A sweeping investigative report by The Caravan magazine has mapped the extraordinary reach of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India's largest far-right Hindu nationalist organization, revealing a network that extends across education, bureaucracy, business, and civil society.
The investigation, titled "Unveiling the RSS," documents how the 99-year-old organization has systematically built institutional power that far exceeds its public profile. With an estimated 6 million active members and affiliated organizations numbering in the thousands, the RSS operates what researchers describe as "the world's largest ideological mobilization machine."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is a lifelong RSS member who spent decades as a pracharak (full-time organizer) before entering electoral politics. His rise to power in 2014 coincided with the RSS's most aggressive expansion into institutions previously considered politically neutral.
The Caravan's reporting identifies RSS influence in:
Education: Affiliated schools under the Vidya Bharati network now educate over 3.2 million students annually across 12,000 institutions. The curriculum emphasizes Hindu civilizational narratives and often downplays Muslim contributions to Indian history.
Bureaucracy: Multiple serving civil servants have confirmed attending RSS shakhas (branch meetings), raising questions about ideological neutrality in government institutions. The organization maintains dedicated wings for recruiting government officials, judges, and military personnel.
Media and Technology: RSS-linked organizations operate dozens of media outlets and maintain sophisticated social media operations. The investigation documents coordinated messaging campaigns that have shaped public discourse on issues from beef consumption to interfaith marriage.
Business: The RSS's economic wing, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, has successfully lobbied against foreign investment in retail and advocated for protectionist policies. Prominent business leaders, including some from India's largest corporations, have publicly acknowledged RSS ties.
The report arrives as India prepares for crucial state elections and as debate intensifies over the country's secular constitutional framework. Critics argue the RSS's expansion represents a fundamental threat to India's pluralistic democracy, while supporters contend the organization simply promotes Hindu cultural values in a majority-Hindu nation.
"The RSS isn't just an ideology. It's an institutional ecosystem that touches every aspect of Indian life," said Dr. Christophe Jaffrelot, a leading scholar of Hindu nationalism at Sciences Po, in response to the investigation. "Understanding its power is essential to understanding contemporary India."
The organization's reach extends beyond India's borders. The Vishva Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), an RSS affiliate, operates in over 60 countries and has been influential in shaping Hindu diaspora politics, particularly in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
RSS leadership rarely grants interviews, operating through a cell-based structure that obscures decision-making. The current Sarsanghchalak (supreme leader), Mohan Bhagwat, wields enormous influence despite holding no government position. When Bhagwat speaks on issues from population control to foreign policy, the Modi government typically follows.
The Caravan investigation also documents resistance to RSS expansion. In Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal—states governed by non-BJP parties—local governments have restricted RSS activities in schools and challenged the organization's charitable status.
Minority communities, particularly India's 200 million Muslims, view the RSS's growth with alarm. The organization's parent ideology, Hindutva, explicitly envisions India as a Hindu nation, a vision that contradicts the country's constitutional commitment to secularism.
"We're watching the slow-motion transformation of Indian democracy," said Harsh Mander, a human rights activist who has documented communal violence. "The RSS has been patient. They've spent a century building this network. Now they're activating it."
The RSS declined to comment on specific findings in The Caravan's report but issued a statement defending its work as "nationalist" and "cultural." The organization has long maintained that it is a social organization, not a political party, though it founded the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), now India's ruling party.
For international observers, the RSS's expansion raises questions about India's democratic trajectory. As the world's largest democracy with 1.4 billion people, India's internal politics have global implications—from economic partnerships to climate action to regional security.
A billion people aren't a statistic—they're a billion stories. And increasingly, those stories are being shaped by an organization most Indians have never formally joined but whose influence they cannot escape.
