Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar, which has developed a presence in all facets of Indian society and includes the Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling political party under Narendra Modi, the 14th prime minister of India. Mohan Bhagwat has served as the Sarsanghchalak of the RSS since March 2009.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP is aligned with right-wing politics and has close ideological and organisational links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a far-right paramilitary organisation. Its policies adhere to Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist ideology. As of January 2024, it is the country's biggest political party in terms of representation in the Parliament of India as well as state legislatures.
The Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh (abbreviated asBJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, was an Indian nationalist political party. This party was established on 21 October 1951 in Delhi, and existed until 1977. Its three founding members were Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Balraj Madhok and Deendayal Upadhyaya. Jan Sangh was the political arm of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, 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, the members of erstwhile Jan Sangh quit the Janata party after the defeat in the 1980 general elections and formed the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is the direct political successor to the Jan Sangh.
The Sangh Parivar refers, as an umbrella term, to the collection of Hindutva organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which remain affiliated to it. These include the political party Bharatiya Janata Party, religious organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad, students union Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), religious militant organisation Bajrang Dal that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), and the worker's union Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. It is also often taken to include allied organisations such as the Shiv Sena, which share the ideology of the RSS.
Vinay Katiyar is a politician and the founder-president of Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Hindu nationalist organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in India. He has served as an All India General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and as a Member of Parliament in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
The Liberhan Commission was a long-running inquiry commissioned by the Government of India to investigate the destruction of the disputed structure Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992. Led by retired High Court Judge M. S. Liberhan, it was formed on 16 December 1992 by an order of the Indian Home Union Ministry after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on 6 December and the subsequent riots there. The commission was originally mandated to submit its report within three months. Extensions were given 48 times, and after a delay of 17 years, the one-man commission submitted the report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 30 June 2009. In November 2009, a day after a newspaper published the allegedly leaked contents of the report, the report was tabled in Parliament by the Home Minister P. Chidambaram.
Organiser is a mouthpiece of the Hindutva voluntary organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It was launched as a newspaper in 1947 in the weeks before the Partition of India. The newspaper has been edited by A. R. Nair, K. R. Malkani, L. K. Advani, V. P. Bhatia, Seshadri Chari and Dr R. Balashanker. It has promoted misinformation on many occasions.
Janmabhumi is an Indian Malayalam-language daily newspaper, owned by Mathruka Pracharanalayam Ltd. and headquartered in Kochi, Kerala. It was launched as an evening paper from Kozhikode on 28 April 1977. From 14 November 1977 onwards it was upgraded to a daily newspaper publishing from Ernakulam. Currently Janmabhumi has nine editions. The newspaper is politically aligned with the BJP.
The Muslim Rashtriya Manch is a Muslim organisation in India, inspired by the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Established under the guidance of the RSS's then-Supreme Commander K. S. Sudarshan, the MRM presents itself as an independent Muslim body aligned with nationalist ideals.
Kummanam Rajasekharan is an Indian politician and former governor of Mizoram (2018–2019). He began his political career as an activist of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Sangh Parivar in Kerala in 1970. From 2015 to 2018, he was the state president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala. He is the first BJP leader from Kerala to become governor. He currently serves as the administrative committee member of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He actively contested for BJP in various Loksabha and assembly elections in Kerala.
Sobha Surendran is an Indian politician from the state of Kerala, allied to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She is famous on social media for her debate on different issues. She gained public support during her election contest in palakkad and Attingal. Sobha is the first woman politician from Kerala to hold a position at the national level and also the first stare vice president of a mainstream party from Kerala. She has acted as the state president of BJP Mahila Morcha. She also serves on the board of directors of the Chennai Petroleum Corporation.
On 8 December 2014, Hindu nationalist groups affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were reported to have converted 100 – 250 Muslims to Hinduism in Agra. The functioning of the Indian Parliament was log-jammed in December. News reports indicated that Muslim right wing groups in India have received a ‘lease of life’ in trying to protest the conversions. After a full investigation, the Uttar Pradesh Minorities Commission concluded that the Muslims had not converted as they continued to "remain Muslims."
Janam TV is an Indian Malayalam language news channel owned by Janam Multimedia Limited. It was launched on 19 April 2015. The channel is headquartered in Thrissur, Kerala.
Vellamvelly Muraleedharan is an Indian politician from Kerala who served as Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs of India from 2019 to 2024. He was the eighth State President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala. He was also a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha. He was sworn in as a Union Minister on 30 May 2019. On 12 June 2019, Muraleedharan was appointed Government Deputy Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha.
These are the references for further information regarding the Sangh Parivar.
Kunnummal Surendran is an Indian politician from the state of Kerala. He currently serves as the 11th President of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state.
Sabarimala is a temple dedicated to Shasta, in Pathanamthitta District, Kerala, India. Women and girls of reproductive age have traditionally not been permitted to worship there, as Shasta is a celibate deity. The Kerala high court provided a legal justification for this tradition, and since 1991 onwards, women and girls were legally forbidden to enter the temple.
Vanitha Mathil was a human chain formed on 1 January 2019 across the Indian state of Kerala to uphold gender equality and protest against gender discrimination. The wall was formed solely by women and extended for a distance of around 620 kilometres from Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram. Around three to five million women participated in the event.
Sabarimala Ayyappa Seva Samajam (SASS) is an organization of Ayyappan devotees and an affiliate of the Sangh Parivar. It is a registered public charitable trust started on 13 November 2008 with headquarters at Pathanamthitta in Kerala. SASS aims to serve Ayyappa devotees in their pilgrimage to Sabarimala and inculcate dharmic values in them and their families and bring them together to further the larger aim of Hindu unity. SASS activities can be listed in 5S: Satsang, Swaadhyay, Seva, Samarasta and Sangharsh.
