India's Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of the Hindu far right, is organizing visits to the United States and other Western countries to bolster its public image globally and dispel claims it is involved in violence against religious minority groups in India.
The visits announced on Tuesday come amid international criticism regarding minority rights in India and a few months after a US federal agency published a report accusing the group of carrying out acts of violence against minorities for decades.
The RSS is a right-wing Hindu volunteer organization founded in 1925 by physician and Hindu nationalist Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in Nagpur. It advocates for Hindutva, a Hindu supremacist idea that aims to turn India from a constitutionally secular state into a Hindu one.
The RSS has been banned in India several times, including in 1948 after a former member assassinated independence leader Mahatma Gandhi. It is often described as the ideological mothership of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said at a rare briefing with foreign media in New Delhi on Tuesday that he had been speaking to gatherings in the US, Germany and the UK to “dispel certain misgivings and misconceptions about the RSS”. He said the main allegations against the RSS were that it was a “paramilitary organization” promoting “Hindu supremacist things” but “the fact is entirely different”.
Critics, including University of Delhi professor Apoorvanand, label the RSS a fascist organization, noting its ideologues admired Mussolini and Hitler. Apoorvanand said the RSS dreams of creating a network of right-wing conservative organizations worldwide.
In 2025, hate speech incidents against minorities in India rose by 13 percent, and hate crimes against Christians increased by 41 percent. Observers blame the BJP and RSS, though they deny responsibility.
A November report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said the RSS “has been involved in acts of extreme violence and intolerance against members of minority groups for decades”. Analysts say the RSS international outreach is a knee-jerk reaction to the USCIRF's recommendation to impose targeted sanctions against the organization.
Source: www.aljazeera.com