP's gentle colossus, fades away|newspaper = The Hindu|date = 16 August 2018|last1 = Perapaddan|first1 = Bindu Shajan}}</ref> They attend the [[#Shakha|shakhas]] of the RSS.<ref name="ET karya">{{Cite news | url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/what-does-it-take-to-be-an-rss-karyakarta/articleshow/64390472.cms |title = What does it take to be an RSS karyakarta?|newspaper = The Economic Times|date = 30 May 2018|last1 = Venugopal|first1 = Vasudha}}</ref>
 
===Shakhas===
{{Main|Sangh Shakha}}
The term ''shakha'' is Hindi for "branch". Most of the organisational work of the RSS is done through the co-ordination of the various ''shakhas'', or branches. These shakhas are run for one hour in public places. The number of ''shakhas'' increased from 8500 in 1975 to 11,000 in 1977, and became 20,000 by 1982.{{sfn|Tapan Basu, Khaki Shorts|1993|pp=51–54}} In 2004 more than 51,000 shakhas were run throughout India. The number of shakas had fallen by over 10,000 after the fall of the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP)-led government in 2004. However, by mid-2014, the number had again increased to about 40,000 after the return of BJP to power in the same year.<ref name="Modi">{{cite news |title=Modi effect: 2,000-odd RSS shakas sprout in 3 months |newspaper=The Times of India |date=13 April 2014 |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/Modi-effect-2000-odd-RSS-shakhas-sprout-in-3-months/articleshow/33671908.cms |access-date=29 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227163209/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/Modi-effect-2000-odd-RSS-shakhas-sprout-in-3-months/articleshow/33671908.cms |archive-date=27 December 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="KAUSHIK">{{cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-06-05/india/28306317_1_shakha-rss-rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811073343/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-06-05/india/28306317_1_shakha-rss-rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 August 2011|title=RSS shakhas fight for survival  |last1=Kaushik|first1=Narendra|date=5 June 2010|work=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=11 June 2010}}
</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/shakhas-grown-by-13-per-cent-across-the-country-rss/article6489345.ece|title=Shakhas have grown by 13% across the country: RSS|first1=Suvojit|last1=Bagchi|date=10 October 2014|access-date=28 December 2019 |newspaper=The Hindu}}</ref> This number stood at 51,335 in August 2015.<ref name="ToI_roll_2015">{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/RSS-is-on-a-roll-Number-of-shakhas-up-61-in-5-years/articleshow/48498034.cms|title=RSS is on a roll: Number of shakhas up 61% in 5 years|work=The Times of India}}</ref>
 
The shakhas conduct various activities for its volunteers such as physical fitness through yoga, exercises, and games, and activities that encourage civic awareness, social service, community living, and patriotism.<ref name="Malkani">K. R. Malkani, ''The RSS story'', Published by Impex India, 1980</ref> Volunteers are trained in first aid and in rescue and rehabilitation operations, and are encouraged to become involved in community development.<ref name="Malkani" />{{sfn|Chitkara, National Upsurge|2004}}
 
Most of the shakhas are located in the Hindi-speaking regions. As of 2016 Delhi had 1,898 shakhas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/rss-uniform-over-5000-new-shakhas-claims-rss/|title=Highest growth ever: RSS adds 5,000 new shakhas in last 12 months|date=16 March 2016}}</ref> There are more than 8,000 shakhas in UP, 6,845 shakhas in Kerala,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kozhikode/rss-added-8000-new-members-in-kerala-last-year-state-chief/articleshow/63322319.cms|title=Kerala RSS: RSS added 8000 new members in Kerala last year: State chief &#124; Kozhikode News – Times of India|website=The Times of India|access-date=28 December 2019}}</ref> 4,000 in Maharashtra, and around 1,000 in Gujarat.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.timesnow.tv/india/article/kerala-accounts-for-over-5000-rss-shakhas-per-day-says-sangh/55906|title=Kerala Accounts For Over 5000 RSS Shakhas Per Day, Says Sangh|date=1 January 2000|work=TimesNow|access-date=6 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314062808/http://www.timesnow.tv/india/article/kerala-accounts-for-over-5000-rss-shakhas-per-day-says-sangh/55906|archive-date=14 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In northeast India, there are more than 1,000 shakhas, including 903 in Assam, 107 in Manipur, 36 in Arunachal, and 4 in Nagaland.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1160522/jsp/7days/story_86900.jsp|title=Sowing saffron, reaping lotus|date=22 May 2016|access-date=6 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313214633/https://www.telegraphindia.com/1160522/jsp/7days/story_86900.jsp|archive-date=13 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.firstpost.com/politics/rise-of-hindutva-in-north-east-rss-bjp-make-a-mark-in-assam-manipur-but-poll-waters-still-untested-in-arunachal-3391504.html|title=Rise of Hindutva in North East: RSS, BJP score in Assam, Manipur but still untested in Arunachal|date=20 April 2017|work=Firstpost|access-date=4 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430160537/http://www.firstpost.com/politics/rise-of-hindutva-in-north-east-rss-bjp-make-a-mark-in-assam-manipur-but-poll-waters-still-untested-in-arunachal-3391504.html|archive-date=30 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In Punjab, there are more than 900 shakhas as of 2016.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/2016/sep/25/Rising-RSS-clout-in-rural-Punjab-took-Gagneja-down-1522808.html|title=Rising RSS clout in rural Punjab took Gagneja down|work=The New Indian Express|access-date=6 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313220951/http://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/2016/sep/25/Rising-RSS-clout-in-rural-Punjab-took-Gagneja-down-1522808.html|archive-date=13 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> As of late 2015 there were a total of 1,421 shakhas in Bihar,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/RSS-to-reach-each-Bihar-hamlet-in-3-years/articleshow/49650558.cms|title=We will reach each Bihar hamlet in 3 years: RSS |work=The Times of India|access-date=6 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108042426/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/RSS-to-reach-each-Bihar-hamlet-in-3-years/articleshow/49650558.cms|archive-date=8 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> 4,870 in Rajasthan,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/jaipur/66-of-rss-shakhas-consists-of-school-college-students-sanghachalak-ramesh-agrawal/|title=66% of RSS shakhas consists of school, college students: Sanghachalak Ramesh Agrawal|date=4 November 2015|work=The Indian Express|access-date=6 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407055413/http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/jaipur/66-of-rss-shakhas-consists-of-school-college-students-sanghachalak-ramesh-agrawal/|archive-date=7 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> 1,252 in Uttarakhand,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.jagran.com/uttarakhand/dehradun-city-13736910.html?src=article-on-scroll|title=उत्तराखंडमेंबढ़ीआरएसएसकीशाखाएं|access-date=6 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407233508/http://www.jagran.com/uttarakhand/dehradun%2Dcity%2D13736910.html?src%3Darticle%2Don%2Dscroll|archive-date=7 April 2017|url-status=dead|work=jagran}}</ref> 2,060 in Tamil Nadu,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mayilvaganan |last2=J |first2=Shanmughasundarm |title=RSS bets on small shakhas in hinterland to make it big in Tamil Nadu {{!}} Chennai News – Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/rss-bets-on-small-shakhas-in-hinterland-to-make-it-big-in-tn/articleshow/79885853.cms |access-date=9 January 2021 |work=The Times of India |date=23 December 2020 |language=en}}</ref> and 1,492 in West Bengal.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2017/mar/27/rss-in-bengal-has-grown-threefold-in-five-years-says-report-1586535.html|title=RSS in Bengal has grown threefold in five years, says report|work=The New Indian Express|access-date=6 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407054153/http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2017/mar/27/rss-in-bengal-has-grown-threefold-in-five-years-says-report-1586535.html|archive-date=7 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> There are close to 500 shakhas in Jammu and Kashmir,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/state/jammu-and-kashmir/srinagar/500-rss-shakhas-in-jammu-and-kashmir/articleshow/48138742.cms|title=जम्मूऔरकश्मीरमें 500 शाखाएंचलारहाहै – Navabharat Times|date=20 July 2015|work=Navbharat Times|language=hi}}</ref> 130 in Tripura, and 46 in Meghalaya.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.firstpost.com/politics/rise-of-hindutva-in-north-east-rss-bjp-face-challenge-in-nagaland-and-mizoram-better-off-in-meghalaya-tripura-3369560.html|title=Rise of Hindutva in North East: Christians in Nagaland, Mizoram may weaken BJP despite RSS' gains in Tripura, Meghalaya|date=21 April 2017|work=Firstpost|access-date=2 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425191054/http://www.firstpost.com/politics/rise-of-hindutva-in-north-east-rss-bjp-face-challenge-in-nagaland-and-mizoram-better-off-in-meghalaya-tripura-3369560.html|archive-date=25 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
As per the RSS Annual Report of 2019, there were a total of 84,877 shakhas, of which 59,266 are being held daily; 17,229 are weekly shakhas (58,967 in 2018, 57,165 shakhas in 2017, and 56,569 in 2016)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://arisebharat.com/2018/03/10/rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh-annual-report-2018/|title=Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Annual Report 2018|last=arisebharat|date=10 March 2018|access-date=9 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402180131/https://arisebharat.com/2018/03/10/rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh-annual-report-2018/|archive-date=2 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Panigrahi |first1=Saswat |title=How Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is spreading its footprint across the nation |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-how-rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh-is-spreading-its-footprint-across-the-nation-2728048 |access-date=18 March 2019 |work=DNA |date=9 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402181752/https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-how-rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh-is-spreading-its-footprint-across-the-nation-2728048 |archive-date=2 April 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
===Uniform===
In October 2016, the RSS replaced the uniform of khaki shorts its cadre had worn for 91 years with dark brown trousers.<ref>{{cite news |title=The evolution of the RSS uniform |url=https://www.livemint.com/Politics/Rker0Eokbrod0gOQA6Ch7L/The-evolution-of-the-RSS-uniform.html |access-date=21 November 2019 |agency=Livemint |date=11 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Dahat |first1=Pavan |title=New RSS uniform is a long stretch over khaki shorts |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/New-RSS-uniform-is-a-long-stretch-over-khaki-shorts/article15604617.ece |access-date=21 November 2019 |work=The Hindu |date=30 August 2016}}</ref>
 
