The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is four years short of its centenary. “Thank you, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA it was an honour, to celebrate Raksha Bandhan with you,” read a post on the Facebook page of Irving police department in the United States on September 22 this year. The post also carried a set of photos which showed a young Indian woman in a traditional dress tying Rakhi on the hands of a group of police officers in uniform and putting a Tilak on their forehead. The post became so popular immediately and earned over 5.8k likes and 1.4k comments.
This massive response is an indicator to a lesser known yet impeccable growth story of an Indian socio-cultural umbrella organisation which is celebrating its 96th foundation day all over the world. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which started its journey on the Vijaya Dashami or Dussehra to mark the victory of Lord Rama over evil Ravana, a date which fell on September 27 in 1925 with a mission to make the nation “a self-reliant, resurgent and mighty”, is no longer restricted to the 39,454 Shakhas or boundaries of the country only now. Its presence is felt overseas through its affiliates like Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) which is single-handedly carrying forward the message of Indianness and cultural inclusivity in every nook and corner on foreign soil.
The U.S. unit of HSS has the mission of “World Peace through Dharma”. It elaborates, “Sangh, as the organization is popularly known, aims to coordinate the Hindu American community to practice, preserve, and advance ideals and values of the Hindu Dharma. HSS conducts regular values-based education programs for children, youth and adults through more than 220 branches in the US. We also organise service activities and community outreach projects.”
It adds, “Through our regular educational programs based on Dharma, we instil and promote discipline, self-confidence, teamwork, and the spirit of selfless service. Through service activities and outreach projects, we foster a sense of civic duty, responsibility, and volunteerism. HSS in the USA endeavours to instil pride in Hindu heritage among its members and to enhance appreciation of Hindus around the world, their traditions, and civilisation by the broader community in the U.S.”
The HSS also has its footprint in Canada, a neighbouring country of the U.S. “Sangh is inspired by the idea that the whole world is one family and conducts activities across Canada in order to spread this message widely. The HSS has over 25 weekly meeting centers (shakhas) spread over Ontario, Quebec, Greater Vancouver Area (GVA), Alberta, and Saskatchewan,” it states.
In the United Kingdom, HSS runs over 100 activity centres (known as shakhas) and are attended by over 2000 people on a weekly basis. Regular activities include games, yoga, health & fitness, educational and cultural activities for all age ranges (from 4 years to 80 + years old). It also has a parallel women’s organisation called, Hindu Sevika Samiti, which was established in 1975.
The HSS (UK) further notes, “Hindu Sevika Samiti, through its activities, encourages girls and women to learn and promote, universal Hindu values, to build self-confidence, cultivate a sense of social consciousness and achieve all round development through our model of Sanskar, Sewa and Sangathan. This will lead to individuals to proactively contribute and eventually become integral members of the culture, society and country in which they live.»
Back home in India, the RSS has been scripting a different success story quietly. It recently reached out to the minority communities with an aim to bring them into its fold with a message to the Muslims for a greater cause of religious stability and integrity. In September 2021, the RSS also got in touch with the Christians. An RSS leader Valsan Thillenkery met Pala bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt following uproar over his remark of ‹Narcotic Jihad› and apparently endorsed his stand.
On the political front, the RSS has become the key driver to the ruling BJP›s organisational renaissance in the last seven years compared to the opposition parties, most of which are led and dominated by the old guards.
For instance, the new face of the BJP in West Bengal unit is a young RSS functionary, Sukanta Majumdar, who won as a Lok Sabha MP only two years ago. He replaced his fellow parliamentarian, Dilip Ghosh, who is not only close to 60 years of age, but also had become an old face in the post. As a young chief of a state party which is in power at the Centre, Majumdar will get three years of preparation for the next Lok Sabha Election.
Thus, culturally and politically, the RSS has altogether achieved an enviable milestone nationwide and beyond which no outfit has been able to match in the last nine decades and perhaps would not be able to too. That is the mantra of its success.
And when the RSS celebrates its centenary after a few years, its global perception will make it more acceptable in more countries and draw the minorities including the Muslims closer to it.