The first quarter of the twentieth century witnessed immense global upheaval, primarily driven by the First World War (1914–1918) and the political revolutions that followed. The tectonic changes in Europe during this period led to the collapse of empires and the emergence of communist regimes.
As World War I neared its end, Europe saw the collapse of several imperial structures. The Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated due to military defeat, economic hardship, and the rise of ethnic nationalism, leading to the creation of new states whose borders were later recognised in peace treaties. In Germany, the November Revolution of 1918 resulted in the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the formation of the Weimar Republic. The Ottoman Empire also collapsed; its Sultanate was officially abolished by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 1 November 1922, paving the way for the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923.
In Russia, the Tsarist regime collapsed on 15 March 1917 when Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate during the February Revolution, ending centuries of Romanov rule. The Bolsheviks soon overthrew the provisional government that replaced him in the October Revolution. For the first time, an avowedly communist party led by Vladimir Lenin seized state power. It began to implement the ideas articulated in the Communist Manifesto of 1848—a critique of capitalism and a blueprint for a classless, communist society to be brought about by a workers’ revolution.
This was a time when India, too, was undergoing a profound political transformation, marked by the rise of assertive nationalism. Between 1901 and 1925, the independence movement led by the Indian National Congress (INC) evolved from moderate petitions to mass-based mobilisation, characterised by widespread public participation and an increasing demand for Swaraj—or self-government. Leaders like Lokmanya Tilak supported boycotts and passive resistance, laying the foundation for later mass movements. With Gandhi’s arrival in 1915, non-violence became the guiding principle of political struggle. Events such as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919 shocked the nation and galvanised unity against British repression. With mass participation in India’s freedom struggle, it became increasingly clear that the British Empire’s hold over India could not endure.
While the Congress examined the political contours of a future independent nation, two other ideological currents emerged in 1925. One was the birth of the Communist movement in India, inspired by the Soviet experiment under Lenin. The CPI was formally founded on 26 December 1925 at a conference in Kanpur, though earlier attempts to form a communist group in India date from a 1920 manifesto issued in Tashkent. Ideological influence thus flowed from Moscow rather than from Indian soil. The second current took shape within a very different ideological framework: the conviction that freedom would ultimately demand a society rooted in national consciousness and cultural unity. This belief led to the founding of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) by Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in Nagpur on 27 September 1925, to nurture such a society from the grassroots up.
The RSS was founded during a period of rising communal tensions, mainly attributable to British divide-and-rule policies, such as separate electorates and communal political classification. These divisions became more pronounced after the Khilafat–Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22). Dr Hedgewar, popularly known as Doctorji, believed that political freedom would be meaningless unless society were internally strong and culturally confident. Born in 1889 in Nagpur, he came from very modest circumstances, with his parents living in poverty. As a young, brilliant doctor, he had a promising career ahead of him, but he chose to devote his life to national service. Hindu society, he observed, was fragmented by caste divisions and regional identities. It needed unity, cohesion and a disciplined structure for self-defence. Having participated in the Congress-led national movement and been associated with revolutionary groups such as the Anushilan Samiti, he concluded that political mobilisation alone could not build a resilient national society. The rise of the Hindu cultural renaissance, led by figures such as Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo, and Tilak, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, also profoundly influenced him. He conceived the RSS against this backdrop: to create a cadre of individuals dedicated to national service and to overcoming caste and social divisions through collective activities, such as daily physical and social drills (shakhas), thereby preparing the nation for freedom through discipline and character-building. By the time Doctorji passed away in 1940, he had, in just 15 years, built a network of disciplined volunteers. The group was small and mostly confined to central India, but the organisation’s roots were firm and destined to grow from strength to strength.
With Doctorji’s passing, Shri MS Golwalkar, affectionately called “Guruji,” led the organisation for the next 33 years, till his death in 1973. The first four years after independence were crucial. The RSS volunteers carried out extensive relief efforts and organised shelter, protection, and security in relief camps for the hundreds of thousands of refugees affected by communal violence. Unfortunately, the RSS was banned in 1948 following the assassination of MK Gandhi. This ban was imposed without following proper legal procedures, with the organisation being wrongly blamed for Gandhi’s killing, but it was lifted within a year. Afterwards, the RSS adopted a formal constitution and shifted its focus toward outreach and public trust-building. These four years shaped the principles of democratic operation and decentralised organisational development.
Under “Guruji,” the RSS expanded across the nation, emphasising the development of social leaders, cultural awakening, and service to marginalised communities. This period also saw significant institutional growth, with many affiliates established. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) was established in 1949, and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, a labour union, was founded in 1955. A decade later, in 1964, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a socio-religious organisation, was formed. At the same time, Vidya Bharti was set up as part of its educational outreach, and the Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram was established for tribal outreach.
To address contemporary political challenges, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) was established by Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951 after he resigned from Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet over profound ideological differences, particularly his opposition to the Nehru-Liaquat Pact. The BJS was created in close collaboration with the RSS, a process that reportedly included consultations with M.S. Golwalkar. The arrangement allowed Mookerjee to contribute his national reputation and serve as the BJS’s guiding spirit and first President. At the same time, the RSS provided the critical organisational infrastructure and a dedicated corps of workers (pracharaks). As a result, the BJS was widely regarded as the RSS’s political wing.
During the Emergency (1975–1977), the RSS was banned, and its leaders were imprisoned, but it continued to oppose authoritarianism through underground networks and helped galvanise democratic forces. After the emergency was lifted, the Jana Sangh and other opposition groups (including the Socialist Party, the Congress (O), and the Bharatiya Lok Dal) merged to form the Janata Party, which sought to defeat Indira Gandhi. The Janata Party won the general election and formed the first non-Congress government in India’s history.