=== Anthem ===
The song ''Namastē Sadāvatsale Matrubhoomē'' is the anthem or prayer of the RSS, saluting the motherland.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tripathi |first1=Anurag |title=RSS and patriotism: Saffron over tricolour |url=https://www.newslaundry.com/2016/08/17/rss-and-patriotism-saffron-over-tricolour |access-date=21 June 2022 |work=Newslaundry |date=17 August 2016}}</ref>
 
===Affiliated organisations===
{{Further|Sangh Parivar}}
Organisations that are inspired by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's ideology refer to themselves as members of the ''[[Sangh Parivar]]''.{{sfn|Bhatt, Hindu Nationalism|2001|p=113}} In most cases, ''pracharaks'' (full-time volunteers of the RSS) were deputed to start up and manage these organisations in their initial years.
 
The affiliated organisations include:{{sfn|Bhatt, Hindu Nationalism |2001|p=114}}
* [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP), literally, ''Indian People's Party'' (23m){{sfn|Jelen|2002|p=253}}
* [[Bharatiya Kisan Sangh]], literally, ''Indian Farmers' Association'' (8m){{sfn|Jelen|2002|p=253}}
* [[Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh]], literally, ''Indian Labour Association'' (10&nbsp;million as of 2009){{sfn|Jelen|2002|p=253}}
* [[Seva Bharati|Seva Bharti]], ''Organisation for service of the needy''.
* [[Rashtra Sevika Samiti]], literally, ''National Volunteer Association for Women'' (1.8m){{sfn|Jelen|2002|p=253}}
* [[Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad]], literally, ''All India Students' Forum'' (2.8m){{sfn|Jelen|2002|p=253}}
* Shiksha Bharati (2.1m){{sfn|Jelen|2002|p=253}}
* [[Vishwa Hindu Parishad]], ''World Hindu Council'' (2.8m){{sfn|Jelen|2002|p=253}}
* [[Bharatiya Yuva Seva Sangh]] (BYSS), ''Youth Awakening Front''{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}
* [[Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh]], literally, ''Hindu Volunteer Association – overseas wing''
* [[Swadeshi Jagaran Manch]], ''Nativist Awakening Front''{{sfn|Chitkara, National Upsurge|2004|p=169}}
* [[Saraswati Shishu Mandir]], ''Nursery''
* [[Vidya Bharati]], ''Educational Institutes''
* [[Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram]] (''Ashram for the Tribal Welfare''), Organisations for the improvement of [[tribals]]; and [[Friends of Tribals Society]]
* [[Muslim Rashtriya Manch]] (''Muslim National Forum''), Organisation for the improvement of Muslims
* [[Bajrang Dal]], ''Army of [[Hanuman]]'' (2m)
* Anusuchit Jati-Jamati Arakshan Bachao Parishad, ''Organisation for the improvement of [[Dalits]]''
* Laghu Udyog Bharati, an extensive network of small industries.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041001/asp/nation/story_3826950.asp|title=Ministers, not group, to scan scams|access-date=20 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924123634/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041001/asp/nation/story_3826950.asp|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/parivars-diversity-in-unity/|title=Parivar's diversity in unity|access-date=20 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150603202527/http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/parivars-diversity-in-unity/|archive-date=3 June 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Bharatiya Vichara Kendra]], ''Think Tank''
* [[Vishwa Samvad Kendra]], ''Communication Wing'', spread all over India for media related work, having a team of IT professionals (samvada.org)
* [[Rashtriya Sikh Sangat]], ''National Sikh Association'', a sociocultural organisation with the aim to spread the knowledge of [[Gurbani]] to the Indian society.''{{sfn|Chitkara, National Upsurge|2004|p=168}}''
* [[Vivekananda Kendra]], promotion of [[Swami Vivekananda]]'s ideas with [[Vivekananda International Foundation]] in New Delhi as a public policy think tank with six centres of study
 
Although RSS generally endorses the BJP, it has at times refused to do so due to the difference of opinion with the party.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rediff.com/news/interview/unlike-2014-rss-wont-involve-itself-in-2019-elections/20180924.htm|title='Unlike 2014, RSS won't involve itself in 2019 elections'|date=24 September 2018|website=Rediff|access-date=2 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/differences-crop-up-between-bjp-rss-over-ram-temple/story-FE4zN8iYNCtJK18ZX5pd5H.html|title=Differences crop up between BJP, RSS over Ram temple|last1=Ramachandran|first1=Smriti Kak|date=13 December 2018|website=Hindustan Times|access-date=2 November 2019}}</ref>
 
==Mission==
Golwalkar describes the mission of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as the revitalisation of the Indian value system based on universalism and peace and prosperity to all.{{sfn|Golwalkar; Bunch of Thoughts|1966}} [[Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam]], the worldview that the whole world is one family, propounded by the ancient thinkers of India, is considered one of the ideologies of the organisation.<ref name="sheshadri">H. V. Seshadri, ''Hindu renaissance under way'', Published in 1984, Jagarana Prakashana, Distributors, Rashtrotthana Sahitya (Bangalore)</ref>
 
But the immediate focus, the leaders believe, is on the Hindu renaissance, which would build an egalitarian society and a strong India that could propound this philosophy. Hence, the focus is on social reform, economic upliftment of the downtrodden, and the protection of the cultural diversity of the natives in India.<ref name="sheshadri" /> The organisation says it aspires to unite all Hindus and build a strong India that can contribute to the welfare of the world. In the words of RSS ideologue and the second head of the RSS, Golwalkar, "in order to be able to contribute our unique knowledge to mankind, in order to be able to live and strive for the unity and welfare of the world, we stand before the world as a self-confident, resurgent and mighty nation".{{sfn|Golwalkar; Bunch of Thoughts|1966}}
 
