The RSS: Icons of the Indian Right

by Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay

At a time when people went around looking for the bodies of their family members; when several women were raped or killed by lumpens on both sides; when a nation had been cleaved into two bloody halves, the RSS’ relief work amongst Hindu refugees was widely acknowledged as exemplary in the absence of a ‘working’ government in Delhi. There are several accounts of how Hindu refugees had warmed up to the organisation; the RSS had also started a drive to enlist members from the community. Gradually, as these uprooted Hindus-turned-swayamsevaks began rebuilding their lives, a majority of them took to trading and started small businesses and eventually it was this class which became the primary support base for the RSS and its affiliated organisations. This explains why first the Jana Sangh, and later the BJP is referred to as a ‘traders’ party’.