The RSS is a warning to all nations where populism is spiking
Groups like India’s RSS wouldn’t amass millions of members without appealing to a perceived need.
Earlier this month, I found myself in Nagpur, India, invited to cover the 100th anniversary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS. My trip was sponsored by the Hudson Institute and the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies, whose president is affiliated with RSS. After less than a day on the ground, still beset by jet lag, I was onstage overlooking a parade ground where thousands of men in identical uniforms — black garrison caps, short-sleeved white shirts and brown pants — marched and demonstrated martial arts and yoga before dignitaries including a former Indian president.
If you haven’t heard of the RSS, you’re not alone. The Economist called them “the world’s most powerful volunteer group,” “boy scouts with attitude” and the “foot soldiers of Hindu nationalism.” BBC noted their “work played a large role in propelling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power.”
The group claims it does not formally track membership, but reports put it at around 5 million men. (It has no female members, but a separate institution, the Rashtra Sevika Samiti, parallels their philosophy and organization.) That number — small in the context of India’s roughly 1.4 billion people — doesn’t give a sense of how far-reaching the organization’s influence is.
The RSS leads the Sangh Parivar, a network of more than 50 organizations across Indian society playing all kinds of roles. The Sangh Parivar includes India’s current ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which translates to “Indian People’s Party.” BJP has been in power since 2014; Modi became the second-longest-serving Indian prime minister this summer and reportedly wants to break the record of Jawaharlal Nehru, who served from 1947 to 1964. The BJP’s big-tent alliance with other parties has a majority in both houses of the legislature and runs the governments of 21 of 28 Indian states.
The Sangh Parivar also includes the religious organization Vishva Hindu Parishad, the youth organization Bajrang Dal and a wide variety of trade groups — the farmers association, the laborers association, the lawyers council, the students council, the teachers council and more.
A South African woman attending the anniversary ceremony asked me what an equivalent would be in the United States. There isn’t one, but the U.S. — and other nations experiencing a spike in populism and nationalism — would be wise to keep a close eye on the group’s rise. An American RSS would somehow bring together the Republican Party, a swath of the evangelical churches, a dash of the MAGA movement, the Boy Scouts, the American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO or Teamsters, and maybe the Guardian Angels.
The RSS, not surprisingly, has its share of critics who see ominous implications in its power.