Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

RSS parade in Bhopal. Note the nazi inspired uniforms.^[1]

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The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, translated into English as National Volunteer Organization)^{[note 1]} is a far-right extremist, paramilitary terrorist^[2][3][4] organization^[5] from India advocating Hindutva (Hindu nationalism). The RSS’s ideology was directly inspired by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.^[6] RSS is the parent organisation of Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindu party and current ruling party of India.

The RSS’s goal of Hindu supremacy brought them into conflict with Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Hindu teachings and the secularism of independence leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru. We all know what happened next... Gandhi was murdered in January 30, 1948 by Nathuram Godse, a former RSS member. Bitter conflict between the Hindu nationalists and those advocating for a democratic secular and diverse India gave birth to a modern organization dedicated to bringing about its vision of a Hindu state.

India has banned the RSS on three separate occasions, once after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, and most recently after they razed the Babri Mosque claiming that it was built over a Hindu temple. The organization was acquitted each time and its members vehemently deny militancy, although their critics disagree and often label it as a terrorist organization.^[7]

History[edit]

Role in freedom struggle[edit]

Major ideologues[edit]

Savarkar[edit]

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is credited for coining the word “Hindutva’’. He is known to his followers by the honorific prefix 'Veer'; however, it is much less known that this title was actually bestowed by himself in a Hagiography he wrote with a different name!^[9]

Savarkar was deeply "Islamophobic" since childhood, admitting to having destroyed mosques and attacked Muslims with knives, pins, and foot rulers at the age of 12, as a reaction to the surge in attacks on Hindus.^{[citation needed]}

Savarkar has been wrongly accused of inventing the destructive two-nation theory years ago before Muhammad Ali Jinnah presented it in parliament.^{[citation needed]}

Savarkar criticised the British for banning Sati.^{[citation needed]} For those unaware, sati refers to the practice of forcing or prompting widows to commit suicide, usually by being lit on fire over their deceased husband's body at the funeral. While it is true that the British banned it, they weren't the first, as the Muslims who ruled over India for centuries (the Mughal Empire) banned it before as well. Too rich and misogynistic even for Sharia law, it appears. Even the Indian National Congress (India's secularist party) banned the practice with the Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987.

He was also a great follower of the British, advising Hindus to straw away from the freedom struggle.^{[citation needed]}

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was a staunch critic of Savarkar. Savarkar called Bose a "Hindu Jihadi".^[10]

Now, the Hindu far-right in India have started rewriting history to portray Savarkar as a great freedom fighter.

Golwalker[edit]

MS Golwalkar (1903–1973), the second leader of the RSS, was a Nazi admirer and one of the first proponents of a Hindu Rashtra.

Pseudoscience[edit]

Cattle pseudoscience[edit]

In 2009, some RSS followers claimed that western brands like Pepsi and Coca-Cola were corrupting Indian culture, and introduced the cow urine soda in India. The drink contained cow urine with flavors such as Aloe vera and some Ayurvedic herbs. They promotes the drinking of cow urine as a cure for diseases arguing, "Cow urine offers a cure for around 70 to 80 incurable diseases like diabetes."^[12]

In 2017, Shankar Lal, President of Bharatiya Gau Sewa Sangh (An RSS affiliate dedicated for Cow lovers) said.

Eugenics[edit]

In May 2017, RSS's health wing launched their grand plan to Make India Great Again, using Nazi eugenics.

Teaching babies sanskaar in womb[edit]

On March 2023, Samvardhinee Nyas, wing of the Rashtra Sevika Samiti, the women's section of the RSS, announced their new campaign titled "Garbha Sanskar", to help indoctrinate foetuses into their ideology and religion even before they are born (albeit with questionable efficacy).

It was also said that as a part of "womb cleaning," reading Sanskrit and the Gita should also be done during pregnancy, claiming that if garbha sanskar was performed properly, even the DNA of the child in the womb could be changed.

To top it all off, some homophobia:^[14]

Stopped Clock[edit]

In recent years, the RSS has accepted LGBT members and some leaders have made statements supporting LGBT rights, though some say that such support is likely "hollow and superficial" to attract more supporters by utilizing Christophobia and Islamophobia from these communities harboring Anti-LGBT sentiment.^[15]

See also[edit]

• Pan-Iranist Party

External links[edit]

• Their website

Notes[edit]

References[edit]