In ''Vichardhara'' (ideology), Golwalkar affirms the RSS mission of integration as:{{sfn|Golwalkar; Bunch of Thoughts|1966}}
{{Quote|RSS has been making determined efforts to inculcate in our people the burning devotion for Bharat and its national ethos; kindle in them the spirit of dedication and sterling qualities and character; rouse social consciousness, mutual good-will, love and cooperation among them all; to make them realise that casts, creeds, and languages are secondary and that service to the nation is the supreme end and to mold their behaviour accordingly; instill in them a sense of true humility and discipline and train their bodies to be strong and robust so as to shoulder any social responsibility; and thus to create all-round Anushasana (Discipline) in all walks of life and build together all our people into a unified harmonious national whole, extending from Himalayas to Kanyakumari.|[[M. S. Golwalkar]]}} Golwalkar and Balasaheb Deoras, the second and third supreme leaders of the RSS, spoke against the caste system, though they did not support its abolition.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Partha Banerjee|title=RSS – THE SANGH: What is it, and what is it not?|url=http://www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/OnRSS.html|website=SACW|access-date=7 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170523042612/http://www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/OnRSS.html|archive-date=23 May 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
The RSS has spoken in support of LGBT rights, stating that the LGBT community fall within the boundaries of forwarding a Hindu nation,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/rss-supports-homosexual-and-transgender-rights-frowns-on-live-in-relationships20190920215149/|title=RSS supports homosexual and transgender rights, frowns on live-in relationships|website=aninews.in|access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref> and having historically labelled the issue as a "private matter" that should not concern the general public.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goaprism.com/rss-supports-gay-sex-showing-the-sign-of-relief-to-lgbt-community-in-india/|title=RSS supports gay sex showing the sign of relief to LGBT community|date=19 March 2016|website=GOA PRISM|access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref>
 
===Stance on non-Hindu communities===
 
When it came to non-Hindu religions, the view of Golwalkar (who once supported Hitler's creation of a supreme race by suppression of minorities){{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=55}} on minorities was that of extreme intolerance. In a 1998 magazine article, some RSS and BJP members were said to have distanced themselves from Golwalkar's views, though not entirely.<ref>[http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl1508/15080280.htm "A balancing act"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413140915/http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl1508/15080280.htm |date=13 April 2014 }}, Hindu.com (12 March 1993). Retrieved 18 July 2013.</ref>
 
{{Quote|The non-Hindu people of Hindustan must either adopt Hindu culture and languages, must learn and respect and hold in reverence the Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but of those of glorification of the Hindu race and culture ... in a word they must cease to be foreigners; or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment—not even citizens' rights.|[[M. S. Golwalkar]]<ref>{{Cite book
|last1=Guha
|first1=Ramachandra
|author-link=Ramachandra Guha
|year=2008
|title=India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
|publisher=Pan Macmillan
|isbn=9780330396110
|page=19}}</ref>}}
 
Golwalkar also explains that RSS does not intend to compete in electioneering politics or share power. The movement considers Hindus as inclusive of Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, tribals, untouchables, Veerashaivism, Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, and other groups as a community, a view similar to the inclusive referencing of the term Hindu in the Indian Constitution Article 25 (2)(b).<ref>Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wiBwMJrlMVoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Fundamentalisms+Comprehended%22&hl=en&ei=LzkkTqBWxLysB4WWpKkC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-preview-link&resnum=1&ved=0CC4QuwUwAA#v=onepage&q=%22view%20Sikhs%2C%20Jains%2C%20Buddhists%2C%20Tribals%2C%20and%20Untouchables%20as%20belonging%20within%20the%20Hindu%20community%22&f=false "Fundamentalisms Comprehended, Volume 5 of The Fundamentalism Project"], University of Chicago Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-226-50888-9}}, {{ISBN|978-0-226-50888-7}}</ref><ref>Koenraad Elst, 2002, Who is a Hindu?: Hindu revivalist views of Animism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and other offshoots of Hinduism</ref><ref>[http://www.unesco.org/most/rr3indi.htm "Constitution of India: Article 25"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007173401/http://www.unesco.org/most/rr3indi.htm |date=7 October 2011 }}, quote: "Explanation II: In sub-Clause (b) of clause (2), the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion".</ref>
 
In spite of the party's hostile rhetoric against their religions, the RSS also has Muslim and Christian members. According to the party's official documents, Indian Muslims and Christians are still descendants of Hindus that happened to be converted to foreign faiths, so as long as they agree with its beliefs they can also be members. They are still required to attend the shakhas, and recite Hindu hymns, even by breaking [[Ramadhan]] fasts when possible.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Agha |first1=Eram |last2=Munshi |first2=Suhas |title=Minority Report: Meet the Non-Hindus in the RSS |url=https://www.news18.com/news/immersive/non-hindus-in-rss.html |website=News18 |access-date=27 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Basic FAQ on RSS |url=https://www.rss.org/Encyc/2017/5/20/Basic-FAQ-on-RSS.html |website=Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh |access-date=27 October 2021}}</ref> The [[Muslim Rashtriya Manch]] is considered as a wing of the RSS for Muslim members.<ref>{{cite web |title=A person is not a Hindu if he says Muslims should not live in India: RSS chief |url=https://scroll.in/latest/999326/a-person-is-not-a-hindu-if-he-says-muslims-should-not-live-in-india-rss-chief |website=Scroll.in |access-date=28 October 2021}}</ref>
 
== Social service and reform ==
===Participation in land reforms===
The RSS volunteers participated in the [[Bhoodan movement]] organised by Gandhian leader [[Vinobha Bhave]], who had met RSS leader Golwalkar in [[Meerut]] in November 1951. Golwalkar had been inspired by the movement that encouraged land reform through voluntary means. He pledged the support of the RSS for this movement.<ref>Suresh Ramabhai, ''Vinoba and his mission'', published by Akhil Bharat Sarv Seva Sangh, 1954</ref> Consequently, many RSS volunteers, led by [[Nanaji Deshmukh]], participated in the movement.{{sfn|Andersen|Damle|1987|p=111}} But Golwalkar was also critical of the Bhoodan movement on other occasions for being reactionary and for working "merely with a view to counteracting Communism". He believed that the movement should inculcate a faith in the masses that would make them rise above the base appeal of Communism.{{sfn|Golwalkar; Bunch of Thoughts|1966}}
 
=== Reform in 'caste' ===
The RSS has advocated the training of Dalits and other backward classes as temple high priests (a position traditionally reserved for [[Caste]] [[Brahmins]] and denied to lower castes). They argue that the social divisiveness of the caste system is responsible for the lack of adherence to [[Hindu values]] and traditions, and that reaching out to the lower castes in this manner will be a remedy to the problem.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120606114524/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-10-30/india/27801346_1_priests-dalits-hindu "RSS for Dalit head priests in temples"], ''The Times of India''</ref> The RSS has also condemned upper-caste Hindus for preventing Dalits from worshipping at temples, saying that "even God will desert the temple in which Dalits cannot enter".<ref>[http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-01-03/india/27884065_1_jagannath-temple-upper-caste-dalits "RSS rips into ban on Dalits entering temples"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203062819/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-01-03/india/27884065_1_jagannath-temple-upper-caste-dalits |date=3 December 2013 }}, ''Times of India'', 9 January 2007</ref>
 
Jaffrelot says that "there is insufficient data available to carry out a statistical analysis of social origins of the early RSS leaders" but goes on to conclude that, based on some known profiles, most of the RSS founders and its leading organisers, with a few exceptions, were Maharashtrian Brahmins from the middle or lower class{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=45}} and argues that the pervasiveness of the Brahminical ethic in the organisation was probably the main reason why it failed to attract support from the low castes. He argues that the "RSS resorted to instrumentalist techniques of ethnoreligious mobilisation—in which its Brahminism was diluted—to overcome this handicap".{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=50}} However, Anderson and Damle (1987) find that members of all castes have been welcomed into the organisation and are treated as equals.{{sfn|Andersen|Damle|1987|p=111}}
 
