‘You miss the real motivations by seeing RSS only through politics’: Author Malini Bhattacharjee
In her new book Swayamsevak, Malini Bhattacharjee shifts the lens from top leadership to the ordinary cadres who sustain the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the grassroots, as highlighted in Business Today.
“I wanted to pick ten Swayamsevaks from different parts of India, different languages, different regions, possibly different caste groups, though caste identity was something that they were not willing to share. I wanted to make it as representative as possible. But barring a few exceptions, largely the vocabulary that my respondents used is very similar.”
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Abstract
In September 2025, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) completed a hundred years. Founded in 1925 by Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar with a small group of handpicked young men, the Sangh sought to reinvigorate Hindu society through sangathan (organization) and seva (service). What sustains the RSS a hundred years on? Who are the individuals who animate this vast and enduring organization? Are they conservative or modern, privileged or marginal, urban or rural? Swayamsevak explores these questions in depth. At its heart are ten compelling life stories of nine swayamsevaks and one sevika. Through these intimate portraits, the book foregrounds the everyday experiences, moral worlds, and motivations that shape their journeys, revealing the discipline, commitment to service, and quiet conviction that sustain the Sangh’s remarkable continuity and expansion. By restoring the swayamsevak to the centre of the narrative, this book opens up a rich and largely unexplored terrain and offers a nuanced and deeply human window into the RSS.
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Malini Bhattacharjee is a faculty member at Azim Premji University.