Sangham Sharanam Gachchami: RSS Ke Sau Varshon Ka Ek Imandar Dastavez (Hindi)

In 1925, Dr Hedgewar laid the foundation of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh with the dream of making India a Hindu nation. The political ideology of ‘Hindutva’, encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and Hindu hegemony in India, was formulated by Damodar Savarkar in 1922, and Dr Hedgewar made it the Sangh’s (a cultural organisation) guiding principle.

It is not the leader but the ideology that is important. Understanding the Sangh only through its many wings is just like exploring the elephant of Panchatantra from one side. The Sangh is said to be the largest voluntary organisation in the world. Today, the Sangh runs about 1,75,000 projects and more than 60,000 branches. It has chapters in more than 40 countries outside the country.

The RSS is like the immortal bird from Greek mythology, the Phoenix. Even after being banned three times by the government in power, its wide influence could not be diminished. On the contrary, with every clampdown, it grew. Now there is hardly any aspect of Indian life which the Sangh does not touch. With the changing times, the Sangh not only changed its uniform but also broadened its outlook and kept reinventing itself.

Vijay Trivedi has documented in this book all the important milestones of the Sangh’s 100-year journey. These are also the milestones without which it would be difficult to understand India entirely. Through the Sangh’s journey, Trivedi also peels back layers of some untold episodes in Indian politics.

This book, touching almost all aspects of the Sangh, is not only a definitive documentation of the past but also an indication of the future. Sangham Sharanam Gachchami is in many ways a complete book on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which should be read by its supporters as well as its critics. Because the reality is that you may like the Sangh or dislike it, but it is impossible to ignore it.