During a visit in 1934 to an RSS camp at [[Wardha]] accompanied by [[Mahadev Desai]] and [[Mirabehn]], Mahatma Gandhi said, "When I visited the RSS Camp, I was very much surprised by your discipline and absence of untouchablity."  He personally inquired about this to Swayamsevaks and found that volunteers were living and eating together in the camp without bothering to know each other's castes.<ref>K S Bharati, Encyclopedia of Eminent Thinkers, Volume 7, 1998</ref>
 
===Relief and rehabilitation===
The RSS was instrumental in relief efforts after the [[1971 Odisha cyclone]], [[1977 Andhra Pradesh cyclone]]<ref name="sev">[http://www.hindu.com/2001/02/18/stories/13180012.htm "Ensuring transparency"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102035703/http://www.hindu.com/2001/02/18/stories/13180012.htm |date=2 November 2007 }}, ''The Hindu'', 18 February 2001</ref> and in the 1984 [[Bhopal disaster]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Enigma of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh|url=http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article3650.html|newspaper=Mainstream weekly|date=18 August 2012|location=India|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413144017/http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article3650.html|archive-date=13 April 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/feb/13arvind.htm|title=The saffron flutters high, yet again|author=Arvind Lavakare|date=13 February 2001|publisher=Rediff-News|access-date=10 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924154612/http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/feb/13arvind.htm|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> It assisted in relief efforts during the [[2001 Gujarat earthquake]], and helped rebuild villages.<ref name="sev" /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/13496555.cms |title=Goa rebuilds quake-hit Gujarat village |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409033548/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/13496555.cms |archive-date=9 April 2008 |work=Times of India |date=19 June 2002 |access-date=9 April 2021}}</ref> Approximately 35,000 RSS members in uniform were engaged in the relief efforts,<ref>Saba Naqvi Bhaumik, ''[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]'', 12 February 2001</ref> and many of their critics acknowledged their role.<ref>''India-Today'', 12 February 2001 issue</ref> An RSS-affiliated NGO, [[Seva Bharati]], conducted relief operations in the aftermath of the [[2004 Indian Ocean earthquake]]. Activities included building shelters for the victims and providing food, clothes, and medical necessities.<ref>{{cite news |title=Relief missions from Delhi |url=http://www.hindu.com/2004/12/27/stories/2004122713750300.htm |access-date=9 April 2021 |date=27 December 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050119235601/http://www.hindu.com/2004/12/27/stories/2004122713750300.htm |work=[[The Hindu]] |archive-date=19 January 2005}}</ref> The RSS assisted relief efforts during the 2004 [[Sumatra-Andaman earthquake]] and the subsequent tsunami.<ref>{{cite news |last1=PTI |title=Tsunami toll in TN, Pondy touches 7,000 |url=https://in.rediff.com/news/2004/dec/29tn3.htm |access-date=9 April 2021 |work=Rediff |date=29 December 2004 |language=en}}</ref> Seva Bharati also adopted 57 children (38 Muslims and 19 Hindus) from militancy affected areas of Jammu and Kashmir to provide them education at least up to Higher Secondary level.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Pawan Bali |author2=Aswathy Kumar |name-list-style=amp |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/jammu-kids-get-home-away-from-guns/14093-3.html |title=Jammu kids get home away from guns |publisher=IBN live |date=28 June 2006 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025071648/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/jammu-kids-get-home-away-from-guns/14093-3.html |archive-date=25 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.oneindia.in/2006/06/25/jk-rss-adopts-militancy-hit-muslim-children.html |title=JK: RSS adopts militancy hit Muslim children |date=25 June 2006 |publisher=News.oneindia.in |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928155301/http://news.oneindia.in/2006/06/25/jk-rss-adopts-militancy-hit-muslim-children.html |archive-date=28 September 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> They also took care of victims of the [[Kargil War]] of 1999.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2002-12-14/edit-page/27322585_1_development-and-relief-fund-idrf-rss |title=Fund of Controversy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103033502/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2002-12-14/edit-page/27322585_1_development-and-relief-fund-idrf-rss |archive-date=3 November 2013 |date=14 December 2002|url-status=dead |work=[[The Times of India]] |access-date=9 April 2021}}</ref>
 
During the [[1984 anti-Sikh riots]], as per the former [[National Commission for Minorities|National Minorities Commission]] chairman [[Tarlochan Singh]] and noted journalist & author [[Khushwant Singh]], RSS activists also protected and helped members of the [[Sikh]] community.<ref>{{cite news |date=26 July 2003|title=Minorities panel chief lauds RSS|url=https://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/minorities-panel-chief-lauds-rss_113169.html|newspaper=Zee News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Singh|first= Khushwant|date=22 August 2005|title=1984 Anti-Sikh Riots: Victory To The Mob|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/victory-to-the-mob/228338|newspaper=Outlook}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Tiwana|first= Jagpal Singh|date=15 February 2003|title=Khushwant Singh: "Japji Sahib is Based on the Upanishads"|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/victory-to-the-mob/228338|newspaper=Sikh Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author= M D Deshpande|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WxeLBgAAQBAJ&q=Tarlochan+Singh+RSS+1984&pg=PT210|title=Gujarat Riots: the True Story: The Truth of the 2002 Riots|publisher=Partridge Publishing|year= 2014|isbn=9781482841633|pages=398}}</ref>
 
In 2006 RSS participated in relief efforts to provide basic necessities such as food, milk, and potable water to the people of [[Surat]], Gujarat, who were affected by floods in the region.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} The RSS volunteers carried out relief and rehabilitation work after the floods affected North [[Karnataka]] and some districts of the state of [[Andhra Pradesh]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://newindianexpress.com/states/andhra_pradesh/article136398.ece |work=The New Indian Express |title=RSS volunteers fan out to do relief work |access-date=26 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106054230/http://newindianexpress.com/states/andhra_pradesh/article136398.ece |archive-date=6 November 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2013, following the [[2013 North India floods|Uttarakhand floods]], RSS volunteers were involved in flood relief work through its offices set up at affected areas.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/rss-help-for-uttarakhand-flood-victims/article4852079.ece "RSS help for Uttarakhand flood victims"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130629200457/http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/rss-help-for-uttarakhand-flood-victims/article4852079.ece |date=29 June 2013 }}, ''The Hindu'', 26 June 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.niticentral.com/2013/06/24/rss-swings-into-action-in-flood-ravaged-uttarakhand-94456.html "RSS swings into action in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130630042114/http://www.niticentral.com/2013/06/24/rss-swings-into-action-in-flood-ravaged-uttarakhand-94456.html |date=30 June 2013 }}, Niti Central. Retrieved 18 July 2013.</ref>
 
