Mohammad Jamil
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) continues to expand its network and opening ‘shakhas’ (branches) in many countries. Already in December 2015, Indian Express and Zee TV had carried a report that the Hindu right wing organistaion Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were expanding their wings with opening shakha’s in 39 countries including Middle East. The wings that operate by the name of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) had expanded in foreign countries where large number of Indian Diaspora is living. Ramesh Subramaniam, Mumbai’s coordinator of RSS’s overseas network had reportedly said that United States of America was one of 39 countries where HSS runs shakhas. Report suggested that RSS’s overseas wing is bigger than its Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which is an ideological partner of the RSS – the ideological parent of more than 40 affiliates including VHP and the Bhartiya Janata Party. Of course, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is member of the RSS.
Subramaniam helped set up shakhas in Mauritius from 1996 to 2004 and now heads Sewa, a platform for overseas Indians to fund RSS service projects. He says HSS works closely with other Hindu cultural organizations abroad including the Chinmaya and Ramakrishna missions. “We don’t call it Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh overseas. It’s not on Indian soil so we can’t use the word Rashtriya. We call it Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh as it unites Hindus worldwide,” said Subramaniam. The 39 countries where shakhas are held include five in the Middle East where outdoor shakhas are not permitted and are replaced by gatherings at people’s homes. Finland has only an e-shakha where activities are conducted via video-camera over the internet for people from over 20 countries living in areas where HSS units are absent. While Nepal has the largest number of shakhas outside India, the US comes second with 146.
Most overseas shakhas are held once a week. In London, they are held twice a week. UK has 84 shakhas. The first overseas shakha is believed to have been on a ship. “In 1946, two swayamsevaks, Manekbhai Rugani and Jagdish Chandra Sharda were travelling from Mumbai to Mombasa (Kenya). Neither knew each other. One saw the other performing the right hand ‘namaskar’ and figured he too was from RSS. They held the first shakha together on the ship. The first shakha on foreign soil was in Mombasa,” said Ramesh Mehta, a senior RSS member whose home in suburban Mumbai played host to overseas sangh leaders for 30 years. RSS’s Kenya wing, earlier called Bharat Swayamsevak Sangh, spread its ideology to neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda, and later to parts of South Africa and Mauritius. RSS had sent Mehta to Zimbabwe and Kenya to set up shakhas.
“Many swayamsevaks in African countries had the option of moving to the UK once those countries gained independence. Haribhai Shah, a swayamsevak who moved from Mombasa to Birmingham, began UK’s first shakha,” said Mehta. “Currently 25 pracharaks and over 100 vistaraks work towards spreading shakhas overseas,” said Subramaniam. Pracharaks dedicate their lives to RSS and don’t marry. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi became a Pracharak in the 1970s. Vistaraks dedicate less than two years of their lives to RSS and are usually students. Pracharaks from Tamil Nadu propagate HSS in Sri Lanka. While RSS insists it is not anti-Muslim, Sinha points to RSS support for far right parties in England like UKIP which has been criticized for Islamophobia. RSS and affiliates campaigned heavily to defeat UK’s legislation to end caste discrimination.
RSS insists its overseas activities are largely cultural and include working for the development of the countries where swayamsevaks live. While khaki shorts are the RSS trademark in India, the uniform abroad comprises black pants and a white shirt. ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jay’ is the chant at shakhas in India; abroad it is ‘Vishwa Dharma Ki Jay.’ India is implementing RSS-driven plans through Hindutva-centric sitting BJP government. Indian intelligence agencies are working in collaboration with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to carry out sabotage activities in Pakistan. In the backdrop of anti-Muslim policies, India’s secular façade stands exposed. RSS is on the forefront in conducting barbaric acts against Muslims and other minorities in India. In the Liberhan report on Babri Mosque, it has been proved beyond doubt that the assault on Babri Mosque was not only pre-planned but it took place with political backing largely from BJP leaders.
Over a thousand pages long, the Liberhan report concluded that “the RSS was the author of the carnage, and all logistical arrangements were coordinated between RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal, and the BJP, calling the latter a front of the RSS-the worst-kept secret of India’s modern political history.” RSS-driven policies could be detrimental to the unity of India. If BJP government continued to push the minorities against the wall, and encouraged forced conversions, India could one day implode. Already in more than dozen states, separatists’ movements are going on.
The RSS presents itself as a cultural, not a political, organization that nevertheless advocates a Hindu nationalistic agenda under the banner of hindutva.” The group is structured hierarchically under the guidance of a national leader, while regional leaders are charged with overseeing the local branches. A special cell looks after shakhas in foreign countries.
The RSS had historically played a major role in the Hindu nationalist movement. On several occasions it has been banned by the Indian government led by the Congress Party for its alleged role in communal violence. Some of the major political leaders of India’s Bharatiya Janat? Party were or still are members of the RSS. The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) is an Indian right-wing Hindu nationalist non-governmental organization based on the ideology of Hindutva. Bajrang Dal is the political students’ wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). The Banjrang Dal alone (aside from the numerous other Hindu fundamentalist groups) number about 3 million and are trained in armed combat readying themselves against, what they call, an imagined threat posed by Muslims and other minorities in India who apparently will attempt to destroy the Indian state and wipe out Hinduism sometime in the future.
