RSS @100: The paradox

Bhagwat's advice that every couple should have three children betrayed both demographic and biological ignorance

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On Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as the world's largest NGO. What he left unsaid is that it is perhaps the only NGO in the world that has the privilege of running a government, or at least influencing one to the extent many believe it does. The RSS has travelled a long road since Dr K.B. Hedgewar founded it in 1925. From a small group of volunteers meeting in shakhas, it has grown into a formidable organisation, whose alumni control every lever of power in today's India. It is against this backdrop that the three-day lecture series titled "100 Years of the Sangh Journey: New Horizons" assumes significance. Little surprise, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's press conference on Thursday drew both national and international attention.