15

Oct

A Century of RSS: From Moral Vanguard to Political Sub-contractor

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Harish Khare

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New Delhi | Wednesday | 15 October 2025

Why should anyone be afraid of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) merely because it has completed 100 years of existence? Stripped of its khaki glamour and ritualistic drills, the Sangh today looks like any other large, lumbering organisation — nothing exceptional, nothing awe-inspiring. At its centenary, this Nagpur-based brotherhood no longer commands the moral authority or ideological gravitas it once claimed.

For decades, the RSS portrayed itself as the custodian of national morals, patriotism, and idealism. It claimed a monopoly over nationalism itself. Yet, outside its own ecosystem, few ever conceded this moral claim. The Sangh’s steady decline from idealism to opportunism can be traced back to 1998, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister at the head of a coalition.

The Turning Point: Power Over Principles

When Vajpayee’s government was formed, RSS chief Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiya) described it as a “rejection” of the biases against pro-Hindutva forces. That was the moment when the Sangh, dazzled by proximity to power, began confusing political expediency with moral vindication. Within 13 months, the government fell — but the RSS had already tied itself to the BJP’s politics of convenience and compromise.

From then on, the RSS ceased to be a moral guide. It became a political fixer — pulling the BJP’s chestnuts out of the fire whenever Vajpayee or Advani faced crises. During the NDA regime (1998–2004), the Sangh made sure the internal squabbles among the BJP, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh did not embarrass the government. Critics like Ashok Singhal and Dattopant Thengadi were told to hold their tongues.

 

Article at a Glance
The article reflects on the RSS at 100 years, arguing that it no longer carries the moral or ideological authority it once claimed. Once viewed as a guardian of nationalism and discipline, the Sangh has gradually shifted from idealism to political opportunism—particularly since its association with power during the Vajpayee era in 1998.
 Under Modi’s rule, it has further lost its independence, becoming more of a political tool than a moral force. The RSS now resembles a large bureaucratic organisation focused on sustaining its own structure, rather than inspiring national character. It provokes debates but avoids true accountability, serving as a convenient political prop and “villain” in public narratives.
Despite prestige and influence, it suffers from moral decline and lack of vision. The real tragedy, the article suggests, is not fear of the RSS—but its loss of inspiration.

 

The Modi Decade: From Godfather to Supplicant

Since 2014, under Narendra Modi’s rule, the RSS has abandoned even the pretence of moral oversight. It now chants “Rashtra” and “rashtravad” while corporate cronies walk away with national wealth. Its cadres have perfected new forms of rent-seeking; its senior leaders act as middlemen in the old art of patronage and postings.

The Sangh’s leadership neither perceives nor protests shabby governance or corruption — too intoxicated by the illusion of “Hindu primacy.” Corporate India, with its wealth and wiles, ensures the old moral fox never finds its way back to the burrow.

The RSS today resembles a corporate federation — bloated, unwieldy, internally divided. Like FICCI, it juggles conflicting interests, loyalties, and egos. What survives is a hollowed-out mystique: secrecy, hierarchy, and ritual obedience — the familiar paraphernalia of any cult, whether Swaminarayan, Radha Soami, or Rotary.

A Hollow Halo

The sprawling Sangh exists now mainly to sustain its own organisational empire. It elevates discipline into dogma and obedience into virtue. Yet, for all its talk of “spiritual nationalism,” the RSS has been quietly defanged by the Modi–Shah duo. Still, it serves a minor but useful political purpose: a convenient lightning rod for liberal outrage.

In recent years, the RSS has learned to provoke pseudo-debates — most famously by suggesting that “socialism” and “secularism” be deleted from the Preamble to the Constitution. For months, liberals and television studios erupted in indignation, while the government quietly confirmed in Parliament that no such amendment was planned. The Sangh had its fun — playing the mischief-maker while the real power sat smug in Raisina Hill.

Ironically, the more Modi and Shah reduce the RSS to a ceremonial relic, the more the Opposition targets it. Rahul Gandhi has built an “anti-RSS” plank as a moral posture — a gift to Modi, who would much rather see critics rail at Nagpur than at his own government.

The Useful Villain

The BJP, for its part, has turned the RSS into a political prop. In the party’s theatre of power, the Sangh plays the “bad cop,” while a Vajpayee — or now a Modi — is marketed as the “moderate” Hindutva face. The middle classes, the media, and even business elites buy into this good-cop, bad-cop act.

At election time, the BJP boasts of its “organisational muscle,” citing the RSS foot soldiers as proof of unmatched reach and discipline. “Mere paas RSS hai,” the BJP declares, echoing Shashi Kapoor’s famous line from Deewar.

The Spoils of Loyalty

In return for this subservience, the RSS has been rewarded with the trappings of prestige. A palatial new Jhandewalan headquarters. Z+ security for Mohan Bhagwat. The honour of presiding over the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. A reputation as the “third most powerful institution” in New India. Bureaucrats queue up for blessings to secure transfers. And one of its own even became Vice President of the Republic.

It’s a meagre dividend for a century-old “bank account” of nationalist idealism — but enough to keep the commissars content. The price of relevance has been moral bankruptcy.

A Legacy of Lost Purpose

At 100, the RSS stands stripped of transformative imagination. There are plenty of saffron chroniclers eager to glorify its “contribution” to a national resurgence. But even the most inventive among them would struggle to explain what K.B. Hedgewar or M.S. Golwalkar would make of today’s Sangh — a bureaucratised order entangled in Modi’s personality cult.

Once conceived as a moral movement, it has ended up as a political subcontractor — a manager of optics, not ideals. Its discipline has curdled into conformity; its nationalism, into routine rhetoric.

The RSS began with the promise of building character, not careers. A century later, it presides over a system where obeisance substitutes for virtue and opportunism passes for patriotism. Its leaders have the buildings, the security, and the ceremonial seats — but they no longer have a moral message.

Perhaps that is the real tragedy of the Sangh at 100: not that it inspires fear, but that it no longer inspires at all. (Veteran journalist Haresh Khare has held senior position in several newspapers of repute. He is a well-known political analyst and commentator on public issues)

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