Does RSS Chief Mean What he Says?

As the century year of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) begins on October 2, 2025, it has planned many programmes to celebrate. One of this is a series of three lectures, to begin with in Vigyan Bhavan Delhi on August 26, 27 and 28. This will be followed by similar series in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat earlier delivered three lectures in Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi in 2018. The difference this time is that the lectures are being held in four major cities of India.

In the third lecture there will be a question-answer session, and many people not belonging to the RSS combine are being invited. There are 12 categories of invitees. These include foreign embassy staff, intellectuals and political leaders belonging to other parties. In foreign embassy staff, the one’s from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Türkiye will be excluded.

As far as political parties are concerned, those from non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ones who are making some noises, akin to what the Narendra Modi government is saying, will be particularly invited. This is one of the major initial programmes which is being organised. The other programs include conferences of Hindus etc.

We recall that a lot of importance was given to Bhagwat’s Vigyan Bhavan lectures in 2018, after which some political commentators naively felt that “RSS is changing”. An RSS insider commented that the Sangh was undergoing a process of Glasnost. What happened in due course was the repetition of the same divisive actions that are the core of the RSS agenda.

Bhagwat stated very strongly on Hindu-Muslim relations and said that “A person is not a Hindu if he says Muslims should not live in India. Those involved in mob lynching are against Hindutva.” Did the acts of lynching Muslims stop after this. No way! It continued, as seen in the  incidents of Shahrukh Saifi in Uttar Pradesh and Lukman in Haryana in 2020. Added to this was the use of bulldozers against Muslims.

Most of the anti-Muslim activities continued as the propaganda against them, and is a major weapon for the RSS combine. When Covid-19 tormented the country, the occasion was used to further demonise Muslims by attributing the whole process to Tablighi Jamaat’s Conference in Delhi. Terms like ‘Corona Jihad, Corona bomb’ were floated. Accompanying this was the boycott of Muslim hawkers, discriminated against in Hindu localities.

Bhagwat also stated that one is not a Hindu if he says that Muslims should not stay in India. The huge and painful exercise of NPR (National Population Registry) was undertaken followed by CAA 9Citizenship Amendment Act), which opened the backdoor for citizenship in India to all, except Muslims.

This was responded to by courageous Muslim women by staging the Shaheen Bagh Movement. Tragically, this movement was countered by the likes of Kapil Mishra of BJP, who openly threatened that if police do not evacuate them, Mishra and company would do it. The Delhi violence that took place after this killed 51 innocent lives, two-third of them being Muslims.

In a way, the RSS combine, under the leadership of Bhagwat, is supporting every move that is intensifying the hate against Muslims and also their marginalisation. What was the aim of the lectures of 2018? Clearly, it was neither Glasnost nor the observation that “RSS is changing”.

The RSS is pursuing the path of Hindu Nationalism, plain and simple. It may theoretically disown its ideologue M.S. Golwalkar’s, “Three internal threats to Hindu Nation-Muslims, Christians and Communists”, but in practice, it is pursuing precisely the same path.

The Muslim community over a period of the past many decades is feeling intimidated and marginalised. Even Sudheendra Kulkarni, who loudly declared that “RSS is changing”, at the same time could see the plight of Muslims. “In the case of communal riots, Muslim property worth ‘thousands of crores of rupees are lost and destroyed’, and yet ‘proper FIRs are not registered’, he wrote in an article. Furthermore, a ‘majority of perpetrators and perpetrators of violence, looting and rape go scot-free’. In contrast, Muslims ‘exercising their constitutional right to protest are severely penalised, killed in police firing, mass arrests made and personal recoveries fixed for the losses accrued to public property. Where is the fair play?”, he questioned.

As far as Christians are concerned, they are subjected to sub- radar-level chronic violence, which is low intensity and scattered. This has been rising at a painful speed, more so during the past over a decade.

“Every day we have four or five attacks on churches and pastors, and every Sunday it doubles to roughly 10 – this we have never seen before” said a persecuted Christian leader of a major denomination in 2023. As per him, the main source of Christian persecution in India are the Sangh Parivar, an organisation of Hindu extremists that include the influential paramilitary and strategic group known as the RSS, the BJP, the main political party, and Bajrang Dal, a violent youth wing.

As far as communists are concerned, all human rights workers are being labelled as ‘Urban Naxals’. Many of them were arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case. And now in Maharashtra a new “Peoples Security Bill” is being brought in. This legislation empowers the State to monitor, investigate, and act against individuals or organisations suspected of providing intellectual, logistical, or financial support to banned Maoist outfits.

All these policies and street violence are the outcome of what RSS propagates in its shakhas (drills) and affiliated organisations. So, why such lectures as the ones in 2018 and now in 2025?

Surely, the agenda of RSS is crystal clear, and has intensified during the past few decades. These lectures are an occasion to sugarcoat the negative outcome of RSS agenda. Since they are operating in a democratic set-up, though a formal one, it is necessary to show that their concept of Hindu Nation is compatible with present times.

The comparison with the lecture series of 2018 makes it clear that what RSS articulates through its chief is not meant for implementation but merely to keep its critics in good humour. And who knows, with the dissidents of other parties being invited, it may also be the beginning of ‘Operation Lotus’ in some form? RSS may be aiming at winning over those dissident elements from other parties. Let's wait and watch.

The writer is a human rights defender and a former professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. The views are personal.