A distant relative of my family, an ardent supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), would often tell us that every time he heard the incantation “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” he was overcome by a rush of emotion so strong that he would do anything to prove his love for the country. If listeners looked askance, he would ask rather ingenuously, “What is wrong with being patriotic and saying India is Hindu?” It was a question that defied any answer.

It was only recently that he admitted that his adrenaline rush of nationalism came from being a regular at the daily shakha (branch) meetings of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in his youth and childhood. Bharat Mata was apotheosised as a crowned goddess holding a trident in one hand and a flag in the other in his imagination. She had to be protected at all costs by men of stern principles and undying loyalty to the nation.

It would be naive to dismiss such gatherings as a quaint, Hindu version of the Boy Scouts. Founded in 1925 to form a nationalist Hindu character during British colonial rule, the Sangh sets much store by respect for authority and discipline, its creed shaped by Nazi ideology and its admiration for Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. RSS instils an intense nationalism based on religion in its followers based on indoctrination that starts with children as young as five to eight much like the madrasas do.

The Sangh may call itself a cultural organisation dedicated to protecting India’s Hindu culture but it is widely seen as a fascistic outfit that is antagonistic to people of other faiths (Muslims and Christians) and intent on browbeating them as it pursues a Hindu first policy. The RSS logic is simple: while India may be the homeland for Christians and Muslims, their holy lands lie elsewhere.

The political gains have been far greater. RSS workers have been appointed governors of and chief ministers in several states. Many Cabinet ministers in
Mr Modi’s government have an RSS background even though some have erased it from their official profiles. Even the urbane lawyer Arun Jaitley who now serves as finance minister cut his political teeth in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS which most people mistake for the BJP’s youth wing.

US academic Walter Andersen, who has been studying the RSS since the 1970s admitted in a recent interview that the Sangh is becoming increasingly political. When he wrote the landmark
Brotherhood in Saffron in 1987, the RSS was suspicious of politics as a vocation but this is clearly not the case anymore. The high praise that Mr Bhagwat is now showering on the Modi regime is RSS realpolitik devoid of ideology. Mr Bhagwat is making amends for his remarks on the caste policy which are widely believed to have resulted in the BJP’s poll debacle in Bihar. While liberals worry about the increasing hold of the saffron brigade on the levers of power in the country, old-style RSS members like my distant relative are also upset. He fears Bharat Mata is in danger from her avowed soldiers.

Vakavaka Pakapaka wrote:Here is a better swagger for the Sikularists:

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