India marks RSS centenary with coin and stamp, sparking fierce backlash
PM Modi hails Hindu supremacist group as patriotic, while opposition calls it fascist force linked to violence and communal divisions
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday unveiled a commemorative coin of 100 Indian rupees and a postage stamp to mark the centenary of the Hindutva outfit Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), igniting a storm of criticism from opposition parties and rights advocates.
Praising the organisation at its celebrations, Modi claimed the RSS had “fought against the atrocities of the British” and provided shelter to freedom fighters, insisting its principle has always been “nation first.” He added that despite “attacks,” the Sangh had never displayed “bitterness.”
The centenary honours for the RSS, however, have been sharply denounced. The opposition Congress party cited Mahatma Gandhi’s description of the RSS as a “communal body with a totalitarian outlook,” and recalled India’s first home minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who accused the group of sowing division shortly before banning it in 1948 after Gandhi’s assassination.
“Honouring an organisation that collaborated with colonial rulers and continues to spread poison in society is a deep insult to India’s freedom struggle and Constitution,” Congress general secretary K. C. Venugopal said.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan compared the RSS to Zionist movements in Israel, calling them “twin brothers” that propagate exclusionary ideologies. He warned that commemorating the group’s centenary with state symbols amounted to legitimising divisive politics and betraying the legacy of India’s independence leaders.
Founded in 1925 in Nagpur by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, the RSS was inspired by European fascist movements of the era. Its ideology of Hindutva — advocating a Hindu-dominant nation — drew on ideas from Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.
Over the decades, members or affiliates of the RSS have been repeatedly linked to anti-Muslim violence, including the demolition of the Babri Mosque in 1992 and the Gujarat pogrom of 2002. Rights groups have also documented the role of RSS-inspired vigilantes in lynchings over cow slaughter allegations.
The organisation has faced bans on multiple occasions, most notably after Gandhi’s assassination, and individuals associated with its ideology have been implicated in bombings and communal attacks across India.
Observers argue that granting it national honours risks normalising a movement long accused of undermining the secular and pluralist framework of India’s Constitution.
Opposition leaders, rights groups, and historians warn that by elevating the RSS with state honours, Modi’s government is legitimising a movement rooted in fascist ideology, implicated in anti-Muslim violence, and long accused of seeking to dismantle India’s secular constitutional order.
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