Backing the [[2020 coronavirus lockdown in India]], the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh provided essential services including masks, soaps and food to many all over India during the lockdown.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/backing-modi-govt-on-lockdown-rss-doles-out-a-bouquet-of-services-for-those-stranded20200404154059/|title=Backing Modi govt on lockdown, RSS doles out a bouquet of services for those stranded|first1=Pragya|last1=Kaushika|date=4 April 2020|publisher=ANI|access-date=7 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://theprint.in/india/rss-gets-ready-to-fight-coronavirus-with-awareness-campaign-masks-soaps-food-packets/386488/|title=RSS gets ready to fight coronavirus with awareness campaign, masks, soaps & food packets|first1=Arun|last1=Anand|date=24 March 2020|publisher= Printline Media Pvt. Ltd|access-date=8 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=2 April 2020|title=RSS serves needy people in AP during lockdown|newspaper=Business Standard India|url=https://wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/news-ani/rss-serves-needy-people-in-ap-during-lockdown-120040200150_1.html|access-date=7 April 2020|publisher=Business Standard}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=29 March 2020|title=RSS provides food to needy; operates 52 kitchens across Delhi amid COVID-19 lockdown|newspaper=Business Standard India|url=https://wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/news-ani/rss-provides-food-to-needy-operates-52-kitchens-across-delhi-amid-covid-19-lockdown-120032900613_1.html|access-date=7 April 2020|publisher=Business Standard}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/helping-hand-rajasthan-rss-workers-join-forces-to-serve-the-poor-amid-coronavirus-lockdown-2564819.html|title=Helping Hand: Rajasthan RSS Workers Join Forces to Serve the Poor Amid Coronavirus Lockdown|date=5 April 2020|publisher=News18.com|access-date=7 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Bose|first1=Mrityunjay|date=6 April 2020|title=RSS serves food to over 1 lakh Mumbaikars during COVID-19 lockdown|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/national/south/rss-serves-food-to-over-1-lakh-mumbaikars-during-covid-19-lockdown-821880.html|access-date=7 April 2020|website=Deccan Herald|publisher=The Printers (Mysore) Private Ltd.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/community-kitchens-reach-out-to-needy-during-lockdown/article31274121.ece|title=Community kitchens reach out to needy during lockdown|first1=Jeshi|last1=K.|first2=Susan Joe|last2=Philip|first3=Akileish|last3=R.|date=7 April 2020|newspaper=The Hindu|access-date=8 April 2020}}</ref> In 2020, a Muslim woman from [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]] donated all her savings meant for her [[Hajj|Hajj pilgrimage]], worth {{INR}}5 [[lakh]], to the RSS-affiliated 'Sewa Bharati' after being "impressed with the welfare work" done by the outfit amid the lockdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.<ref>{{cite news|title=Coronavirus: Impressed with welfare work, Muslim woman donates savings for Hajj to RSS-affiliate |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/coronavirus-india-impressed-welfare-work-muslim-woman-donates-savings-hajj-rss-1661133-2020-03-30 |work=[[India Today]]|date=30 March 2020|last1=Press Trust of India|access-date=31 October 2020|author1-link=Press Trust of India }}</ref> The number of Muslim students in the schools run by Vidya Bharati, the educational wing of RSS, has witnessed an increase of approximately 30% during the three years 2017–2020 in [[Uttar Pradesh]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Dixit |first1=Kapil |title=Muslim students in UP's RSS schools rise 30% in 3 years |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/allahabad/muslim-students-in-ups-rss-schools-rise-30-in-3-years/articleshowprint/74234292.cms|date=21 February 2020|work=The Times of India |access-date=31 October 2020}}</ref>
 
== Publications ==
Two prominent publications of the RSS are [[Panchjanya (magazine)|''Panchajanya'']] (Hindi) and [[Organiser (magazine)|Organiser]] (English). The first magazines published were Rashtra Dharma (Hindi) and Organiser (English). Later in 1948 new publications were launched, ''Panchajanya'' from Lucknow, ''Akashwani'' from Jalandhar and ''Chetana'' from Varanasi. Until 1977 the publications were published by Rashtra Dharma Prakashan the responsibility of which was later taken over by Bharat Prakashan Ltd. The governing board of the publications has been appointing editors for the publications. Prominent leaders like Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee have been the editors of these publications. <ref>{{Cite web |date=20 October 2015 |title=Links between RSS, journals Organiser and Panchjanya |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/links-between-rss-journals-organiser-and-panchjanya/ |access-date=18 April 2022 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Jha |first=Dhirendra |date=27 December 2015 |title=Staff of 'Panchajanya' and 'Organiser' sacked for writing to RSS chief |url=https://scroll.in/article/778070/staff-of-panchajanya-and-organiser-to-rss-chief-why-have-acche-din-meant-bad-times-for-us |work=[[Scroll.in]] |access-date=18 April 2022}}</ref>In 2013, the number of subscriptions to ''Panchajanya'' was around 60000 and around 15000 for Organiser. Subscriptions have increased substantially after 2014 election of Narendra Modi as the Prime minister. As of 2017 ''Panchajanya'' had more than 1 lakh subscribers and Organiser had 25000.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 June 2017 |title=Circulation of RSS journals up by 40% since BJP came to power |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/circulation-of-rss-journals-up-by-40-since-bjp-came-to-power/story-aUbRhvRIDoXamw5gyqrHBI.html |access-date=18 April 2022 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref>
 
== Reception ==
{{anchor|Accusations of Fascism}}Jaffrelot observes that although the RSS with its paramilitary style of functioning and its emphasis on discipline has sometimes been seen by some as "an Indian version of [[fascism]]",{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=51}} he argues that "RSS's ideology treats society as an organism with a secular spirit, which is implanted not so much in the race as in a socio-cultural system and which will be regenerated over the course of time by patient work at the grassroots". He writes that "ideology of the RSS did not develop a theory of the state and the race, a crucial element in European nationalisms: Nazism and Fascism"{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=51}} and that the RSS leaders were interested in culture as opposed to racial sameness.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|pp=57–58}}
 
The likening of the Sangh Parivar to fascism by Western critics has also been countered by [[Jyotirmaya Sharma]], who labelled it as an attempt by them to "make sense of the growth of extremist politics and intolerance within their society", and that such "simplistic transference" has done great injustice to knowledge of Hindu nationalist politics.<ref>[http://www.hindu.com/br/2005/09/27/stories/2005092700171600.htm Hindu Nationalist Movement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060527123558/http://www.hindu.com/br/2005/09/27/stories/2005092700171600.htm |date=27 May 2006 }} [[The Hindu]] – 24 September 2005</ref>
 
RSS has been criticised as an [[extremism|extremist]] organisation and as a paramilitary group.<ref name="Curran1950"/><ref name="Bhatt2013">
{{cite book | first1=Chetan |last1=Bhatt |chapter=Democracy and Hindu nationalism |editor=John Anderson |title=Religion, Democracy and Democratization |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |page=140}}
</ref><ref name="Margolis2000">
{{cite book | author=Eric S. Margolis | title=War at the Top of the World: The Struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir and Tibet | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zMSLsSVKxNMC&pg=PA95 | access-date=12 November 2012 | year=2000 | publisher=Taylor & Francis Group | isbn=978-0-415-93062-8 | page=95 }}
</ref> It has also been criticised when its members have participated in anti-Muslim violence;<ref name="indianexpress kar sevaks" /> it has since formed in 1984, a militant wing called the [[Bajrang Dal]].<ref name="Atkins2004" /><ref name="Breker">
{{cite book|last1=Breker|first1=Torkel|title=The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Security|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415667449|pages=86–87|editor=Chris Seiple |editor2= Dennis R. Hoover |editor3=Pauletta Otis}}
</ref> Along with [[Shiv Sena]], the RSS has been involved in riots, often inciting and organising violence against Christians and Muslims.<ref name=Parashar>
{{cite book|last1=Parashar|first1=Swati|title=Women and Militant Wars: The Politics of Injury|year=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415827966|page=77}}
</ref><ref name="Horowitz"/> Thus, there is a common consensus among the academia and intellectuals that RSS spreads hatred.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sundar|first=Nandini|date=2004|title=Teaching to Hate: RSS' Pedagogical Programme|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4414900|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=39|issue=16|pages=1605–1612|jstor=4414900|issn=0012-9976|quote=As against the mere silencing of the diverse cultures and contributions of women, minorities or workers found in conservative visions of education, the fascist school curriculum involves active manipulation of historical evidence in order to foster hatred for and violence against minorities................ Indeed, the fact that Pakistan and Indian Muslims are never explicitly named but referred to only as 'the neighbouring country' or terrorists paradoxically serves to strengthen the message - since the RSS can then take recourse to the claim of pure 'nationalism'. Students claim they are taught only about 'Indian' culture and deny that they are taught to hate other communities. They don't realise that the version of Indian culture they are taught is such a strongly Hindu and anti-minority one}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Todd|first1=Allan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v893CgAAQBAJ|title=History for the IB Diploma Paper 2 Independence Movements (1800–2000)|last2=Bottaro|first2=Jean|date=17 September 2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-55623-2|pages=90|language=en|quote=The RSS had promoted a campaign of hatred against Gandhi, accusing him of being a traitor because of his willingness to negotiate with the Muslim community.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Brekke|first=Torkel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JGooYIEd9h4C&dq=%22RSS%22+%22hatred%22+inpublisher:%22university+press%22&pg=PA124|title=Fundamentalism: Prophecy and Protest in an Age of Globalization|date=26 December 2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-50429-4|pages=124|language=en|quote=Through its strict, centralized, and authoritarian organiza-tion, the RSS controls a host of sister organizations devoted to the infusion of Hindu culture and values in different spheres of Indian society. The other side of this strategy of Hinduization is the aggressive stance against minorities who do not fit into the vision of Hindu society. The RSS and its leaders have always been motivated by hatred against Muslims and Christians, and they have created several terrorist organizations devoted to attacking members of these minority groups in different parts of India. Best known among the terrorist groups controlled by the RSS is the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the VHP, which specializes in violence against Muslims and Christians and has been involved in large-scale atrocities in India.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Basu|first=Amrita|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TTrjCQAAQBAJ&dq=%22RSS%22+%22hatred%22+inpublisher:%22university+press%22&pg=PA109|title=Violent Conjunctures in Democratic India|date=30 June 2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-08963-1|pages=109|language=en|quote=However, the RSS has planned these attacks while denying responsibility for them to generate fear and hatred of Muslims while claiming that Hindus are victims.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hansen|first=Thomas Blom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAqn3OIGE54C&dq=%22RSS%22+%22hatred%22+inpublisher:%22university+press%22&pg=PA119|title=The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India|date=23 March 1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-2305-5|pages=119|language=en|quote=The “significant other” of the RSS's alternative civil society in Pune remains, nonetheless, the anglicized establishment from which it has been excluded, while the immediate cause of fear and object of hatred, as always, is the Muslim community}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Gregor|first=A. James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1XyJDwyYv0AC&dq=%22RSS%22+%22hatred%22+inpublisher:%22university+press%22&pg=PA201|title=The Search for Neofascism: The Use and Abuse of Social Science|date=27 March 2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85920-2|pages=201|language=en|quote=Another main-tained that from its very origins, Hindu nationalism looked to Fascist Italy and National Socialist Germany for inspiration, and yet another identified the RSS, its affiliated organizations, and the BJP (its "political front"), as fascist — by identifying its essential traits as nothing other than "intolerance, hatred, brutality, and [the] urge for ethnic cleansing."}}</ref>
 
