RSS ( Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organization ) celebrates its 100th foundation day on October 1st, 2025 (Vijayadashami), marking a century since its founding.
#RSS100Years
Whenever the nation has faced a crisis, be it a natural calamity, a socio-economic need, or a health emergency like the pandemic, these volunteers have been the first responders. Their commitment to selfless service (seva) has always been applaudable.
It is undeniable that the RSS, faces persistent allegations of exercising extra-governmental authority , but to speak of the RSS without acknowledging the profound reality on the ground is to see only half the picture.
The RSS operates through its vast network of Sangh Pariwar which extends its influence beyond politics into education (ABVP), labour (BMS), and religious causes (VHP). This holistic approach helps in shaping the social and cultural discourse, which indirectly supports BJP.
RSS network supplies the BJP with full-time organizers, known as pracharaks, who are steeped in the Sangh's discipline and ideology. Many top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari are former full-time pracharaks.
RSS is the ideological and organizational mentor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and forms the bedrock of the right-wing political landscape in India.
The RSS provides the core ideology of Hindutva (cultural nationalism) for the BJP.
RSS has been banned three times in Independent India (following Gandhi's assassination, during Emergency, and after Babri demolition). It insists it is a cultural body, but critics contend that it promotes a vision of Undivided India that is exclusive of minorities.
The organization primarily works through daily local gatherings called shakhas, where volunteers engage in physical training, ideological discussions, and various forms of social service.
RSS is a Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organization founded in 1925 in Nagpur , by Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar.
Its stated primary goal is to organize Hindu society, promote the cultural concept of Hindutva and foster national unity among its members (swayamsevaks).