Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, abbreviated as RSS, is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar, which have presence in all facets of the Indian society. RSS was founded on 27 September 1925. As of 2014, it has a membership of 5–6 million.
The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the political arm of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation. In 1977, it merged with several other left, centre and right parties opposed to the Indian National Congress and formed the Janata Party. In 1980, Jana Sangh faction broke away from Janata Party over the issue of dual membership, and formed Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Sangh Parivar refers, as an umbrella term, to the collection of Hindu nationalist organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and remain affiliated to it. These include the political party Bharatiya Janata Party, religious organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad, students union Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Bharatiya Yuva Seva Sangh (BYSS), religious militant group Bajrang Dal and the worker's union Bharatiya Kishan Sangh. It is also often taken to include allied organisations such as the Shiv Sena, which share the ideology of the RSS. The Sangh Parivar represents the Hindu nationalist movement of India.
Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, also known as "Doctorji" within his organisation, was the founding Sarsanghachalak (or "Chief" of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Hedgewar founded the RSS in Nagpur in 1925, with the intention of promoting the concept of a united India rooted in the Hindutva ideology.
Akhand Bharat, also known as Akhand Hindustan, is an irredentist Hindustani term literally meaning Undivided India.
Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar was the second Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He has been widely noted to be the most prominent ideologue of Hindutva. One of the early leaders for the RSS group.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) is a subsidiary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for supporting and mobilising Hindus living outside India. Founded in the 1940s in Kenya, it is currently active and receiving funds from 39 countries and boasts 570 branches.
Walter K. Andersen is an American academic known for his studies of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – a Hindu nationalist organization. He currently serves as Senior Adjunct Professor of South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and is a part of the faculty of Tongji University, Shanghai (China). Previously, he taught comparative politics at the College of Wooster before joining the United States State Department as a political analyst for South Asia specializing in India and Indian Ocean affairs. Additionally, he was an adjunct professor at The American University in Washington, D.C.
The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch is a political and cultural organisation founded in 1991. It is an affiliate of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that deals with economic issues. Swaminathan Gurumurthy is a co-convener of the organisation. Since at least 2015 the SJM has been critical of foreign direct investment.
The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat is an India-based Sikh affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a pro-Hinduvata organization known for attempts to assimilate Sikhs into the Hindu fold. The Akal Takht issued a Hukam Nama to the Sikh community in 2004 to not lend support to this organization as it does not represent Sikh interests. The edict stands, even now.
The Muslim Rashtriya Manch is a Muslim organisation in India, affiliated to the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It was formed in 2002 at the initiative of the then RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan to allow the Sangh Parivar to reach out to Muslims.
The Ajmer Dargah bombing occurred on 11 October 2007, in the courtyard of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India, after the Iftar period had started. On March 22, 2017 a Special NIA Court convicted three ex-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pracharaks Devendra Gupta, Bhavesh Patel and Sunil Joshi. Sunil Joshi and Devendra Gupta were found guilty on charges of conspiracy and Bhavesh Bhai Patel was found guilty of planting the explosive on the blast site. Gupta and Patel were awarded life imprisonment. Sunil Joshi had been found shot dead in mysterious circumstances soon after the blast in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh.
Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. Defenders of Hindu nationalism have tried to avoid the label "nationalism" by arguing that the use of the term "Hindu nationalism" to refer to Hindū rāṣṭravāda is a simplistic translation and is better described by the term "Hindu polity".
Sanjay Vinayak Joshi is an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was a long-time member of the Gujarat BJP and was a member of the BJP [[National Executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party|national executive] ] until he was forced to resign after public pressure from Narendra Modi. During his 2001-2005 tenure as National General Secretary (Organization), he led the organization that enabled BJP to win the Assembly elections in nine states .Now,Sanjay Joshi is the national Chairman of Bharatiya Janata Majdoor Cell which is the only All India Labour Union of BJP
Posani Muralidhar Rao is an Indian political activist and politician, currently serving as a National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Prior to joining the BJP, Rao was active in the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, where he was its Organising Secretary, as well as in other affiliates of the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Goa Suraksha Manch is a political party in Goa a political outfit of the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch which was launched by Subhash Velingkar, a rebel Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader. The party was formed on 2 October 2016.
During the year 2016–17, multiple attacks on political activists and religious leaders were reported from the northern Indian state of Punjab. The banned militant group Khalistan Liberation Force was held responsible for the attacks and people associated with the group were arrested. The Pakistani agency ISI was allegedly held responsible by India for financing, training and aiding the militant acts to foment religious disturbances in the state. However, all these attacks failed to create any major disturbances in Punjab.
Subhash Bhaskar Velingkar was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organization in India. Goa Prant of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was formed under the leadership of Velingkar.
