On October 1, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) celebrated its centenary with rallies across at least five states, including Karnataka. While citizens, workers, and students face denial of permission for raising democratic demands, the RSS enjoys state protection and open access. The Congress government in Karnataka, verbally opposes the RSS while catering to it. This is a continuation of their long-standing complicity with the forces of Hindutva fascism. This article explores the history of RSS and the historical hypocrisy displayed by the Congress.
The RSS: A Century of Hatred
The RSS was founded in 1925 with a single goal: to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra, a nation built on caste hierarchy and exclusion. Its founder, KB Hedgewar, rejected the idea of an India where Hindus and Muslims could coexist. From its inception, the RSS identified Muslims, Christians, and Communists as its main enemies, as recorded in Chapter 16 of Golwalkar’s book, Bunch of Thoughts. On November 26, 1949, the very day the Constitution was adopted, the RSS declared that the country should be governed by Manusmriti, not by the Constitution.
The Manusmriti is no relic, it is the ideological backbone of Brahmanism. It states that women are the property of men and must be controlled by their fathers, husbands, and sons. It justifies sati, demands the silence of women even in cases of sexual assault, and prescribes inhuman punishments for Shudras who dare to question Brahmins. The Brahmins remain immune from punishment even for grave crimes against Shudras and women. This is the society the RSS glorifies.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, one of their principal ideologues, upheld the Manusmriti. He wrote multiple mercy petitions to the British in exchange for a shorter jail term and received VIP treatment in the last few years of his prison life. He was even granted a pension by the British Raj. While freedom fighters gave their lives for the country, Savarkar urged Indians to cooperate with the colonial government. He openly criticised Shivaji for not violating Muslim women, revealing the depth of his communal and misogynistic mindset.
Contrary to its self-portrayal as a nationalist organisation, the RSS abhorred the freedom struggle. It collaborated with the British, recruiting Indians into the colonial army, the same army used to crush Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army. It promoted the saffron dhwaja instead of the national flag, and ridiculed the sacrifices of freedom fighters as ‘misguided idealism’.
Congress and RSS: A Long History of Collaboration
The Congress has always claimed to stand against the RSS, but history tells a very different story. From Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi to the present Congress leadership in Karnataka, the relationship between Congress and the RSS has been one of covert collaboration rather than conflict.
Jawaharlal Nehru, remembered as a champion of secularism, praised the RSS for its ‘patriotic work’ during the Indo-Pak and Indo-China wars. His government lifted bans on the RSS, allowing it to reorganise and expand. Rajiv Gandhi sought RSS support during the 1984 elections to consolidate Hindu votes after losing ground due to the Shah Bano case. His tenure marked one of the most dangerous periods of Hindutva appeasement, when the locks of the Babri Masjid were opened, paving the way for the demolition that would define the next few decades.
Every Congress government since has repeated the same pattern, publicly condemning the RSS while quietly facilitating its growth. The bans imposed after Gandhi’s assassination or after the demolition of Babri Masjid were temporary gestures, always lifted soon after. Congress governments have permitted the RSS to infiltrate schools, bureaucracy, judiciary, and civil society under the guise of ‘cultural organisation’.
Even now, Karnataka’s IT minister Priyank Kharge’s demand of banning the RSS are mere words. Recently, an RSS-affiliated lawyer even threw a shoe at the Chief Justice of India, yet he was let off soon enough. While these terrorist organisations are being allowed to function without consequence, democratic organisations fighting corporate loot like the Moolwasi Bachao Manch are being banned for being ‘anti-government’ and ‘anti-development.
The RSS thrives not merely because of its organisational strength but because the ruling classes, including the Congress, have consistently protected and utilised it. With the worsening crisis of capitalism, RSS with its fascist ideology has been a more useful ally of imperialist forces than the Congress. The RSS serves the purpose of dividing people along religious and caste lines, directing public anger away from economic exploitation, and stabilising class rule.
The Real Fight: People’s Unity Against Reaction and Fascism
The alliance between the Congress, RSS, and the state machinery is not accidental. It is rooted in a shared class interest. The RSS maintains Brahmanical hegemony dividing the oppressed: Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, women, and working people, while the Congress provides a liberal façade of democracy and secularism like a safety valve.
The RSS’s idea of unity is Brahminical, where Dalits are subjugated, women silenced, and Muslims demonised. Even today, the RSS co-opts new elites from oppressed castes, offering them token power in exchange for loyalty, thereby weakening independent struggles. This strategy of uniting upper-caste Hindus with compliant leaders from marginalised groups gives them electoral strength.
But this alliance can be broken. The centenary rallies of the RSS are not just celebrations; they are warnings that fascism has deeply penetrated our institutions. The only counter to this power are the people themselves, united across caste, religion, gender, and region.
Our fight must be for a true democracy, against caste, patriarchy, and communalism. Only the people’s unity can defeat the Brahmanical Hindutva fascist project and build an India that truly belongs to all.