According to released documents by [[WikiLeaks]], Congress(I) party's general secretary [[Rahul Gandhi]] remarked to US Ambassador [[Timothy Roemer]], at a luncheon hosted by Prime Minister of India at his residence in July 2009, that the RSS was a "bigger threat" to India than the [[Lashkar-e-Toiba|Lashkar-e-Tayiba]].<ref>{{cite web|date=21 December 2010|title=Think before you speak, RSS tells Rahul|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-think-before-you-speak-rss-tells-rahul/20101221.htm|access-date=14 November 2012|work=Rediff.com}}</ref>
 
===Involvement with riots===
The RSS has been censured for its involvement in communal riots.
{{Quote box|After giving careful and serious consideration to all the materials that are on record, the Commission is of the view that the RSS with its extensive organisation in Jamshedpur and which had close links with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh had a positive hand in creating a climate which was most propitious for the outbreak of communal disturbances.
 
In the first instance, the speech of Shri Deoras (delivered just five days before the Ram Navami festival) tended to encourage the Hindu extremists to be unyielding in their demands regarding Road No.&nbsp;14. Secondly, his speech amounted to communal propaganda. Thirdly, the shakhas and the camps that were held during the divisional conference presented a militant atmosphere to the Hindu public. In the circumstances, the commission cannot but hold the RSS responsible for creating a climate for the disturbances that took place on 11 April 1979.|Jitendra Narayan Commission report on Jamshedpur riots of 1979<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yB5NM0o3I9QC&pg=PA95 |chapter=An Analytical View of Communal Violence |last1=Shakir |first1=Moin |title=Communal Riots in Post-Independence India |publisher=Sangam Books |access-date=26 January 2011|isbn=978-81-7370-102-3|year=1991|editor-last=Engineer|editor-first=Asgharali |editor-link=Asghar Ali Engineer|edition=2nd}}</ref>}}
 
[[Human Rights Watch]], a non-governmental organisation for human rights based in New York, has claimed that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, VHP), the Bajrang Dal, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and the BJP have been party to the [[2002 Gujarat violence|Gujarat violence]] that erupted after the [[Godhra train burning]].<ref name="Corrêa">{{cite book|last1=Corrêa|first1=Sonia|author-link=Sonia Corrêa|title=Sexuality, Health and Human Rights|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415351188|page=67|edition=New|author2=Rosalind Petchesky |author2-link=Rosalind P. Petchesky |author3=Richard Parker |author3-link=Richard G. Parker (anthropologist) }}</ref> Local VHP, BJP, and BD leaders have been named in many police reports filed by eyewitnesses.<ref name="hrw1">{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2002/04/29/india-gujarat-officials-took-part-anti-muslim-violence |title=India: Gujarat Officials Took Part in Anti-Muslim Violence |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=30 April 2002 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013001213/http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2002/04/29/india-gujarat-officials-took-part-anti-muslim-violence |archive-date=13 October 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> RSS and VHP claimed that they made appeals to put an end to the violence and that they asked their supporters and volunteer staff to prevent any activity that might disrupt peace.<ref name="rediff02032002">[http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/mar/02train10.htm "RSS, VHP appeal for peace in Gujarat"]  {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013065358/http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/mar/02train10.htm |date=13 October 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politicsnow.in/illusory-nationalism/|publisher=Politics Now|author=Dipankan Bandopadhyay|access-date=4 December 2016|title=Illusory Nationalism and its woes|date=December 2016}}</ref>
 
===Religious violence in Odisha===
Christian groups accuse the RSS alongside its close affiliates, the [[Vishva Hindu Parishad]] (VHP), the Bajrang Dal (BD), and the Hindu Jagaran Sammukhya (HJS), of participation in the 2008 [[religious violence in Odisha]].<ref name="timesuk1">{{cite news | url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hindu-extremists-reward-to-kill-christians-as-britain-refuses-to-bar-members-3frrf3kgphk | work=The Times | location=London | title=Hindu extremists reward to kill Christians as Britain refuses to bar members | first1=Rhys | last1=Blakely | date=20 November 2008 | access-date=22 May 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920122812/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hindu-extremists-reward-to-kill-christians-as-britain-refuses-to-bar-members-3frrf3kgphk | archive-date=20 September 2018 | url-status=live }}</ref>
 
===Involvement in the Babri Masjid demolition===
According to the 2009 report of the [[Liberhan Commission]], the Sangh Parivar organised the [[Demolition of the Babri Masjid|destruction of the Babri Mosque]].<ref name="indianexpress kar sevaks">{{cite web |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/how-the-bjp-rss-mobilised-kar-sevaks/545911/ |title=How the BJP, RSS mobilised kar sevaks |work=The Indian Express|date=25 November 2009 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219033847/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/how-the-bjp-rss-mobilised-kar-sevaks/545911/ |archive-date=19 December 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/india/Excerpts-from-the-Liberhan-Commission-report/Article1-479907.aspx |title=Excerpts from the Liberhan Commission report |newspaper=Hindustan Times |date=25 November 2009 |access-date=26 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606125658/http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/india/Excerpts-from-the-Liberhan-Commission-report/Article1-479907.aspx |archive-date=6 June 2011 }}</ref> The Commission said: "The blame or the credit for the entire [[Ram Janmabhoomi movement|temple construction movement at Ayodhya]] must necessarily be attributed to Sangh Parivar."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/nov/24/liberhan-comes-down-heavily-on-advani-and-vajpayee.htm |title=Liberhan comes down heavily on Vajpayee, Advani |work=rediff News |date=24 November 2009 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110224014918/http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/nov/24/liberhan-comes-down-heavily-on-advani-and-vajpayee.htm |archive-date=24 February 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> It also noted that the Sangh Parivar is an "extensive and widespread organic body" that encompasses organisations that address and bring together just about every type of social, professional, and other demographic groupings of individuals. The RSS has denied responsibility and questioned the objectivity of the report. Former RSS chief [[K. S. Sudarshan]] alleged that the mosque had been demolished by government men as opposed to the [[Kar Sevak|Karsevak]] volunteers.<ref>{{cite magazine|agency=Press Trust of India |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/72219/India/Sudarshan+contests+Liberhan%27s+claim.html |title=Sudarshan contests Liberhan's claim  |magazine=India Today  |date=24 November 2009 |access-date=26 January 2011}}</ref> On the other hand, a government of India [[white paper]] dismissed the idea that the demolition was pre-organised.<ref name="TNIE07122009">{{cite news |url=http://newindianexpress.com/opinion/article79638.ece |title=Liberhan Takes Suspicions As Proof |newspaper=[[The New Indian Express]] |location=Bengalooru Edition |date=7 December 2009}}</ref>
The RSS was banned after the [[Demolition of the Babri Masjid|1992 Babri Masjid demolition]], when the government of the time considered it a threat to the state. The ban was subsequently lifted in 1993 when no evidence of any unlawful activity was found by the tribunal constituted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6PnBFW7cdtsC|title=The RSS and the BJP: A Division of Labor|last1=Noorani|first1=A. G.|year=2000|isbn=9788187496137|location=New Delhi|pages=99}}</ref>
 
