“The sangh is no longer only a Rashtriya phenomenon. It has grown into a gigantic world organisation spreading its branches in all the continents. A key to the understanding of this sky scraping banyan tree is to delve deeply into the myriad incidents of the hallowed life and the various aspects of the luminous personality of Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar. After doing that we shall be able to clearly grasp the vision the revered Doctorji entertained of the future of the Sangh. Without clearly grasping these we shall never be able to understand the soul of the Sangh. The diversified shape of the Sangh is actually the blossoming and flowering of the great Doctor’s vision”.
– What Sustains Sangh?, Dattopant Thengadi, p. 1, https://dbthengadi.in/what-sustains-sangh/
As the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) marked 100 years since its inception on October 2, 2025 on the auspicious occasion of Vijayadashami, there was a national and international buzz about it, along with the usual critics’ who were ready with their salvos. The release of a commemorative coin of Rs 100 and a postal stamp by PM Narendra Modi further rattled the Communists and some of their Congress followers, along with the Islamists. Instead of getting stuck in the old rhetoric of Manuvad, anti-women, anti-Constitution and anti-minority, all Bharatiyas should understand the secret of the success of this magnificent march for a Century, as a thought, process, movement and mission.
At the thought level, Sangh is unlike other organisations that were set up during the freedom struggle of Bharat from the British rule. Instead of a formal set-up of objectives and structures, the founder, Dr Hedgewar, chose to evolve a thought process based on a collective decision-making process, wherein the focus was to hear various viewpoints democratically and arrive at a consensus that will enable to achieve bigger goal or objective . Through his experiences in multiple ongoing movements for Bharat’s Independence, his diagnosis of the core problem was precise and clear. He identified that lack of sense of selfhood due to colonisation and the deterioration of social structures were the root causes of our political and mental subjugation. The individual character was disassociated entirely from the national character. Unless these issues were addressed, genuine independence could not be attained or retained, was his fundamental conviction behind the formation of the RSS. Sangh means to awaken the national spirit in people, enabling them to rise above the narrow feelings of caste or community. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly pointed out while releasing the commemorative coin and postal stamp of the RSS centenary year, “It (Sangh) was the revival of an ancient tradition, wherein the nation’s consciousness manifests itself in new forms from time to time to face the challenges of each era. The Sangh is a sacred incarnation of that eternal national consciousness in this era”. Like earlier sages, the Sangh founder and his ardent followers never claimed to do something new; instead, they invoked ancient indigenous values to address contemporary challenges. Hence, the key difference between other initiatives and the Sangh has been that while everyone tried to form their own organisation in the society based on personality or ideology, the Sangh started functioning to organise the entire society with the edifice of national consciousness.
The process to address these problems was also unique and innovative – rooted in ancient philosophy of the land but with modern characteristics. Like daily prayer and other rituals, Swayamsevaks are expected to devote certain amount of time for the social and national cause. A one-hour Shakha, with Bharat Mata as the only Goddess to be worshipped, became the training ground for Swayamsevaks, who would organise their remaining twenty-three hours with a national consciousness. Through this training, meticulous planning, time management, team games, patriotic songs, and collective resolve, they are able to nurture specific values that contribute to national reconstruction in a meaningful manner. These Swayamsevaks, while working in various spheres of national life, such as labour, education, arts, and healthcare, further imbibed the values instilled in the Shakha through organisation building and structural reforms based on Bharatiya values.
As a movement, the Sangh has been a multidimensional endeavour, which would be difficult to understand for people who want to gauge it through the political prism. RSS is essentially a movement for decolonisation and renationalisation. Making everything national in tune with the times and everything foreign in tune with the national ethos is the essence of this movement. Swadeshi as a movements does not mean just buying indigenous goods and boycotting foreign ones, but reorganising the entire system based on national ethos and requirements. From historical perceptions to political structures, Bharatiya thought has to be recontextualised in a reformed manner. So casteism should be eradicated, but that does not mean Hindu Dharma should be denounced. Babar and Aurangzeb should be rejected as invaders; therefore, Muslims should not be considered as their inheritors. All Bharatiya languages should be respected and accepted; that does not mean foreign languages should be censured. Such a process is not possible without the Sangh’s thought and actions becoming an inclusive and participatory movement. Through Swayamsevaks, the Sangh has devised unique mass contact programmes. The collection drive for monetary contributions towards the reconstruction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is a classic case study in this regard, where millions of people from all corners of Bharat, cutting across caste, community, and regional lines, contributed to reconstruct the civilisational monument. The Sangh aims to identify itself with society through a collective national consciousness, rather than remaining separate from it.
What is the ultimate objective of this entire endeavour undertaken with the penance and sacrifices of millions of Swayamsevaks and their families? As in one of the epic replies, Dadarao Parmarth, the former Sarkaryavah of the RSS, who pioneered the Sangh’s functioning in the erstwhile Madras province, articulated that the RSS is an evolution of the life mission of the Hindu nation. What is that life mission? As Sarsanghachalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat clarified in his Vijayadashami address, “From time to time in world history, Bharat has played a significant role – it has restored the lost balance of the world, providing Dharma that instils a sense of restraint and discipline in global life”—the precise articulation of the life mission of the Hindu nation. Sangh is a thought, process and movement aimed at preparing society for achieving this national mission.
Over the last century, thousands of Karyakartas have sacrificed their personal lives as Pracharaks; lakhs of them have balanced their family lives with their Sangh work, and millions of families have contributed to the Sangh cause, enabling the national mission to be fulfilled. The Sangh has won the confidence of society, despite consistent demonisation and hatred from the colonised minds. The social expectations are high, but Sangh does not intend to be the sole saviour. Instead, as Dr Hedgewar envisaged, society should organically create internal systems to reform and sustain itself when it faces external challenges, foster a sense of belonging. The ideals that Bharat stands for should reflect in our individual and collective lives, so that the entire world can take inspiration from them. It is then only that Bharat will be considered as Vishwa-Guru by the world, as it was at some point in time. Let us understand the thought, try to inculcate the process, and take part in the movement so that the ‘life mission of Hindu nation’ is fulfilled. Till then, the Sangh March will continue… Bharat Mata ki Jai!