After the Janata Party’s defeat in the 1980 general elections, former Jana Sangh members exited the coalition. A year later, on 6 April 1980, they reconvened to establish a new political entity, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as its first president. Many now regard the BJP as the RSS’s ideological centre and political arm. However, the BJP is not subordinate to the RSS; rather, the two organisations complement each other. Both are motivated by cultural nationalism (Hindutva), as conceptualised by Hedgewar and Golwalkar.
The 1980s and 1990s experienced rapid organisational growth and influence in social and political discourse. A significant moment was the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, marked by mass mobilisation and the expansion of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, on campuses. With the rise of the RSS, the BJP also expanded, gaining substantial political ground. Starting with just two seats in the 1984 elections, it won 85 seats in 1989. By 1991, it had become the official opposition, holding 120 seats, and by 1996, it formed a short-lived minority government with 161 seats. Later, it established a coalition government under Vajpayee from 1999 to 2004. After a decade in opposition, the BJP secured an absolute majority in the 2014 elections, winning 282 seats. This marked the first time in 30 years that a single party had achieved a majority in the Lok Sabha. The party improved its performance in the 2019 elections, increasing its tally to 303 seats. In the 2024 elections, it remained the largest party, although its seat share declined to 240 seats, and it continued to lead the NDA.
Since the turn of the millennium, as in earlier years, the RSS’s focus has remained on social service, education, and nation-building. Under its present Sarsanghchalak, Dr Mohan Bhagwat, the organisation emphasises social harmony and the elimination of caste discrimination while continuing to expand in rural areas and adopting modern management practices. It remains at the forefront of relief efforts for floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis, often being the first to respond and sometimes staying until long-term rehabilitation is underway. Through an extensive network of affiliates, it engages in education, social services, labour and tribal welfare, women’s empowerment, ecological initiatives, and disaster response. The RSS is one of the world’s largest voluntary organisations, with millions of followers and a presence in virtually every Indian district. In its centenary year, the RSS claims to have more than 83,000 shakhas, with an attendance of 4 million.
In contrast, the Communist Party of India (CPI), which, like the RSS, traces its origins to 1925, followed a dramatically different path. Inspired by the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the CPI’s early focus in India was anti-colonialism, mobilising peasants and industrial workers through trade unions, and advocating for social justice and economic egalitarianism.
After independence, the CPI achieved electoral success, including forming the first non-Congress government in independent India in 1957 in Kerala under E. M. S. Namboodiripad. However, internal divisions reached their peak in 1964, when ideological rifts—exacerbated by disagreements over the international communist movement and national issues—led to a significant split and the formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M). Over subsequent decades, the CPI (M) became the dominant force, establishing long-lasting, successful governments in West Bengal (1977-2011) and Tripura, and alternating power in Kerala through the Left Democratic Front (LDF) coalition. Following their defeats in West Bengal and Tripura, the communists now govern only in Kerala. In recent years, the nationwide influence of the communist movement has declined sharply. From being a major opposition force, it has now shrunk to a small presence in Parliament and in state legislatures.
Why did the communist movement fail to expand beyond a certain point, whereas the RSS, after a period of slow growth, expanded enormously and continues to grow? The answer may lie in their foundational philosophies. The RSS has emphasised the development of individuals: instilling personal character, civic discipline, and a sense of national pride. This bottom-up model aims to transform society by cultivating strong individuals who, together, form a broad social base. In contrast, the CPI’s approach was more top-down: focusing on class-based mobilisation, land reforms, labour rights, and political power. Its emphasis was on collective economic and political transformation, rather than on a gradual reshaping of individual social consciousness. For CPI and its offshoots, securing political power and implementing structural reforms remained the primary objective — whereas for the RSS, cultivating committed individuals formed the sinews of a vast socio-cultural force.
It is not as if the RSS did not face challenges. Indeed, the extent of the difficulties faced has been such that most similar organisations would have collapsed under such pressures. The RSS faced and even today continues to face a perception and media bias, primarily caused by the Marxist and self-professed ‘liberals’ who dominated academia and the media. Its ability to survive and flourish, despite these difficulties, underscores the intense dedication of its leaders and the resilience of its pracharaks—who, in service to the nation, were prepared to sacrifice everything. In the early years, the selfless leadership of Dr Hedgewar (Doctorji) and Shri MS Golwalkar (Guruji) fostered a sense of nationalism among pracharaks, a feat probably unmatched worldwide. Even after being banned in 1948 and again in 1975, the organisation continued to expand. It was banned for the third time in December 1992—a vendetta by the then-ruling party —but the ban was lifted in June 1993 after a tribunal found it unjustified. These bans tested its resilience but ultimately enhanced its democratic credibility.
Today, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh continues to play a significant role in shaping India’s social, cultural, and intellectual landscape. Its journey over a hundred years, from a small cultural cell in Nagpur to its extensive presence across all districts of India, demonstrates tenacity, bravery, and sacrifice in service of the motherland. Building a nation ultimately involves empowering its people. The RSS’s role in this regard is perhaps unmatched by any organisation. That India today is more rooted in national consciousness and cultural unity is, to a large extent, a reflection of the RSS’s work over the past hundred years.
Author Brief Bio: Maj. Gen. Dhruv C. Katoch is Editor, India Foundation Journal and Director, India Foundation.
