RSS’ success also has seeds of destruction

The RSS’ intellectual stagnation and myth-based narratives risk alienating it from India’s knowledge-driven society

One hundred years ago, on Vijayadashami Day, September 27, 1925, the men who gathered at the residence of Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in Nagpur could have hardly imagined how powerful the organisation they were founding would become.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a name it acquired in 1926, has become the most powerful non-State organisation in India. No other entity enjoys the same ideological influence, a disciplined and controlled cadre, and strategic social depth.

Its executive political arm, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), leads governments at the Centre and in 19 States and two Union Territories. Its political victories are powered by the grassroots mobilisation of the RSS. The RSS cadre is embedded in an organisational structure that mimics paramilitary organisations, with uniforms, drills, a hierarchy of ranks, and specialised areas of work, and clear job descriptions. They amplify the cultural and political messages of the BJP both during elections and in governance, with cadre switching between ‘cultural work’ and ‘political work’.

BJP leaders are groomed by the RSS. Those who have graduated from its ideological schooling include Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers, party presidents, and general secretaries. The continuing delay in the appointment of a new BJP president is attributed to the party and the RSS being unable to reach a consensus.

The RSS imprint on the BJP’s governance agenda is evident in key policies like the Citizenship Amendment Act, abrogation of Article 370, the push for a Uniform Civil Code, and the growing anti-immigrant stance, especially towards Muslim migrants from the neighbourhood. From being a fringe movement, banned thrice — after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi (as his assassin Nathuram Godse was a former member of the RSS), during the Emergency for anti-government activities, and after the demolition of the Babri masjid — the RSS has transitioned into a central power-broker in Indian polity.

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