=== Involvement in politics ===
Several Sangh Parivar politicians such as [[Balraj Madhok]] in the 1960s and 1970s to the [[BJP]] leaders like [[L. K. Advani]] have complained about the RSS's interference in party politics. Though some former Hindu nationalists believed that Sangh should take part in politics, they failed to draw the RSS, which was intended to be a purely cultural movement, into the political arena until the 1950s. Savarkar tried to convince Hedgewar and later Golwalkar, to tie up with the [[Hindu Mahasabha]], but failed to do so.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalism Reader|2007|p=175–179}}
 
Under pressure from other ''swayamsevaks'', Golwalkar gradually changed his mind after independence under unusual circumstances during the ban on RSS in 1948 after the assassination of Gandhi. After the first wave of arrests of RSS activists at that time, some of its members who had gone underground recommended that their movement be involved in politics, seeing that no political force was present to advocate the cause of RSS in parliament or anywhere else. One such member who significantly suggested this cause was [[K. R. Malkani]], who wrote in 1949:{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalism Reader|2007|p=175–179}}
 
{{quote box|Sangh must take part in politics not only to protect itself against the greedy design of politicians, but to stop the un-Bharatiya and anti-Bharatiya policies of the Government and to advance and expedite the cause of Bharatiya through state machinery side by side with official effort in the same direction. ... Sangh must continue as it is, an ''ashram'' for the national cultural education of the entire citizenry, but it must develop a political wing for the more effective and early achievement of its ideals.}}
 
Golwalkar approved of Malkani's and others' views regarding the formation of a new party in 1950. Jaffrelot says that the death of Sardar Patel influenced this change since Golwalkar opined that Patel could have transformed the Congress party by emphasising its affinities with Hindu nationalism, while after Patel, Nehru became strong enough to impose his 'anti-communal' line within his party. Accordingly, Golwalkar met [[Syama Prasad Mukherjee]] and agreed for endorsing senior ''swayamsevaks'', who included [[Deendayal Upadhyaya]], Balraj Madhok and [[Atal Bihari Vajpayee]], to the [[Bharatiya Jana Sangh]], a newly formed political party by Mukherjee. These men, who took their orders from RSS, captured power in the party after Mukherjee's death.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalism Reader|2007|p=175–179}}
 
[[Balasaheb Deoras]], who succeeded Golwalkar as the chief of RSS, got very much involved in politics. In 1965, when he was the general secretary of the RSS, he addressed the annual meeting of Jana Sangh, which is seen as an "unprecedented move" by an RSS dignitary that reflected his strong interest in politics and his will to make the movement play a larger part in the public sphere. Jaffrelot says that he exemplified the specific kind of swayamsevaks known as 'activists', giving expression to his leanings towards political activism by having the RSS support the [[Bihar Movement|JP Movement]].{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalism Reader|2007|p=175–179}} The importance that RSS began to give to the electoral politics is demonstrated when its units (''shakhas'') were made constituency-based in the early 1970s, from which the RSS shakhas began to involve directly in elections, not only of legislatures, but also of trade unions, student and cultural organisations.{{sfn|Tapan Basu, Khaki Shorts|1993|pp=51–54}}
 
As soon as the RSS men took over the Jana Sangh party, the Hindu traditionalists who previously joined the party because of S. P. Mukherjee were sidelined.{{Citation needed|date=March 2020|reason=Your explanation here}} The organisation of the party was restructured and all its organisational secretaries, who were the pillars of the party, came from the RSS, both at the district and state level. The party also took the vision of RSS in its mission, where its ultimate objective, in the long run, was the reform of society, but not the conquest of power, since the 'state' was not viewed as a prominent institution. Hence the Jana Sangh initially remained reluctant to join any alliance that was not fully in harmony with its ideology. In 1962, Deendayal Upadhyaya, who was the party's chief, explained this approach by saying that "coalitions were bound to degenerate into a struggle for power by opportunist elements coming together in the interest of expediency". He wanted to build the party as an alternative party to the Congress and saw the elections as an "opportunity to educate the people on political issues and to challenge the right of the Congress to be in power". Jaffrelot says that this indifferent approach of party politics was in accordance with its lack of interest in the 'state' and the wish to make it weaker, or more decentralised.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalism Reader|2007|p=175–179}} After India's defeat in the [[Sino-Indian War|1962 Sino–Indian war]], the RSS and other right-wing forces in India were strengthened since the leftist and centrist opinions, sometimes even Nehru himself, could then be blamed for being 'soft' towards China. The RSS and Jana Sangh also took complete advantage of the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965|1965 war with Pakistan]] to "deepen suspicion about Muslims", and also en-cashed the growing unpopularity of Congress, particularly in the [[Hindi Belt|Hindi-belt]], where a left-wing alternative was weak or non-existent.{{sfn|Tapan Basu, Khaki Shorts|1993|pp=51–54}} The major themes on the party's agenda during this period were banning [[Cattle slaughter in India|cow slaughter]], abolishing the [[Article 370 of the Constitution of India|special status given to Jammu and Kashmir]], and legislating a [[uniform civil code]]. Explaining the Jana Sangh's failure to become a major political force despite claiming to represent the national interests of the Hindus, scholar Bruce Desmond Graham states that the party's close initial ties with the Hindi-belt and its preoccupation with the issues of North India such as promotion of Hindi, energetic resistance to Pakistan etc., had become a serious disadvantage to the party in the long run. He also adds that its interpretation of Hinduism was "restrictive and exclusive", arguing that "its doctrines were inspired by an activist version of Hindu nationalism and, indirectly, by the values of [[Brahmanism]] rather than the devotional and quietist values of popular Hinduism."{{sfn|Graham; Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics|2007|p=253}} Desmond says that, if the Jana Sangh had carefully moderated its Hindu nationalism, it could have been able to well-exploit any strong increase in support for the traditional and nationalist Hindu opinion, and hence to compete on equal terms with the Congress in the northern states. He also remarks that if it had adopted a less harsh attitude towards Pakistan and Muslims, "it would have been much more acceptable to Hindu traditionalists in the central and southern states, where partition had left fewer emotional scars."{{sfn|Graham; Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics|2007|p=42}}
 
The Jana Sangh started making alliances by entering the anti-Congress coalitions since 1960s. It became part of the 1971 Grand Alliance and finally merged itself with the [[Janata Party]] in 1977.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalism Reader|2007|p=175–179}} The success of Janata Party in [[1977 Indian general election|1977 elections]] made the RSS members central ministers for the first time (Vajpayee, Advani and [[Brij Lal Verma]]),{{sfn|Tapan Basu, Khaki Shorts|1993|pp=51–54}} and provided the RSS with an opportunity to avail the state and its instruments to further its ends, through the resources of various state governments as well as the central government.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8v7Vr2iQUHkC&pg=PA240|title=India Since Independence: Making Sense of Indian Politics|last1=Krishna|first1=Ananth V.|publisher=Pearson Education India|year=2011|isbn=9788131734650|pages=240|language=en}}</ref> However, this merge, which was seen as a dilution of its original doctrine, was viewed by the ex-Jana Sanghis as submersion of their initial identity. Meanwhile, the other components of the Janata Party denounced the allegiance the ex-Jana Sanghis continued to pay to the RSS. This led to a 'dual membership' controversy, regarding the links the former Jana Sangh members were retaining with the RSS, and it led to the split of Janata Party in 1979.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalism Reader|2007|p=175–179}}
 
