The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), founded on September 27, 1925 by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, a Maharashtrian brahmin, is the leader of the pack, known these days as the Sangh Parivar (Sangh family). In the mid-1990s, the RSS had 30,000 shakhas (branches), 2,500 pracharaks (propagandists) and could mobilize around three million volunteers.
According to Hindustan Times (March 17, 2023), the RSS was planning to increase its number of shakhas to one lakh and appoint 2,500 new pracharaks in the country.
Dr. Ramesh Chandra Agarwal, a regional leader of the RSS, said there were 72,000 shakhas in the country and they were trying to increase it to one lakh by 2025, the centenary year of the RSS.
Between 2017 and 2022, 7.25 lakh youths had applied to join the RSS. And a majority of them were in the age group of 20 to 35 years. It is important to note the fact that 60% of RSS shakhas are student shakhas.
The RSS has an educational organization called, Vidya Bharathi, which provided education for 12 lakh students and employed 40,000 teachers around the country in the mid-1990s. Today Vidya Bharati is the largest voluntary educational organization in the country and running over 28,931 Schools and Colleges all over India with more than 34 lakh students and 158,550 teachers.
This story was originally published in countercurrents.org. Read the full story here.
