Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is a Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation. It was founded on Vijayadashami, 27 September 1925, in Nagpur by Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, a physician, as a single shakha (daily gathering) of a few young men. Its own website gives its ideal as carrying the nation "to the pinnacle of glory through organizing the entire society." It works through affiliated bodies, one of which, the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, is at the centre of its dispute with the Panth.

Its chiefs (sarsanghchalaks), in order

• K. B. Hedgewar, 1925 to his death on 21 June 1940
• M. S. Golwalkar, 1940 to 1973
• Madhukar Dattatraya (Balasaheb) Deoras, 1973 to 1994
• Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiyya), 1994 to 2000
• K. S. Sudarshan, 2000 to 2009
• Mohan Bhagwat, since 21 March 2009

Its part in this history

The RSS appears in the Sikh story mainly through the Panth's response to its outreach among Sikhs. The Tribune described the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat as an RSS affiliate. In October 2017 a US-based Sikh co-ordination committee urged a boycott of its Delhi programme, calling Sikh participation a "danger to independent existence of the community" and saying its founders did not consider Sikhism a separate religion.

On 23 July 2004 Sri Akal Takht Sahib issued a hukamnama after complaints about RSS participation in the 400th Parkash Utsav of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. It called RSS activities a "deep-rooted conspiracy against the Sikhs" and told the community to avoid Sangh activities. The same edict told Sikhs not to support the Sarb Sanjhi Gurbani Yatra, another event organised by the Sangat.

Key moments

• 1925: founded at Nagpur.
• 4 February 1948: banned after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The ban was lifted on 11 July 1949, after Golwalkar agreed to a written constitution that stated loyalty to the Indian Constitution and the national flag.
• 1975 to 1977: banned during the Emergency.
• 1992: banned after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and lifted in 1993.
• 23 July 2004: the Akal Takht's hukamnama on the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat.
• October 2017: Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh told Sikhs to follow the 2004 edict and boycott a Sangat event in Delhi on 25 October, marking the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, where Mohan Bhagwat was to give the keynote address.

Where it stands today

Mohan Bhagwat leads the RSS, which marked its hundredth year in 2025. In October 2017 the Akal Takht still treated the 2004 edict as in force, and it was the reference point for the boycott.