The former Jana Sangh elements formed a new party, [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP), in 1980. However, BJP originated more as a successor to the Janata Party and did not return to the beginning stages of the Hindu nationalist identity and Jana Sangh doctrines. The RSS resented this dilution of ideology – the new slogans promoted by the then BJP president Vajpayee like 'Gandhian socialism' and 'positive secularism'. By early 1980s, RSS is said to have established its political strategy of "never keeping all its eggs in one basket". It even decided to support Congress in some states, for instance, to create the [[Hindu Munnani]] in Tamil Nadu in the backdrop of the [[1981 Meenakshipuram conversion|1981 Meenakshipuram mass conversion to Islam]], and to support one of its offshoots, [[Vishva Hindu Parishad]] (VHP), to launch an enthno-religious movement on the [[Ayodhya dispute]]. BJP did not have much electoral success in its initial years and was able to win only two seats in the [[1984 Indian general election|1984 elections]]. After L. K. Advani replaced Vajpayee as party president in 1986, the BJP also began to rally around the Ayodhya campaign. In 1990, the party organised the ''[[Ram Rath Yatra]]'' to advance this campaign in large-scale.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalism Reader|2007|p=175–179}}{{sfn|Tapan Basu, Khaki Shorts|1993|pp=51–54}} Advani also attacked the then ruling Congress party with the slogans such as '[[pseudo-secularism]]', accusing Congress of misusing secularism for the political appeasement of minorities, and established an explicit and unambiguous path of Hindu revival.<ref name=":0" />
 
The 'instrumentalisation' of the Ayodhya issue and the related communal riots which polarised the electorate along religious lines helped the BJP make good progress in the subsequent elections of [[1989 Indian general election|1989]], [[1991 Indian general election|1991]] and [[1996 Indian general election|1996]]. However, in the mid-1990s, BJP adopted a more moderate approach to politics in order to make allies. As Jaffrelot remarks, it was because the party realised during then that it would not be in a position to form the government on its own in the near future. In 1998, it built a major coalition, [[National Democratic Alliance (India)|National Democratic Alliance]] (NDA), in the Lok Sabha and succeeded in the [[1998 Indian general election|general election in 1998]], and was able to succeed again in the [[1999 Indian general election|mid-term elections of 1999]], with Vajpayee as their Prime Ministerial candidate. Though the RSS and other Sangh Parivar components appreciated some of the steps taken by the Vajpayee government, like the [[Pokhran-II|testing of a nuclear bomb]], they felt disappointed with the government's overall performance. The fact that no solid step was taken towards building the [[Rama|Ram]] temple in Ayodhya was resented by the VHP. The [[Premiership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee#Economic policy|liberalisation policy of the government]] faced objection from the [[Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh]], a trade union controlled by the RSS. Jaffrelot says, RSS and the other Sangh Parivar elements had come to the view that the "BJP leaders had been victims of their thirst for power: they had preferred to compromise to remain in office instead of sticking to their principles."{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalism Reader|2007|p=175-179}}
 
After the end of Vajpayee's tenure in 2004, BJP remained as a major opposition party in the subsequent years; and again in the year 2014, the NDA came to power after BJP gained an overwhelming majority in the [[2014 Indian general election|2014 general elections]], with [[Narendra Modi]], a former RSS member who previously served as Gujarat's chief minister for three tenures, as their prime ministerial candidate. Modi was able to project himself as a person who could bring about "development", without focus on any specific policies,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Jaffrelot|first1=Christophe|s2cid=142912068|date=3 April 2015|title=The Modi-centric BJP 2014 election campaign: new techniques and old tactics|journal=Contemporary South Asia|volume=23|issue=2|pages=151–166|doi=10.1080/09584935.2015.1027662|issn=0958-4935}}</ref> through the "Gujarat development model" which was frequently used to counter the allegations of communalism.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bobbio|first1=Tommaso|s2cid=154422056|date=1 May 2012|title=Making Gujarat Vibrant: Hindutva, development and the rise of subnationalism in India|journal=Third World Quarterly|volume=33|issue=4|pages=657–672|doi=10.1080/01436597.2012.657423|issn=0143-6597|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1047619}}</ref> Voter dissatisfaction with the Congress, as well as the support from RSS are also stated as reasons for the BJP's success in the 2014 elections.<ref name=":1" />
 
=== Other religious views ===
In January 2020, the RSS along with other right-wing political parties and religious organisations such as BJP, [[Vishwa Hindu Parishad]] and HJV held protests, which allegedly demanded that the statue of [[Jesus]] be not installed at Kapala Hills of [[Kanakapura]]. The 10 acres of land<ref name="Hindustan Times 2020">{{cite web | title=BJP, RSS protest against proposed statue of Jesus in Karnataka's Kanakapura | website=Hindustan Times | date=13 January 2020 | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/bjp-rss-protest-against-proposed-statue-of-jesus-in-karnataka-s-kanakapura/story-3bjxnjbcK4zh72URr6EhBK.html | access-date=16 September 2020}}</ref> was originally donated by the government to the [[Violence against Christians in India|Christian community]] after [[D. K. Shivakumar]], the MLA of [[Indian National Congress]] submitted a request to the state government for land donation to the community.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/christ-statue-shivakumar-bjp-rss-protest-1636375-2020-01-13 |title=114-ft Christ statue planned in Shivakumar bastion sparks BJP, RSS protest}}</ref>
 
==See also==
{{Portal|Hinduism|Conservatism|India}}
*[[Rashtra Sevika Samiti]]
*[[Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh]]
*[[Rashtriya Sikh Sangat]]
 
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}


{{multistub|politics|Asia}}
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* {{citation |last1=Bhishikar |first1=C. P. |title=Keshave: Sangh Nirmata |publisher=Suruchi Sahitya Prakashan |location=New Delhi |year=1979}}
* {{citation |last1=Golwalkar |first1=M. S. |title=Shri Guruji Samagra |publisher=Suruchi Prakashan |location=New Delhi}}
* {{citation |last1=Golwalkar |first1=M. S. |title=Bunch of Thoughts |publisher=Sahitya Sindhu Prakashana |location=Bangalore |year=1966 |isbn=81-86595-19-8|ref={{sfnref|Golwalkar; Bunch of Thoughts|1966}}}}
</ref>
* {{citation |last1=Sinha |first1=Rakesh |title=Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar |year=2003 |location=New Delhi |publisher=Publication Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting [[Government of India]]}}
* {{citation |last1=Mehrotra |first1=N.C. |first2=Tandon |last2=Manisha |title=Swatantrata Andolan Mein Shahjahanpur Ka Yogdan |year=1995 |location=[[Shahjahanpur]], India |publisher=Shaheed-E-Aazam Pt. Ram Prasad Bismil Trust}}
 
;Publications
* {{cite news| url =http://www.panchjanya.com/ | title = Panchajanya | publisher = RSS weekly publication| language = hi}}
* {{cite news | url =http://www.organiser.org/ | title = Organiser | publisher = RSS weekly publication}}
* {{cite news|url=http://www.eswastika.com/ |title=Weekly Swastika}} (A Nationalist Bengali News Weekly)
* {{citation| url =http://archivesofrss.org/index.php?option=com_biographies&Itemid=37/ | title = Biographies of Dr. Hedgewar The founder of RSS| language = hi, en}}
{{Refend}}
 
==External links==
{{Sangh Parivar}}
{{Hindu Nationalism}}
{{Hindu reform movements}} 
{{The Emergency (India)}}
{{Authority control}}
 
{{Bharatiya Janata Party}}


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