A comprehensive New York Times investigation published on December 26, 2025, chronicles the rise of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — characterized as a far-right Hindu nationalist organization — from a shadowy group founded in 1925 to the world's largest right-wing force, marking its centenary in 2025 with unprecedented influence and mainstream acceptance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who joined the RSS as a young boy and later became a full-time campaigner before being deputized to its political wing in the 1980s, delivered his strongest public tribute to the group in his August 2025 Independence Day address. Speaking from the Red Fort, he called the RSS a "giant river" with dozens of streams touching every aspect of Indian life, praising its "service, dedication, organization, and unmatched discipline."
The report describes how the RSS has deeply infiltrated India's institutions — government, courts, police, media, and academia — through a vast network of affiliates, including student wings, trade unions, farmers' unions, professional networks, religious outfits, and charities. Researchers at Sciences Po in Paris identified 2,500 organizations with traceable ties to the RSS, forming a tightly networked entity. This structure allows the group to shape political careers, place loyalists in key positions, and exert influence with little transparency or accountability, as it maintains no detailed records and spreads assets across small trusts.
Founded by Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar amid fears of declining Hindu pride following historical Muslim invasions and British colonial rule, the RSS's early leaders, including second chief M.S. Golwalkar, openly drew inspiration from 1930s-1940s European fascist parties. In his 1939 book, Golwalkar cited Hitler's treatment of Jews to argue that non-Hindus in India should wholly subordinate to the "Hindu Nation," deserving no privileges or citizen rights.
The organization faced multiple bans, notably after a former member assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, leading to decades as a pariah. It gained momentum through events like the 1975 Emergency under Indira Gandhi, when mass arrests of RSS leaders generated sympathy, and the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya by mobs including RSS affiliates, which galvanized Hindu unity but triggered nationwide riots.
The article highlights growing religious divisions, linking RSS affiliates to vigilante violence: parading through Muslim neighborhoods, ransacking churches, enforcing boycotts of Muslim businesses, lynching over beef allegations, and attacking interfaith couples. In Uttar Pradesh under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath — often seen as a potential Modi successor — authorities used bulldozers to demolish homes of Muslim protest leaders while allowing Hindu counter-demonstrations.
Current RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has adopted more nuanced public rhetoric, criticizing vigilante excesses, advocating reduced caste rigidity, and claiming "Hindu rashtra" means cultural consolidation where all Indians are inherently Hindu. However, he has urged higher Hindu birth rates compared to "other communities," discouraged "hooliganism" while calling for societal "vigilance" and intervention when necessary — language the report describes as doublespeak that leaves room for extremist actions.
The NYT concludes that the RSS's entrenched roots ensure enduring power beyond Modi, having remade India into a more polarized society where its vision of Hindu supremacy increasingly dominates public life.
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*Freelance writer. Full article: From the Shadows to Power: How the Hindu Right Reshaped India by Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar
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