by Suparna Banerjee

RSS stands for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which means national self-help organisation. It was founded in 1925 by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in the city of Nagpur. He was inspired by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who had developed an ideology of Hindu nationalism. The RSS was modelled on the Italian fascists and later, as they became more powerful, on the German Nazis. Mussolini and Hitler were seen as heroes. The idea was to create an Indian cadre organisation that would span the subcontinent and promote the idea of a Hindu nation living in accordance with traditional norms. Those norms, of course, included the rigid and oppressive caste system.

The RSS was started in the same decade as the Muslim Brotherhood was launched in Egypt. The motivation was similar. In both cases, conservative members of the educated middle classes were upset about the corruption of Britain’s colonial rule. They did not want to be contaminated and hoped that emphasising religious values would inoculate society. Impressed by right-wing movements, they wanted to organise members in a similar way. They promoted social work to uplift the poor and spread their ideology.

Today, the RSS has 4 million to 5 million members. Its men are known to do regular paramilitary exercises dressed in brown slacks and wielding long bamboo sticks.

The RSS doctrine includes the following principles:

  • India belongs to the Hindus.
  • Hinduism is not simply a religion, but even more a way of life.
  • Every religion should have complete freedom to practice its faith according to its rules and traditions.
  • The implication is that everyone who resides in India must accept the norms, values and history of Hinduism and should also be willing to make sacrifices to protect it.

RSS rhetoric can sound noble and harmless. The ideology, however, is neither. Its focus is on oppressing minorities. The worst hit are India’s Muslims, but Christians feel repression too. To some extent, the RSS appreciates indigenous religions like Sikhism and Jainism, but those who adhere to these faiths are often upset about how the RSS declares their belief systems to be variants of Hinduism and expects all of them to stick to the latter’s traditions.

This story was originally published in dandc.eu. Read the full story here .