100 YEARS OF RSS: CIVILISATIONAL INSIGHTS INTO BHARAT'S PLACE IN THE WORLD

As the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) enters its centenary, its journey reveals how Bharat's civilisational identity shapes not only national revival, but also a distinct worldview guiding global engagement.

- SIDDHARTHA DAVE

Mohan Bhagwat, who became the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief in 2009, is credited with turning the Sangh into a tech-savvy modern outfit that can be mobilised electorally.

On Vijaya Dashami of 1925, Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar founded the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with the conviction that Bharat could only regain her rightful place in the world once the Hindu society was awakened, disciplined, and united.

The task before him was not merely political; it was civilisational. Foreign policy in the Sangh worldview is never an isolated game of statesmanship or diplomacy but the natural extension of a civilisation’s self-confidence. As Dr. Hedgewar repeatedly stressed, “A strong and united society is the first condition of a strong and respected nation.”

DR. HEDGEWAR: ORGANISING THE NATION BEFORE FACING THE WORLD

Dr. Hedgewar was not a foreign policy strategist in the conventional sense. His arena was the shakha, where he infused discipline, self-respect, and national consciousness into young men. Yet in doing so, he was laying the very foundations of foreign policy. For him, Bharat's weakness lay not in lack of resources or geography but in disunity. Without an organised Hindu society, he argued, Bharat could never face her neighbours with confidence.

In his speeches, Hedgewar often invoked invasions from the northwest and warned against the vulnerabilities of a divided Bharat. His stress was that national honour comes first, diplomacy follows later. This was not isolationism but realism: unless Bharat was united, any talk of alliances or global standing would be superficial.

GOLWALKAR: CULTURAL NATIONHOOD AND LESSONS FROM THE WORLD

Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, or “Guruji,” the second Sarsanghchalak, gave the Sangh’s foreign policy thought its philosophical clarity. In